72. Clash of Stone and Steel
Clash of Stone and Steel
Samhail
Samhail woke to the scent of lemon verbena in his nose, the feel of a soft body tucked into him, and the ache of a raging erection pressing against his pants.
He’d let Talyn go to bed last night with all her clothes on and had kept his own pants on in the hopes the layers of fabric between them might keep his lust in check, but no such luck.
Everything about this woman aroused him, and he wanted so badly to free his cock, tug down her own pants, and slip into her from behind to make her moan for him.
Nemesis take him. The woman had kidnapped Bressen and nearly gotten him killed, yet Samhail had only managed to stay angry with her for a few hours after she’d returned.
He’d wanted to choke the life out of her at first, and the gods knew he’d tried.
He could’ve crushed her throat with one squeeze, but he hadn’t been able to do it.
He was secretly relieved when Bressen broke past his mind shield and forced him to let her go.
He promised himself the first night that he’d just go to bed and not think about her, but he’d gone to a tavern in Callanus instead, and several drinks later, he’d found himself in the dungeon watching her.
Talyn hadn’t moved on her cot, but he’d had the strangest feeling she was awake that night, and every night since, when he came to check on her. He didn’t know how he knew, but he did.
Then he’d found her last night crouched in the corner looking exhausted and shaken, and any lingering anger he’d felt had dissipated. She’d told him about Morland, and his rage had returned tenfold, but this time on her behalf.
The urge to kill Morland had been overwhelming. He’d wanted to pull the man apart slowly, piece by piece, starting with his fingers and toes and working up to his head, but he couldn’t do that. Not yet.
Maybe if Bressen and Cyra’s mission was successful…
Samhail itched to brush the hair back from Talyn’s face as she lay there sleeping. It was like a mind wraith had put some kind of compulsion on him. He wanted to touch her all the time. She’d wake instantly if he tried, though, and he wanted her to sleep. She needed it.
On the other hand, he really needed to get up and relieve himself in more ways than one, so it was inevitable she’d wake.
Samhail brushed his lips over the back of Talyn’s head ever so gently, and she stirred. Reluctantly, he peeled his body away from hers.
Talyn jolted at the movement and tried to sit up in bed, but he urged her back down with a hand on her shoulder.
“Stay in bed and rest,” he said. “I’m going to bathe and get ready, but there’s no reason you need to get up yet.”
Talyn looked at him warily but settled back down into the mattress.
“Are you locking me in here all day?” she asked.
“No. You’ll need to come with me on my rounds. Until Bressen and Cyra return, you and I will be attached at the hip.”
She raised a brow, and Samhail grimaced at his inadvertent phrasing.
“I mean, I won’t be letting you out of my sight,” he clarified.
“You don’t really expect me to sleep here until Lord Bressen gets back, do you?” she asked as Samhail swung his legs out of bed.
“Planning to ask Axenus to take you in again?” he teased over his shoulder as he strode toward the bathing chamber.
She scoffed. “What’s the point? Clearly he’s afraid of you for some unwarranted reason.”
Samhail chuckled. “Despite what I tell him, Axenus is a smart man. He’s not going to put himself in the middle of…whatever this is.”
Samhail stepped into the bathing chamber and was about to close the door when she asked, “And what do you think this is?”
He paused with his hand on the doorknob and looked back at the woman still curled in his bed, her beautiful hair flowing over his pillow.
He shrugged finally. “It’s a battle. A battle of wills.”
Samhail turned, but her voice stopped him again.
“Who’s winning?” she asked.
He expected to see her grin when he looked, but her face was serious. He closed the door to the bathing chamber without answering, and, once inside, he let out a heavy breath.
She was. Talyn was definitely winning.
Samhail strode to the toilet and barely managed to get his dick to point down long enough to relieve his bladder.
He was going to have to jerk himself off.
He couldn’t walk around the fortress with a huge bulge in the front of his pants all day, both for the sake of propriety and because it would be pure agony.
Having Talyn with him all day was going to be challenging to say the least.
Samhail turned to the huge bathtub and saw the Citadel’s magic had already filled it with steaming hot water. He’d get his release there. The water would help, since he’d left the oil he usually used in his bedstand.
Samhail stripped off his pants and eased himself down into the tub to let the hot water relieve the tension in his body.
This woman was going to be the death of him.
He wasn’t sure if Bressen really did intend to send her to Revenmyer when all this was over, but he already knew he wouldn’t let his friend do that.
He still had slim hopes that he and Talyn might be able to travel and work together one day.
Samhail wrapped a hand around his cock and gave his length a long, firm stroke. This wouldn’t take long.
He closed his eyes and let his mind drift to the woman in his bed.
He imagined himself standing at the foot of it with her splayed out naked before him.
She ran her hands over her body as he watched, and one drifted between her legs to pleasure herself.
In his mind, she swirled her fingers over her clit, then plunge two of them inside herself.
He heard her cry his name as she rode her own hand… Samhail! Oh gods, Samhail!
“Samhail.”
His head snapped up as he realized that last one hadn’t been in his head. Talyn stood in the doorway.
Fuck.
“What are you doing?” he asked, pulling his hands quickly out of the water. “I’m taking a bath.”
She gave him a knowing smile. “Is that what you were doing?” she asked. “It sounded like you were in pain.”
Samhail tensed as Talyn strolled into the room, but he laid his arms out across the edge of the tub and tried to pretend her presence didn’t make his heart thud in his chest like a war drum.
“It used to be my job to help Cyra with her baths,” Talyn said casually.
He shut his eyes and willed himself not to picture that. No such luck.
“One time she was teasing Bressen through her mind, but it was arousing her as well,” she went on, “so I helped her out.”
Samhail opened his eyes when he felt her fingers on his hand. She ran them up his arm and over the muscles of his shoulder as she walked around him. Her fingers brushed across his hair before finding his other shoulder and continuing their trail down his other arm.
Samhail couldn’t hold down the gooseflesh that rose on his skin. Gods above. He never, ever got gooseflesh.
Talyn crouched down behind him so her lips were close to his ear. She rested a hand on his shoulder before moving it over his chest.
“I ran my hands over her breasts,” she purred as she moved her hand across his pectoral muscle so her thumb brushed his nipple. “And Cyra put her hands between her legs and-”
Samhail grabbed Talyn’s wrist just as her hand hit the waterline.
This woman was a demon in disguise meant to tempt him to one of the three hells. And, gods damn him, he was ready and willing to go.
“You’re on dangerous ground, hummingbird,” he said quietly.
“Oh? How so?”
Samhail let go of her wrist and rose from the water as she stepped back a pace.
“An animal will only take so much teasing before it bites,” he said. “And make no mistake, I’m just as much beast as I am man.”
Talyn
Samhail stepped out of the tub, and Talyn bit her lip as she took in every inch of his nearly seven-foot frame. Every dripping-wet, naked inch.
Water slid down him like delicate silk sheets before trickling into rivulets that rolled over the swells and ridges of his body.
It clung to him like a second skin and made each ripple of his already impressive muscles seem all the more pronounced.
A droplet clung to one of his nipples, and Talyn had to stop herself from flicking it with her tongue.
Who knew it was possible to be jealous of water?
The place that drew her eye next was the hard, straight length of his cock that stood up erect from the small patch of stark-white curls at his groin. She wondered how she had ever fit the thing inside her, even as a stubborn, reckless part of her wanted to try again.
She took a step toward Samhail.
“Talyn,” he warned. He held up a hand to ward her off, but she took another step toward him.
His eyes flared as she advanced on him. To her surprise, he backed away like she was a mouse trying to skitter up his leg. She half-expected him to jump up on a chair. So much for being as much beast as man.
“Stay back,” he warned, and Talyn’s brows shot up.
His back finally hit one of the walls, and she pounced. She pressed her hands to the wall on either side of his hips and looked up at him.
She didn’t understand this dynamic they had. When she pursued, he retreated, but then they’d reverse roles, and she’d flee while he hunted her down. One of them was always running, the other always chasing.
Well, right now, she’d caught him, and she smiled triumphantly.
“Talyn,” Samhail warned. “What are you doing?”
The smile faded from her face as she became serious.
“Thanking you for rescuing me last night,” she said softly.
Talyn dropped to her knees in front of Samhail, wrapped her hand around his cock, and licked up the underside of it from root to crown.
“Fuck!” he swore as his body jerked. “Talyn!”
She didn’t listen as she pushed her mouth over his head. He jerked again, but Talyn pushed his hips back before she plunged her head forward, intending to take him as deep as she could.
That wasn’t very far, and she tried to suppress her gag reflex as she eyed just how many more inches of him she’d need to fit.