Chapter 33 – Kian
Chapter Thirty-Three
KIAN
This isn’t going to plan. If she is directly descended from the gods like I suspect, why isn’t she lunging for my blood? Have I completely miscalculated?
Suddenly, I realize just how close we’ve gotten and how all her soft parts are lined up just right.
An unquenchable hunger for her lurches in my chest, and all I want is to capture her mouth with mine and taste her again.
I can almost remember the softness of those pillowy lips if I try hard enough.
But here she is, my strong, beautiful wife, looking at me in a way I can’t quite decipher, her mouth so temptingly close to mine.
“Rae . . .” A strained whisper leaves me as I lean in closer.
She scurries away from me, landing on her ass on the training mat. A soft “oof” leaves her as she hits the ground. I will not touch her against her will, as much as I want to chase after her in this moment.
The fear in her eyes instantly makes me feel regret. I didn’t mean to scare her. I’d only hoped to awaken the little goddess inside of her.
“Rae,” I say again, a little louder. “Are you all right, love?”
She shakes her head as if coming out of a daze. “I’m fine. Sorry, I just . . .”
“You don’t have to explain,” I reassure her.
I stand and go to her, offering a hand to help her to her feet. Thankfully, she takes it, and I pull her up and into me, steadying her while also enjoying the soft feel of her body against mine.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asks. Her concern for me makes me feel like the worst man.
“I told you, it’s just a scratch.” I put my hand up to my throat and wipe the blood away with my thumb. “It’s probably closed up already, right?”
She looks up at me and sighs. “You’re right.”
I might be mistaken, but I think I detect a hint of need in her eyes as she stares at the spot where my blood was flowing.
She reaches for her jaw and massages it. Interesting.
Perhaps I need to be more direct.
I hold up my thumb with the smear of blood. “Would you like a taste, love? I see that hunger in your eyes.”
Shock and maybe revulsion flash across her face but they’re quickly replaced with that hunger again.
She swallows and takes a step back. “Don’t be ridiculous, Kian. Why would I want a taste?”
I shrug and give her a devilish grin, taking another step toward her. “It’s not like you haven’t tasted it before.”
“That was for a ceremony,” she retorts.
“But you liked it.”
“So what if I did?” she blurts out.
Ah. Sweet victory.
“There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, little goddess.”
Her eyes light up with surprise. “What did you just call me?”
“Little goddess?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t I?” I ask, closing in. “It all adds up . . . the tonic, the blood, everything. Do you even know what you are?”
Her shoulders droop, and she looks at the ground. “No, Kian, I truly don’t. I have suspicions, but no evidence.”
I gently grip her shoulders, and she looks up at me, her eyes filled with sadness, longing, but also betrayal. “Let me help.”
Her body shakes with anger as she pushes away from me. “Is this all that stunt was? Were you hoping I’d slip up and attack you for your blood?”
I run a hand through the messy hair that came loose during training. “It wasn’t my best plan, I’ll admit.”
“You’re completely unbelievable. Why didn’t you just ask me?”
“Would you have told me? It’s not like you said anything to me about this before now.”
She laughs bitterly. “I’ve only just started coming to terms with it myself.
Not to mention, in this last week alone, I’ve found out that so many parts of my life—of who I am—is a lie.
That would be a lot for one person to manage, don’t you think?
I barely know you. Why would I trust you with this? ”
We stare at each other, her pain clearly etched on her features. She’s right not to trust me . . . it’s not as if I’ve shared all of my secrets either.
“You’re right, Rae. I shouldn’t have gone about things this way. I just thought that if I told you my suspicions without proof, you’d think I’d lost my mind. I thought if I could show you . . .”
“I think I have lost my mind,” she says wearily.
I step closer to her again, and this time, she doesn’t back away. Reaching up, I brush loose strands of her hair behind her ear and tilt her chin up so she has to face me. “I’ll say it again: let me help you.”
“How?” she asks, the hope and longing in her gaze nearly doing me in.
I unsheathe a sharp blade from my side and hold it up to my throat. “Taste me, little goddess. Drink and see what happens.”
She shakes her head. “I’m afraid, Kian. I’m afraid of what it means and of everything changing again. What if we’re wrong about all of this?”
“What if we’re right?” I dare her.
She squeezes her eyes shut, the war within her finally coming to a head. At her barest nod, I breathe a sigh of relief that she’s trusting me, and before I can second-guess myself, I reopen the shallow wound on my neck with a flick of my wrist.
“Drink, Rae.”
She opens her eyes, and I’m almost shocked at how ravenously she attaches her mouth to my throat. The softness of her tongue lapping at my neck almost does me in. I would have never thought something like this would turn me on, but oh gods, am I in for it.
The featherlight flutter of her tongue, her soft lips on my skin, and the quiet moan of hers that thrums through me make me want to throw her onto the ground and take her right here and now.
I grow uncomfortably hard as she presses closer and closer to me.
When her teeth scrape against my neck, I can’t stop the guttural sound that comes from my throat, and I pull her even closer, seeking some relief from the fire she’s ignited in me.
As if the roll of my hips shocked her, Raelyn gasps and pulls away, her hand going up to her mouth.
I blink, and everything is a little clearer, the lust-ridden fog moving from my mind as the space between our bodies grows. What in Luna’s name was I thinking? I had no idea it would be like this.
“Did I hurt you?” Raelyn gasps. Of course she’s not thinking about herself. Damn selfless woman . . . or goddess?
“I’m fine, love,” I rasp out, closing my eyes as I catch my breath from the raging flood of emotions and lust that roiled through me. “Give me a second.” I turn away from her, trying to adjust myself in my pants and let my body calm down.
When I turn to look at her, she’s frozen in place, her hand still at her mouth, as if she’s just as shocked.
“Are you all right?” I tilt my head. “Do you feel any different?”
She finally meets my gaze, and I gasp. The gold flecks in her green eyes have multiplied and almost glow ethereally.
“What?” she questions. “Did something happen to my face?”
I chuckle and walk toward her. “Your eyes, love. They’ve changed.”
“Hells,” she says. “I thought—”
“Thought what?”
“After our binding, I noticed some small flecks of gold in my eyes and thought it was strange . . .”
I nod in agreement. “I tried to convince myself that I just hadn’t noticed them before, or that it had never been bright enough when I’d seen you.”
“Is it bad?” she asks.
I shake my head and smile. “It’s actually quite beautiful. Right now, there’s almost a glow to them.”
“Well, that’s going to be hard to hide,” she laments.
I shrug. “This is completely new territory. I don’t even know where to start . . . but you never answered my question. Do you feel any different?”
She pauses and appears to take inventory of her body. “I feel . . . I think I feel stronger? There’s an energy buzzing through me,” she admits.
“I wonder if you have any powers,” I say softly.
“Powers?” she squeaks.
I suspect you’re descended from the—”
“Sun god,” we say in tandem.
My eyebrows fly up. “You know?”
“I suspect . . . I don’t have any way to know for sure.” She shrugs.
“Damn,” I say quietly. “Have you noticed anything else?”
“Well, I think my hands healed in the sun,” she admits. “I think the tonic makes me want to avoid the sun because it would give me strength.”
“I think you’re right. Brilliant girl.”
She blushes at the praise, and I take note.
“Are you sure I didn’t hurt you?” she asks again, raising a hand to touch my throat.
“I’m perfectly fine.”
“I didn’t take too much?” She bites her lip.
I shake my head. “Absolutely not.”
“I’m suddenly quite ravenous for food,” she admits.
“Well, you did put in quite a workout before this.”
She smiles. “I’m glad the blood isn’t fulfilling that requirement. Food tastes too good to give up.”
I chuckle before picking up Raelyn’s fallen daggers, putting them away, and then pulling on my discarded shoes and shirt. “Let’s get cleaned up, and I’ll have food brought to our wing.”
“Sounds perfect,” she says.
I put an arm around her and pull her in close to my side, feeling oddly protective of her as we walk. She keeps her eyes trained on the ground, worried, I guess, of someone noticing the change in them.
When we get back to our rooms, she dashes into the bathroom to look for herself.
“Gods,” she calls out. “You weren’t kidding.”
“I hardly think anyone will notice,” I call back before pulling the bell to ring for a servant.
“Liar,” she grumbles under her breath before the sound of running water hits my ears.
After requesting dinner be sent up for us, I meander over to my room and pull off my soiled shirt. Some of my blood got on it, and I want to bathe regardless.
The bathroom door is still cracked open, so I assume she’s decent as I knock. “Rae, are you nearly finish—”
My jaw drops as I step in and spy my naked wife rinsing soap out of her long auburn tresses in the tub. The streams of water gleam on her unblemished skin, caressing her as they slide down her back.
“Um, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize—” I stammer as I back away and grip the doorframe to combat the need to go to her.
Raelyn looks over her shoulder and shrieks, her hands flying up to cover her breasts, even though I can’t see them from this angle. Shame. I’m sure they’re lovely.
“Kian! What are you doing in here?”
I point toward the door. “It was open.”
She flushes deeply. “That’s my fault.”
I grin. “It’s all good. I’m enjoying the view.”
“Get out!” she cries.
“Of course! Sorry.” I back out of the bathroom and lean against the wall. Shit. We could really use more rooms, especially of the bathing variety. The fresh longing and desire for her overwhelm me.
Water sloshes, followed by the sound of Raelyn leaving the tub. I feel bad for cutting her bath short.
“You don’t have to rush on my account, love,” I call out.
“It’s fine, Kian,” she replies. “I’m starving, remember?”
I turn to the door as she exits, her body wrapped in a fluffy towel. Her shapely legs make me think about how much I’d enjoy having them wrapped around me. Damn it. Stop, Ki. You’re better than this. She’s not interested.
I can’t help but watch a droplet of water trail down her leg until a squeak comes out of her as she trips and goes sprawling toward the floor.
I swoop in and catch her right before she hits the ground, one arm banded around her chest and one around her waist. The now-familiar scent of vanilla and citrus assails my senses, and I long to unravel the towel and take my time exploring . . . but our damned agreement.
Once I help her to her feet, to my shock her towel comes undone and slides to the floor, as if the gods are mocking my own thoughts.
She gasps, and this time my face flushes red, as I don’t know where to look or what to do with my hands.
I chuckle awkwardly, spinning on my heel, but I’ve seen enough.
Enough to fuel my fantasies for days and nights to come.
“I might as well just die now,” Rae moans. “How many times do I need to flash you in one day before you kick me out of your rooms?”
She thinks I can’t stand this? That is the furthest thing from the truth.
Keeping my back to her, not wanting to make her even more uncomfortable, I try to make light of the situation. “Walk around naked for all I care, love. It’s just a body.”
She lets out an awkward laugh as she maneuvers around me, heading toward the closet. “I’ll try to watch my step this time.”
I palm my face. I’m in such deep shit. Cold bath it is.