Chapter 22 #2
Anelize looked up and did not waver as she stared at him with all the conviction she had through her exhaustion. Gracing him with a small smile, she said, “You have sparked that change in others, Aeric. More than you know. Sometimes, I think it just takes time for us to finally face the truth.”
The sound of the kindling crackling in the fireplace filled the silence between them.
And then he began pushing the covers off his legs with a grimace. He set his feet down on the floor as if he would make to stand, and she was up and out of her chair in an instant.
“What are you doing? Get back in bed—”
His hand reached for hers the moment she was close enough and he tugged her forward. Parting his legs, he allowed her to step into him until they were close enough to share one breath.
Anelize’s breath halted as he stared up at her with nothing short of admiration and said, “Thank you for your words, for saving me. I owe you a life debt.”
“I’m sure you would do the same for me,” she murmured.
“I did. I would. As many times as need be.”
“Considering what we are about to do, I’m not sure you want to make such a bold claim.”
“As many times,” he said again. Unwavering. Aeric’s grip tightened on her hand, and she was glad it wasn’t the one that had been injured. The only thing she wanted to feel in this moment wasn’t pain, but warmth and surety. Him.
“Back there, when you thought I merely meant to protect you because of what you could do for us to put a stop to the Loom’s power, you were wrong.
As much as I delight in those rare occasions…
” She rolled her eyes at him, and he smiled before his voice dropped.
“In that moment, I only wanted to prove you wrong. Show you exactly what it is that you mean to me. I heard you in the stables before. You think of yourself as ruination. But you are the furthest thing from it. You are my salvation, and you don’t even see it.
The way I’d gladly fall to my knees before you. Let you ruin me if you so wished.”
Dangerous—they were teetering on a dangerous line. One Anelize wasn’t sure she could fully understand just as she couldn’t understand how her heart pounded in her chest. So loud she was sure he could hear it from how close they were to one another.
“How will you show me?” she asked breathlessly, hating herself for it.
A sharp smile touched his lips as he pulled her closer, until she had no choice but to brace her hands upon his shoulders. His arms wrapped around her waist as he looked up at her as if he were staring at one of the saints painted upon the walls of the Old Church.
His hand reached up and cupped her cheek, running his thumb along the cuts that had been left behind in the wake of the raids.
“You are the most precious thing I have ever laid eyes upon.” Pulling her down, her breath stalled in her chest as he pressed a kiss to one of the cuts, easing the sting with the gentle caress of his lips.
When he pulled away, he whispered, “From the moment I first saw you in that alley. When you threatened me if I dared harm what was most precious to you without an ounce of fear. I knew there would never be another who could captivate me as much as you had in that moment.”
He moved to the next one he found on her jaw, and the one she hadn’t noticed on her neck. Her hands closed into fists over his shirt at the whispers of heat he sent through her body, down to the deepest parts of herself.
“Wicked and a little cruel at times.” His voice was a deep rumble she felt through every nerve ending in her body.
When his fingers slid beneath the collar of her robe, he looked to her in a silent request. She swallowed once, twice, then nodded when she built up the courage.
No longer denying herself what she’d wanted for far longer than she realized or cared to admit to herself.
“Vicious and loyal when it comes to protecting what’s yours. ”
Aeric’s movements were slow and meticulous as he tugged one side of her robe and pulled it over her shoulder before doing the same to the collar of her nightgown.
Exposing her shoulder where he must have remembered the burn had been.
Only a small pink patch of skin remained but when he pressed a kiss next to it, it felt entirely too sensitive, tender to the touch.
His lips curved into a smile when she shuddered.
He placed another kiss, this time along her collarbone where she knew there were no injuries.
“All of the things I cannot get enough of when it comes to you.”
“Gluttony will be the death of you,” she breathed out, unable to hold back the sounds that he coaxed out of her with his lips alone.
She felt him smile against the other side of her jaw. “I’ve never denied it.”
He straightened as his hand cupped her cheek, eyes flickering to her lips. For a moment, neither of them moved as they waited, waited, waited.
“You are going to ruin me,” Aeric whispered, running his thumb over her bottom lip. The touch driving her close to madness. Parting her lips as he hovered over them. His breath caressing her with want. A yearning that left her feeling as though he had been utterly starved of affection for too long.
“Aeric…”
His mouth met hers, stealing her words with a deep, almost pained sound as if he were finally being granted a reprieve from unending torture.
As if he has felt this unrelenting pull between them for far longer than she has.
His kiss was a demand. A supplication. The rough press of lips, the dance of their tongues as they explored each other’s mouths for the first time.
A push and pull, again and again, until it became too much.
Too fast for her to make sense of the dizzying wave that hit her.
Making her lose all sense of reason and restraint.
A moan escaped her as she sank her fingers into his silken hair.
Tugging and equally as desperate to have more.
For him to grant her more than she ever granted herself permission to want.
Aeric released his own desperate sounds as he pulled her flush against him.
Letting her feel the heat emanating from his body, warming hers to a stifling temperature.
She gasped when he lifted her and placed her on his lap, encouraging her to straddle his hips.
Changing the angle, deepening the kiss further as the hard planes of his body met hers.
Allowing her to feel every inch that set her on fire.
His hands roved over her back, finding purchase on the collar of her robe before tugging down on it, gripping it in a vice.
The soft fabric sliding down her back and shoulders, his fingers caressing the nape of her neck, then down where he exposed her to the cold air.
All of it felt too much. Overwhelming her.
When her hips moved of their own accord, brushing over him, they both groaned at the contact. Aeric pulled away from her mouth, resting his forehead against the column of her throat as he breathed heavily.
“I suggest we stop here.”
“Why?” she asked, and he laughed at that. The sound so lovely she thought she could bottle it up and keep it all to herself, even as it sounded pained. Maybe she was a glutton, too. Made into one by the man before her.
“Because there is far too much that I wish to do to you and so little time. I don’t want to rush through it.
This,” he said on a groan as their hips came together once more.
The friction maddening, driving more tormented sounds from each other’s lips.
“I want all of this and so much more when it comes to you.”
“Then take it,” Anelize whispered as she pushed him back, capturing his face between her hands to get him to look at her once more.
His grip was unrelenting on her hips as if he were a man lost at sea clutching to the one thing that could keep him afloat amidst the torrid waves that threatened to drown him.
Aeric kissed her again and again, until she had no way of knowing where she ended or where he began.
His fingers tangled into her long hair, still slightly wet from her bath.
When he tugged on the strands, she moaned as she found herself staring up at the ceiling of the canopy.
Taking advantage of the angle he’d put her in, he nipped at her neck before soothing the sting with his tongue.
The action was so lewd, so wicked, that it had them both moaning.
Encouraged by his greed, Anelize pushed him down onto the bed.
The sudden movement made him groan, as he watched her eagerly lean over him.
Her hands braced on the mattress as she leaned in to kiss him again, before she winced at the sharp pain that suddenly pierced through her arm.
Aeric noticed immediately and sat back up, pulling her with him.
“What is it? Did I hurt you?”
Shaking her head, she brought her injured hand between them where the bandage she’d wrapped around her wrist had come undone.
Aeric’s eyes narrowed on her wrist, and he gently took it in his large hand, pulling the bandage away to reveal a ghastly terrible bruise running along the outside of her wrist and hand. His eyes darkened with silent rage as he took in the damage done to her. “Who?”
The question—the demand—was simple enough that she knew what he meant. If her attacker wasn’t already dead thanks to her power, she was sure Aeric would have found some way to track him down and kill him.
“The Watchman who hurt you. He would have killed you if I hadn’t…”
“Hadn’t what?” he asked, that deep furrow between his brows filling his face full of concern.
“I did it,” she murmured. “I killed him. It hadn’t been my intention at first to conjure, but there was so much blood and I—I did it. I suppose it is a relief to you all now, knowing I can do so again, should it come down to it in the tunnels.”
“Is that truly what you believe, or is that something you think I would find a great fortune?” he asked her sincerely, only fueling her shame as she looked down to their hands.
“Do you find me hateful for it?” Despite accepting that she would do it again if she had to, there was no denying the toll she had paid and would always pay for taking a life.
Aeric brushed away a strand from her face, curling his fingers against the back of her ear as he tucked it behind. The touch making her shiver. Then he cupped her face in his hand and urged her to meet his eyes once more.
“No. I do not. I am only sorry it was not I who took that life for you.” There was no praise or reassurance given, not that she would have wanted either.
They both knew those things should not be given so easily.
Especially when it came to this. She knew he meant it, though, and yet it did little to ease her.
When she made to stand, he helped her without ever taking his eyes off her face.
“I should go. There’s no telling what tomorrow will bring. We need rest.”
Before she could walk away, his hand gently took her injured one and brought it up to his lips. Placing one lingering kiss on her wrist.
“Stay here tonight. Stay with me.”
After what transpired between them, she found it far more difficult to deny him anything. Especially when he looked at her with such longing that it physically ached.
So, she stayed.
They settled into the bed, facing each other.
Aeric’s arm tucked beneath her head and their legs tangling together to ward off the cold.
It was almost too natural the way she settled into his arms and how he kept her close to his chest, where she could hear his heart beating.
The sound soothing her into sleep that had come entirely too quickly.
“Tomorrow, things will be different. Won’t they?” she murmured.
His hold tightening around her was answer enough, but then he said, “Sleep for now.”
As she started to drift off, listening to his heart and losing herself to the sweet comfort of his embrace, she could have sworn she heard him say, “Do not venture where I cannot reach you.”