Chapter 30 #2
He nodded, taking one step, then another, away from me, like the act physically pained him. With how the rope tying our fates together twisted, the punishment pushed into me too. It wanted nothing more than from him to join me in this tub.
And yet, I wasn’t quite ready to let him that close.
He scooted the same stool I’d perched on to the rim of the tub, placing a handful of soaps on it. My triceps screamed in protest from holding myself in this hovering position, but I didn’t dare surrender it until he walked away.
With one last glance at me, he disappeared through the archway.
Air fled my lungs. I called on my magic, creating a small bolster under my bottom, and stripped off the tunic.
Fishing out the virelthorn from between my breasts, I used another tendril of white to secret it away in a shadowed corner.
Then, I undid the bind. Bundling the fabric, I tossed it as far as I could.
“Shit,” I swore under my breath as it landed only halfway to its mark.
I eased fully into the water, hoping that by sinking down, my naked body would be mostly hidden.
“You can grab my clothes now,” I called out to my mate, heart beating a staccato rhythm against my ribs.
His familiar stride approached. I peeked over the rim, unable to help myself.
He stopped in his tracks on the other side of the entry. Tunic unbuttoned, his muscled, tattooed torso was on full display. He’d undone his hair, letting the iron-gray mess tumble to his shoulders. Lust coursed down our bond. I pressed my legs together involuntarily.
His gaze tracked over the tub. Then over my flesh. With his height, I should have known there was no hiding from him.
Yet I didn’t flinch. Didn’t make a move to cover myself.
I couldn’t with how transfixed I was.
Then, he shook himself, lips pressed into a firm line, and gathered my dirty clothes. “I’ll return in a little while,” he rasped, keeping his head down. “If you need my assistance before then, you know how to reach me.”
He spun on his heel and strode away like if he stayed behind there never would have been a chance for him to leave.
Every muscle stiff, I listened for the sound of the exterior door closing.
When it did, I sighed, shoulders finally relaxing.
Yet my thighs were tense, aching, along with my center.
Never in my life had I been this raw, this relentlessly primed. Never in my life had I had to suffer through the inability to banish the burn.
This fucking bond.
Vaeron was the kind of lethal beauty that legends whispered about. He was the leviathan lurking in the deepest lakes, waiting to devour an innocent maiden.
And to be mated to a creature so sinfully cruel?
How could one resist the temptation of a taste?
Exhaustion had taken root in my bones each night, so I hadn’t attempted to touch myself, to snatch at a modicum of relief. Besides, I’d been filthy. But now that I could be clean…
The idea was too good to pass up.
I grabbed a bar of soap, running it over my skin in sensual, languid strokes. Imagining it was someone doing it for me. Cleaning me. Taking care of me. Protecting me.
I dunked underwater, scrubbing my scalp to rid it of the buildup of oil.
Then, I drained the tub, refreshing the water and adding further scented soap to soak into my skin.
My nipples peaked like twin summits of the Skala Mountains as I rubbed myself again.
Goddess, it felt so good. Wetness seeped from my center. I trailed a hand down my stomach, finding my clitoris and pressing. A gasp fled my lips. Hips bucking, I rubbed lower, lower, until I cupped my core.
Water sloshed as I rode my hand, pleasure rising quick and fast like a tidal wave.
I sank one finger inside. Then two as I realized how open and ready I already was. Curling them and pressing the heel of my palm into my pelvis, I pleasured myself.
Vaeron flashed into my mind. His long, calloused fingers. The defined planes of his muscles.
My walls clenched and fluttered, like they were moving in time to a melody crafted only for us.
I shouldn’t have been thinking about him. Shouldn’t have felt the lightning crackling through my veins, driving my ecstasy higher.
And yet, his was the only face I saw.
I moaned, long and low, vibrating the stone.
Thank the Goddess our room was on the top floor, and no other shared the expansive space.
Tension coiled inside me. Sparks danced behind my eyes. I was so, so close…
The exterior door opened, and I froze.
Our bond tautened as Vaeron stepped closer. My hand flew away from my center, and I quickly reached for a bar of soap, frothing it furiously.
He stopped in the archway, the shadow of him spilling into the room. “Are you almost done?”
I could have sworn amusement threaded his tone.
“Just about,” I replied, my voice far too breathy. Internally, I kicked myself.
“Shout when you are,” he crooned, his voice all velvet and steel and doing nothing to cool off my burning insides.
I dragged in one shuddering breath, then another, trying to calm my racing heart and desperate center. Both refused to yield. I pulled the plug, gurgling overtaking the thrum of blood in my ears. I hoped the water would drain the color from my face too.
Reaching for a stack of bath sheets, I tugged one free and wrapped it around my hair.
The second I secured around my body, the ends dampening from the leftover bathwater.
But I could not allow Vaeron to see me naked, not when the bond roared like a starving beast behind my ribs and my center still pulsed with need.
“Ready!” I called out, the cheeriness suspiciously forced.
Vaeron strode into the bathing chamber, fucking shirtless this time.
I flicked my eyes to the ceiling, like I could peer through the wood and the leaves to the sky.
Goddess help me.
He was trying to tease me, wasn’t he? He knew exactly what I’d been doing.
The smirk he wore said everything. And as he prowled to the back of the tub, he reveled in the thrall of knowing. Trying to hide the tremor in my body, I raised my arms, allowing him to hook under them and lift me.
My mate settled me onto a mat at the base of the tub, water running off in rivulets. Yet he didn’t release me. In fact, he stepped closer, heat radiating off his skin. My breath hitched as something hard pressed into my backside.
Our bond fucking celebrated like it was the night of the new year.
I wanted to strangle it.
Vaeron slid down my body with agonizing slowness, a hand resting on the curve of my waist to steady me. A soft bath sheet pressed against my legs. I nearly jumped away from my mate at the tender touch. He eased across each inch of my flesh, careful not to brush my broken knee.
With him crouched behind me, he couldn’t see the rose dusting my chest and cheeks. If he had, well, I would have had to leap from the balcony to my death.
Just the bond.
The thought tasted like a lie.
“There,” he pronounced, the word whispering a shiver down my spine. “Grip the tub while I grab your robe.”
I didn’t hesitate to obey, if only to get him out of my orbit for a single moment so I could catch my breath.
He retreated, returning a moment later with something soft and silky. I slipped one arm in, then switched my grip to secure the other. When Vaeron’s fingers trailed across my stomach to tie the belt around my waist, I nearly combusted.
This is what torture must feel like.
He steadied me again, and I tugged on the towel, letting it drop out from underneath the silk.
Then, he leaned down, his hot breath ghosting over my ear. “I can carry you to the bed.”
“I’m sure you can,” I taunted, trying not to think about how he would look doing just that. I’d already been pressed against his hard body, but in all those other instances, I had hatred to hold onto.
But now? There were no sharp edges…even though there should have been.
His laugh brushed against the back of my neck. “Would you like me to?”
I swallowed. Hard. “The crutches are fine.”
Amusement trickled through the cracks in my mental barricade as he handed them to me. The moment they were beneath my arms, I swung myself toward the arched door.
I had to escape him—and not for the reasons I’d fled before.
Water splashed against stone, echoing through the room as I settled onto the mattress. Surprisingly, it swayed far less than I was expecting. A breeze rustled the leaves overhead, mixing with the plunk of Vaeron entering the tub.
And Goddess help me, I couldn’t stop picturing what it would look like.
I closed my eyes, praying for some sort of salvation.
Because knowing we’d be sharing this room after that?
I was terrified of what would happen.