Chapter 40 #2
Her body snapped tight, on the precipice of doing what she had trained it to do. The mindless reflex of driving her blade through flesh, expecting the warmth of blood on her skin.
Caromir hummed in her hand, yet she faltered.
The point dug into the side of his neck, welling with blood.
This was it.
She had poisoned his body.
She had poisoned his mind.
He was waiting for her to kill him, and he knew she was right to do it.
The steel lapped up the offering eagerly, power surging through her veins, clouding her mind.
“You deserve worse, you know that?” she hissed, pressing the blade deeper, blood pulsing.
His breath punched out. “I—know.” His eyes moved over hers, vacantly. “I’m sorry.”
Ksenia ground her teeth and let out a quavering breath, her eyes burning.
The blade shook.
Her heart pounded in her chest, blood rushing to her face.
Caromir clattered to the floor. She could feel the heat of his chest against hers as she clenched her fists in the sheets on either side of his head.
“Why are you a force I cannot fight?”
He sucked in a breath, his neck red with her handprint.
Bohdan’s head dropped forward. He didn’t reach for her tremoring, heated body, not yet.
But the look in his dark eyes was unraveling her.
The captain she knew was gone. The enemy she’d rallied against was gone. And what was left was just him, stripped down to whatever lay underneath the mask.
She had so desperately wanted to see what was beneath.
And what she found was a man forced to be a killer, like her.
Bohdan’s hand slowly rose, and this time, it didn’t stop.
His long, slender fingers traced her jaw in question, not claim.
What now?
The power of choice was a heavy, wondrous thing. He waited, giving her the opportunity to step back, to pick up the blade, to choose otherwise.
He saw the monster she had become and chose to see her, instead.
Their breaths ghosted against one another’s lips. Her chin angled up just a fraction.
Green met gold.
Words couldn’t explain what she needed from him.
So she took it.
Dragging him from the floor to roughly slam him down on the bed.
Their mouths scraped, urgent, desperate. It tasted both sacred and sacrilegious.
They broke apart momentarily for him to rip the oversized tunic off her and his shirt and trousers off himself. His skin was hot and velvety against her torso as she raked her teeth against the scar on his neck.
The scent of him clouded her mind—pomegranate and sage.
Ksenia’s hands fisted in the sheets as he bore his weight down on top of her, quickening her pulse, the promise of pleasure pooling in her core.
His fingers hungrily roved her tender flesh, goosebumps appearing in their wake.
The soft rustle of silk and the tapestry behind his bed gave way once more.
Bohdan’s fingers grasped her cheeks, turning her face to him. “I should have dragged you back into my room when I caught you sneaking out of it.”
What.
“—as if you’d be fast enough.” Her laugh was sharper than intended. Unconvincing.
He clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
With a single arm, he brought them upright, sitting back on his knees and whirling her to face the mirror. He pinned her back against his muscled chest, his hard length sliding against her already slick core.
Ksenia’s mussed reflection stared back, blood prickling her cheeks. Her eyes widened.
His filled with half-lidded amusement.
“You made a mess in here. But, you know what was worse?” His voice dropped as he dug his fingers into the meat of her thighs, spreading her legs over his, achingly slow, laying her bare for him to see.
Her breath hitched as he licked the shell of her ear, his eyes burning hers in the gilded mirror.
She didn’t like that look.
“That you didn’t invite me into yours when you made a mess of yourself afterward.” His hand closed around her neck, his other forearm threading through her elbows and drawing them behind her back.
Her eyes ringed with white.
Gods. No.
Heat branded itself into her stomach before it flashed through her, familiar like that cornered, wild animal. Her searing golden eyes held his gaze unwaveringly, chin tipped defiantly.
“What’s wrong? No witty retort?” He hummed, and the rest of her skin flushed red. “That’s our little game, right? I bite, you bite back.”
A bead of sweat dripped down her sternum. Her jaw clenched.
“Did you enjoy my scent?” She swallowed, and he felt it.
Her nerves felt white hot, unable to hide from scrutiny, and despite it all, she couldn’t look away.
“You called my name after all.” Bohdan twisted the knife deeper.
Say something.
Anything.
Anything to keep him from—
He broke the stalemate, dropping his gaze. She was dripping all over his length like a dark plum split to its syrupy core, her knees splayed wide around him.
He clicked his tongue, disappointed. Then he dragged the head of his cock tortuously against her sensitive bundle of nerves, through the mess she had made.
Two could play.
Ksenia snagged her bottom lip in her teeth. Her toes curled, and she rolled her hips against him.
“You think of that night often?” She snaked a delicate hand around the nape of his neck with a wicked smile.
“Hardly.” There was that irritating hum again.
His mouth was at her jaw.