23 Imogen #2
The man who had once forbidden me from using magic was now prepared to help me learn it. A host of feelings tumbled through me, and when I couldn’t articulate a single one, I asked, “How long before we reach Della?”
Green eyes flicked toward mine. Then away. He wound the rope around my fingers and back toward my wrists. “Two or three days.” He spoke in a graveled mumble. “It depends on the wind.”
He tested the knot, then forced his hands away from me. The ship dipped, jostling us. The grip he formed on his knees was so tight his knuckles were going white and he slipped into a quiet brood. I wasn’t sure how to pull him out. “What’s it like there?” I asked. “In Della.”
Slowly, he studied my face, my neck, my fluttering hair. He’d locked himself in some imaginary fetters too, I could tell, keeping himself from coming closer.
“Kardinia, the smaller island, is packed and dirty.” He took a long pause as he traced the line of my lips. “I prefer the larger island… where… where all the animals roam.”
“Theo,” I whispered, noting his misery. “You can touch me.”
The invisible bind on his body snapped. A slow breath escaped him.
The hand he raised to my lips was warm and he used the tip of his finger to draw their outline.
He slipped his finger past them, into the heat of my mouth, and let out a soft groan before he pulled it out again and continued speaking in a strangled voice.
“Before I left Varya, I got an interesting letter,” he said.
His words were made fuzzy by his excruciatingly gentle touch.
He drew his fingers from my lips, down my chin, until they skated down the front of my throat.
“The Dellen queen is growing old and rather than appoint an heir, she’s decided to change the structure of Della and Gos’s government to that of a republic. ”
“A republic?” I breathed.
He nodded. “There are far away countries who have had success doing such a thing—having a land ruled by its people,” he said, his words husky.
He reached the front of my cloak and undid the pin.
“I can’t imagine the mess of the transition.
Or what sort of nightmare it will be dealing with the untrained people they elect to power. ”
I tried my best to sound affronted, but it was impossible with his hand drawing through the front of my shirt. “I’m untrained,” I said, defensively. I wanted to believe they—and I—could learn. “I have no business ruling a kingdom.”
A wicked smile tipped his lips. “You make my point for me.” Then he was tilting me backward, laying me out across the net. The weight of his body settling over mine was a comfort, but he looked fierce, hungry, as he pressed my bound hands over my head and began to undo my shirt buttons.
My entire body glowed, but that thumping in my stomach grew brighter too. I held my breath at the pressure building through me, at the itch on my back where my wings wanted to break forth. I clamped down on the impulse. “I thought you were going to read to me, Theo.”
Theodore had no such hold on himself. He was wild with some mix of need and helpless fear.
He skated his fingers over my chest and tenderly slid the front of my shirt open.
Waves shattered against the hull beneath us, our bodies rocking with their force, and he stared down at me for a glittering, drawn-out moment, until finally, he hooked a finger over the top of my bindings and tugged until he uncovered one breast.
“I’ll read to you,” he crooned. The crease in his brow deepened as his focus roved across my skin.
He bent his head and took the tip of my breast into his mouth, making me gasp and arch.
He teased it, a soft swipe of his hot tongue, then sucked hard before releasing me.
He brought our eyes even, our lips close, and the look on his face was desolate.
“Magic will take you from me, Imogen.” His words were all breath, soft against my mouth.
“I’m afraid that my fate is to lose you again and again. ”
I almost kissed him. Almost tried to wipe our minds with the oblivion of it.
Our bodies adjusted, slowly moving so I cradled his hips between mine.
We knotted our legs, I felt the hard press of him against my center, and as I fought for even breaths, I searched for a way to assure him that I wouldn’t let magic overtake me, that once I succeeded in defeating Eusia, I would stop.
But for the first time, I feared it might have an unbreakable claim on me—just like he did.
He fisted my hair, tilting my head back, lowering his mouth toward mine.
My heart thundered with rising panic. I had fought so hard to keep myself together, and his kiss would unravel me entirely.
“Theo…” I said, stopping him from leaning in closer.
I dragged my nose against the end of his.
“You… you always say such pretty things to me. And I have never reciprocated…”
He laughed, a hot breath against my lips. “Immy—”
“Listen.” I said, serious. “In part it’s because I don’t possess your skill with words, but more than that—which will be no surprise to you—it’s because I’m afraid.”
He nodded, “I know—”
I gave my head a vehement shake. “It’s not a small worry, Theo. It’s a gaping hole of terror that I feel rising up to swallow me.” I tightened my legs around his. “I want you. In every sense, in every way. But no matter how I look at… us, I cannot see how to make it work.”
“Imogen—”
“Please listen. You are a king. And now I am a queen, my Gods, and when all this is through—if I survive it—I have to go off and care for a kingdom of people who will hate me. It is my duty to commit my life to them, far on the other side of the sea.”
The wind gusted around us. He drew his fingers through my hair, his thumb brushing my temple. “We’ll join the kingdoms.”