Chapter 23
Reva
Acouple of hours later, I’m wearing a dress that isn’t my own, rooting through my bag for underwear that’ll work with it and trying to tamp down my rising panic.
Jack’s taste seems very different from my own, but I have to admit the dress he picked out is gorgeous.
My shoulders are bare and the skirt is so tight around my bum, most of my underwear aren’t going to work.
Too frilly. Too ugly. Too plain.
I don’t know why it matters so much, but it does. I’m putting on my armour to face a roomful of people just like Jack’s horrible family and I can’t help thinking that I’ll ruin the effect if I’m adjusting my underwear every few seconds.
My hands are shaking as I dig around, like I’m going to magically find a whole new set of clothes at the bottom of my bag.
I pull out a pair of stockings that are a good two feet too long for my legs.
They must be Frannie’s. I keep tugging and tugging until they unravel, bringing with them something hard that clatters onto the stone floor.
A warm hand on my arm has me sucking in a sharp breath. It’s Aster, looking concerned at my mini freakout. He grabs me by the shoulders and gently urges me to sit on the large double bed.
“I’m nervous,” I tell him while he grabs whatever it was I just unintentionally threw across the room.
He sits down beside me, dropping a pair of golden glasses into my lap. “Me too.”
Of course, he is. And I’m a selfish idiot for even mentioning my own nerves in front of him. But Aster doesn’t seem to hold it against me. He nudges me, gesturing to the glasses.
“I didn’t know you needed those.”
Peering down at them with a frown, I don’t recognise them at all and wonder how they got into my bag. Slipping them over my nose, I remember exactly where they came from.
The room looks entirely different through their lenses. There are blinding colours darting in all directions, from the floor and the walls and swirling in the air around us.
“These are Kit’s,” I mutter. “The ones that detect wards.”
It seems like they detect more than that. There’s magic absolutely everywhere in this room, even more than I realised. Before I can gawp at it for too long, Aster plucks the spectacles from my face and slides them carefully into the pocket of my dress.
“What has you nervous?” He carefully traces the words onto my bare forearm and I have to fight a shiver at his proximity.
“This is not what I do,” I tell him. “Charming information out of people, I mean. I move things around, find them good hiding spots, but usually there’s someone else who finds the buyer for me. I don’t know how good I’ll be at talking to this Northcliff person.”
His face softens as he gives me this look of absolute tenderness that has my breath coming in short gasps.
“You could go in there and have the entire room falling at your feet if you wanted,” he says.
I shake my head, wishing I had even a third of his confidence in me.
“I’m serious,” he continues. “You’re gorgeous. Fascinating. Remarkably strong.”
Am I? Because right now, I feel pretty close to falling apart.
Aster shifts closer so his leg is pressed right up against mine, shifting me around so that I’m facing him.
“You helped me without a second thought. You threw yourself into finding Kit. And you got the entire crew thinking of you as one of theirs within hours.” He lists off my accomplishments while I twist my lips doubtfully.
“The crew accepted me because of Kit,” I say.
But then Aster’s shaking his head furiously. He grips me by the hips and in a surprising display of strength, he hefts me up so that I’m sitting on top of him, straddling him.
“It’s because you haven’t shied away from a single thing since you went on that ship.” His amber eyes are blazing as they gaze into mine. “You’re remarkable, Reva. You should just accept it as I’m done arguing with you.”
My lips twitch. Is that what we were doing here?
Then Aster leans forward and presses a kiss to the bare skin at my collarbone. “I want to worship you as my goddess.” He presses another kiss, this time to my shoulder but I shake my head, pulling away.
“No, that isn’t right. Not if it’s because of some weird misplaced sense of gratitude,” I tell him.
Aster just smirks, not deterred as he presses an open-mouthed kiss to my neck. “That isn’t what this is.”
“The mate bond, then?”
He shakes his head, not stopping his assault on the delicate skin up my neck and along my jaw. “Wrong again. This is you and me, nothing else. I’ve watched you. I’ve touched this skin, etching my words into your flesh. And now, I want to taste it on my tongue.”
He licks his lips and I squirm in his lap, heat rolling through me at the intensity of having his eyes and lips on me as he spells the words with deliberate slowness onto my thighs.
Fuuck.
His eyebrows quirk as he gazes up at me, licking his lips. “Can I kiss you? I want your taste on my tongue when we’re surrounded by vipers.”
I nod jerkily, barely able to control the movement of my body while blood rushes into my ears. Two pounding heartbeats grow louder with every passing moment and I find I can barely draw a full breath.
“I kissed Torin earlier,” I blurt. Maybe I’m ruining the mood, but Aster should know.
“I know.” He kisses my ear, sucking gently on the lobe and making me squirm even more. “I’m glad. It’s not like I could be enough for you alone.”
“How do you mean?” I frown down at him.
“I’m not much of anything right now. No friends, no employment, no conversation. I’m not your best friend like Kit, or protective like Torin, or even charming like Jack is.”
Outrage bubbles up inside me at his words and I shake my head before surging down to take his lips in a hard kiss.
It’s not tentative or searching like a first kiss probably should be.
Instead, it’s me moulding my lips to his and chasing his tongue with my own as I try to convince him without words that he is good enough.
“You’re kind,” I pant, pulling back to gaze down at his fever-bright eyes.
“Sweet. Generous with your time. You’re not filled with bitterness and spite like you could be.
” I lean down to kiss him again and this time, he wraps his hand around the back of my neck, holding me close like he can’t get enough of me.
“And if you need hobbies,” I say. “You can just ask Finch as he seems to have a surplus of them.”
Aster grins, before resting his forehead against my chest for a moment. “See? How can anyone not think you’re wonderful?”
Energy is zinging through my veins and my lips feel puffy and taste like him. If his aim was to make me feel like I can take on the world, then he’s achieved it. Too bad I’d also far rather hide away in this room with Aster than venture out to the dinner.
There’s a knock on the door and I grimace as I get to my feet, quickly stripping off my soaked underwear and replacing them with fresh ones before swinging the door open.
Torin is standing on the other side, his arms braced against the doorjamb and the wall. His expression is a mixture of pain and raw hunger that leaves me biting my lip. Something tells me that switching my underwear has done nothing to hide my arousal from his enhanced sense of smell.
“Fuck. Me,” he mutters. “You couldn’t have waited until we were done with things here?” That last part is aimed at Aster who adjusts himself with a shrug.
“Yeah, yeah,” Torin continues, like he understood exactly what Aster just said without words. “If I was alone in a hotel room with her, I don’t think I could help myself either.” He steps back and gestures to the hallway.
I step past him, but before I can get anywhere, he grabs my wrist and spins me around. Ducking down to press a slow kiss to my lips that leaves me whimpering into his mouth, he then pulls back with a smirk.
“Let’s get this torture over with.”