13. Clair #3
His golden eyes flashed and Clair immediately wished she hadn’t said it. Weren’t they supposed to be putting the events of the night before behind them?
But it was too late—Maera looked interested.
“What happened last night?” she asked.
“Nothing!” Clair said, quickly.
Kaelus spoke at the same time.
“We slept.”
“You only slept?” Maera raised one eyebrow. “You did not give your husband leave to pleasure you?”
Clair felt her cheeks burn.
“I was very tired from our journey,” she said. “Too tired to, er, let Kaelus pleasure me much.”
Kaelus turned his head and gave her a look and she glared back.
Thankfully, Maera seemed willing to let it go. Instead, she studied Kaelus critically.
“He needs something else,” she said, frowning.
“No, he does not,” Kaelus said immediately.
Maera ignored him.
“A goddess should always leave some sign upon her husband that he belongs to her.”
Clair looked at Kaelus and he scowled back.
“What kind of sign?” Clair asked cautiously.
Maera pointed to a small tray on the dresser where several decorative objects had apparently been placed for them.
“Look in there—I’m sure you’ll find something.”
Among the objects were several narrow metallic bands and jeweled clasps. Clair picked up one of the bands. It was dark silver and etched with delicate blue symbols.
“What does this mean?” she asked, holding it out to Maera.
The other woman’s eyes went soft and she smiled.
“Devotion,” she said. “A wife fastens it around her husband’s upper arm. It tells others that he is cherished and claimed by the woman who owns him.”
Claimed. For some reason, that word did something funny inside Clair’s stomach.
“Oh,” she said. She was pretty sure Kaelus wouldn’t like the idea of her “owning” him in the way the band implied. She started to put it back, but the big Hybrid surprised her by holding out his arm.
“Put it on me,” he said.
Clair looked up at him in surprise.
“You’re okay with this? You don’t mind being ‘owned’ by me?” she murmured.
“It is a necessary part of my new outfit,” Kaelus said evasively.
“That’s not what I asked,” she pointed out.
His expression became unreadable.
“No,” he said quietly. “It isn’t.”
He held her eyes with his and for a moment everything else seemed to fall away. Then Maera shifted behind her and Clair forced herself to break the staring contest they had somehow fallen into.
Bending to her task, she fastened the band around his massive biceps. She couldn’t help noticing that her fingers looked tiny against his arm. The dark silver band settled in place and tightened automatically until it fit perfectly.
Maera sighed happily and clasped her hands to her heart.
“Now you look properly Joined. See what a few small touches have done?” she said to Clair. “Your husband looks quite handsome now.”
Clair stepped back. She had to admit her coworker really did look hot, but it wasn’t just his new look that gave her a little shiver down her spine.
The sight of Kaelus standing there in fitted black trousers and the sleeveless charcoal tunic, wearing a Titus Four devotion band she had personally fastened around his arm, gave her an odd little ache somewhere behind her breastbone.
It looked real—they looked real—like a real couple.
And after what had happened between them the night before, pretending was starting to feel considerably more dangerous than it had when they first arrived.
But she couldn’t stand around admiring her “husband” all day—they had work to do.
“There.” Clair forced brightness into her voice. “All dressed.”
Kaelus looked down at her.
“Are you satisfied with your handiwork, my goddess?” he rumbled.
There was dry humor in his voice. But there was something else too…something warm.
Clair felt her cheeks getting hot. Why did he have to look at her like that when he called her “my goddess?” Trying to cover her confusion, she put her hands on her hips and pretended to study him.
“Hmm.”
She circled him slowly and Kaelus turned his head to follow her.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
Clair gave him a teasing smile.
“Just inspecting my husband.”
“You have already inspected me enough in the viewer earlier,” he growled.
Clair’s cheeks got even hotter.
“I told you I wasn’t looking!” she protested.
Kaelus raised an eyebrow at her.
“You were absolutely looking.”
Maera laughed again.
“The two of you are most amusing!” she exclaimed.
Clair came around to Kaelus’s front and reached up and straightened the neckline of his tunic. Then, because Maera was watching and because some reckless little part of her wanted to, she smoothed both hands over Kaelus’s broad chest.
His muscles tightened instantly beneath her palms and a soft growl rose in his throat.
Clair smiled.
“There,” she said softly. “Perfect.”
Kaelus’s golden eyes locked with hers again and for half a heartbeat, Clair forgot Maera was in the room. Then their hostess clapped her hands delightedly.
“Wonderful! Now kiss him and we can go to breakfast.”
Clair nearly choked.
“Excuse me, what?” she asked, turning to their hostess.
“Kiss your husband,” Maera repeated as though it were the most ordinary request in the world. “A goddess always gives her husband affection after adorning him. It shows that his appearance pleases her.”
“Oh, right.” Clair swallowed. “Of course.
She looked at Kaelus and he looked back at her. Suddenly the situation didn’t seem amusing anymore.
They had touched. They had held each other. They had watched each other do considerably more intimate things than kissing the night before. But somehow, they still had never actually kissed.
And after what Kaelus had said last night about needing distance between them, Clair wasn’t certain he wanted to start now.
“Well…” she began.
Maera frowned.
“Is there a problem? Surely you show your husband affection—it would be cruel to withhold it when he has devoted his life to serving you!”
Kaelus’s eyes flicked toward her and Clair wondered what he was thinking. Then his expression changed and his arm slipped around her waist.
“Come here, Lissa’ra,” he rumbled. “I need a kiss as a reward for my devotion to you.”
And Clair barely had time to inhale before he pulled her against him and lowered his mouth toward hers.