Chapter 20
We stared at each other until I cleared my throat.
“To be clear, I don’t think I’d want you to stop,” I whispered.
His nostrils flared and the pupils in his eyes widened.
“Stop it, we have been over this. You can’t keep saying those things.”
His words were firm, but the tone of his voice betrayed him.
The heat in his gaze emboldened me.
“What if I walked across the room toward you and kneeled in front of you? Like you did that day at the library? If I was begging you to touch me, just once?” I asked.
He growled low in his throat.
“Stop,” he said, voice tight, but not angry. “Don’t… don’t make me think about that.” His face was grim, but the swirling purple lights in his eyes betrayed the restraint he was trying to hold.
I smiled sweetly.
“Why? It’s only words, Theo. You read and speak them everyday, it’s not like we’re doing anything. It’s not like I am walking over to your table, lying down on my back, inching my dress up higher and higher over my legs.” My fingers trailed up the inside of my thigh.
He swallowed hard but didn’t move, trying hard to hold his mask of indifference in place.
“I am going to warn you one last time, Mae. There is too much at stake here for us to be distracted by such… basic… urges.”
A laugh escaped me. Only he could make the sexual tension between us sound like something from a biology book.
“Well, the way I see it, you have read extensively about those… basic urges, and I am simply telling you what’s been on my mind lately. I see nothing wrong with that,” I said.
He huffed and shifted his stance to the other leg, but didn’t move a stretch closer.
“Did one of your books ever mention what it would feel like if someone took the feather of your quill and ran it down your bare chest?” I asked softly, letting my hand wander from the base of my neck, down between my breasts and lower still towards my navel, stopping just before my waist.
His jaw clenched, muscles working like he was holding something back. I thought this would be the moment he gave in, walked straight over to me.
But he didn’t. Instead, I watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed hard, and something in his expression shifted.
“You’re good with your words, Maelis. You’re the wordsmith after all,” he said, pushing himself off the bookshelf behind him. “You’re good, but I think I am getting quite tired now and should be getting ready for bed.”
The air left my lungs. There was no way he was thinking about sleeping right now! My body was on fire, I was aching from head to toe, desperate for him to touch me.
He grinned at me, reveling in the fact that he had caught me off guard for once.
And then I gasped. Because he meant what he had said quite literally and indeed started getting ready for bed, right here, right now, in his office.
He met my gaze and began unbuttoning his tunic, one deliberate button at a time. As each fell away, strips of skin were revealed, warm and enticing. Dark chest hair framed the lines of his muscles, and I felt heat coil low in my stomach, certain I was moments from melting entirely.
When he reached the last button, he pushed the tunic over his shoulders and let it drop to the floor with a soft thud.
Holy fucking hell, he was absolutely beautiful. His chest was sculptured, but not unnaturally. It was clear that years of training had shaped his body. To my surprise, a few scars marred his otherwise flawless skin, and I could still make out the spot where Ignara had hurt him nearly a month ago.
“What’s up Mae, you are suddenly very quiet.” He smirked, barely able to hide his amusement.
I swallowed hard, not trusting my voice.
“I am only admiring your… basic… anatomy,” I rasped, and Theo chortled.
“Oh, what are you admiring exactly?” It was a challenge.
Our roles had been reversed.
“Well, for one… you look well… nourished,” I improvised and received a raised eyebrow for that.
I racked my brain trying to remember my biology class from school.
“Your body is characterized by… well-defined musculature and balanced proportions. The chest muscles are well-developed, providing a broad, firm chest…” I was dying inside.
“Overall, the skin appears healthy and firm, with visible veins indicating good blood flow and low body fat, typical of a physically active individual.”
He roared with laughter, and I couldn’t help but giggle too.
“Mae Mae Mae, you truly know how to do the sexy science talk,” he said.
Enough. I had to take back control of the situation.
“So that’s it? Are you going to sleep in your trousers?”
The expression on his face let me know he was debating what to do next.
A few seconds passed before he said, “I would prefer to keep these on, I wouldn’t want to scare you with the sheer monstrosity of my… what did you call it? Basic anatomy.”
I snorted. “Is that a 40,000-year-old book about the rise and fall of the Tinathian King in your trousers, or are you just happy to see me?”
He bellowed with laughter, sinking against the bookcase. Tears pricked my eyes, and he rubbed at his cheeks, still chuckling.
“My face hurts from laughing so much,” he gasped, “but we should be going to bed.”
I glanced at him, a smile still tugging at my lips, unwilling to let the moment fade.
“Goodnight, God of Wisdom,” I said softly.
“Goodnight, wordsmith,” he said with a smirk.
I waited for him to move and leave the room because he was closest to the door, but he stayed right where he was.
“I need you to leave first, Mae. I am going to need a few minutes to… calm down… before I can go anywhere,” he supplied.
It took everything in me not to look down at where I assumed his hard cock was straining against his trousers and dramatically rolled my eyes in ecstasy.
With one last glance back, I left the room and closed the door behind me.
I could hear him releasing a long breath.
“This is going to be torture.”
And I had to agree with him on that.
* * *
In the days following our heated exchange, things seemed to have calmed down on the mortal continent.
There were no new reports of the Heralds appearing in the larger cities and there was still no sign of Ignara.
It was a deceptive silence, almost too good to be true, but there was nothing we could do.
Lydia had left for the capital, so I had to make up my own training schedule.
All the sexual tension I had felt ever since that night at Theo’s office was still making me ache.
The best way to get it out of my system was to push myself to my bodily limits.
I went jogging twice a day now and lifted heavy weights in our gym in the attic of the Lodge.
Lydia had installed a punching bag and when the thoughts of Theo taking off his shirt for me got too much, I put on my boxing gloves and started hitting the bag like there was no tomorrow.
A few times I happened to run into Theo, either on one of my runs in the woods or in the gym.
I suspected that he too was looking for ways to distract his body and mind.
It was Caelan who noticed the change in our routines.
“Did something happen that I’m not aware of?” he asked one morning over breakfast, eyeing the two of us as Theo and I returned from yet another pair of grueling training sessions.
“What do you mean?” Theo asked.
Caelan hummed thoughtfully, then leaned back in his chair.
“Well,” he said, pursing his lips, “Ignara, he nodded at me, “have been going on an impressive number of runs lately. And you,” he added, pointing at Theo with his fork, “have developed what I can only describe as an emotionally committed relationship with the weights.”
I snorted, rolling my eyes. “I see nothing wrong with that.”
“Of course you don’t,” Caelan said mildly. “I just thought it curious that neither of you seems capable of sitting still anymore. Or,” he added, eyes flicking between us, “standing too close to each other.”
“We had a rather unpleasant encounter with a goddess,” I said smoothly. “Speaking only for myself, I don’t ever want to feel that helpless again. So forgive me for trying to get into shape before the next immortal tries to murder me.”
Caelan studied me for a long moment, then nodded. “Ah,” he said. “Trauma-driven fitness. Very healthy. Very inconspicuous.”
That smug bastard.
“What’s on the agenda for today?” Auretheos asked, popping a generous piece of bacon into his mouth and licking his fingers afterward.
My own mouth watered—and it had very little to do with breakfast.
Theo caught me staring and grinned, clearly enjoying the fact that I was, once again, a bundle of frayed nerves. I shifted in my seat, pressing my thighs together in a futile attempt to ease the tension coiling low in my body.
Caelan’s chair scraped back suddenly.
“Right,” he said, pushing to his feet. “I’m going to remove myself from this table before the sexual tension becomes any more aggressively heterosexual than it already is.”
He grabbed an apple on his way past. “Do try not to combust while I’m gone.”
Something changed.
I looked over to Auretheos and apparently he had felt it too.
The air felt thicker, almost suffocating, a weird pressure filled my ears.
“Someone is here,” Theo said quietly and looked over at Cae who drew a dagger from his boot.
Nothing happened for a while, making me wonder if we were starting to get paranoid.
A dark rumble came from the end of the room and heavy black smoke emerged out of thin air.
Theo was in front of me in a heartbeat, shielding me with his full body, not taking his eyes off of the dark corner.
The smoke slowly cleared and three people became visible in the corner. They were Heralds, clad in dark red uniforms. Two women and a man now stood in our dining room and looked straight at us. A sword appeared in Theos hand and Caelan reached for his dagger.
“Good morning, Lord of Wisdom,” one of the women said and smiled at him teasingly. “How dare you appear inside my private home unannounced,” Theo responded with thinly veiled disdain.
“Excuse us for popping in unannounced, but after what happened to poor Ignara, we weren’t sure you’d grant us an audience,” the man said, and he was definitely right.
“We have come to ask you once again to hand over the wordsmith and join the Fraction,” the first woman spoke up again before the third woman took a step towards us.
“It’s not too late to be on the right side of history, my lord.”
Auretheos relaxed his stance and laughed, his voice tinged with anger.
“How considerate of you to extend the invitation. And yet, as I’m sure you’ve already surmised, I have no intention of aligning myself with your band of deluded miscreants.
My wordsmith remains at my side. So, I suggest you return to whatever pit you slithered from before I begin the rather meticulous process of dismantling you, piece by piece. ”
I knew it was the wrong place and the wrong time, but I leaned in just enough to murmur, so only he could hear, “Fates above. That was… unfairly hot.”
Standing behind him, I couldn’t see his face, but his shoulders shifted, only slightly, as if he were fighting a laugh.
“Before you so eloquently send us on our way, my lord, let me remind you that this is the last time the Fraction will make you the offer to join their cause. If you are not with us, you are against us.”
Theo bristled at that. “Are you threatening me in my own home? Tsk tsk tsk, that’s not polite at all. And who, pray tell, is the Fraction that wishes to have my support?”
The woman who had spoken first smiled. “You will find out soon enough, God of Wisdom. I am asking you for the last time: Are you going to hand over the wordsmith and accept our invitation?”
Theo lifted his sword and said through gritted teeth, “Be gone. And do inform your Deities that if they desire anything from me, they will have the courtesy to speak with me directly. The wordsmith remains under my protection, and that will not change. Should harm befall her, by intent or accident, you will answer to me and the full weight of my army. I trust I’ve been clear? ”
The man smiled weakly, “As you wish, my lord. We will leave you to your breakfast. See you on the battlefield.” And with a swoosh they disappeared the same way they had come. The second they were gone, Theo turned around, seething.
“How the fuck did that happen? How did they get through the shields?”
Something had to seriously be wrong with me, because hearing him say the word “fuck” made my knees buckle. It was embarrassing how under-touched I was.
Caelan merely stood there, looking as clueless as I felt. “I will go and check our shields right now,” he said and hurried out of the room.
Auretheos took a deep breath and downed the last of his coffee.
“I am sorry about this. Are you all right?” He asked.
I nodded. “Of course, don’t worry about me.”
“I always worry about you. I need to go and make sure this won’t happen again, will you be all right?”
I smiled at him, “Yes, go! I think I need to go for a run again after you went all hot God in here.”
He disapprovingly shook his head, but I could hear him laughing as he went back to his office to lock himself in for the day.
As for me, I went right back outside for another run and suffice it to say, it wasn’t going to be my last run of the week.