Chapter 6
Chapter six
SHE IS LIKE GRAVITY
Orion
“Well, that went… well,” Amira muttered once we had walked far enough away from the council chamber.
It had been a few days since I was personally able to accompany her to one of these meetings, and I could not say I had missed it.
The King’s Council was little more than a band of egocentric Imítheos bigots with a talent for finding things to squabble over.
With the exception of a couple, they were not equipped for dealing with crises. But perhaps Amira could change that.
“As well as could be expected,” I reassured her.
She’d told the council about Sammy, the damned faun she had sent back to Autumn, and they had reacted about as well as I expected.
They were all about as skeptical as Riordan was that peace could still be achieved.
And they questioned the wisdom of releasing the only informant we had with direct knowledge of Rian.
Amira had maintained her composure quite admirably.
Certainly better than Riordan would have if he were being bombarded by a dozen questions at once.
She had argued that imprisoning and torturing Autumn Court fey would not be the best way to endear ourselves to the Wild Hunt.
She’d insisted that the possibility that Rian might view the release of his envoy as a token of good faith was worth releasing the faun.
I could barely contain my smirk at the memory of how Stamos had almost come out of his seat, veins pulsing in his forehead and neck. I had moved so quickly I’d barely registered it until I was standing right behind her with my wings flared wide enough to eclipse the whole table.
Stamos sat down quickly and had not dared to raise his voice or insult her intelligence again. But I did not return to my place by the wall with the other skiá. I could not seem to bring myself to leave her side after his outburst.
“I didn’t even get a chance to tell them about Balor,” Amira complained. And I reached out to take her forearm, stopping her so she looked up at me in surprise.
“I know you want to be transparent, but you are within your rights to play some things close to your chest.”
“That’s what Castor said,” she admitted, almost as if she were disappointed. It was moments like that I almost wished we were bonded so I could better understand her in the way I understood Riordan so effortlessly.
My skiá had told me what his mate shared with him of her strange conversation with Castor. After watching the councillor today, I was confident of my theory for him.
“Castor is a shrewd man but an astute one,” I began, but she scoffed.
“A smart man wouldn’t have tried to have you killed,” she retorted. An angry flush rose to her cheeks, and gods damn me for the way it distracted me immediately.
“We don’t know it was him, and even if it was Castor, that does not change the fact that he could be a useful ally if you can manage him,” I insisted.
She narrowed her eyes as if she were suspicious of me. “Are you saying you are not holding a grudge at all?”
“If anyone should then it’d be me. But Castor is right. Riordan is best suited to leading in the battlefield. You are better suited to dealing with people.”
She pursed her lips, her eyes wandering to the tapestry behind me, but my attention was riveted on her.
I had not been able to look away from her or Riordan all morning.
Not since she emerged from their room with love bites all over her gorgeous neck.
She had tried to hide them with a tall collar, but every time she turned her head, or Riordan proudly drew attention to his markings, I was captivated.
She’d also been moving much more gingerly than usual, subtle enough that no one else would notice, but I had noticed right away.
I saw every wince and every attempt to covertly stretch out her aching muscles.
And I had been obsessing over it.
“Thank you,” she said, startling me. I realized I had been staring at the marks on her neck again while my mind was consumed by the most delicious and unseemly fantasies of Riordan putting them there.
I could barely remember what we were talking about but nodded and turned to lead her toward the only landing dais on that floor. We needed to get down to the city in time for her program in the Rookery.
“He told me that you kissed last night,” she admitted so softly that I almost didn’t hear her, but I froze instantly. It took a moment before I could work up the nerve to turn and check if she was upset at me. But she seemed to be as curious about it as I was about her and Riordan.
“You said I was free to—”
“Yes, I did, and I told him the same thing last night,” Amira reassured me. Then she glanced over her shoulder to ensure we were alone before she stepped closer to me. “He also said that you were holding back.”
I opened my mouth but quickly stopped myself before blurting out an excuse. “You know why,” I said levelly.
“I do. But I wondered if you wanted help telling him,” Amira explained, chewing her lip as if she were nervous of my response to her offer.
“I would never tell him until you are ready,” she swore when my eyes widened at her.
One of her hands rose toward my arm as if she wanted to comfort me, but she stopped herself before touching me.
“It’s just that I thought you might be intimidated by how he might react. He will be furious,” she acknowledged.
“He will want to know why I didn’t tell him sooner.”
“Yes, that too probably. But I was thinking more about how murderous he is going to become and whether the Rookery will survive it,” Amira clarified, confusing me.
“Orion, he will want that woman dead, and he is going to rip the city apart until he finds her,” Amira assured me.
“We both know how bullheaded he can be when someone he loves is hurt,” she added significantly.
And something about the way she said that made my heart nearly leap out of my chest in joy.
“So if you would like me to be there to act as a buffer and help talk him down—”
“Amira, I do not want you to feel that you need to put yourself in that position for me,” I interrupted her.
“But I want to do it,” she insisted, looking so earnest that I was awed into silence while I stared at her. “This is keeping you apart. I want to help you,” she beseeched.
I was too stunned to respond as I stared at this woman who had every right to hate me, but instead, she’d chosen to make room for me. I did not deserve such kindness.
She must have seen the thought in my eyes somehow because she stepped closer, her gaze locked on mine so intently that I could not look away from her.
“Don’t talk to yourself like that,” she chastised.
“You have no idea what I was—”
“You think I don’t recognize the look of someone who is telling themselves they aren’t good enough? I was that person in the mirror for years, Orion. Don’t try to lie!”
I wanted to turn and hide whatever raw honesty she seemed to be able to read in my eyes, but I couldn’t look away from her.
So I reached up before rethinking it and gently brushed my knuckle down her cheek the way I had watched Riordan doing earlier.
I was entranced as those gorgeous amber eyes closed like she craved my touch as much as she had savoured his that morning.
“I am not worried about how Riordan will react to… that woman,” I assured her softly, meeting her eyes when she opened them. “I never want to set eyes on her again, and I wouldn’t lose any sleep if he killed her.”
“What are you worried about then?” she asked.
I hesitated as I brushed a few loose strands of her hair back from her face. It was arranged into a pretty half-bun, which I was careful not to ruin.
“I thought you knew everything?” I teased her.
She opened her mouth to retort, but then she hesitated in realization. “You think he would be…” She trailed off, unable to even get the word out.
“Disgusted,” I confirmed unflinchingly.
But Amira flinched and instantly shook her head with puckered brows. She almost reached out for me again but stopped herself before she could, and I hated it. I hated that she felt like she couldn’t touch me freely because of what I was and how I had treated her.
I was not sure what possessed me to do it, but I took her by the wrists before she could fully lower her hands.
Her eyes widened as I lifted her arms slowly until both of her palms were resting on either side of my face.
She was surprised at first, but then she seemed relieved and pulled me down until our foreheads touched.
“You are not disgusting,” she swore to me with such conviction that I almost believed her. “He loves you.”
It had always been so damned easy to love Riordan when he was everything I was not: powerful, confident, and charismatic enough to win the hearts of the Ktínos. But this gentle warmth, her fierce protectiveness, and her patient tenderness? My bruised soul craved that too.
“Amira,” I breathed her name like a prayer, and she nodded as if she already knew what I was asking of her. Before I could overthink it or question myself, my hand tightened in her hair, no longer caring if it got messy when I tilted both of our heads so my lips met hers.
The first time I’d kissed Amira had been so impulsive, but since then, there had been plenty of time to think about how I should have kissed her. How I should have devoured and savoured her. How I should have taken possession of her and given up myself in return.
She was so much softer and smaller than my typical lovers, and usually that would have annoyed me, but all it made me want to do was cherish her.
She was deliciously pliant for me and as eager as I remembered.
That had not been a trick of my imagination; each sharp breath and groan that came out of her was pure lust.