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His body came flush with mine, and I whimpered, retreating to the door.

“Shh.” He cupped the side of my face, promptly taking half a step back to give me space. “It’s all good, sweetheart,” he cooed, calming me. His thumb gently stroked along my cheekbone, his hand being the only physical contact between us now. “I’ll never hurt you. I gave you my word, remember?”

I swallowed hard, enthralled by his words and his caress. He leaned closer, stealing my breath.

The touch of his lips came light and airy, like a dawn feather fluttering in the breeze. My heart fluttered, too, thrashing like a bird inside my rib cage.

He parted his lips, and I did the same, letting him deepen the kiss. He didn’t touch me anywhere else. It was just his mouth on my lips and his hand on my cheek. My awareness shrank to those two points of contact between us. The rest of the world no longer existed as my mind floated in a slow circle in a universe all of its own.

Pleasure surged in me with a shudder, I gripped his shoulder in search of support. I opened my eyes, forgetting when and how I’d closed them in the first place.

The room appeared to melt out of focus. His face was the only steady point in the chaos.

“There you go, Princess,” he murmured. “You can never again say that you haven’t been kissed.”

And so it happened.

Salas became my first kiss.

Emotionally elated, I felt physically weak, as if my bones had suddenly softened. I staggered forward, resting my forehead against his chest. He held me to him, and I trusted him to keep me upright, no matter how much I fell apart.

His heart thundered in his chest. It beat as fast as mine, as if he, too, was strongly affected by our kiss.

Needing to see his face, I lifted my head again.

“Was it a good kiss, Salas?” I had nothing to compare it to.

“It was perfect.” He wasn’t looking at me, staring straight at the door instead. “Probably, the best I’ve had.”

“Have you had many kisses before?”

Shifting me to his side, he reached for the door handle.

“Salas?” I prompted, afraid he wouldn’t answer.

“Yes,” he replied. “I’ve had many kisses, Princess. Not all of them I’ve wanted or asked for, though.”

His words came like a punch to my stomach. Chills spread through my body all the way to the tips of my fingers as the full meaning of his words seeped through every layer of my being.

“Salas.” I grabbed his hand before he turned the handle. “I want to see you again.”

He pushed the door open.

“Ari!” Gem jumped from the couch in the sitting room, then caught herself and sank into a bow like the etiquette demanded. “Good Morning, Your Highness.”

Salas drew his cloak’s hood low over his head. The moment we crossed the threshold, he stepped away from me.

The guards scrambled to their feet from where they had been sitting or sleeping in piles by the walls, around the fireplace, and on every piece of furniture in the room.

Gem leaned to my ear, speaking for only me to hear.

“I was this close,” she lifted her hand with her thumb and her forefinger almost touching, “this closefrom breaking down thedoor this morning. The only thought that kept me from doing it was that you must be having a really good time with that slave.” She arched her eyebrow in question. “Didyou have a good time?”

I watched the guards lead Salas away. He didn’t turn around, didn’t wave, or say goodbye. He left, and I didn’t like the hollow feeling his departure caused in me.

“I need to see him again,” I said to Gem when we were left alone.

Her expression turned skeptical. “Was he that good? Or is it something else? I can’t tell by your face or by your behavior whether you’re pleased or pissed with him.”