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‘You want to play billiards again?’ she asked, biting her lower lip.

‘No.’

Thea traced a finger up the muscular curve of his thigh. ‘Then what do you want?’

Wilder was unbelievably still, but for a brief tremor that betrayed the efforts of his restraint. Finally, he leant in, pressing the barest whisper of a kiss to her neck, but it was enough to set every nerve ending in Thea’s body on fire.

‘You know damn well what I want.’ His deep voice vibrated against her skin, sending pulses of yearning rippling through her.

Thea tilted her chin up in challenge. ‘So take it.’

Desire flared in Wilder’s gaze and he crowded her body with his, ignoring the patrons beyond their booth.

Thea breathed him in, his mouth dangerously close to hers, arousal throbbing at her core. Gods, she wanted him. She wanted him with every fibre of her being.

He reached for her, running his thumb over her bottom lip before letting his fingers fall down the column of her throat, and trail between her breasts. The touch was light, barely a caress, but Thea felt it like a line of fire. Her legs parted involuntarily beneath the blanket across her lap and she arched into his touch, stifling a whimper.

Wilder ran his nose along her neck before he sank his teeth into the soft skin there, brushing his tongue over the tender spot. ‘You don’t get to make the rules, Princess,’ he said.

A cry of fury half left her lips before Wilder stood abruptly, scooping her up and throwing her over his shoulder. Not breaking his stride, he swiped their key from the bar and made for the stairs in the far corner. She vaguely remembered him threatening to do exactly this to her, when they’d first met in the Bloodwoods…

‘Are you going to come to the fortress willingly? Or would you prefer to suffer the indignity of me throwing you over my shoulder and carrying you?’

He hadn’t asked this time.

The patrons of the Singing Hare whistled and cheered as Wilder wove through the crowd, Thea too shocked to do anything but hang over his broad shoulder. She stared out at their grinning faces and lewd gestures as Wilder’s hands grasped the backs of her thighs firmly and he charged up the stairs. He moved fast, and soon, a door was being unlocked and kicked open, slamming shut behind them as he threw her down on a feather bed.

CHAPTER THIRTY

THEA

Thea waited for the weight of him to follow, but it didn’t. Flushing with embarrassment and desire, she gazed up at him as he stalked the length of the room, running his hands through his hair and taking measured breaths.

‘We need to talk,’ he managed through gritted teeth.

‘That wasn’t what it seemed like you wanted to do,’ Thea replied boldly, sitting up, a crease forming between her brows.

‘Want and need are two different things,’ he said.

‘I’m not sure that’s the case when it comes to us.’

The words had flown out of Thea’s mouth before she could stop them, and now, they hung between the pair like grains of sand suspended in an hourglass.

Wilder looked at her then. ‘I always knew you would be the end of me.’

Thea swallowed, hard. She didn’t want to be the end of him, not anymore. She wanted to be the beginning. ‘I…’

‘I am not the first man to break a vow… Nor the first Warsword,’ he ventured, his deep voice suddenly hoarse.

She surveyed him from across the room, not sure she trusted herself to move a step closer to him, not when the air between them crackled like fire, not when the words they’d long suppressed were at last being spoken aloud. He was magnificent, even in his travel-worn clothes, his dark hair messily tied back, his beard untrimmed. Every one of his movements seemed to disturb the energy around him, as though he were struggling to contain that Furies-given power.

He took a step towards her, an ocean of turmoil behind those silver eyes.

‘I may have broken my oath to Thezmarr…’ he said roughly, as though it hurt to say the words, his shoulders caving forward, like the weight of the burden was all too much. ‘But I never broke a promise to you. Not one that mattered. I need you to know that.’

‘Wilder…’ Thea breathed.

‘I told you Ilovedyou. That meant something,everything, to me.’