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“My nickname has gotten more elaborate, I see. No longer simplyChaos.”

“And I’m holding myself back. I have a few other choice words I could use, if I wanted.”

Her reply came in a fluttering whisper. “Go on. Use them.”

I trailed my hand lower. Across her neck, her throat, the swell of her breasts. Down, and further down, taking a possessive hold on one of her hips. “Impetuous. Foolish. Infuriating.”

She leaned even closer. “Keep going.”

“Impossible.” I pressed a slow, lingering kiss to her lips. “Beautiful,” I said, dragging my mouth away.

The last word drew a smile from her. She backed up, and I moved as if attached to her by an invisible string, following her toward the hallway, stopping several times to catch her in my arms and crush my lips to hers once more.

We stumbled and kissed our way through the room, pressing up against walls and cabinets, knocking over baskets of linens, bottles of soaps and perfumes and other toiletries as we went.

The hallway seemed darker, narrower when we finally re-emerged, still caught up in each other, and stumbled toward her bedroom door. I stopped just short of throwing open that door and ravaging her across the threshold, instead pinning her against the wall beside it.

My lips hovered inches from hers. “You’re incredibly tempting, do you know that?”

“Isflusteredstill too strong of a word for what you feel when you look at me?”

“We’re well past flustered,” I braced one arm against the wall, hooking the other around her and pulling her hips flush with mine. She inhaled sharply as my hardened cock pressed between her legs, and I dropped my voice lower, bringing my mouth to her ear, as I asked, “See what you’ve done?”

She caught her breath. Her eyes burned into mine as I drew back just enough to better see her face. “Would you like me to apologize?” she asked.

“I think we both know it would be insincere.”

I leaned in to kiss the smirk from her lips in the same moment that loud, relatively close voices caught our attention.

She tried to act as though she didn’t hear them, but I saw the flicker of doubt in her eyes. I did my best to ignore it—because Iwantedher.

I wanted her so fucking badly it was nearly driving me feral.

But I was also thinking of what came next. And I’d been listening to the chatter throughout the halls these past days. To the gossip. The questions. The doubts. Most of that doubt had nothing to do with her, and everything to do withme. Her people didn’t trust our closeness. And I knew how hard she was working to gain the trust and respect of the people in this palace, which made every kiss I stole from her feel like sabotage.

Reluctantly, I took a small step back.

The voices in the distance persisted. Nova’s gaze was on the door to her room. Slowly, she tilted her face to me, her bright eyes shining, her lips parting for words she couldn’t seem to get out.

Her meaning was obvious enough, even if she couldn’t find her voice.

Come inside with me.

Her tongue slid over her lips, and the temptation became a painful, physical thing. A beast ready to devour us whole.

There would be no coming back from giving into it.

If we walked through that door, I would lock it behind us. I would forget every person outside of it. Every kingdom in the Above and Below, every pact, every law. It would be my Chaos and no one else, and I would fuck her, claim her, fill her in every way possible. The depth of our magics’ bond was nothing compared to how deeply I wanted to bury myself inside of her. How badly I wanted my name on her lips, and her taste on mine.

She was breathing hard as she stared at me, awaiting my answer, shadows rolling like smoke across her skin.

The voices in the distance were close enough that I could make out some of their conversation, now.

But the voice in my head was far louder.

You have a duty to your kingdom and its people—to the whole world of the Above.Think twice before getting any closer to her.

There was no justifying it; getting closer would ruin at least one of us.