Page 37 of A Crown of Tears and Treason (The Curse of Silver Secrets and Cruel Shadows #1)

Chapter

Thirty-Seven

EVIE

T he change was instant.

One second I was laying on top of Zandyr, our legs tangled, face right above his and wishing I was closer.

Then he moved with that incredible speed of his that took my breath away. He shifted us on the floor, so that he lay above me now, leaning on his elbows.

His steady palm cradled the back of my head against the hardwood floor. Such a simple touch, more instinct than a clear decision, but it warmed my chest all over again.

This wasn’t the blazing heat of my power. Oh, no.

This warmth spread slowly, stroking my senses. Up it went, straight past my clavicle, up my neck, and tinging my cheeks until I could no longer hide the effect Zandyr had on me.

The warm, flickering light from the candle fought with the cold glimmer of the moon filtering in through the window. The glows clashed, casting an eerie shine over Zandyr’s face, splitting it down the middle. One side was warm and comforting, the other one cold and calculated.

Even in the different shades, his eyes were just as dark as they bore into me, as if wanting to access my very soul. My trembling soul, which craved too much, too soon, after a lifetime of being small and silent.

“What do you want, Evie?” His whisper was molten silver, caressing my skin and senses. The way he said my name, reverent and wicked at the same time, sent trembles through me. It sounded like he wanted to drive me wild with only a few words.

A simple question. Yet I parted my lips with no reply.

What did I want?

I wanted him here, that was certain, looking at me with that bottomless hunger, the same way he had right before our first kiss.

But I wanted more. I wanted to feel the press and pressure of him against me. An instinct much older than me, almost ancient, demanded it.

“Kiss me,” I whispered.

This was a man who’d been sought by countless women throughout his life. With my inexperience, I had no chance of seducing anyone, least of all him. Better to be as direct as possible.

“Are you sure?” he asked, leaning down infinitesimally.

It wasn’t enough. He didn’t touch an inch of my body, except for the palm holding my head gently, and I wanted his hands all over me. No, I craved his touch.

“I need you to be sure, Evie,” he went on, my name now a prayer on his lips, whispered and reverent. “As sure as I am of you.”

My heart stuttered, caught between wanting to be open and believe or sealing itself against these promises. “Maybe I am.”

A shadow passed his gaze. I recognized it all too well. Hope, fighting not to be born. “I don’t think that’s possible. You haunt my mind. You haunt my dreams. I feel you in every breeze and smell you in every breath. You undo me. You mesmerize my thoughts away constantly.”

Heat murmured through my body, pulsing lower and lower, until I squeezed my legs together to alleviate the pressure.

Gods. This man. Making me squirm with nothing but a look and a few words.

He lowered his face to the junction of my neck, inhaling deeply. “Do you think of me?”

All. The. Damn. Time. “Yes.”

He hummed in satisfaction. “That could be either very good or very bad for us. The gods have already thrown their dice. The question now is...”

I stopped breathing as he turned his face toward me. Our lips were only a shiver away, the small distance between us brimming with expectations.

“...how will they land?” His whisper beckoned me closer, as if daring me to move first.

I swallowed thickly, my gaze bonded to his parted lips. One move, one small, little–

“Who’s to say we don’t decide where they land?” I murmured.

Zandyr’s eyes slashed to mine, a cutting smile on his lips. “You would take on the decisions of the gods?”

“I think the gods have better things to do than worry about you and me. If they ever bother with us mortals at all.”

His low chuckle throbbed through me. “Blasphemy. You can be punished for such an offense.”

My mouth went dry . “Then let’s keep it between us.”

“I’ll think about it.” He licked his lips, gaze growing impossibly dark. “I’m going to ask one more time–are you sure, Evie?”

Achingly, drippingly sure.

Instead of answering, I gathered all my courage, every crumb and speck I’d been collecting since coming to Phoenix Peak, and closed the gap between us. The second our lips touched, a surprised groan rushed up Zandyr’s throat.

Then his arms were all over me, just like I wanted, sliding over my shoulders, grasping my waist.

His mouth did wicked, terrible things to mine. The way his tongue twisted against mine almost convinced me gods were truly real, because there was no way a mortal man could ignite such passion with one kiss.

My hands wound in his hair, messing it up like I’d been craving to. Let him feel just as overwhelmed by this insane magnetism between us as I always seemed to be. The pressure that kept us coming back to each other, ignoring all the reasons not to.

In one move, Zandyr pulled me to his chest and rose, no pause or strain in his mighty muscles. As if I weighed nothing. To his strength, I probably did.

It was impossible for me to swallow my moan, when my mouth was too busy keeping up with his expert, teasing strokes. He sucked on my lower lip, teeth gently digging into it until I wanted nothing more than to melt right there in his arms.

Completely enthralled by him, I only became aware he’d walked us toward the bed when the mattress cradled my back. My hands clutching his tunic for dear life, and he stilled for a moment, as if waiting for me to push him away.

I pulled him closer.

He covered my body with his and kissed me softly with a smile playing on his lips. Soon enough, our kiss turned manic. Desperate. We turned into a tangle of limbs, lips, and teeth.

His right hand found the back of my head again, which seemed to be its new favorite place, fingers twinning in my hair. His other palm slipped down the grooves of my body slowly, almost reverently, as if he wanted to remember every dip and angle of me.

His fingers raced lower, thumb gently stroking the side of my breast. Another moan slipped past my lips, compelled by his fiery touch.

When his mouth found the spot behind my ear, tongue lavishing it with the kind of attention I never thought possible, my back arched against the bed.

My knees rose, wrapping around his middle and cradling him to me. The friction between our bodies was delicious. Maddening.

“Gods,” I breathed.

He chuckled darkly. “Now who’s a believer?”

“You might have missed your calling.” I arched further as his teeth gently nipped at my collarbone. “You should have tried your hand at converting people, not protecting them.”

“Perhaps I should petition the temple, they might be looking for new priests.”

My hands snaked around his neck, gingerly tracing the edge of the dragon’s head. So much responsibility on these shoulders. These great, big, twisting shoulders.

My fingers slid down lower over his tattoo, playing with the edges of his tunic.

“Evie,” he breathed. It sounded like a warning.

“What?” I asked as innocently as I could while completely debauched. My nightdress had slipped down my shoulders and bunched up around my middle.

He sighed against my skin. Why was he sighing?

“I’ll make a deal with you.” He tilted his head up, staring deeply into my eyes. “I promise I will make you come undone while screaming my name–”

I hadn’t known it was possible, but my face heated up even more as his words spun a deprived, decadent image in my mind. Him above, taking me relentlessly, deeper, harder, just like that .

“–but I want to build up to that moment,” his husky voice brought me back to reality. And this reality wasn’t too far away from the images in my mind. “I know you don’t have much experience and I want you to savor every phase. Revel in every new touch. Have you begging for more and more.”

I gulped, trying to ignore the thump of my heart, which beat to the rhythm of his words. Those sweet, seductive words. But a part of me still wondered. Still doubted.

Whether from the fear instilled in years past or some instinct trying to scream some sense into me, I didn’t know.

But I desired more, that was certain.

“Are we stopping?” I asked, voice barely above a whisper.

“Gods, no,” he replied with a smile and leaned back, fingers digging into the hem of his tunic. “Tonight–” He took it off with one fluid movement. The moon danced across his muscles and my mouth watered as he slowly crawled over me again. “We will indulge in the feel of our bodies. I’ve dreamt about yours for too long. I want to see how hard I can make you blush. All over.”

His hands gripped my hips, grounding me into the bed, as his lips made me soar.

This wasn’t the frantic kiss from before. Each sway of our tongues and nip on my earlobe was devised to drive me wild.

Zandyr took his time, his sweet, delectable time, tasting every inch of my skin not covered by the fabric of the nightdress that twisted lower and lower, until the top of my breasts were uncovered. He licked a fiery trail straight over them, never straying.

And his eyes…He locked his gaze with mine every time our mouths weren’t attached, watching my every reaction. All this attention made everything that much more exciting. Sinful and sensual and just more .

More kissing the spot on the underside of my knee that made my toes curl, that I hadn’t even known existed.

More twisting his fingers in my hair and pulling the tiniest bit, until I moaned against him.

More rocking his hips against mine in this maddening rhythm.

His hands covered my wrists and pulled my hands above my head as his mouth latched onto the junction of my neck. He pinned me down, the weight of him amazing on top of me. He overpowered and worshiped me at the same time. The blend was intoxicating, stirring up instincts I didn’t know I possessed. I wanted to sink my teeth into his shoulder. Pull on his hair. Feel him pulsing in me.

The sheets turned into a knotted mess as his body slid against mine. Over and over again, the pressure against my center intensifying with each stroke.

His hold on my wrists tightened, and I loved it.

“I can’t wait to feel you,” he rasped against my neck.

“Yes!” If I felt on the brink of combusting, I couldn’t even imagine what him being inside would do to me.

“All of you. Be inside you and feel you tremble all around me,” he rasped. His groans turned into a rumble that kept gaining momentum. “Evie, I want–”

Suddenly, he arched his neck back, as if scalded. He took a deep, searing breath as his body slowed. He closed his eyes, a mighty frown forming on his forehead. His neck muscles bulged, glistening in the light.

He shook from the effort of holding back, the fight obvious in every twitch of his lips and the way his hands kneaded my thighs.

Finally, when he’d gotten a hold on his breathing, his eyes opened again. They were almost black.

“You’re driving me wild.” He pressed his forehead against mine in a tender gesture I could have mistaken for loving. “Enough for tonight.”

A whine slipped past my lips before I could stop it. He’d gotten me more heated than I thought a body could withstand, and now we were stopping?

“It seems you liked that, menace,” he purred.

Screw him. I did.

“Patience,” he said, whether to me or him, I couldn’t tell. “We have our entire lives waiting for us. And there’s always tomorrow.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” I said, unable to keep the pout from my puffy, reddened lips.

“I always keep my promises.” He stole another kiss. Then another. But these weren’t filled with the same fire as before. They were soft and gentle, bringing the both of us back to reality, and I liked it here, trapped in his powerful embrace. It made me feel, dare I say it, safe.

I fell asleep in his arms for the first time, his even breaths lulling me to sleep. But my dreams were plagued by the same light turning to shadows.

Coming closer and closer, as a single, unconscious thought ran through my mind.

Nowhere is safe .