Page 59

He glanced at the book in her hands, and she quickly set it on the table beside her.

Placing her hands on her knees, she tried for a shaky smile.

Loche took another step.

Nudging her knees apart to make space for him, he erased the final distance between them.

“What are you doing?” She stared at his strong legs, leaning against the table between hers.

“Do you want me to move?”

Yes.

No.

Her heart skipped a beat at the storm raging in his eyes when she met them again.

Loche leaned in close enough for the heat of his body to envelop her. “I need to tell you something.”

She bowed her head, but Loche’s fingers gently lifted her chin, forcing her eyes to his.

“Lessia, I… I haven’t been truthful with you, but I need to be. Especially after what happened tonight.”

She started shaking her head. “Loche, you don’t owe me anything—”

He interrupted her. “But I do. I’ve put you in danger, and you don’t even know it.”

“Loche…”

“Lessia.” He placed both hands over her cheeks. “Please, just listen to me.”

Swallowing, she finally nodded, even as she struggled to breathe from the shame that seemed to permeate every inch of her body.

His eyes bounced between hers before he cleared his throat. “Years ago, I was starting out in the navy. I was doing well—exceptionally well. They promoted me to captain within my first year and talked about making me commander of the whole fleet. People noticed.”

He ground his teeth. “One day, I got a letter with information on one of the other captains, who was making life miserable for the soldiers. I was able to use it to blackmail him into leaving, never to return. Then, more letters started to come in, full of information on the most powerful men and women in Ellow. I used it for good—to help people get out from under their tyranny. So, when another letter came, offering to help me become regent, I accepted. I was young and dumb, and I thought I was in control. But once I’d won, they started making demands—demands that I couldn’t agree to.

So, I didn’t. I thought I was strong enough to take them on.

But then they started attacking anyone close to me.

First my family—not that it mattered much to me—I never cared for them. But then they came after my men.”

Loche’s eyes left hers for a moment, and he drew a deep breath as his hands dropped to his sides. “They killed one of my best friends. Nearly got to Zaddock too. That’s when I came up with the masks. If they don’t know who they are, they can’t come after them.”

His eyes clashed with hers again, and the gray filled with the same guilt she was trying hard to keep out of her own.

Lessia reached out and gripped one of his hands. “It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known.”

He laced their fingers together, glancing at them for a moment before lifting his silver eyes again. “But it is. Everyone who comes close to me risks their lives. And now I’ve risked yours too. I’ve been so stupid, but I can’t seem to stay away from you.”

He let out a sharp breath as he moved their hands to her lap, slamming his other one on the table beside her. “I don’t want to stay away from you! ”

Trailing his eyes over her face, Loche continued in a lower voice. “They must have learned that. Must know how I feel. That’s why they came after us tonight. I’m so sorry.”

Her skin burned when he leaned in closer, jaw ticking. “I have every man in my employ looking for them. And we’re close—we finally have a lead. We’ll catch them any day now, and I promise you that they won’t come near you again.”

Nodding, she fought against leaning into him.

“Lessia,” he rasped as he tilted his head down.

Her breath hitched when he stilled with his lips an inch from hers.

“I don’t want to stay away from you,” he whispered again.

A tremble seized her body when his hot breath hit her mouth as he continued.

“Tell me. Tell me you burn for me like I burn for you. Tell me your heart stops when I walk into a room like mine does for you. Tell me you can’t stop thinking about me like I can’t go a waking second without thinking about you.

Tell me you don’t want me to stay away.”

Loche’s gaze consumed her, hope and desire and vulnerability flaming in the gray.

She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

Eyes flitting between his, she willed herself to be strong.

What she’d done to him tonight was unforgivable.

He wouldn’t be here if he knew.

She wouldn’t be here if he knew.

She’d be in the musty cellars beneath the castle, chained to the wall in wait for a death sentence.

“Lessia.”

She saw the resolve in his eyes just before his mouth crashed against hers.

A low moan escaped her when his hands wrapped in her hair, dragging her to him, and heat erupted in her core when he responded with a growl .

Loche’s lips were anything but gentle as they hungrily, possessively, explored hers, his teeth scraping against her bottom lip until she let his tongue dance with hers.

As he went to shift her down onto the table, she forced herself to snap out of the fog that filled her mind.

Mustering the last strength within her, she placed a hand on his chest.

“Loche,” she whispered.

He pulled back, and their eyes collided, a flame shooting down her spine at the heat surging in his gaze.

“Loche, I need to tell…” She let out a huff at the agony searing through her arm, gripping Loche’s biceps to restrain herself from reaching down to rub it.

“I…” she tried again. “I’m not good.”

Electricity crackled over her skin as one of the corners of his mouth lifted.

Leaning in again, he spoke against her mouth. “Neither am I, darling.”

His lips brushed hers. “Let’s be bad together.”

When his warm mouth sought hers again, she had no fight left.

Pushing the self-loathing deep down, she let Loche kiss her until the only thing she could think about was his hard body pressing against hers, his strong hands exploring her neck, and his skilled tongue playing with hers.