Page 36 of Dance of Kings and Thieves

I’d discovered the boy who always held my heart was a crook. I’d feared him in these walls. Tried to hate him. Instead, I’d fallen utterly back in love with him. My palm flattened over the door of Kase’s old room for a few breaths. These walls remained a refuge. The world had been dreary as we’d prepared for the Masque av Aska, but now it was like a fire had burned what was left of the lives we knew.

While chaos reigned outside, as I opened the door to the tower room, a bit of peace took hold. Kase sat on the ledge of the arched window, staring out at the sky. He was a beautiful contradiction. Shadows cloaked his shoulders. A sign he felt a great deal more than he would ever show, but he looked up to the pale moonlight, basking in the brightness.

He was so beautiful, and the sight of him brought me both a sense of peace and an unending yearning.

My heart trembled in a swell of love for the Nightrender. He was more than darkness. So much more. A heart of the fiercest kind lived behind the bribes and blood. Few would ever truly know Kase Eriksson. Doubtless, he would remain a cruel nightmare to others. A burn of emotion rose behind my eyes.

It would be their loss.

He could be terrifying, guarded, and violent. But he was a man who loved deeply and would cross through the hells to protect those he loved. I would always choose a dark heart who loved in such a way over anything horribly honorable.

Tonight was quiet and calm. In our lives, we did not know when it would shift into something horrid. Knowing what it was to lose him, I’d already vowed never to waste a moment.

My hand slid up his strong back, running between his shoulders until I threaded my fingers in his hair.

Kase startled at the touch and whipped around. A smile chased away the misty shadows over his face. He pulled me onto his lap. “You are getting rather sly.”

“I had an excellent teacher.” I kissed the pulse point on his throat, gently tugging on his hair.

“The steelman sent word,” he whispered hoarsely. “We’re to meet at the high moon.”

“You know his name is Sigurd,” I said, brushing my lips over his jaw. “And you can trust him.”

His hand fisted into my hair and held my head in place, so my mouth was close to his. “I know I trust those who are here in these ruins and back at the nest. That is the extent of what I know.”

I snickered against his lips. “I don’t know why I try to get you to expand the friendliness that I know is within you.”

“What friendliness? I have one friend. You. And I am not that friendly to you.”

This man was intent on being a solitary, villainous creature. I knew differently. I knew the Guild of Kryv was his family as much as mine. I knew Luca Grym was a true friend to the Nightrender. By the hells, the way he went on sometimes with the Northern king and queen, I held a great many suspicions that Kase would defend them to the end if needed.

I lifted my head, arched my brow, and adjusted until I straddled his lap.

“Oh, I disagree, Nightrender.” My fingers tugged at the laces at the neck of his tunic. I kissed him there. When my palms slipped under his top, running along his bare chest, Kase drew in a sharp breath. His eyes closed. I brushed my lips over his as I spoke. “I’ve known you to be very,veryfriendly.”

I nipped at his bottom lip, until shadows darkened his eyes out of his control.

“Are you seducing me, wife?”

“Always.”

“It’s working.”

Kase moved us off the window’s ledge and went to work on the simple woolen dress I wore. He let out a groan as I slipped off one shoulder of the dress, then the next, letting it fall into a puddle at my ankles as the moonlight brightened the curves of my naked body.

He lowered to his knees, pressing kisses along my thighs, my hips, my belly. Kase lifted his gaze to mine when I used a finger to tip his chin.

“We know how quickly life can change,” I said. “I never want to regret a moment of our time together. I am only at peace when I am in your arms.”

“They are always open to you.”

Kase kissed his way up my stomach to my chest. He paused, taking one breast into his mouth. His lips and tongue shot bright sparks down my spine.

“Kase.” I wrapped an arm around his shoulders, keeping myself upright.

“What do you want?” His warm breath heated my skin. “Say what you want from me, and it will be done.”

It was not often the Nightrender gave up his control, but it sent a wild rush of heat through my veins to be given all of it. Palms open on his chest, I nudged him back. A burn of dark desire scorched his eyes when I undressed him slowly.