Page 66 of Eternal Ruin

But… only a few more moments.

Kidan sat up so they were an inch apart. She needed a few more minutes of this world.

“You know,” she said, not knowing where she was going with this. “I think about how you don’t touch me in this house. More often than I would like.”

Kidan’s eyes widened at her confession and she opened her mouth to stuff itback inside but… He gave her such a wide, winning grin, she found herself beaming back. The euphoria of the room made embarrassment impossible.

Slowly, her fingers moved to his warm chest. He stilled, breathing unevenly. She waited for him to pull back, a coiling sensation now in her stomach.

But he didn’t. Apparently, discomfort also didn’t exist in this room.

“I think about Cossia Day. What we did.”

He sucked in a sharp breath. “Kidan…”

A part of Kidan knew this much joy, trapped in one small space, gifted to them out of all others… It could not last. But she didn’t care.

She would drain every drop of it.

Her smile remained as she planted slow languid kisses along his biceps, allowing herself to explore every inch of his body. His breathing came in and out, growing ragged. She’d never seen him so visibly… affected. It set every atom in her body alight.

She recalled his dragon blades extended to strike their attackers, his body covered in blood, then clean and dripping with condensation in the Bath of Arowa, a towel slung across his torso, almost one with the artwork on the ceiling.

A body made for both war and peace. She pulled back, heart pumping.

His gaze was half-lidded, thick with desire. “Your eyes are asking me to do such wretched things.”

Before Kidan could agree or deny, Susenyos laid her on her back. Holding his weight with one hand, he grabbed the edge of her shirt and shoved it up. Her mouth parted. She shivered as his mouth met her bare stomach with urgency. A charge arched down her spine when he traveled up to the curve of her chest, her crescent-shaped scar, beneath her bra, pressing his mouth there and murmuring against her breast—You’re perfect, so soft, absolutely divine.

Her head spun, delirious from his soft worship, from the soft stroke of his tongue. He had bitten her there once. But this was gentle, intimate in a way that made her want to cry. How he could be both those things at once was a mystery but she truly craved both.

The ceiling ignited with more flickers as she swung between desire and bliss.

But that wasn’t all there was. Below her racing heart, sadness had carved its way in. Not the type that broke her down until she couldn’t stand her own reflection, but a trickle of grief for never allowing herself such intimacy. She mourned forthe person she was outside this room. How starved she was for love and the unholy things she’d commit to earn it. But look at her now, look at how well she was being loved while doing absolutely nothing. She couldn’t remember the last time such a thing had happened.

It made her say such insane things.

“Promise you won’t leave me behind,” she breathed out. “Once you get everything you want, the artifact, your immortality, promise you won’t leave.”

As soon as the words left her lips, she felt them like a kick to the stomach. The painful truth of them. His worshipping stopped, cold air replacing his fervent kisses. It took her a minute to gather her courage. Look up at him. He was unraveled from his long hair to the open expression in his eyes. It was terrifying to stare into anyone’s soul this openly.

They were naked with clothes on, joy making them reckless.

Had she said too much?

Instead, he sat back, wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand. “This room is so dangerous.”

She sat up, touching the planes of his face. He shut his eyes, leaning into her palm. Touching him as often as she wanted, when she wanted… what other joy was there?

“I couldn’t leave you even if I wanted.” He grabbed her hand and kissed her palm. Biting gently on her fingertips until she giggled. “I’m sworn to you forever now.”

“Sworn to me?”

She liked the sound of it. Loved how honest this space made him.

His hair spilled around him like black tendrils and her hand twirled some around, loving the coarse texture.

“Your blood.” Susenyos continued to nip and tug at each of her fingers, shooting delicious pleasure up her toes. “You have bound me to you, and you don’t even know it. I’m cursed to always hunger for you.”