Page 37

A rush of bitter tension moved through me.

I hadn’t the strength, nor the courage, to tell him the whole of it.

To tell him that I would bring ruin. That he might abandon everything he held important because of me.

His kingdom wouldn’t survive a war with the continent of Obelia, and if I tried to keep him, as Rohana said I should, it would certainly mean war.

Earning Theodore’s resentment would grind me to dust.

I burrowed in closer to him, knowing I shouldn’t, but unable to stop myself. “My mother’s wing hangs on Nemea’s wall. I wonder if it’s his crown Rohana saw ripped from his head. The familial bond between us cut. I wonder if I—”

“Your mother’s wing—” Theodore’s grip on my knee tightened. “He hung Ligea’s wing on his fucking wall?” He twisted to meet my eye. “You’re thinking of going after Nemea, aren’t you? Absolutely not.”

“When our bond is severed, you’ll care far less about where I go and what kind of danger I’m in.”

His gaze sharpened. “Do you really believe that?” His voice was harsh, but his touch gentled as it coasted up my leg.

He gripped my hip through the thin towel, spoke soft and close.

“If you are hurt, then all Sirens continue to suffer. My people. And yours. You need to keep yourself as safe as you possibly can. Climbing back up that mountain to face Nemea in the name of revenge does not see your bond with Eusia broken. We need to do that first.”

My breath shook at the way he touched me, at the intensity of his stare. There was desperation and longing in it, like he’d been sucked under a vicious tide for too long and was now taking his first gulp of precious air.

“What do you mean we ?” I asked shakily as his hand slipped beneath my towel.

His fingers traced delicately over my bare hip and every thought in my head turned to shimmering vapor.

He played over the curve of my backside, the dip down into my waist. The color rose on his cheeks and his movements seemed to come easier. The nepenthe was working.

“You need to rest,” I whispered.

“Not now.” He coaxed me over the top of him and guided me with strong hands, so I straddled his stomach.

I kept my towel tight around my body, breaths heavy, and met his eyes.

They were smudged dark, drooping, but more ardent than ever.

So gently, his fingers traced the line of my thighs, then slipped beneath the towel, where they grabbed onto my hips and held me tight.

This was foolish—I knew it was—but the outside world had turned battering, and touching him blunted my hurt, it stifled my fear.

“Tell me what you want.” His voice was like embers. Heat filled his palm as it skated around my hip to the bleeding spot on my stomach. When he finished closing the wound there, his hand inched up, slowly, slowly, until it rested between my breasts. Over my ragged heart. “Your wildest dreams.”

I could hardly breathe. “I don’t know.”

“You do.” When his fingers moved to trace the underside of my breast, he let out a dark groan that set me alight. “Tell me.”

My eyes fluttered shut, back arching as he slowly dragged his hand up to hold my breast. “I want a home, where it’s quiet and lovely.

” My face warmed to speak something so trite.

“Where I’m safe. I want to know others like me, so I feel less alone.

” My body loosened, towel slipping down around my waist, as his fingers teased the tip of my breast. Slowly, Theodore sat up and wrapped an arm around my waist, pressing our chests together.

I gasped at the sensation, at the heat and hardness. I held still as he brushed his lips over mine, just barely.

“Immy,” he groaned into my mouth, forcing a decadent thrill through my body.

Then he kissed me. It was so fervid. So laced with want and promise, I thought he was trying to undo the impossibility of my desires with it.

Each swipe of his tongue felt like a declaration, I will give you all that and more.

I wove my fingers through his damp hair, letting the strands snare me.

I’d never felt more wonderfully divine with my body wrapped around his, eagerly taking and taking and taking his lavishment.

And it was more than I deserved, considering everything Rohana had revealed.

Chaos. Ruin. Death.

Theodore’s soft lips pressed to my chin, my jaw, down to my neck, and for a moment the terror of the prophecy burned away.

Frenzied, I pulled at his buttons, then peeled his shirt down his shoulders.

He rolled us and pressed me back into the pillows, only to grunt in frustration when his body ached too much to let him come over the top of me as easily as he wished.

“I’ll curse the Gods for this until I die.

I finally have you naked in a bed and I can barely move. ”

I laughed, pressed my lips to his. He was nothing if not determined.

There was an urgency to the way he kissed me back, to the way he ravished every inch of me.

His teeth scraped over my nipple, and then he pulled it into his mouth, banishing the pain with a swipe of his hot tongue.

His large hand hooked around the back of my knee and splayed my leg wide as he kissed between my breasts.

“Where’s the severing draught?” he mumbled against my stomach. He kissed lower, lower.

I blinked, trying to think clearly enough to answer. “It’s there.” Breathless, I pointed to the table, to the little bottles on top. “The black one.”

A deep, breathy moan left him as he slid a finger inside me. My head fell back as he curled it perfectly, as he took it out and back in. He pressed a second finger inside me and said, “Throw it in the fire.”

My head flew up off the pillow. “ What? ” I was gasping.

He looked up at me, flushed and bewildered, fingers still making my stomach coil with pleasure. “What?”

“Wait a minute. Stop.” He did and I was struck with a pang of regret. “Why on earth would I throw it in the fire?”

He looked at me like I’d spoken a different language. “Because we’re not unbinding.”

“Why not?”

“Because if we do, you can’t keep yourself safe. Finding Eusia and unbinding yourself from her is too dangerous without our combined power.”

I fought to catch my breath and stared at him agape.

“What happened to you? You would never have said that a few days ago. You would never have even thought it. You’re getting married in less than two weeks.

Our bond makes us sick. How will I go searching for Eusia if we can’t be more than ten paces apart? ”

His face bent with confusion. “Did you think I’d make you go alone?”

I sat all the way up, hiking the sheet over my naked body. Rohana’s words suddenly rang loud in my head once more. He would give up his throne for you. “I don’t need to explain your duty to you, do I?” I snapped. “What about the empress? Your fiancée?”

Muscles flexed as he pushed himself onto his knees. He rolled his jaw. “Seeing that my people are safe is honoring my duty. And I’ve signed none of the empress’s contracts.”

“But you’ve given your word. What damage will it cause if you go against it?” I pressed my hands against my eyes. “I can’t believe I’m trying to convince you to marry her.”

He looked overcome. “I’ll figure it out.”

“Your head is muddled from the Mage Seer’s smoke, and we’ve been too close.” Our cheeks and bodies were aflame, our hair tousled, the bedding all twisted and half on the floor. “I’m just an itch you need to scratch.”

His swollen lips twitched. “An itch.” Sarcasm coated his words. “It was you who said that I needed a Godsdamned fuck, wasn’t it? Maybe after, I’ll be able to think clearly again.”

“Theodore, that’s not what I—”

His chest flexed, and he winced as he moved to the opposite side of the bed. “None of this is ideal. None of this is how I planned it to be.” He lay down, giving me his back. “Don’t let your stubbornness kill you, Imogen.”

“My stubbornness? That’s not fair—”

Three quick knocks came at the door. I jerked the sheets all the way up to my chin and sank back into the pillows. “I have stew,” Antonia called from the other side of the door, “and broth.”

I squeezed my eyes shut as my stomach hollowed. Both of us sounded equally disgruntled when we called back in unison, “Come in.”