Page 58 of Jeweler to the Blessed (Champions of Chaos #1)

How can you be so sure she’ll choose him? He appears to represent everything she hates about Kavios.

— ALARIC SARE’S LETTERS TO ISABELLE ARKOVA

H art led me to the alley where he’d caught me when I snuck out. Farther down the path, an external staircase led to a door on the second floor of Forest’s Edge.

While part of me was glad we didn’t have to traipse through the tavern as we were, another part wondered about Hart’s life outside of guarding me. Did he sleep here at night instead of in the barracks? I was overwhelmed by an intense desire to know more about this Blessed.

I tried to tell myself it was curiosity. Tomorrow, I’d be like him—a Blessed one who didn’t entirely desire the title I was granted. But I was also past fooling myself.

Whatever was between Hart and me had a life of its own. I’d struggled to think of anything but his kiss since I’d had it. The heat that flared between us was something I’d never experienced.

He stopped to fill a bucket with water before we scaled the stairs. His gaze darted to my bloody clothes again before he opened the door. “You can heat it if you want. I have to ask Ava for something for you to change into.”

“You don’t look much better than I do.” The room was small—efficient—but with odds and ends like Alaric’s workshop. It seemed like a kitchen and living space blended together, and a hallway farther west must lead to the bedroom.

His smirk returned as he pulled off his tunic. “I can fix that for myself.”

He disappeared into the other room and reappeared wearing another dark tunic.

“So … what? You don’t have any lady’s garments hanging around from … overnight guests?”

My cheeks heated as I finished the sentence. What was I saying? I absolutely did not want to hear the answer.

Something fluttered almost uncomfortably in my stomach as his piercing green gaze held mine. “I think I’ve been very clear on that front.”

Had he? I let out a shaky breath as he walked past me.

“Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be back in a minute.”

The door closing behind me was my only confirmation that he had left.

Yes, he’d protected me. He’d said he was here for me, that he would follow me.

But part of me couldn’t help but wonder if that was truly for me, or my magic.

My fingers strayed to my lips, where he’d kissed me.

I’d convinced myself it was to inspire my lust to drive my magic .

Had it been for me, just because he’d wanted to?

It wasn’t something I could answer without him, so washing off with cold water seemed to be the best option.

I found a rag and wiped the blood from my face and hands.

Too curious by half, I wandered the room as I scrubbed.

I didn’t want to think too hard about the blood staining my skin.

That I’d accepted my calling as Chaos’s Champion tonight felt big, but so did the fact that I’d almost lost Hart. What if my magic hadn’t worked?

I shook my head, unable to consider it. Too much was left unsaid between us.

Even though my tunic had a high neckline, Hart’s bloody hand had slipped beneath it to draw forth my feelings.

My cheeks flamed again as I remembered how well that had worked.

Before thinking too hard, I pulled the tunic off, using a rag to wipe the blood from my sternum.

I still wore a band around my breasts, but it hadn’t occurred to me how quickly Hart would return until the doorknob twisted, and he was standing directly before me, another tunic in his hand.

He cleared his throat, his gaze once more locking with mine.

This time, it felt like he used the connection to stop his focus from drifting lower.

My bloody tunic was steps away. Something flared hot in his green gaze, that ravenous hunger I’d only glimpsed in the Oldwood. It made me want to step into his reach.

He kicked the door shut behind him, his eyes not leaving mine. “This should work.”

I took it and turned, pulling it on as I headed toward the kitchen. “Thank you.”

I felt him on my heels when I dropped the rag back in the bucket.

“Hart.” I turned again, looking up at him through long lashes .

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say. I just wanted his name on my lips. I’d felt so much when I’d chosen him tonight. I wanted to choose him again. We weren’t guaranteed infinite time.

“We kissed,” I finally said.

His smirk was back, but the smolder in his gaze changed its meaning. “I’m aware.”

“Was it to help my magic?”

His hand lifted, like he’d touch me. He let it fall again, unsure. “No.”

It was what I wanted to hear. I believed it; I just didn’t know where that left us. Something of my intent must have crossed my face.

“It’s a bad idea.”

I thought I’d known that once. At some point, I’d thought no Blessed could be trusted. I’d thought they all took indiscriminately—but not Hart. Hart gave. Hart protected. Hart cherished.

He was still in my space, standing much closer than necessary.

Something in my gut—something deeper—said I needed to reach for him. That I’d regret it if I didn’t. And as much as I didn’t want to trust my gut, it’d proven itself on more than one occasion. Some things couldn’t be reasoned.

This felt like one of them.

My hand quested the length of his arm, following the curve of his shoulder to his neck, his cheek—just as I’d cupped it in the forest. Conflicting emotions flitted across his face, but I didn’t miss the nearly imperceptible tilt of his head into my palm.

His eyes widened when heat flared again with our contact.

Whatever I felt every time we touched—he felt it too.

“I want you. ”

If possible, he went even more still. I wasn’t sure he was breathing. “Chaos?—”

“Please don’t. I don’t care about the reasons we shouldn’t. I don’t want to think about being Blessed, being Eris’s Champion, Vaddon, or the Cursed King.”

My hand slid down to his beating heart as I took a deep breath. “I just want to feel this.”

He raised a brow at me, assessing the honesty of my words.

I let him read the truth on my face. “Tell me no if you don’t want me, but please don’t say no out of some thought that I don’t know my own mind.”

He growled—a primal battle warring within him. I didn’t know the stakes. But that smirk was back, and I felt the scales tip in my direction. “No part of me doesn’t desire you, Chaos.”

“Then what’s the problem?” My hand slid to the back of his neck, exploring the feeling of our connection.

I opened my mouth to question this strange heat coursing between us, and then all thoughts scattered as he took my invitation, his lips closing over mine.

If his kiss in the woods had set me aflame, this was obliteration. I wanted more, demanded more, and he was a man unleashed.

His breathing was uneven as his hands tangled in my hair. He cradled my head, and his tongue swept into my mouth. I moaned in delight and my eyes widened in surprise at the sound. Our gazes locked, and satisfaction danced in his. Then he captured my lips again, savoring the sound like a fine wine.

“Tell me, is this the chaos you meant to loose?” his words whispered across my skin as he kissed my jaw, my neck.

I wasn’t sure, but I knew I wanted more. My back arched, my body pressing farther into him. Understanding the command, his hand dropped from my neck to my chest, cupping my breast over my tunic. I wanted him closer. The next whine that slipped from my lips encouraged a low chuckle.

His fingers found my pebbled peak through my tunic. The pinch was exquisite, shooting heat straight to my core. And he was there, catching my gasp with another scorching kiss. His tongue swept in again, leaving me breathless.

More. I wanted to remove the barriers between us and chase this feeling from which I knew I’d never recover. “That was a good start.”

He growled again at my goading. My legs wrapped around his hips as he hoisted me from the ground. He carried me to the back room with his lips never ceasing their exploration.

I was sprawled on the bed before him in moments. Immediately, I was cold, bereft of his touch, even while his heated gaze slid down my body.

“Take the tunic off.”

The command had me moving before I could consider another option. That smirk was back at my efficiency.

“Come here.” I crooked my finger at him. “I need to touch you.”

He moved slowly, as if savoring the sight of me, savoring these moments before desire overtook our senses.

I was sure he felt the same heat of our connection.

Every part of me wanted it back. He pulled his own tunic over his head, and I inadvertently licked my lips. Honed muscle covered every inch of him.

“See something you like, Chaos?”

It wasn’t worth lying. I nodded.

“I’ve wanted you since I caught you about to start the street brawl to save that man.” He crawled toward me on the bed. “So defiant. So creative. So utterly destructive. So careless with your own well-being in the face of others’ suffering.”

My heartbeat raced as he hovered above me. I’d never thought of myself in such a manner. Through his eyes, I appeared a fearsome creature. Mostly, I tried to survive in a kingdom not made for me.

I raised my hand to touch his chest.

He caught it and placed my palm over his heart. “I was yours the moment I heard you call me my guard .”

My cheeks heated as I remembered my description of the man who’d saved me multiple times.

“And I will be—your guard—no matter what happens.”

The heat surged between us where my hand rested on his chest. I brought my other hand to his neck and pulled him to me. “I know. Take me. I’m yours too.”

His kiss consumed me—tongue searching, heat building as his weight settled over me. Each place we touched brought a new flare to life. I chased the feeling, my hands roaming over his shoulders and back. My legs wrapped around him, chasing more connection, more friction—all desire.

He pressed me into the bed, giving me what I so obviously craved.

In this, he wouldn’t deny me. My legs uncurled as he tugged at my leggings, granting him access to remove them.

His heated gaze traced each new inch of exposed skin as he peeled them away.

The final stitches of clothing between us removed, his hands mapped my curves as they traveled toward my throbbing center.

With the slide of his first finger into my heat, my head tipped back, and a heady groan escaped my lips.

“That’s a good start,” he echoed the challenge, and I knew I was done for.

Another finger. The heat between us shot straight to my core. My hips bucked as he stoked my pleasure.

“You’re going to come for me, Ember.”

The command in his voice was back, and I didn’t want to resist. He worked me as he slid down my body. Teeth scraping, lips nipping, tongue tasting, he explored me while his mouth moved to meet his fingers .

Another whine slipped free with the first languorous lick against my center. The next thrust of his fingers had my body arching into him.

He smiled against me. “Ready?”

Ready? Probably not. This man protected me with a dedication that bordered on religious devotion. The first stroke of his tongue had been enough to tell me I was ill-prepared for what came next.

But that wasn’t going to stop me.

I didn’t know what tomorrow would bring. There were too many unknowns and so many things we had yet to discuss, but they wouldn’t change this feeling. I wanted to capture it, for it to be ours before we were forced into another situation over which we had little control.

He must have seen my nod. Another moan escaped while the pleasure built from his touch. I wouldn’t need much more. The way he feasted with ravenous attention made me think he didn’t care. Tongue and fingers moved together, building our connection to a fiery inferno.

My back bowed, my thoughts scattered, and heat flared inside me as I shattered.

That didn’t stop him. He continued with a single-minded focus, wringing every drop of pleasure as I rode my release.

My legs turned to jelly, my hips fell to the bed, and he crawled the length of me to catch my lips in another scorching kiss. Our gazes met and held. He searched for something there, though I wasn’t sure what.

“Hart.” My breathing was still ragged.

“Tapping out, Chaos?” He lifted his weight as if seriously readying to leave the bed.

Immediately, I missed it. I reached for him, my fingers wrapping around the silk and steel of him. “ Not even a little bit.”

A low sound escaped his throat, and part of me couldn’t believe I’d drawn it from him.

I stroked the length of him again, his hips bucking forward to follow the motion.

His reaction to me was a heady thing, but I was too impatient to explore it further.

I lined him up with my entrance, and as if in tune with my thoughts, his mouth captured mine, and he brought us together.

The heat of our connection transformed again as we joined.

I didn’t know what to make of it, but my every limb was alight, alive, and attuned to his touch.

His hands roved my skin as if he knew it.

With each steady stroke, I careened toward a new cliff.

I wasn’t sure what tomorrow would bring, but I wanted us to meet it together.

“Hart.” I just wanted to say his name—wanted the grounding his voice brought—wanted to know he was here, that we were together.

He pressed his forehead to mine as we moved. “I’m with you.”

I didn’t know what he responded to, and I didn’t care. Desire coursed through me as I fell into that absence of light again, just as I had in the forest. With every stroke, every touch, I chose Hart—again and again.

We came together in searing pleasure.

“Ember.” My name on his lips was like a light in the dark—a flare at the crescendo calling me home. I returned, my body descending from molten to languid.

The penetrating green of his gaze held mine, the hint of a challenge in them alongside the raw emotion that lingered there. Before I could speak, he pressed a kiss to my lips. “If you tell me that was a good start, you won’t be able to walk tomorrow.”

My lip tilted into a wicked smile. “That’s not the deterrent you think it is. ”

He brought his forehead to mine. “You are Chaos incarnate.”

I found I no longer minded the use of the name.

It was still astounding that I inspired so much from this man.

I wanted to capture the feelings written across his features and store them away to remember always.

Maybe I wanted to do the same with my own feelings swirling within me.

Desire, maybe more, joy, at being so desired in return.

Fear and anger over what tomorrow would bring.

I let the reassuring warmth of his touch seep into me as our breathing evened. Tomorrow’s problems would come soon enough.