Page 34 of Sweet Venom Of Time (Blade of Shadows #6)

“You and I,” I murmured, pressing my body flush against his, feeling the hard planes of his chest, the heat radiating from his skin. “We’re fighting the same battle. I know you’re the Black Wraith. And I want to help you destroy my father’s society.”

The admission hung between us, electric, charged. But before he could respond, I claimed his lips, devouring him.

He growled into the kiss, raw, untamed, dangerous. His hands gripped my waist, fingers digging in, pulling me harder, closer, deeper.

I gasped as he pushed me against the nearest wall, pinning me there with his body, his lips traveling down the column of my throat, kissing, biting, claiming.

The world beyond this room ceased to exist.

Only his touch, his taste, the fire between us.

I moaned as his teeth grazed my skin, his tongue flicking over the sensitive spot just beneath my ear. “Amir...” I sighed, my hands sliding up his broad shoulders, feeling the taut muscles beneath my fingertips.

His breath was ragged and heavy with restraint—restraint I wanted him to lose.

“Tell me to stop,” he rasped against my neck, his voice thick with hunger, his control fraying with every second.

“Don’t stop.”

I felt his entire body tense—then snap.

With a deep, feral growl, his hands roamed me without hesitation, without mercy. Exploring, kneading, claiming. His fingers slid down my spine, dragging slow, teasing paths that made me shiver beneath his touch.

His lips were everywhere—my throat, my collarbone, the curve of my shoulder—each kiss searing, marking, and branding me as his.

I gasped as his teeth grazed my skin, pleasure tangled with the aching pull of desire. His hands slid beneath the fabric of my dress, palms hot and demanding against my bare thighs.

I arched into him, my body surrendering to the aching, pulsing heat between us.

“Amir,” I moaned, my fingers tangling in his dark hair, pulling him closer, my nails scraping down his back.

His chest rose and fell in uneven, desperate breaths. “You drive me mad.” His voice was hoarse, wrecked.

“Then lose control,” I whispered against his lips. “With me.”

Something broke in him.

With a guttural sound, he lifted me effortlessly, my legs locking around his waist, my body molding to his like I was made for him.

He pinned me against the wall, his body a solid, smoldering force against mine, and his lips crashed into me with hunger so deep, so consuming, I forgot how to breathe.

I gasped into his mouth, my fingers digging into his hair, pulling, needing, demanding.

“Amir,” I whispered, breathless, reckless. “Every part of me desires you.”

His growl rumbled through me, vibrating against my skin. His hands slid up my thighs, fingers pressing into my flesh, holding me in place like I was something precious and fragile—yet meant to be completely devoured.

I met his eyes, dark and fiery with something primal.

“I’ve always dreamed of marrying for love,” I admitted. “Of feeling this… this fire between a man and a woman. And when you kissed me?—”

He nipped at my bottom lip, his teeth teasing, his tongue following, soothing, seducing.

“You set that fire ablaze within me.”

I shuddered as his fingers traced a slow, dangerous path up my inner thigh, stopping just shy of where I needed him most.

“But… are you certain this is what you want, my love?” I asked.

His gaze darkened, his control hanging by a thread.

Slowly, deliberately, he took my hand and pressed it firmly against the throbbing heat straining through his breeches.

I gasped.

Thick. Hard. Hot.

A deep, low groan left his lips as I touched him, feeling his sheer power.

“Does this feel uncertain to you?” he asked, his voice dripping with hunger.

My fingers curled around him through the fabric, and his entire body tensed—like a beast barely restrained.

“If you say yes, I won’t be able to hold back. I’ll take you—again and again—until I am lost in you, until you are crying my name in pleasure, until I have marked you so deeply that no man, no force in this world, will ever claim you but me.”

Gods.

The world tilted, spun, and burned as heat spread low in my belly, a molten ache throbbing between my thighs.

I had never touched a man like this before, never been this close, but I couldn’t stop. My palm pressed firmer, curious, emboldened, drawn to him like gravity.

His breath hitched, a ragged, intoxicating sound that lit a firestorm beneath my skin.

“Tell me no, Elizabeth,” he groaned, his forehead pressing to mine. “Because if you don’t, I swear to the gods, I will ruin you.”

“Ruin me, then.”

My words were his undoing.

A low, guttural growl tore from his throat as he seized me and swept me into his arms like a conqueror taking his spoils.

The world blurred as he carried me through the dimly lit corridor, each step a promise, a descent into something raw, something visceral.

My pulse thundered, anticipation and hesitation tangling inside me—a battle between craving what lay ahead and fearing the depth of what I was about to surrender to.

But as Amir reached his private chambers, his fingers tightened on my body, his lips brushing against my ear in a whisper that sent shivers cascading down my spine.

“There’s no turning back now, my love.”

And I didn’t want to.