Page 59 of The Heart of Nym (The Twisted Roots Duology #1)

Nymiria’s lips parted the same moment as his, both of them frozen in place.

Waiting.

Worried.

Nymiria moved first.

Their mouths met in a heated fury, teeth clanking and lips parting.

It felt like two stars colliding, an explosion of light and color forming behind closed eyelids, a vibration felt coursing through their bones and piercing the soul.

Her hands fisted the fabric at his shoulders, gripping at him and wanting nothing more than to wrap herself in his comforting essence, in the heat of his embrace.

Just one touch was enough to silence the constant whirring of thoughts in her mind until all she could process was the slide of his gloved hand on the curve of her ass and the feeling of his lips moving away from her own and connecting with her jaw.

He started there, kissing and nipping at the sensitive skin just below her earlobe before burying himself in the crook of her neck. Chills ran over her skin, her thighs flexing at his hips when her back became flush with the wall.

Good gods, she hated admitting when he was right, but it was true when he said it wasn’t enough to just feel one another’s presence.

It wasn’t enough to stand next to one another, for his fingers to linger on hers, for their eyes to meet.

Even kissing him was not enough, the evidence of her starvation now throbbing at the apex of her thighs.

It begged for friction—begged to be filled in a way she’d never felt before.

She had felt desire, but there was not a single touch or caress in the world that made her feel like a thousand stars were exploding in her bloodstream. There was no kiss that felt quite as deliciously sinful as his. It was absurd—she had to be imagining things. Drugged, perhaps.

She’d heard of flowers that existed here where just breathing in their aroma could cause intense delirium. Perhaps that was what this was.

The moment Aziel’s tongue trailed over her collarbone, her brow crumpled. Her teeth sank into her lip, hips shifting against the hard planes of his torso.

His fingers wove into the hair at the base of her neck, tugging gently to tilt her head to the side.

Aziel's lips pressed deeper into her skin, teeth grazing over the opalescent flesh that glittered with his silver brand.

She gasped when his hand slid over her bare thigh, sneaking under the dress that'd ridden far enough up her legs that it was in a rumpled circle around her waist.

"Aziel—" She breathed.

He pulled away instantly, eyes darkened with lust searching her own, as if he feared he'd done something to scare her. "I'm sorry." He muttered.

"No, it's not that." She shook her head quickly, hands splaying over his heaving chest and stroking at the dark branches there.

She smiled and for a moment he looked at her as if he was overwhelmed with a heavy sadness, his brow furrowing as he stepped away from her.

"I am fine, Aziel. There's nothing you need to worry about. "

"On the contrary, there are a lot of things I need to worry about at the moment.

" He shook his head, features shifting to a look of contempt that she knew all too well.

She didn't know what to make of his sudden terror, but she wasn't angry at him.

Whatever was going on inside of his head was enough for him to stop, to pull away from her and put distance between them.

"I'm sorry if I overstepped a boundary."

Aziel's hands clenched into tight fists, curling and uncurling at his sides before he reached up with outstretched fingers and drug them down his face.

He moved to the chair at the far side of the room, his face falling into his hands the moment he collided with the soft velvet surface.

"You don't need to apologize, moonflower.

You've done nothing wrong." She took a step forward, only to go entirely still the moment Aziel lifted his hand in her direction.

"Please," he sighed. "Please, don't come any closer.

One more step and I won't be able to stop myself. "

"At least tell me what is wrong." At this point, she was begging.

His ever-changing moods were hard to keep track of.

One moment, he looked at her like she was something to marvel at and the next, he looked utterly repulsed by her presence.

She'd be lying if she said that it didn't hurt—that it wasn't embarrassing and that she didn't feel like turning and running away from him right at that moment.

Finally, he looked up at her. His eyes were red and glassy, his hair disheveled and hanging sloppily over his crumpled forehead.

She drew in a deep breath and held it. Even in his sadness and frustration, he looked like a work of art.

"Nymiria… we cannot be together this way.

As much as I would love—" He cleared his throat, jaw working against words that looked like they were too painful to speak.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have led you to believe that this could happen. "

"Do you think that you're the first person to tell me this?" She questioned quietly. "I know that I'm not worth the trouble, you don't have to sound so sad."

"Is that what you think I feel?" He snapped. "You think that I feel you aren't worth the trouble? If you believe me to be that shallow, then you truly have no idea who I am at all."

"That's the thing!" Nymiria exclaimed. "I don't know you. Not in the way that I would like to, given our circumstances. But I don't know what you are thinking or feeling half the time."

"You aren't paying close enough attention."

Nymiria released a groan into the air, hands curling into fists. "Fine. If this is the way that you would like for things to be between us, then that is perfectly fine with me. No kissing. No touching. Don't even look at me."

"Oh," he cocked his head to one side, that stupid smirk cutting into his cheek once again.

"I can hold back on a lot of things, but not looking at you is something I think will be physically impossible for me to do.

" Aziel rose to his feet just then, eyes never leaving hers even as he reached down and adjusted the large, hard ridge in his pants.

Her cheeks heated, her heart fluttering and that place between her legs still ached for it—for him.

Seeing where her eyes were focused, a large grin spread across his face.

"Let this be the proof. Being with you would be worth every second of hell that is surely coming for me, moonflower, but today is not that day. "

The door to the washroom slammed behind him, the walls rattling against the force.

He was angry. Perhaps not at her, but he was angry at something.

She'd done well at breaking down his walls once before, but this was something else entirely.

Because the fact of the matter was that she had been paying attention and she knew that whatever plagued him was far worse than she could ever possibly imagine.

Aziel suppressed the urge to fist his cock the moment that door closed and separated them from one another.

He could still smell her on his skin, could still feel the pressure of her lips against his, the headiness of her arousal still thick in the air.

He knew that if he opened that door, he would finish what he started and damn them both.

She'd made it clear that her job was not done in Yaar and as long as she was there, he would be right there with her.

Ensuring that she was safe. But if he wanted to be there next to her, he couldn't touch her.

Couldn't kiss her. And he most definitely could not dive between those thick, milky white thighs and—

He let out a groan of frustration, his gloved hand smoothing over the hardness in his pants, grazing the bars pierced through the skin there. Gods, it was not enough.

Rushing over to the sink, he turned the water at full blast and tossed a handful onto his face. It was not sobering in the slightest.

One thing had to be done while he was here. And even though he was not presentable enough to go before the appointed king of The Beyond, Aziel needed to end this now. No more lies. No more games. No more manipulation.

It was ridiculous, really, for him to make his escape off the balcony. Sliding down pillars and beams until he reached the earthen floor, Aziel shook his head at himself. He'd done things all wrong.

But he couldn't have this guilt looming over his head any longer.

He believed that bringing her here would awaken something inside of her, that she would search for answers and want to find those that missed her.

But the sad reality was that Nymiria did not believe that anyone here ever missed her at all.

For the past ten years, she believed that setting foot in front of her people meant that they would continue the torture they intended to inflict on her the night he found her.

The house in the center of the village was full of children by the time he arrived, his face softening when a set of blue eyes shot up and widened at his approach.

Raven was rushing toward him immediately, arms hugging his waist. "We've been waiting for you!" Raven exclaimed, chuckling softly when Aziel tousled the black curls on top of the boy's head. "Is she here? Is my sister here?"

His heart gave a pained squeeze, a small smile forming despite his warring emotions. "Yes, but she's very scared. That's why I'm here. I need to talk to your Pa about her."

The boy stared up at Aziel, his brow crumpling with evident disappointment.

A single line formed between his brow, the very same line that formed between Nymiria's when she was upset or angry.

Or sad. Seeing their resemblance was enough to give him slight hope that she might open her heart to this place and these people, the new ways of the land that her mother almost completely ruined.

"He's this way." Raven sighed, slipping his hand into Aziel's and guiding him around the corner of the house to where Thorn sat staring into a fire, arms wrapped around his legs as if he were cradling himself.

Aziel and Raven paused, watching the man as he picked up a stick and tossed it into the fire, eyes following the embers that floated into the sky.

He had always been a rather joyful man with a deep belly laugh and wide grin, but this was Thorn when no one was looking.

A man who lost his mate, a man betrayed by his mate, a man with many regrets.

"I want to see her." Thorn said suddenly, his voice thick with an emotion that had Aziel pausing. "My girl. I know she's here and I want to see her."