Page 49

Chapter twenty-four

I n my dreams, he kissed me back. And then some.

In my dreams, his scarred hands were all over my body. Inside me. His mouth was heaven when tasting me and hell when it wasn’t. And when I woke, I woke up panting and paralyzed, flat on my back. I shifted slightly, and my eyes widened at the ache between my thighs.

“Good morning.”

I squealed and shot up in bed. I knew he had come back at some point in the night. In my drowsy state, I had heard the shifting of a chair and the creaking floor beneath his footsteps.

This morning, he sat on a chair beside the bed, his ankle resting on his other knee, one hand curled beneath his chin. Narrowed eyes, watching me.

“How long have you been sitting there?” I asked, sweat prickling on the back of my neck. Playfulness glinted in his eyes. My dry tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth.

“Did you know that you make noises in your sleep, Ella?”

“What…” I gulped. “What… what did I say?”

His lips curled halfway into a devilish grin, but he gave me nothing .

I cursed under my breath and threw the covers off my legs. He rose from his chair when I stood. His rich, cedar scent washed over me. We were close, and the room was so small—too close, too small for me to breathe steadily.

“Don’t be embarrassed to moan in your dreams, Aryella.

” He leaned down to brush his lips against my ear.

And then I heard the coy smile in that deep voice.

“You do more than moan in mine.” He pressed a chaste kiss to my temple and brushed past me, opening the door.

“Get dressed for the day. We’ll eat breakfast and be on our way. ”

Fire engulfed me, melting my bare feet to the floor, but frustration strong enough to quell the rage— that sent me after him.

“You’re cruel!” I barked, padding after him into the hallway. “You are playing with me, and it’s cruel!”

He stopped. His fist curled and unfurled at his side.

Teasing. Taunting .

And I realized… I could play with him too.

“Tell me, teacher. Is that what I should expect?” I crossed my arms over my chest. Blood simmered in my veins. “When I have sex , should I moan his name?”

He turned on me, jaw clenched, nostrils flaring, and I knew I’d set him off.

“Who, Ella?” Danger and envy threaded through his forbidding glare. He closed the distance between us, towering over me, only inches between us. I had to fully bend my neck to match his gaze. “Tell me who the fuck you intend to let in your bed!”

“I suppose if I’m going to marry Elias, I’ll also be expected to—”

“From what I’ve heard,” he hissed, bitterness lacing his tongue, “Elias Winterton is a slimy little shit who sticks his cock inside anything that moves.”

My stomach churned. Dread made me shrink where I stood. I tried to tamp it down, hide it from him, but he saw it .

Fury rippled through him at the sight of my fear. “And if he touches you—”

“What does it matter if he touches me? He’s meant to be my husband.” My indignance burst through my timid walls, but it was short-lived. His possessive fire blazed through every last trace of my defiance, leaving me bare and needy.

“It matters, Ella,” he uttered, low and lethal. “What you want matters.”

“It doesn’t seem to matter to you!” I snapped, my throat thick with tears, still hurt from his rejection last night.

How could I know what I wanted when I knew nothing other than him and the way he made me feel?

Defeated and afraid, I turned away from him. But his strong fingers locked around my wrist, yanking me back. Flush against him.

“You want to know,” he began slowly through gritted teeth, “what it should be like?”

My erratic breathing sputtered out in tiny bursts. His scent, his warmth, his safety, his blazing glare on my mouth, my neck. I couldn’t form a coherent thought. “Y-yes.”

Gavin captured my chin between his thumb and forefinger the way I always craved. Only this time, his large, calloused fingers spread around my jaw and throat. My eyes widened and exhilaration consumed me at the realization that I was completely at his mercy.

His lips curled up in satisfaction at my reaction to him. My hot cheeks and flushed skin gave me away. I could hide nothing from him.

“It’s very important to me,” he purred, “that you remember everything I am about to say.”

I swallowed and watched him tense at the flex of my vulnerable throat beneath his fingers.

“Any man worthy of touching you ,” he growled, and my knees nearly gave out, “should make your toes curl. He should make you succumb to a need so voracious that you combust from the inside out. You should feel a euphoria powerful enough to make you forget where, what, and who the hell you are. You should scream as you come apart beneath hands that have no purpose but to pleasure and protect you.” He lifted my chin.

My pulse thudded in my exposed throat. My body begged for the air on the other side of my skin to cool my blood before it burned me.

“You will be worshipped—mind, body, heart, and soul. You will accept nothing less. Do you understand?”

My lips parted as the blood in my veins rushed downward to feed the pulsing need ravishing my core.

“I—”

“Do. You. Understand ?” he snarled, his fingers gently flexing on my throat.

I gasped and nodded.

“Good girl,” he hissed.

“What if that doesn’t happen with Elias?” I breathed.

“Then he isn’t fucking doing it right.” He tore his hand from my throat, leaving it bereft of his touch.

“And you know how…” I gulped down the urge to offer myself up to him and added breathily, “to do it right?”

His knuckles cracked at his side a few times. Each time, his fingers threatened to graze my hips. “Aryella.” He savored each syllable of my name. “I need you to go inside our room and deadbolt the door.”

“I…” My brain had to remind my knees to straighten and keep me standing. Every part of me was weak and willing for him, though I tried to feign defiance. “I don’t want to.”

“You are playing a very dangerous game, Ella.” His eyes darkened. “Do. It . Now.” Clenched teeth. Ravenous eyes. The lustful tendrils of his intense hunger for me, begging to drag me under. My stomach stuttered and dropped at the animalistic mass of man before me .

I took a careful step back from him and almost tripped over myself. One more second of his craving gaze on me, and I knew I was pushing my luck.

His lips curled into a menacing snarl. “ Run. ”

I gulped down a stroke of exhilarating fear and obeyed. I turned and ran like I was seconds away from my final breath at the hands of a starving beast.

Perhaps I was about to take my final breath of this life. Or at least life as I knew it.

The door slammed between us too quickly for me to see if he followed, but if the instinctual flight response flooding my core was any indication, he may have been chasing me. Panting, I thrust down the deadbolt with the urgency of desperate, adrenaline-fueled prey.

Because at that moment, my guardian became a predator.

Gavin Smyth was on the other side of that door, where I knew he would stay to ward off any and all danger, including himself. He would not touch me, and he would destroy anyone who tried.

He was my greatest threat. He was my protector.

He was both in one body, one soul.

I had never been so torn. Confused. Needy.

And I’d never wanted anything more.

***

I sat in the bath for an hour with my knees tucked into my chest. Last night, I’d taken a bath after he denied me that kiss, but I’d decided to take another one—a lukewarm one that was now growing cold. If only to quell my frustration.

And to cool… the rest of me.

The tips of my silver-blonde hair were wet down my back and over my shoulders.

I watched my fingers drift from one side of the cast-iron tub to the other and, every few minutes, tried to summon the power of Rainar and move the water without touching it.

Nothing happened. Just as the healing power of Viridian had disappeared after one use, there was no sign of Rainar this morning.

How was I supposed to fight Molochai when I could only summon the powers on impulse, not demand? When I could reach for my wheel of power but had no control over retrieving it? And when I’d only wielded the power of two gods when I was supposed to wield twelve?

I knew the answer, though it irked me to admit it. And I could only thank the gods and Simeon for giving me more time before being sent to those caves to figure it out. I’d tasted a sample of my powers, but mastering each one? Finding control? The ancient sorcerer himself would have to teach me.

I would be stuck until I worked with someone that knew magic. Wielding mystical power was the one thing Gavin didn’t know. It had to be Simeon, and Brinnea was only one day away.

I slid farther into the basin and sighed. Then, I tried and failed to reach for blue on my wheel. Tried and failed to craft simple shapes out of water for another twenty minutes, until it chilled to an intolerable cold.

A half hour later, I emerged from the bedroom wearing black pants and the oversized black sweater he’d given me after he attacked me in Tovick. Why I chose to wear it today, I didn’t know. To taunt him, perhaps. Piss him off? Make him happy? See him smile?

All of those reasons, I think.

My thoughts and feelings regarding Gavin were no longer rational. Maybe I wore it just to get something out of him before he was gone.

He waited outside the room, eclipsing the doorway and crowding the hallway with his intimidating size.

“Have you calmed down?” I asked, infusing my tone with annoyance. “Or should I run ? ”

Saying nothing, he stepped back and motioned for me to pass through the dimly lit hall. With no windows and only a few oil lanterns, it was difficult to tell night from day if not for the bedroom’s window light streaming through the open door behind me.

His finger brushed against the loose fabric on my arm as I passed.

“What?” I demanded, jerking away. “Do you want your sweater back?”