Page 60 of Blade of the Nightking

“Lie back,” he said, voice roughening.

I did as he said, reclining against the cushions as anticipation curled low through me.

His hands slid up my bare thighs, gathering my nightdress higher as he spread my legs wide. A knowing smile curved his mouth before he pressed his lips to the inside of my knee. Then higher.

And higher.

My breath came in shallow pants now, my thoughts already racing treacherously ahead of him as I imagined his mouth finding my center. I gripped his bare shoulders, my fingers digging in as he caught the edge of my undergarments, and just as he began to slide them aside⁠—

A sharp knock split the silence.

Then stillness. Respectful waiting from the other side of the door.

Aedric let out a ragged, irritated breath and lifted his head.

“What?” he barked.

“Are you dressed?” Hamish’s low voice rumbled through the door.

Aedric swore under his breath. When he met my eyes, he let out a long, reluctant sigh before pushing back—to my immense disappointment.

He reached for my robe draped over a nearby chaise and tossed it toward me. Still flushed from the moment before, I pulled it on quickly, cinching the belt tight just as Aedric yanked open the door.

“This better be good,” he nearly growled.

Hamish’s gaze darted past him and landed on me across the room. His expression remained carefully unreadable, though I caught the briefest pause as he took in the robe hastily tied at my waist, the flush in my cheeks, the unmistakable evidence written across my face.

I looked away.

“Calantha,” was all he said to Aedric.

Aedric snapped into motion immediately, dragging on his discarded clothes from the night before with surprising haste.

“I told her I’d send word at dawn,” he muttered to me in explanation, fingers moving quickly over the buttons of his shirt. He nodded toward the window. “And it’s well past dawn.”

“Must you go this very moment?” I asked, unable to keep the whine from my voice.

He paused long enough for his lips to tilt into something wicked before bending low and catching my mouth with his once more. His tongue flicked teasingly against mine, a promise that sent my pulse stumbling all over again, but then he pulled back, his mouth hovering a hair’s breadth away.

“I’ll find you after breakfast.” The look he gave me sent heat coursing through me all over again, full of dark implication—of all the unfinished things waiting for me when he returned. “Right here,” he added. His finger pressed firmly against the ledge of the bay window beside me, where I still sat. “Exactly how you were. Understood?”

“Understood,” I breathed.

“Good.”

He caught my hand, brushing a quick kiss over my knuckles before straightening. “I'll see you soon.” His gaze settled on Hamish, something hard and unspoken passing between them. “Guard her.”

He strode past the guards stationed in the hallway, a mocking smile tugging at his mouth as he took in their weapons with leisurely disdain. And then he was gone.

Hamish shifted awkwardly beside the door and cleared his throat. “I’ll wait for you outside,” he gruffed, already turning away before I could answer.

Sighing, I turned to latch the window, only for the view beyond to catch me off guard all over again.

My gaze roved over the bay to the city stretching along the coastline. Noctharis clung to the rocky shelves descending toward the sea, its buildings rising in uneven tiers above one another. It had been a great city once. Even from here, I could see it. But time hadn’t been kind—sagging rooftops, weather-worn paint, narrow cobbled streets dulled by the passing centuries.

There was something else, too. Something oddly layered about it. Ancient stone peeked from beneath newer timber, whole sections of the city seeming to have grown over the bones of something older until it became a patchwork of ages.

And then there was the silence.