A warning. I would be a fool not to heed it. This was the one thing Briseis and I had overlooked when discussing how we could exploit Noctis’s connection to Chaos: he would always pursue his own agenda. Expecting him not to seize the earliest chance to reclaim his powers was naïve. Rebellion was in his blood.
The thought should have made me apprehensive. Instead, it stirred an all-too-familiar excitement within me—the urge to tangle with his darkness once more, to meet him in kind.
“Of course not,” I replied evenly, desperate to hide the effect he had on me. “The word ‘allies’ suggests a partnership of equals, working together toward a shared goal.”
“Equals,” Noctis echoed, drawing out the word as if searching for a hidden meaning. “You only have to say the word,saeraery.” His touch on my jaw changed to a caress, slowly sliding down my throat. “And I will gladly spend the next few hours on my knees for you, my face between those supple thighs.”
Stars above. The violent surge of need pulsing through me at those words, at the memories accompanying them, nearly undid me. Not burying my hands in his hair and pulling him down atop me was pure torture.
“It’s best to keep our relationship free from distractions,” I said, knowing he could feel my pulse thrumming wildly under his fingertips. “Let’s focus on what’s important.”
“Well,” Noctis said, amusement coloring his tone as he took in my determined look. Unlike me, he had no qualms about allowing his gaze to wander over me, surely noting the way my nipples had perked up cheekily, rubbing against the fabric of my tunic. “Then we should probably discuss our next steps.”
He let go of me abruptly and retreated toward the kitchen window, an unfamiliar hesitation replacing his earlier intensity as he peered outside.
“There is something I have to tell you,” he continued, the words drawn out as if he had to force himself to utter them. “That storm was not a natural occurrence.”
“What do you mean?” I watched him, unsure of his meaning. The storm had been fueled by Chaos, but that was nothing uncommon—storms like that had raged through the hills every spring since Yggdrasil’s fall. Only the timing had been odd.
“I sensed something within it. A familiar presence.” His eyes found mine, the lines of his face hardening with visible tension. “A presence who does not wish me well.”
“You think it was one of the Chiasma?” I exclaimed, horror coursing through me. “They are capable of that?”
“I did not think so.” Noctis breathed in deeply, a pained expression crossing his features. “But many of the artifacts I created over the centuries likely fell into their and Galator’s grasp after my defeat.Weapons.Lyr-stones. Objects of dark power.” Stark worry darkened his gaze. “There is no telling what they might do with them.”
“Do you think they have the Chaoscrown?”
Noctis scoffed. “If whoever has the Crown were nearby, they would not bother with sending out storms. They would deal with us directly.”
I gathered the blanket around me, trying to ward off the sudden chill on my skin. “Do you know where the Crown is?” I asked, determined to take advantage of his newfound openness.
“No.” Noctis’s tone was flat. “Not where I left it, that much is clear.”
“So you searched for it.”
The closed-off expression on his face returned. “At a point.”
Realizing I wouldn’t get any answers about what had happened before he was injured, I changed my strategy. “Will it give them access to the power of the Adept?”
“No. Not as long as I live.” Noctis’s slightly cocky smile was completely inappropriate given the situation. But then, he had always been overly proud of his creations. “While the Crown holds a lot of power, it does not contain the power of the Adept. It only makes it easier to control Chaos.”
I narrowed my eyes on him. “Because you usedthat lyr-stone in it.”
My accusing tone did not deter him. On the contrary, his smile only deepened. “Yes, I used thatlyr-stone in it.” A laugh escaped him, his eyes twinkling. “Stars, do you remember how we made it? We were both fucking drunk on the magic. And each other. I’ve never felt more alive.”
That burning gaze raked over me like a caress, reminding me viscerally how we had woken up in each other’s arms. And that there were as many good memories between us as painful ones. Of thosedays—and nights—I spent in the icy, beautiful halls of his fortress in the northern mountains, when we had explored the limits of both our magic and our connection, losing ourselves in an overwhelming whirlwind of power and pleasure.
“I shouldn’t have let you leave that time.” The regret in Noctis’s voice cut through me with surprising force. Perhaps because I shared it. We had been happy then, even if it had been no more than a fleeting illusion of happiness.
“It was not your decision to make,” I said, trying to hide how much his words affected me.
“No. It wasn’t, was it?” Noctis gave me a sad little smile that did nothing to diminish the ache in my heart.
He drew in a deep breath, as if gathering all the unspoken words lingering between us and pushing them aside to refocus on the present.
“They are going to come after me. Wherever I go, whatever I do, they will not rest until I am dead, because I am the only thing standing between them and that power—a power they need if they ever want more than a few scraps of barren land at the edges of the realm.” The earlier guilt resurfaced, his eyes fleeing mine once more, his voice rough with emotion. “I should leave. I am bringing nothing but danger to your doorstep.”
I shook my head, quelling the instinct to reach out to him. “You can’t leave. By now they know I’ve given you shelter. If they don’t find you here, they’ll try to extract your whereabouts from me.”
