For a moment, I wondered if I had finally pushed Noctis to breaking point. Dark eyes blazed down at me with undisguised need, his breaths shallow and unsteady. My heart pounded in response. The spring sun had painted a dozen freckles on the bridge of his nose and his high cheekbones, I noted absentmindedly as I watched him tremble in a desperate fight for control.
“You are burning the eggs,” I said, proud of my nonchalant tone.
Noctis stared at me as if I spoke a foreign language. Then he breathed in deeply and stepped around me, cursing softly as he tried to salvage our breakfast. I used his distraction to calm my own racing heartbeat. Part of me was tempted to stay inside the wonderful, cool stone conservator powered by two bluelyrin-stones as I collected butter and cheese from it.
The sound of movement behind me made me tense up, anticipation flooding my body in a heady rush. I could not resist the urge to rub against him, and I could feel…
Oh.Arousal pierced through me with sweet intensity as I realized what was pressing against my backside, hard and demanding.
“Fuck, Baradaz.” Firm hands closed around my hips, stilling my movements. “That is a very dangerous game to play.” Noctis’s hoarse exhale tickled my ear. Did he know what it was doing to me to feel his lips so close? His teeth? He must know. The tremble running through me was so strong I nearly dropped the butter.
“You once told me those are the only games worth playing,” I managed to gasp out.
His lips pressed against the sensitive spot on my nape. Such a small point of contact, but it felt as if my entire body were burning up, my eyes closing at the sensation.
“You are an impossible tease,” he murmured against my skin, the rasp of his stubble so delicious I wondered how it would feel in other places.
“You love that about me.”
I surrendered to the madness roiling in my veins. My fingertips trailed languidly over his bare arm, nearly burning with the heat of him. I relished the way he tensed up violently, a soft hiss escaping him.
Sharp teeth sank into my nape. A warning. The sensation drove a helpless groan from my lips. “I love you all flustered and wanting more.”
With that last hoarse whisper, he was gone, leaving me flushed and confused, struggling to rein in my traitorous body.
The expression of smug satisfaction on Noctis’s face as he brought our delicious-looking omelets to the table was annoyingly familiar. He even fetched a simple black shirt from his pallet and pulled it over his head before sitting down. He wanted me to be the one who crossed the line between us again. The one to admit I still wanted him.
I followed him to the table with the rest of our breakfast and sat down. Maintaining eye contact, I tasted my omelet with an exaggerated moan. “Mmm, this is delicious. Who knew you had skills in the kitchen?”
We would see who caved first. Not that I planned to cave at all.
Noctis’s lip twitched. “You know me. I’m skilled at everything I do.”
“Well…” I smiled sweetly. “You can apply those skills when we ready the farm. The next days will be long and exhausting.”
Sharp awareness flashed through his eyes. “Ready the farm for what?”
Curse it, I had no idea how to convince him to come to Dalathwith me and help defend the village. Somehow I was quite sure that when he’d said he wanted to find a way to deal with Chaos, he had not meant training the local farmers into soldiers.
“For summer,” I said, keeping my voice level. I still had a few more days to devise a plan before Adesh and the others expected me to come to the village. Hopefully.
Noctis ripped off a chunk of bread with long, pale fingers, amusement crinkling the corners of his eyes as he continued to watch me, clearly catching on to my sudden unease. “I look forward to it.”
Self-assuredbastard.
CHAPTER
30
THE GOLDEN DAYS OF LYRHEIM
1800 years after the founding of Lyrheim
Rada
Igazed into the very heart of Darkness.
The sky was an endless expanse of deepest black above me, cloudless, not even the moon offering its glow, having completed its three-tendays-long journey. Tonight marked the Lyrnight, the dawn of a new year, the longest night of all. It had been my idea to attempt the creation of my guiding lights tonight, to pitch all my skill, all the power of my Light against the Dark when it ruled unchallenged. What use would my beacons be if they couldn’t shine through the darkest of nights?
