I climbed onto his lap, breaking into a slow grin when I felt him.
“We might have a lot of irritable friends to face in the morning,” he murmured huskily, getting the same idea as me. His arm snaked around me, pulling me down fully on his hardening cock.
“Friends,” I repeated, then kissed him softly.
The term was so endearing, so hopeful, coming from him. He’d lost most of the golden guard, who he’d only started to regard as such before they were murdered right in front of him. It flared hope in me that his heart hadn’t sealed completely because of it.
“They are more like pesky little rodents we can’t seem to get rid of,” he muttered.
I giggled, and Nyte smiled when I did. He was such a precious sight when he smiled.
“I want to hear more about your realm,” I said.
Nyte blew out a long breath, seeming to tunnel back. “It’s a very long story.”
I lifted my hips and reached between us, taking him into my body again. His fingers dug into my side with his arm still hooked around me, and he groaned, planting his lips on my chest.
“Tell me when we win,” I whispered.
29Astraea
I sat on the floor while Nyte, on the bed, braided my hair. More times than necessary, and slower than I knew he could. I thought he did so in an attempt to slow my thoughts and my heart, which were both racing to get going on the quest ahead. Though I wanted to sit here for hours in this pleasurable relaxation.
“Your infatuation with my hair hasn’t changed,” I mused. My eyes fluttered at the bliss of his fingers against my scalp.
“Do you remember everything from the past?” he asked, lost in his task.
“Sort of,” I said, trying to find the right explanation for how I was both found but still lost in my own mind. “I can’t often grasp some of the memories as truth. Sometimes I remember things but as if they were a dream. The life I had before feels like a long, vivid dreamscape that suddenly comes back to me at times. Like when I do something in this life that reminds me I either enjoyed it or hated it in the past.”
It surprised me when Nyte insisted on styling my hair this morning. Until flashes of a memory from long ago in the bell tower came back. Me teasing him over his obsession and challenging him to style my hair so he could be useful. Something he’d takenveryseriously.
“That must be confusing.”
“I remember a lot of our times together. Certain activities or things you say, the ways you touch me. They feel even more familiar now. I think I’ll always feel like I’ve lived two lives, but I’m okay with that. I’m ready to focus on this one. Fight for this one. The past has an end I plan not to repeat, so I have to be better than her, smarter.”
“You are absolutely perfect,” he muttered, not stopping his braiding to lean in and kiss my temple. “Then, now, and always.”
“You’re biased to think that.”
“Some might say you have flaws, I suppose. I just happen to enjoy them.”
Nyte tied off the bottom of the braid after finishing several over the crown of my head, which I watched through the full-length mirror in front of me. I had to admit, his love for my hair came in useful considering the skill he’d mastered.
I turned, bracing on his thighs and pushing up on my knees.
“What are my flaws, exactly?”
“You’re stubborn as hell.”
“So are you.”
“And quite reckless.”
“Says the one who murders first and considers later.”
His wicked side-smile inspired a tingling thrill in me.
“You’re attracted to all things bad for you.”
