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“Do you question all your lovers after you have bedded them?”
“Only the ones that enter my kingdom under false pretenses.”
Tehdra’s eyes searched his face intently, and only truth reflected back at her. “How long have you known?”
“You do not deny that you are here under falsehood?” Amusement whispered from his voice along her throat where he dipped his head and inhaled. “You smell like sin.”
She ignored his reference to her scent and dove straight into the heart of the matter. Her deception. If he only knew how deep it went. That he lay with a Darkan. His kingdom’s most important enemy. “How long have you known, Ajali?”
“I was fully aware when I met you on the battle arena for training.”
Tehdra thought swiftly. “Your blades were suspicious of me. They knew as well.”
“You picked up on that, did you?” The hot murmur against her pulse had her darkness rising, needing his taste.
“Why did you not arrest me?” she murmured, curious at his action.
“You would have had a session with Acheron after our picnic.” He raised his gaze, most likely to capture every telling expression on her face. She ensured there was none.
“Acheron. The torturer.” Her heart squeezed. If he had made any other decision she would have thought him foolish, yet it stung.
“You are an unusual spy. Untrained in taijiu, but skilled enough to unearth that Acheron is dubbed the torturer. Impressive.”
“Am I to meet with Acheron after I leave your bed?”
“At the risk of your life and mission you aided me today. Not the actions of an enemy, wouldn’t you agree? Yet there is no daughter matching your description that belongs to the house of Thorne.”
The soft cadence of his voice invited trust. She delved deep, shifting the psychic hold on her beast, seeking his thoughts. Whatever he felt towards her spying in his kingdom, she would find it.
Astonishment had her frowning. He felt nothing. No rage, no distrust. A blank canvas, waiting for emotions to be painted on it based on her response.
“I am a spy. Sent by my kingdom to yours.”
She held her breath, slowly releasing it when nothing negative flared within him.
“Go on.”
“We received credible information that our people may be working with others to assassinate you, and also to remove my king from his seat of throne. I was sent to confirm if such rumors of our people betraying our kingdom existed.”
“Which kingdom are you from? Aria?”
She looked in his penetrating gaze and lied smoothly. “Yes.”
“I have an alliance with King Valius. Why did he not request an audience to discuss his suspicions?”
“The general I reported to only intimated that it would be best that the alliance not be threatened with unsubstantiated whispers, my king. And if the intelligence proved to be truth, those who participated would be squashed, cementing Aria’s loyalty without creating ripples.”
He leaned in and the gentlest of brushes flittered over her mouth. “I thank you for what you did today, Tehdra. You aided me at the peril of your own life; my kingdom is in your debt.”
She twisted, and positioned herself so she sat on him. Then she lowered her upper body so they lay flushed, chest to chest, and pressed a fleeting kiss to his lips. “No debt. I release you of any and all vow of debt, Ajali. It is something I would do again without thought of anything else.”
Ajali’s gut tightened at the bare truth reflected in her eyes. Fuck! What she offered he could take, but what she wanted was beyond his ability to give. The desire for more emanated from her gaze. She felt something for him beyond her mission, and it made him nervous. A wisp of a girl made him nervous…because he liked her. Lust he knew what to do with. Interest? Need for her voice? For her fleeting smiles? He had no fucking idea. He was a king who had to eventually choose a kala with impeccable bloodlines. Not a spy from Aria who had no ties to the royal throne.
He shifted under her, bringing her core into contact with his renewed erection. He smiled at her reaction, and his body throbbed and quickened in response. He could not dwell deeply on what her eyes told him for both of their sakes, because they have no future together, and he couldn’t keep her as one of his hari. But right now, even though he knew it’s for the best, it was impossible to turn her away. For the short time they had together, he wanted to enjoy her heat, her cries, her strength and passion. He wanted to enjoy her.
Ajali kissed her, blotting all thought except the satiation of the need between them.
Chapter Twelve
