She watched as I reopened the scab on my own hand, not nearly as careful as she had been with hers. I wanted it to leave a mark whenever it healed. It would be the only scar I’d cherish. Every time I saw it or ran my fingers over the rough edges, it would bring me back to this moment with her. I had too many scars, and so did she, but this one was different. It was hope amongst suffering. It was a good memory instead of the horrors I tried to drown out and forget.
I took in every inch of her. The image of her laying bare before me. Her smile and how her left side rose slightly higher than her right. The freckles splattered across her nose. The wayshe’d slowly dragged her lips between her teeth, and the slow blinks she didn’t even realize she was doing whenever she wanted to soak in a moment. Pylemo, I loved her. I had never loved anything as much as I loved her, and I never would again.
As soon as the blood flowed from my palm, I collected a small drop of it with my finger. Scottie bent forward on the table, the motion driving me deeper into her as she brought my finger into her mouth. I almost melted from the sensation, imagining her lips around another part of me—later. We’d do that later. Right now, this was all I wanted.
She flicked her tongue over the pad of my finger before removing her mouth and doing the same with her own. A jolt rushed through me as soon as I tasted her blood on my tongue, our bond coming alive again with an electric shock. Our hands met immediately, neither of us uttering a word. We didn’t need to anymore. I felt the surge of energy intensify as soon as our blood connected, our souls bleeding into one another, becoming one from the inside out.
I knew she felt the same rush of emotions because her aura became alive, developing into a living, breathing thing for me to witness. I felt her pleasure as my own, and by her moan, I knew she felt mine as I started slowly moving my hips again. Our thoughts, our emotions, oureverythingwas bleeding together.
The dagger clattered onto the table as I dropped it, but I barely heard it. All of my focus was directed on her. I gently tilted her head up to look at me, needing to see the emotion on her face instead of just feeling it.
With my heightened senses, I was used to feeling everything more intensely. Every pain, every pleasure, every touch was amplified, but Rumor was only just experiencing it now. It was overwhelming her, and I wanted more of her to unravel before me. I wanted to consume every part of her. She felt so damn good and right and perfect.
Tezya,she whimpered, but I think it was only in her mind.
“You’re mine,” I growled as I thrusted into her again and again, feeling the adrenaline fill our veins in unison.
Her answer was a moan as I lifted her off the table with me still inside her. I moved her everywhere, soaking in the different sensations with each new position. Standing with her in my arms. The chair. Against the post. On her stomach on the ground. Every single place in this tent I made her mine.
And with each damning, blissful moment, I felt the blood bond lock into place.
TWENTY-TWO
SCOTLIND
“I don’t want to go,”I murmured, pressing soft kisses along Tezya’s jaw. “Let’s do that again.”
His groaning response had me nipping his ear before I started kissing down his neck. I could feel that he wanted to take me again, his erection was throbbing against my stomach as I laid on top of him. My legs had fallen around his hips, and despite the shake to them, I wanted more. His thoughts started seeping and mixing with mine, and I swore he was going to give in.
“We can’t. I’ve already postponed the meeting long enough. Dravenburg is going to have my head for it. He’s probably already plotting my death for stopping it when I did.”
I turned my head to the side, peering over his jaw to look out the tent flaps, with each gust of wind I caught sight of the darkening sky. It was morning when I found him, and I hadn’t realized how much time had passed since I first interrupted the meeting until now. We were still naked, using his clothes as bedding as I twisted off his stomach to curl into his side instead, but when I looked up at his face, his expression changed.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m terrified,” he admitted. “I won’t survive it if he takes you.”
“Ifwhotakes me, Tezya?” I couldn’t follow his train of thought.
“The King—if he gets his hands on you again…” He looked like he was about to cry. “Scotlind, you have no idea.” He shuddered, letting out a breath. “You have no idea what it did to me seeing you chained at the dinner table.” I’d never seen him so vulnerable, so serious. I knew that dinner affected him. He acted rashly, breaking Peter and I out of the castle that night because of it.
“Tezya, I’ll be fine—”
“He’s going to come after you,” he said, cutting me off. “Besides wanting your abilities, now that Sie is out of the prison, his focus will be to separate the two of you. Promise me no matter what happens, no matter what he tries to do to lure you in, you won’t…”
I kissed him, stopping his words. “I promise, Tezya.”
Then I kept kissing him. He had a small ball of fire glowing above us, but it didn’t fully keep out the draft.
“You’re shivering,” he murmured into my mouth. I wasn’t sure how long we stayed like that, how long our mouths moved against each other.
“I can think of a few ways for you to warm me,” I hummed as I thought of all the things we did today. I replayed the visions in my mind, knowing Tezya could see them. The blood bond was new and fragile, but I felt it grow the longer he held me. The strands were snapping into place, stitching together tighter and tighter as the day dragged on. With it, our senses were merging, our minds becoming an open pathway without either of us having telepathy.
After our second time having sex, when we finally bothered with words, I asked him if it was common, but he didn’t know.We had no idea how or why we were able to communicate without speaking or if it’d even last.
Either way, I liked it. I liked knowing his thoughts. In hindsight, it probably should have scared the crap out of me, knowing none of my own were sacred anymore. I’d never be able to hide anything from him ever again. But it did the opposite. It gave me comfort, made me feel like we were truly one; two souls made for each other.
“Oh, shit,” he cursed.
