“Whatever,” Nora snorted.“I brought kavage, since you are working late.”She walked over to the shelves, reaching out to stroke the spines of the books.“Ritathan’s?”she eyed the shelves with a smug look, as if she already knew the answer.
Riven nodded.“King Xyrath ordered them stored here.The librarians think they are dangerous.”
“Are they?”There was that sparkle again.A mischievous anticipation of chaos.
“No more than any other book,” Riven said.
“Pity,” Nora said.She walked around behind where he knelt, letting her fingers play over the books.
“King Xyrath also threatened me,” Riven said.“Said he’d kill me if the spell failed.”
“Not a surprise,” Nora murmured behind him.
“Tell me,” Riven said slowly.“Can I trust any promise that the Queen makes?”He glanced back, catching Nora’s eyes.
Nora shrugged.“She rescued you and you are not dead yet.”She ran her fingers through her hair.“Please her and she is a willing ally.Cross her and she is a deadly foe.”
Riven sighed and shoved the last scroll onto the shelf.
“Of course,” Nora’s voice was low and sultry.“As you please her, you can be pleased in turn.”Her fingers touched the back of his neck, tickling his hair.
Riven sucked in a breath, his entire body reacting to her touch.
“Would you like that?”Nora whispered.
He felt her kneel behind him, her arms coming around to embrace him.One circled his chest, the other started to wander lower, down where the harsh ache in his loins was building.
He felt her heat, and her scent teased his nostrils.
Riven forced himself to his feet, managing one step away.He didn’t dare look at her, he could barely find his voice to ask.
“Are you…commanded?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
In the Palace of Xy
“What if I am?”Nora asked softly.“What does that matter?”Her skirt rustled as she rose to her feet.She drew close enough he could feel her heat on his skin.“Commands are not always unpleasant or…unwelcome.”
Riven swallowed hard and turned to look at her.
She was looking at him through her dark lashes.“We are free to take our pleasures,” she said as she put her hand on his chest.
Riven tried to step back, step away, but his body betrayed him.The heat of her palm burned through his tunic.“You are not free,” he said hoarsely.“You are Bound.”
“Is anyone commanding me now?”she stepped even closer, her voice soft and husky.“No one is here, but you and me.”
“You are not free,” Riven rasped.“You are Bound to her will.Have you ever had a desire for lovers?Sex?Craving for a food?Ever pleasure yourself in the night?Or with your sisters?You have no desires, no thoughts beyond the Queen’s.”
“The Queen does not desire you,” Nora purred.“I do.”
“Is this in the instructions?”Riven asked, desperate to be certain that this was reallyherdesire.“For casting the spell?”
Nora shrugged as she stepped closer.
“Don’t know,” she said, her eyes glowing with mirth.“The Bonded never allows us to read those scrolls.”She chuckled as she lifted her mouth close to his.“But if it says that, well, then, thanks be to the writer, who has placed a handsome male in my path, for my pleasure.”
Riven shook his head, putting up his hands, but Nora took fistfuls of his tunic with both hands.
