He kissed her back with all the desire he had been attempting to bury.
Veya moved into his lap, straddling him at the edge of the bed. The contact drew a low sound from Dax, and his fingers tightened against her hips before he deliberately loosened them.
“Veya.”
“Do not stop.”
He searched her eyes one final time.
She was present.
She was furious.
She was choosing him.
Dax turned with her and lowered her onto the mattress, supporting her weight rather than pinning her beneath him. His mouth moved from hers to the curve of her jaw and down her throat, avoiding the place where Rhen’s blood had entered her life.
Veya’s fingers slid beneath his shirt.
The contact burned.
He helped her pull the fabric over his head before returning to her mouth, and the kiss deepened until neither could pretend patience remained possible.
Dax pushed the linen shift from her shoulders gradually, watching her face with every inch of exposed skin. When Veya lifted her arms and allowed him to remove it, the garment fell beside the bed.
For a moment, he simply looked at her.
Not as an asset, a fledgling, or a consequence of Rhen’s decision.
As Veya.
Her expression changed beneath his attention.
“Say something.”
“You are exceptionally inconvenient.”
Her mouth curved despite everything.
“So I’ve been told.”
“And beautiful.”
The humor left her eyes.
Dax lowered his head and kissed her again before the honesty could frighten either of them.
His hands moved along her body with controlled pressure, learning the places that made her arch toward him and the touches that eased rather than sharpened the remaining tension. Veya answered without hesitation, drawing him closer and making her choices clear through words whenever urgency threatened to outpace them.
When Dax’s mouth moved lower, she caught his hair and said his name with enough force to nearly break what remained of his discipline.
He brought her pleasure slowly at first, refusing to let the violence of the night dictate the rhythm. Veya’s body trembled beneath him for reasons that belonged wholly to them now, and when release finally moved through her, it arrived with his name rather than Rhen’s.
Dax returned to her mouth.
“Still with me?”
“Yes.”
