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“Nine o’clock.” Cutlery clinked as Lucian placed a tray beside the bed. “I have coffee.”
“I can’t move.”
“Not even for coffee?”
“Not even.”
He chuckled softly. The mattress dipped as his weight hit it. “Your phone rang about ten minutes ago. You want to see who it was?”
“I guess I should.” I made a weak “give me” motion with my hand and forced an eye open. It was Jak—he wanted to meet around lunchtime. I groaned, not sure I would even be capable of moving by then.
“Anything important?” Lucian asked.
“A reminder that I have to meet someone for lunch.” I let the phone drop back to the bed and snuggled deeper into my pillow. “But I’m not sure I’ll be able to do anything more than sleeping for the rest of the day.”
“And here I was thinking werewolves had stamina.”
His fingers began tracing lines up and down my back. While it felt nice, I barely had the energy to breathe, let alone go another round with him. And that was something I’d never thought would happen.>He walked over to the oven and opened the door. Steam billowed, and the smell of roasting meat intensified. My belly rumbled happily. “I asked around, as I said. She was the only one willing to meet me. Us.”
I took a sip of champagne, enjoying the tease of bubbles on my nose. “So you’ve never met her before today?”
“No.” He hesitated, and looked over his shoulder. “Why?”
I shrugged. “It just seemed a little odd that you’d be in a place like that with someone you didn’t know for over an hour.”
“Well, I did have to explain the whole damn situation.” He paused, then said, “As an aside, did you leave your demon sword behind, as requested?”
I blinked at both the sudden change of direction and the fact that he couldn’t sense her. “You can’t tell?”
“I’m not sensitive to her magic, so no.”
I frowned. “I would have thought all Aedh would be sensitive to anything demon-related, given their traditional role of gate guardians.”
For a moment the darkness in his eyes was so intense it almost verged on insanity. It was gone just as quickly, but its mark remained, leaving me cold inside. It made me wonder why the hell I was spending so much time with him—what was the draw, beyond great sex? Why oh why did he have this incredible pull on me? Was it just a matter of Aedh calling Aedh? Or was there something else at work? Something deeper. Darker.
I really didn’t know, but I was beginning to suspect it might pay to find out.
“As I’ve mentioned before,” he said, “many things were ripped from me when they stole my wings and forever contained me in flesh.”
I forced a hand up and lightly caressed his cheek. “That doesn’t make you any less an Aedh in my eyes.”
He grinned, and the final remnants of darkness fled. “That’s because I’m still potent where it counts. Now stop avoiding the question.”
I hesitated. He couldn’t sense Amaya and—given that she was shadow-wreathed and little more than invisible particles right now—he certainly wouldn’t feel her, so I saw no reason not to lie. Especially since I still had that niggling, deep-down chill and more than a small suspicion that he wasn’t being honest with me. “Well, there was much protest from Azriel, but I did do as you requested.”
“I’m glad. And thank you for trusting me.”
A statement that only made me feel bad for not trusting him.
He closed the oven door and walked around to where I stood. His lips brushed the back of my neck, and then he said softly, “Dinner will be another hour, at least. What do you suggest we do?”
His breath teased my earlobes, and a delighted shiver ran through me. “How about we talk?”
“About what?” The sound of my shift’s zipper being slid down seemed to echo through the vast space around us.
“How about why it took an hour to update the dark sorcerer, for a start. We both know that’s a lie, Lucian.”
“Perhaps.” His fingers brushed my spine, and desire coursed through me. “These scars are new.”
