AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I can’t.”
It wasn’t true. I could feel how much it wasn’t. I frowned, and slid against him again, and watched his eyes close as if in pain.
And then, without his gaze on me, I noticed something else about that face. It was drawn and tired-looking, almost haggard; the small crow’s feet were deeper and more pronounced; and there were dark circles under the eyes, as if he hadn’t slept for a week. He looked exhausted, and he shouldn’t be. He’d been fine when confronting Gertie; tired, yes, but not to the point of exhaustion. And even when he’d burst in here, he’d just looked a little winded . . .
“What’s wrong?” I asked, smoothing a finger along one of his eyebrows, dislodging a drop of water that had been trembling there. “What is it?”
Pritkin didn’t say anything.
But then, he didn’t have to. Because I could feel a change in me, too. A few moments ago, I’d been freezing, unable to get warm even in almost scalding water. There’d been a block of ice at my center, radiating shivers outward with every breath. But now . . .
Now limbs that had been painful and cramped were supple and moved freely. The pounding ache in my head and neck was gone, as if it had never been. And instead of freezing cold, I was warm, almost languid, like I’d been basking in the sun for hours.
Pritkin had given me some of his power—a lot of it—but he hadn’t taken anything back.
“Take it back,” I told him now, because that’s how the feedback loop worked. Power from me into him, where his incubus nature could magnify it, feed from it, and then pour an equal or greater amount back into me. The incubus royal line were the only ones with that ability, which was why Rosier had been desperate to have a child.
But Pritkin wasn’t feeding.
He could, I knew he could, and his incubus was definitely on my side. I could feel it now, no longer talking but begging with his whole body. We slid together, soap-slick skin against soap-slick skin, and God, it was good! I didn’t know how he was holding back; I barely was! And then he kissed me and I thought—finally.
But there was no power behind it.
I almost heard his incubus whimper; it was so close, and so hungry. It had given him all it could, ever since the battle in Wales, assuming that the days of fasting were over, that there would be nothing but feasts from here on in. But this was no feast, and I couldn’t force the issue; I didn’t want to. I just wanted him.
There was no way for me to initiate demon sex, and I wasn’t mentally up to a long conversation tonight about why he should. But there was one thing I could do to wipe that look of sadness and exhaustion and defeat off his face. Oh, yes, there is, I thought, and slid my arms around his neck, deepening the kiss.
I tasted his surprise, felt his arms go rigid around me, heard the sound he made deep in his throat. But he didn’t push me away. Which is why I broke the kiss, panting for breath, and stared into his eyes before climbing on top of him.
That didn’t last long. He spun me in the water, sending another wave over the side—Sorry, Gertie, I thought—and pushed me back against the end of the tub.
That was better, I thought.
That was perfect.
Right before I saw his face.
“We’re not doing this tonight.”
For a second, I thought I’d heard wrong. “What? No, I didn’t mean the other thing—”
“We’re not doing anything tonight!”
I frowned. “Why not?”
“Why not?” He looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “Cassie, you have a wound in your side with twenty stitches in it! Not to mention that you almost died a few hours ago! You’re in no condition—”
“Let me be the judge of that.”
I tried to kiss him again, but he pulled away. “You’re in no condition to judge anything! Nobody is under an incubus’ influence! You’re going to bed.” And before I could argue, he was climbing out of the tub, giving me a glimpse of a god-tier physique gilded by lamplight, picking out the golden hair on his chest and thighs, and the muscles moving as he turned, bent over, and plucked me out of the tub as if I weighed nothing.
It felt good to be in his arms, but not good enough. Not nearly enough! Pritkin and I had had so little time to ourselves since my declaration on the battlefield, when I’d finally admitted I loved him. Everyone always needed us for something, and it was hard to find even a moment when we could be alone.
And doing so in the future wasn’t likely to be any easier, and not just because of Mircea. But because the whole reason I was having so much trouble bridging the gap between supernatural communities was that the Pythias were supposed to be neutral, only we hadn’t been. Not for a long time.
The Circle guarded the Pythias, but their presence involved more than that. They also influenced them, and everybody knew it. How could you go to a Pythia expecting a fair ruling on some argument if the group you were arguing with was standing right there at her side, glowerin
g at you? It had been a problem for centuries, but things had started to get really hinky under Agnes.
