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“You don’t,” I said. “You’re playing a game, little dragon.”
“How dreadful of me.” There was that smile again. “But I am so tired, Damyn, and I have to be at my best when I go into that ballroom. I need a little rest, don’t I?”
Reluctantly, I took the sponge; when our damp fingers briefly overlapped, an electric tingle ran up my arm.
She turned her back, lifting her hair off the nape of her neck. The line of her neck, of her shoulder carryingmymark, made my cock harden.Mine.The thought burned inside me as I washed away the filth of war.
She leaned back against me, her breasts surfacing from the water as her head met my shoulder. I turned my gaze upward, though I would remember the way she’d looked, her hardened raspberry nipples and the mischief curving her lips. I slipped an arm around her waist, supporting her sinewy weight, feeling her body drift against mine. She had to know how hard I was, because my cock kept pressing her lower back, as she leaned back and let herself float against me.
I pretended that I felt nothing when I touched her, when I washed her hair. Then I pretended that I didn't feel anything when she lifted the sponge and began to run it over my broad shoulders, down my chest. “Where did this scar come from?” she asked me.
“None of them matter. The wounds are healed.”
“All our scars matter.” She looked up at me with a faint smile. “You know my scars so well, Damyn.”
The words hung between us. I didn't want her to feel embarrassed by her vulnerability with me. I had been present during some of her darkest moments, and I hated that I hadn't helped her more.
“From fighting the Scourge.” I admitted. “It was one of the first times I fought them on my own, without Lysander or Amily watching over me. I was a young, orphaned knight, and no one really cared if I lived or died.”
“I’m glad you lived.” Her fingers traced gently over the scar across my chest, and my cock hardened in response. “Did you kill the Scourge?”
“Yes. But before that… I was afraid. I wanted to run.” I’d never confessed that to anyone. “I barely managed to stand my ground. I’m glad it left me with a scar… it was the last time I’d ever be so weak.”
She looked up at me with warmth in her eyes. “You’re never weak, Damyn. Even when you’re human.”
I scoffed.
“Do you think we can really make this all… work?” She asked. “Do you think it was too much to sacrifice, healing the Scourge but losing our magic?”
She looked up at me with those luminous eyes, and it struck me how much my opinion mattered to her. It wouldn't matter to anyone when we went into that party where the nobles circulated. I’d been a useful tool to Pend, but never a trusted advisor. He’d never cared what I thought about how he raised his two boys, as I tried to protect them from Pend’s worst.
“I think you acted like a queen,” I said. “You made an unpopular decision. You chose to sacrifice something to gain another, and you have been fighting to deal with the fallout while everyone blames you. I'm proud of you, Honor.”
I hesitated after I had said the words, feeling like I was being condescending in my own way. She didn't need to hear I was proud of her when she was a queen. She didn't need to hear her name on my lips when I should have called heryour majesty.
But she just looked at me fondly. “Thank you, Damyn.”
She said it like she meant the words, and suddenly all I wanted to do was wrap her in my arms, press her soaked skin to mine, feel her warmth against me as I drew her close. I wanted to nuzzle my lips against her throat and press a kiss to that perfect red mouth.
And it felt, from the tension humming in the air between us, as if she wanted that too.
Sometimes, I could almost forget she was Lysander’s daughter. Sometimes I forgot to talk to her as if she were the queen.
But for now, I just bowed to her, then moved toward the stairs that led up from the tub. “Time to face the nobles.”
CHAPTER58
Damyn
There were some plain,clean clothes heaped on a chair for us. She tried on the dress, but it strained over her leanly muscled body as if it were another subtle insult.
Once we were dressed, I helped her pin up her hair from her long, graceful neck. I was quick with sleight of hand or a weapon, but hair pins made me feel clumsy.
“Jaik has clothes for me,” she said. “A ridiculous number of clothes, because the ridiculous man buys anything I look at twice.”
It was how Jaik expressed his love.
She’d swept down the halls to Jaik’s room. The royal wing was quiet, although it should’ve been packed here too if things were so desperate. She tried the elaborate crystal door knob, and when it didn’t turn, she looked around for a servant.
