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He was touching me exactly where I needed him, his fingers moving expertly as a crescendo of pleasure coiled in my core. Heat spread across my chest, and he raised his mouth to mine again. He kissed me deeply, stroking his tongue against mine. I moaned against his mouth, my muscles going taut, then softening as shudders racked my body. As my orgasm rocked through me, my thoughts fragmented. A carnal, dark pleasure pulsed through my body, rolling waves that made blood rush to my core.
As I rocked against him, my mind bloomed with a color, the divine, pale blue of Torin’s eyes.
When I opened my eyes again, I found him staring at me like he was entranced. With his hand still between my legs, he kissed me once more.
Flushed, I caught my breath. Torin wrapped his arms around me, and I breathed against the glowing skin of his throat.
Torin, without a doubt, made it his mission to look after those he cared for.
Blinking,I woke in the night, feeling too cold, missing Torin’s heat.
When I turned to look at him, I found him sitting on the edge of the bed. He rested his hands over his knees, and his head hung down.
“Torin?”
He turned to look at me, the mournful blue of his eyes piercing the dark, his hair rustled with sleep. In the moonlight, he was all contrasts—shadowy tattoos against pale skin, pale eyes, and hair dark as jet.
“Just a bad dream,” he said quietly. “You know, Ava, I only told Morgant that I didn’t care for you because I didn’t want them to use you against me. If they knew you were important to me…I don’t really want to imagine what they might have done.”
The first golden blush of heat started to thaw the ice in my heart. “I’m not sure he believed you. He seems infuriatingly good at detecting lies.”
My breath caught as he held my gaze for another minute, and then he turned away again. He ran a hand through his hair. “When we trained in Faerie, I feel like I got to know your every move, changeling. How you thought. How you breathed. And you’re not really an Unseelie. You’re not from this cursed place.”
“What was your bad dream about?”
“I was dreaming about my mother. I have vague memories of her when I’m awake. But when I sleep, I dream of her vividly. And I don’t know if the dreams are based on memories or something my mind conjured. I think this was a memory.” His voice sounded ravaged. “This time, I was standing by her bedside, watching her die. The curse had made purple veins crawl over her skin. I loved her, but I thought she looked like a monster as she was dying. I remember being so angry that she wouldn’t get up to look after me because I think I knew she was all done looking after me. And I didn’t really know who else to be angry with. So…those were her last moments with me. Me, being an absolute brat.”
A lump rose in my throat, and I moved closer to him. I wrapped the blanket around him and slid my hand around his broad shoulders to keep it in place. “I’m sure she wanted you there. Even if you were being a brat.”
He leaned into me. “The thing is, I know I’m a king in the enemy’s territory. I need to get out of here, and I need you to go as well. But Ireallycan’t stop thinking about what it would be like to hunt down Queen Mab and Morgant, and end both their lives.”
I shook my head. “And then what? Then you die in a foreign kingdom. The Seelie and Unseelie go from a cold war to a hot war, and everyone dies.”
“Of course, you are right, changeling.” He turned, sliding back into the bed with me.
He folded himself around me, and when his breathing started to grow heavy again, his heartbeat slowing, my body melted into his.
13
TORIN
Morning light slanted through the window over the kitchen, highlighting the steam curling out of two mugs.
Ava had found coffee beans in this house, which felt like a miracle. She now sat with her hands curled around a mug, staring into the fireplace. “I like it here.”
I had no desire to leave, either. Here, I could touch Ava like I wanted to. On the other hand, at any moment, we could be hunted down, shot with darts, beaten, and then executed. I’d be killed as an enemy of Unseelie, and she’d be slaughtered as a traitor to her own kind. It wasn’t exactly a perfect situation.
I sipped my coffee, and the caffeine was already lighting up my mind. My muscles tensed with eagerness to move, to get her to safety.
In my stolen clothes, I rose from the table. “We should get on the road.” I crossed to the hearth and poured a pitcher of water onto the flames, extinguishing them.
I turned to look at Ava, her hair lit up by pearly light from the window. With her eyes closed, she stretched her arms over her head in a lazy, feline movement.
My chest tightened.
Was I an idiot for climbing into bed with her last night? Obviously, I was. And yet, I don’t think it was a call I could have refused.
She looked at me, blinking. “Any idea where we find this Veiled One?”
