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“A bit of your draught, and my natural properties will be at your service, and all without ruining your lovely gown.”
“Please, ruin my gown as much as you like. I prefer blood red to Segetian gold.” Cassia unwound her veil from around her neck and tossed it out of the way down her back. She yanked at the laces of her bodice and slid her gown down off her shoulders.
Lio watched, mesmerized, and pulled her closer. “Come here, oh Elixir of Life.”
“I promise I’ll be gentle.”
Standing before him, she gave him the most delicate of kisses on his split lip. Her tenderness sent a shiver through him. With the utmost care, she cupped his head and eased her throat to his mouth.
Lio put his lips to the pulse that had sustained him during the fight. The lingering furor of battle stirred once more within him, and his damaged body’s need roared to life. With a growl, he sank his fangs into her throat and listened to her moan.
Hot, wet blood raced across his parched tongue and slaked his thirst. Her liquid warmth moved into him, at once soothing and rousing. Heat seared the sites of his wounds, and he gritted his teeth, biting down harder on her vein. He felt a little impact in the stone on either side of his head. Her hands on the wall.
He felt his crumpled ribs straighten and expand within his flesh. The pressure in his wrist eased. Pain retraced its path in his ankle, then faded to nothingness.
With two good hands, Lio pulled Cassia down to the bench beside him. Without parting his mouth from her vein, he traded places with her to kneel before her. He slid a hand behind her head and down her damp braid. His fingers ran afoul of that veil. He had just enough presence of mind to remember she must soon leave this room wearing her Tenebran entrapments. But they could still free her from them for a few moments.
He wrestled her skirts out of the way as she unwrapped his loincloth. He slid his body between her legs, and she yanked him to her. He took both her hips in his hands and buried himself inside her. She called out to him now, egging him on. He pumped inside her with all the energy her blood was giving his body.
Steam plastered her gown to her body and to his bare skin. She rubbed damply against him, even as his rhabdos slid through the wetness inside her and her blood flooded his mouth over and over. She parted her legs wider, and he heard her velvet shoes slide over the stone as she sought purchase. He smiled into the blood on her neck. Her feet didn’t reach the floor from a bench built for Hesperine height.
When her hands clutched at his buttocks, he flinched with pleasure. She held him to her, kneading and massaging him into their rhythm. As he worked his muscles, she worked them in her hands. It felt wonderful to be in his own skin, to enjoy her, to feel her enjoy him.
Her krana rippled around his rhabdos, driving waves of pleasure through his entire body. Her fingernails dug into his buttocks, and her voice echoed off the walls of the bath chamber. He unleashed himself inside her, mind and body, magic and strength. They gripped each other, sharing their climax everywhere their bodies touched.
He dragged in a breath, filling his head with moist air that smelled of her blood and pleasure. He lifted his mouth from her. Her fingers released their grip on him.
She lifted a hand and cupped her palm under his chin. Her blood dripped from his mouth and into her hand. She flattened her wet palm on his chest and smeared her blood mark over his heart. The pure intimacy of it sent a shudder through Lio.
When he lifted his hand to his fangs, her eyes widened. He punctured his palm, then pressed his hand to her heart. His blood touched her skin for the first time. They both let out a gasp.
He caressed her, and a trail of his blood slipped between her breasts. Her krana quivered and tightened around him. A thrill slammed through him. His blood aroused her.
A memory flashed in his mind. The night in their shrine when she had first asked him to touch her, appointing him her guide on her journey into pleasure. She had sat before him just like this and dared only an exploration with his hand. Now here she was, in Orthros, with all of him locked between her thighs. With his blood on her skin. Their past and present blurred together, obscuring the unbearable time in between. He could reach out and touch their future.
“Cassia…the last time I was in this room…” No, he didn’t wish to speak of it after all.
Her brow furrowed, and she ran her hands up and down his back. “You know you can tell me anything.”
He could scarcely resist telling her anything she wished, when she asked so. “I fell ill while training. Mak and Lyros found me on the floor…just there…I was such a mess. I finally had to confess the true cause of my illness—hunger for you. It was the night I first told them about you.”
“Lio!” She ran her hands over him, as if to reassure herself he was safe and hale. “You were that ill? I knew living on deer must have taken a horrible toll on you, but…”
“I hate to think of that time. I’m not sure I should even speak of it to you.”
“As we’ve said, we must not keep such things from each other, even if it means worrying one another. We must both know when one of us in danger.”
Soon she would understand it was not just deprivation, but Craving that had reduced him to that. Telling her a little at a time like this would pave the way for the truth. “I just want you to know how much it means to me for us to be together here like this.”
She looked at him with her veil askew and the front of her golden gown stained dark crimson with blood. “It means that to me too.”
He smiled and kissed her softly on her lips. But a stirring of sound from without made him lift his head and utter a curse. “I think the closing ceremonies are starting.”
“Ugh. Time for me to go wave the Tenebran banners again.”
He eased their bodies apart and worked a cleaning spell on them that left their blood marks untouched. He ran a finger over the bloodstain on her chest, drawing one last shiver from her, before he reluctantly turned to gather up his garments. He felt a blush in her aura and turned back to see her gazing at his backside with a rueful expression.
He grinned. “Yes, I incurred those scratches in our private wresting match.”
