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“The Temple Crone sends her congratulations on your first false heat, my lady. This tea will soothe your body and head if you are feeling sore. There are sachets to keep in your room for next time. Make the tea the moment you feel your false heat coming on. Ask your Alpha to remind you in case you forget. I promise he will be delighted to do so.”
She gives me a knowing smile, and I thank her and close the door.
After I drink the tea, to my surprise, I do feel better. My head clears and my body feels lighter. I wash myself, dress in fresh clothes, and head out into the Great Hall in search of something to eat.
All the tables in the Great Hall have been shifted around, and people are bustling to and fro. Zabriel walks in with an enormous log on his shoulder that’s almost as big as he is and drops it with a thud onto the stone flags by the fireplace. Brushing off his fingers, he sees me and heads over, a smile spreading over his lips.
“You look beautiful,sha’len. I think you must have slept well.”
I glance shyly up at him through my lashes. Seeing him among so many people makes me wonder if they can tell I’m devouring him with my eyes.
“Thank you, Zabriel. You look lovely as well.” He looks more than lovely. He looks so good I want to drag him down on top of me and beg him to squeeze me tight. “What’s happening here?”
“There’s a feast tonight.”
Once again, I’m surprised by the fact that the king himself hauls things around when he has everyone in the country to do his bidding. He seems to have been hard at work for some time because, despite the chilly temperatures, he’s dressed only in a black shirt with the laces loose down the front, and his chest is glowing with sweat. A few tendrils of his hair are clinging to his cheeks. His sleeves are rolled back, revealing his muscular, veiny forearms. There are teeth marks in his arm.
I gasp and grab his wrist. “What happened to you? Are these teeth marks? Who bit you?”
Zabriel shakes his head. “It’s nothing.”
“But, Zabriel, who—”
“I did it.”
I gaze up at him, perplexed. “You bit yourself?”
His tongue grazes his dragines and he glances around, before pulling me through a doorway and into an empty corridor. He shuts the door behind us, traps me with his arms, and smiles. “While you were taking care of yourself, I was taking care of myself. I got a little carried away.” He peers at me closely. “You did take care of yourself, didn’t you?”
“Um.” My face flames.
Zabriel’s eyes narrow.
“I tried, I promise,” I say in an anguished voice. “It’s one of the things we’re taught never to do. Doing…thatmeans you’re dirty and degenerate and will probably die from pox or winter lung because it makes your body weak and corrupted.”
Zabriel glares angrily around as if he’s searching for something to punch, and then he pulls me into his arms so tightly it’s like he’s trying to hug the dirty feelings out of me. “I remember now that you did tell me that. I hate those Brethren for filling your head with lies. None of that is true. Touching yourself is normal and healthy, and it’s all you had to soothe you when I wasn’t with you. Forfuck’ssake.”
His fury feels like thunder crashing over my head, and I can’t help but flinch. “I’m sorry. Are you angry with me?”
“Not with you, Omega. Never with you,” he assures me, stroking my hair. He raises my chin so he can press a kiss to my lips. “I’m sorry for shouting and swearing. I know you did your best.”
His affection and honeyed words work magic on me, sending golden warmth spiraling through my body. Everything about him feels more vivid and tastes more delicious today. I wonder if this is how it will be all the time now I’ve had my first false heat.
Zabriel kisses me again, with more tongue this time, and his dragines drag against my lower lip. I moan and arch into him, and he curses in Maledinni beneath his breath. I have a sudden vision of him sucking on one of my nipples and dragging his teeth over that sensitive flesh, and my knees nearly buckle.
Scooping me against his chest, Zabriel walks me into a room, slams the door behind us, and presses me up against it, all the while still kissing me.
“We’re alone,” he murmurs huskily. “No one can see you. Try it now.”
My eyes open wide. “Try what now?”
He pulls back and gazes at me, eyes red and heavily lidded.
Oh.
“Touch myself?” I squeak. We’re alone in this antechamber and Zabriel has his hand resting on the closed door. No one could get in, but it’s broad daylight. I can hear people moving around in the Great Hall. And I don’t do that.
Ican’tdo that.
