AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes,” I said miserably. “That’s all.”
“Then this shouldn’t matter one bit.” Zor tipped my head back and brushed his lips across mine, a flash of heat going through me like a living flame.
Zor kissed like he fought, viciously and without mercy, and I melted beneath his relentless onslaught of lips and tongue and teeth. Then I was kissing him back just as furiously, driven by fury and need and frustration.
He tasted like a storm, lightning and power and darkness, all rolled into one as he kept me pressed against the long, hard length of his body, one hand slipping down to my backside, cupping my arse and yanking me tight against him. And when he ground himself against me…Holy gods, he was huge.
I was on fire—completely, utterly on fire—every inch of me vibrating with need.
Outside the tent someone shouted, feet pounding past, the flaps of the tent flapping open. Zor was in front of me in a heartbeat as I turned away, fixing my clothes, not able to face the healer stuttering that there’d been an accident and the general was needed to handle the situation.
“Wait here. I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Zor told me before he ducked through the flaps behind her, but his eyes were dark with promise when he looked back, and it took me a long, long time before I was able to steady my breathing.
Even longer before I fell asleep, curled beneath a thin blanket, replaying that kiss over and over again.
22
ANARIA
Stealing my own horse from the long line of tethered steeds was easy enough.
Stealing Zorander’s favorite knife from his weapons belt was even easier.
Stealing a soldier’s black cloak and finding a small enough helmet for my head had been far harder, but now I looked like any other grunt in the Solarys army and could do as I pleased. I untied the gelding’s reins, thanking the gods above someone had fed and watered him. Judging from his anxious prancing, he was well rested, I barely threw my leg over in time before he was moving.
There was no doubt in my mind Zorander was going to kill me for what I was about to do.
He was more than welcome to try, providing I survived.
After that kiss, I didn’t know where we stood. I’d waited for hours for Zor to return, waited until sleep took me over, then I’d woken up in the dark. Still alone, still confused. Still tasting him on my lips.
Power and darkness and desire, all rolled into one.
Reaching up, I touched my mouth.
He’d kissed me like he was waging war, and my shiver turned into a full-body shudder of expectant pleasure. Thoughts I’d never allowed myself to entertain kept slipping through, images of us tangled together while…
I sucked in a rough breath tinged with dust and body odor of five thousand unwashed soldiers. I had to take stock of my surroundings and get out of this camp without notice. Not moon over the male I never thought I’d have.
Hundreds of fires burned around me in the war camp, a half-moon shining overhead in a clear sky dotted with stars.
Far across the desolate plain, the city rose above the flatlands, brilliant squares of faelight shining from windows, especially the palace, which was lit up like a beacon, a clear sign to the invaders that the city was not afraid.
Somewhere, in one of those windows, the Fae King—my father—sat, waiting for the outcome of this battle.
Somewhere in the bowels of the city my mother rotted away in prison.
And somewhere inside those stone walls they had Raziel locked up.
I’d lain on that uncomfortable cot, staring at the tent’s sagging roof, and spent the hours measuring how far I would go to save the ones I loved. For the first time since Solok had dragged me into this horrible place, I knew the answer.
All the way.
I was willing to go as far as—further, even, than the Oracle or Torin or either of the kings. I would give every last piece of myself to save Raziel, to free Adele, to burn this horrid city down to the ground, the king—and the Oracle—right along with it.
But there was something I would do first.
Something I should have done yesterday when I’d had the chance.
