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“I’ve only been testing your boundaries so far,” he whispered into her ear as his head lowered to her shoulder. The way his breath brushed the back of her damp neck made her shudder. “I have to admit, your resolve is much stronger than I anticipated.”
“Yet you still test me with the same thing over and over.”
“Because I like how you respond.” His lips met her shoulder, sending a shudder down her spine as he caressed her waist. “The look on your face that night…” he whispered onto her skin softly, “of such pleasure–” he kissed his way to her shoulder blade, “–made me feel more of a man than winning a duel could ever have.”
Aria’s soft gasps echoed against the tiled walls alongside the soft sounds of his kisses that he slowly placed on her back. His hands held her in place by her hips, making her squirm.
“I know where your weaknesses lie as a Nymph,” he muttered with a soft nip at her shoulder blade. “Yet you pose a challenge to the techniques I’m familiar with in getting you to surrender. I admire it.”
“So now you’ve had the bright idea to woo me instead?” she grumbled breathlessly as his thumbs rubbed slow circles onto her hip bones.
He sighed in disagreement. “On the contrary, I think it’s time that I suggest an agreement that would suit both of us.”
She scoffed. “I will not free you of the blood pact we’ve signed, if that is what you’re aiming for.”
“There will be no need,” he said into her neck, and she whimpered when he began to suck on her skin. His firm chest met her back, and she couldn’t help but enjoy the way his muscles felt against her skin. His skin felt warmer than the water they were in.
“This situation is clearly tiring us out, Mierna. You’re truly a strong and dedicated ruler.”
He kissed her neck with a soft sigh of pleasure, and Aria couldn’t help melting into his touch.
“Y-you said that…” she stammered, “you said you weren’t…imprisoning anyone, yes?”
“Yes.”
“You’re hurting no one?”
“Not at all,” he whispered as he sucked on her earlobe. Aria was having averydifficult time keeping her train of thought, but she also didn’t want him to stop. It felt too nice, and it was rather affectionate and sweet. She purred when he buried his head in her neck to continue his tender explorations. She was sure he’d left a few small marks.
“Travus,” she mumbled as his lips found her jaw, “our nations have existed peacefully for eons. Whatever it is that you want from them, I’m sure it can be negotiated.”
“It cannot.”
“Why?”
She found herself flipped around as his mouth fell upon hers with a growl. Her fingers needily grabbed at his shoulders with a soft mewl, allowing his kiss with a shuddering breath. He kissed her deeply, and Aria felt so dizzy that she felt like passing out.
He consumed her, as if parched for water in an endless dessert.
“What are you hiding?” she pleaded between the moments their lips parted, but he silenced her. Her arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him closer, relishing in the pleasure of his kiss. “This heartless facade,” she managed through a short breath, “is simply to hide something.”
“Mierna, please,” he growled as he kissed her once more, “donotattempt to delve into my affairs.”
She pushed him away by the shoulders with a frown. “They’remyaffairs as well! My nation’s freedom is at stake here!”
“All the nations will be left alone as soon as I get what I want,” he promised. “The most I can tell you is that this conquest isn’t a long-term plan.”
“What?”
His hand slid into her hair as he, again, silenced her with his lips. She wanted to interrogate him as her curiosity grew, but he lifted her out of the water and climbed out after her, pinning her onto the cool floor.
“This brings me to my offer,” he grunted into her mouth. “Something that will guarantee a quicker resolution.”
She pushed at his shoulders again to come up for air, staring at him curiously through a lustful haze. “And what would that be?”
Heaving for breath, he looked down at her with frosty eyes that, for some reason, no longer seemed cold. Just tired and desolate.
He looked sad.
