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“Thank you, Leela.” Nava tossed her filthy clothes aside, then groaned as she dipped her feet into the milky water. Leela quietly disappeared.
It was easy to push aside the burning from her scratched skin or the ache from the bruises marring her thighs and arms. They had escaped the Crows. They’d released those spirits from that awful place they’d been forced to haunt. Tears burned her eyes, and for the first time since they’d left the safe house, Nava allowed herself to cry.
“Nava?” Arkimedes’s voice filtered across from the room next door. He sounded worried. “Are you here?”
“In the bath,” she called, wiping her face. The water was still warm, and the oils were already doing wonders for her aching muscles. The only thing missing was a nice glass of wine.
She froze as Arkimedes stepped into sight, suddenly looming by the doorframe. His green glowing eyes cut through the room’s darkness. A strong, gut-wrenching feeling took her by surprise. It was hard not to draw parallels with that night on Grey Island when he’d been taken from her.
“You disappeared on me.” Arkimedes leaned against the door.
“I wanted to talk to Leela without you intimidating her.” She hated that her voice wobbled, giving away her distress. Of course, it was silly of her to even worry about that. He could feel what she felt and was likely here because of that fact.
“What’s happening? Your emotions are running wild.” He pressed one of his fingers to his stomach, where she knew he could feel their connection. The floorboards creaked with each step he took toward her.
“Everything is overwhelming me,” she said. “Then I remembered the night they took you from our home on the island. It was raining like tonight, and we were bathing.” She glared at the soap that rested on the wooden stool next to her. “The scent of this damn soap is exactly like the one we used back at home.” She almost tossed it across the room. But it wasn’t Leela’s fault.
Never again would she send Arkimedes away to bring her wine so they could relax in the bath. The experience had haunted her for almost two months and had forever changed the trajectory of her life.
“Ah. I regained that memory right before I showed Fael what happens when someone betrays me.” Arkimedes rolled the cuffs of his shirt up over his toned arms and knelt behind her, dipping his fingers beneath the water’s surface to caress the side of her arm.
She craned her neck to meet his eyes as he reached for the oil.
“We aren’t on Grey Island now, but we are together. You came and saved me, Nava.”
Tears welled up in her eyes as her throat constricted. “We are hiding in Leela’s house from two different enemies. I can’t claim to have saved you.”
Arkimedes slid his hands over her shoulders, kneading her tense muscles. “I have regained most of my memories, and I’m closer to understanding what happened to my family, thanks to you.”
He skimmed his fingers over her breasts, then along her ribcage. A light caress underneath her breasts soon dipped lower, bringing an intense flutter to her core.
Nava turned her neck to search for his lips. They were exploring the line of her jaw and traveling down her neck. “Are you going to stay there or come into the water already?”
“Where is your patience, Bee?” His laughter washed over her damp skin.
She twisted against the smooth surface of the tub, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed her lips to his. Their kiss grew to a languid dance of lips and tongues. Arkimedes leaned over the tub’s edge, his free hand trailing down her spine and wrapping around her waist, pulling her closer.
“You know very well that I lack patience with everything, especially when it comes to wanting you,” she said against his lips. She’d hoped to sound sexy, but her squeaky tone gave away her nerves.
Even after all this time, he still turned her into an awkward, fumbling mess.
“Good.” He oozed the confidence she lacked. The bastard.
Nava moved her hands greedily down his torso, tracing the hard lines of his muscles beneath the wet fabric of his shirt. With his help, she pulled it free and wrestled it over his head. His pants soon followed, and then she lay back as he stepped into the tub.
Nava embraced him the moment he sat. She needed to feel his body. To silence everything sinister they’d experienced today.
Arkimedes’s eyes darkened as his wet fingers crawled up her spine and wrapped around her skull. She settled her body weight on top of his, her knees falling on either side of his hips.
“Now I get to have you without secrets and without the lies,” she whispered.
His eyes sparkled with mischief, and he tucked a strand of wet hair behind her ear. “I won’t hide the truth from you again… I confess, I’ve been wicked.” He trapped her face with one hand.
He had been. On Grey Island, when she’d first found out that he was her soulmate, Arkimedes had claimed that he never lied. But he could hide the truth. He could keep secrets and avoid questions by answering with other questions.
“All right, then no more of that fae wickedness. Not unless you’re using it for its another purpose…” Her words brought those crinkles to the corners of his eyes he got whenever he smiled. Gods, how she loved them—how she loved him.
“And what, precisely, is that purpose? What sort of things do you want me to use my wickedness for?” He squeezed the round flesh of her ass, and his erection slid over her sensitive nub, again and again, pushing the air from her lungs.
