AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re supposed to be outside the door, not in here with me,” I say breathlessly.
“I am out there.”
“But you’re in here. People can’t be in two places at once.”
“Sure they can. See this mirror? I stuck it to the inside of the door before the guard locked you in, and its mate is secured to the outside of the door under a cloaking spell. Thanks to the mirrors, a reflected image of me will stand outside that door for as long as my energy can sustain it. It won’t mirror what I’m doing in here, but it will mimic the natural motions I might carry out while standing guard. It’s called a doppelganger charm. Unfortunately it’s a one-time use… at midnight on the day it’s first activated, the mirror cracks and the thing becomes useless, inert. It belonged to my father. I wonder if he has noticed it’s gone…”
“That’s Elvish magic.” I clutch the dress tighter to my chest. “Only Elves can craft such things.”
“True.”
“Why do you have an Elvish relic? They’re forbidden. And why are you here? What’s all this about?” My voice trembles. “Are you the man I met by the fountain in Maystead? If you live here in Giltos, why were you there? What do you want? Why did you visit my room, and why—”
My voice is rising in pitch and volume. He darts forward to where I’m sitting on the floor, drops to his knees, and presses his hand over my mouth.
“Not so loud. Remember, there’s a guard down the hall. He can’t hear us if we speak normally, but if you continue to berate me in that tone he will notice, and he’ll come to investigate. Then we’ll both suffer.”
I twist my face aside, but he keeps his palm over my mouth and moves in closer. My eyes widen as his face approaches mine.
And then his tongue traces along my wet cheek, a slow, sensuous lick, finishing with a flourish over my cheekbone.
His warm breath flutters across my lips. “You were crying again.”
“You needed to lick me to determine that?”
“Didn’t need to. Wanted to.” He grins. “You’re very lickable.”
There’s something so odd about him. He’s like no one I’ve ever met—disturbing and charismatic by turns, with a thread of awkwardness in his behavior, as if he’s unused to being around people and his charm has grown rusty.
I’m used to the attention of men. I’ve been clumsily courted, boldly wooed, and drunkenly praised, but I’ve never been half-nude on a stone floor in my petticoat, shrinking against a haystack while a broad-shouldered man with gleaming blue eyes tastes my tears.
I’ve never felt my whole body quiver to life at the nearness of his broad chest, his lean hips, his powerful arms, his mouth.
And for a second I forget everything else except the way I feel when he’s braced over me—cautious, yes, maybe even scared, but also wildly, keenly, crisply alive, and eager, and hungry.
His right hand finds my side—the bare flesh exposed by the destruction of the corset. His fingers traverse my skin, then hook beneath my thick thigh and lift it, sudden and demanding.
“Aren’t you a eunuch?” I breathe.
“Again with that question.” He rolls his eyes. “Why don’t you find out?”
Curiosity and temptation conspire in my mind, and I slide my hand along his inner thigh as he leans over me. My cheek brushes against the dark scruff along his jaw as I reach between his legs and find hard, unmistakable proof that yes indeed, this man is intact, balls and all. I squeeze a little just to be sure.
He lets out a low groan. “Easy on the purse, sweetheart.”
So he’s not a eunuch. He’s in disguise here, among the denizens of the palace and the House of Bounty.
I tip my head back—which is a mistake because his face is right there, and those eyes—they’re almost too beautiful for his roughly handsome face.
My lips tingle, traitorously magnetized, called to his mouth. They want to know what his lips feel like.
“What do you want?” I manage.
“I’d like to help you.”
“I think you want to help yourself.”
Uncertainty shadows his face for a second. As if he isn’t quite sure of his own purpose here—what his true wishes are. That moment of doubt, of vulnerability, strengthens me.
