Ascension Saga (Interstellar Brides): Book 5

But seeing Faith now was a blow I wasn’t ready to take. I couldn’t breathe.

I barely recognized her. She wore a gown that shimmered when she moved. The material was a dark, wine color that made little bits of red shine between the gorgeous strands of brown on her head. The ones I knew felt like silk between my fingers. The gown fit her from the hips up like a glove, outlining every curve. Every inch of which I knew very well. Below, it fell straight as rain on a windless night to cover her feet.

The neckline dipped just low enough to tease me with her skin. I could bury my face there and be blissfully happy kissing and tasting for hours. Forever.

If she would allow it.

Which, from her crossed arms and foul expression, she most definitely would not.

She was breathtaking. Stunning. So beautiful I couldn’t think, her regal bearing and noble bloodline obvious in every graceful movement of her hands, her chin. Even the square set of her shoulders.

Goddess, I’d been an idiot to think she was nothing more than a servant. A complete, cock-blinded idiot. I tugged at the restraints wanting to reach for her. “Faith. Please, listen to me. I’m not a traitor. I don’t care what your sister—”

“Her Royal Highness, Princess Trinity, you mean?” she scolded me, and I dipped my chin in apology but didn’t dare break eye contact. She was listening, although definitely pissed. That was a start. My mate, the fucking princess, was willing to hear me out.

“I don’t care what Her Royal Highness, Princess Trinity, has said about me. I am not a traitor. I had nothing to do with Zel’s scheme.”

“How am I supposed to believe you? Trinity said you handed her over to Zel at the reception practically gift-wrapped.” Her tone was one I’d not heard from her before, and the monotone recital of facts made me nervous. That wasn’t Faith. Not the Faith I knew. It was like she was being forced to swallow something extremely unpleasant.

“A coincidence,” I explained. “We had just shared a dance and she was thirsty. I have no idea how many Alerans she’d danced with, but I was the last. I escorted her to the refreshment table and she saw Zel before I did. Recognized him. She hugged him in front of everyone, clearly thinking he’d tried to save her from the queen’s guards who’d come to do the actually rescuing.” I sighed. “Goddess, what a fuck up. Look, I acted the gentleman and left her to entertain her next guest. Why would I think she needed protection from him?”

She shook her head slowly. “I don’t know, Thor. That’s why I’m here. I don’t know what to believe.” She pressed a button on the wall out of my line of sight and the door to my personal prison swung wide. She stepped inside, leaving it open behind her. The closer she approached, the thicker the air in my cell became. My body reached for hers, desperate in a way I’d never experienced, but I couldn’t reach her. Not a chance with the fucking chains. My cock was a painful rod in the coarse pants, the rough fabric rubbing the sensitive head. Even that discomfort was not enough to tame my lust. With her before me, pre-cum seeped from the tip. I could smell her now. That dark forest scent—and more—that made me wild. Her skin. Her hair. Her wet pussy. Desire filled the room. I breathed it in, and I recognized it now, as unique to her.

Unlike me, who I knew smelled of a harsh cleanser, she smelled like flowers and perfumed lotions. Like she’d soaked in a bath of Aleran flowers and they’d melted into her skin. I recognized the scent as partly the result of her bath, but mostly, just her.

Mine.

Yet here she stood before me, inches away and completely beyond my reach.

She licked her full lips but stopped walking forward when the hem of her dress brushed my bare toes. She should have towered over me, but even seated as I was, we were nearly the same height. With my arms spread wide and chained to the wall, I could not touch her. Only gaze upon what I’d had and lost.

“My sister and Leo are convinced you had something to do with kidnapping my mother.” No monotone now. Pain. Regret.

What was she talking about?

Princess Trinity’s words came back to me from just hours earlier in my apartment. The Ardor fried your brains, little sister. Step away from him. He’s a traitor. We’ve found evidence that the Jax family was involved in the plot to kidnap Mother.

I put my soul into my eyes, willed her to believe me. “I would never betray the true queen. I vow this to you as your mate.”

She cleared her throat and looked away from me, a blush creeping into her cheeks that I had learned meant she was either embarrassed or aroused. With the scent of her Ardor, her desire, driving me mad, I was hoping for the latter. “I release you from that whole mate thing.”

My heart stilled, a chill seeped into my bones. “What?”

She shivered and wrapped her arms around her waist as if she were freezing. Which was unlikely. The cell was temperature controlled to be habitable. “I said, I release you from the whole mate thing.”

I shook my head. “No. Fuck no.”

She froze, eyes wide. “What do you mean, no?”

“No,” I repeated, my voice louder. I couldn’t say the one word any more clearly. “You are mine.”

It was her turn to shake her head. “You don’t know anything about me. And even if I believed you, which I’m not saying I do, but even if I did, I’d need proof. My sister is convinced you are involved, Thor. And her head’s a lot clearer than mine at the moment.”

“I do not like hearing you speak poorly of yourself. Why would you say such a thing?” She was intelligent. Highly so. I’d seen it myself in our brief time together.

“Because.” Her gaze drifted to my cock and it was like she’d stroked me. I hissed in shock at the violence of my reaction. A spurt of pre-cum stained my pants.

There was only one explanation for her words. Her Ardor. My body was responding to hers, to her need. It was my job to soothe her, to ease this discomfort. To keep her from doubting herself. So she could be her true self again.