A Shadow in the Ember (Flesh and Fire 1)

“Then why was she here?” Why did you allow her to touch you? Somehow, I managed not to ask that, thank the gods.

“You already know. She heard that I had taken a Consort, and she was curious.”

“Why would she even care?”

“Why do you?”

I snapped my mouth shut.

The eather brightened behind his pupils, and he was quiet for a moment. “I didn’t mean to make you feel…alone here. I didn’t know if you needed space or not, and I told the others to give you time. That’s on me.” He was closer, his scent teasing me. “But I have been avoiding you.”

I felt a sudden, sharp drop in my stomach. “Your confirmation of what I just said isn’t exactly necessary.”

“It’s not because you’re troublesome or mouthy. I actually find those traits to be oddly…alluring,” he said.

“Who in their right mind would find that alluring?”

“That’s another good question,” Ash replied, and I started to frown. “But I’ve been avoiding you because when I’m around you for longer than a few minutes, my interest in you quickly overshadows any common sense. And that is a distraction—a complication—I cannot afford.”

I felt a strange flip in my chest that I didn’t understand. “Bullshit.”

“Is that what you really think?”

“I don’t know what I think, but I know words mean nothing.” I met his stare, and I didn’t know if it was my duty that fueled my words or something equally terrible. “So, as I said before, when it comes to your interest, you mostly talk, Nyktos. That’s what I—”

Ash moved so fast, one of his hands was on my cheek and his lips were on mine before I could even take my next breath. There was nothing soft and sweet or slow about it as his fingers splayed across my face. His kiss branded me within seconds, and I responded without hesitation, without thought. I gripped the front of his tunic and I kissed him back just as fiercely.

He shuddered and then rose, bracing his weight on his other hand as he came over me. Our bodies didn’t touch, but he kept me right there, propped against the mountain of pillows as my senses spun. His tongue rolled over mine, and a primitive sound rumbled from him as I followed suit.

He lifted his head, breathing heavily. “You know what the hardest part is, liessa? I don’t even know why I’m fighting this need. You would have me, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes,” I whispered without a hint of shame or guilt. It was the truth, even if there was no deal, no duty to be carried out. And that should’ve terrified me.

“I would have you.” His lips coasted over mine. A tremble coursed through me as the tips of his fingers trailed down the side of my throat and over my shoulder. “You would have me.”

Those fingers followed the vee of the robe, gliding over the swell of my breast. “Yes.”

“Then why can’t we?” His thumb swept over the pebbled nipple as he cupped my breast. “It doesn’t have to complicate things. It would probably make this agreement between us easier,” he mused as his hand slipped lower, away from my throbbing breast and down the slope of my belly. “Maybe then I wouldn’t have to worry about you wandering off into the Red Woods.”

“I didn’t wander on purpose,” I said, pulse thrumming.

“No. Just unintentionally.” He nipped at my lips as his hand slid between the halves of the robe. The feel of his cool flesh against my lower stomach caused me to gasp. “Open your legs for me, liessa.”

I obeyed.

“Will this be the only time you actually do what I ask without a fight?”

“Probably.”

Ash’s chuckle teased my lips, his cool fingers slipping between my thighs, wringing a gasp from me. “Fuck,” he rasped, his lips brushing mine. “You are so gloriously wet.” He dragged his finger through the wetness in slow, teasing strokes and then eased it into me. I moaned, tugging on his shirt. “And you make such glorious sounds. They are like a song.”

My body quivered as his finger began to move. I started to move my hips, but his hand stilled. “Don’t.” He lifted his head, and waited until I opened my eyes. “Don’t move, liessa.” He eased his finger back in, as deep as it could go. “You may feel fine, but your body has been through a lot today.”

“I don’t think I can stay still.” My blood thrummed as his thumb swept over the bundle of nerves.

“Then we stop.” Ash’s gaze locked onto mine, and he added another finger, stretching me. “You don’t get to come on my fingers, and I don’t get to taste you again. You don’t want me to stop, do you?”

“No.” I fisted his tunic.

“Then don’t move.”

Heart thundering, I watched him sit back. His gaze left mine and traveled slowly down, over the shallow rise and fall of my chest to where the robe had parted at my navel. He could see the most intimate part of me, and this was nothing like the moonlight-drenched bank of the lake, or even when he’d stood behind me in the bathing chamber. There was no hiding anything. Not that I wanted to. Not even because I was completely at his will and trying everything to stay still as he moved his fingers faster, swirling his thumb over the throbbing bundle of nerves. I watched him watching himself—his long, slick fingers thrusting between my spread thighs. I had never seen anything so…erotic in my entire life.