“Yes.”
“And now you have the option to return her child to her. Or not.”
I quieted. He hadn’t loaded any accusation into the statement. The words rang with fact and nothing more, a decision he would leave to me.
And yet there was no decision to make, not really.
The mere idea of losing Amryssa crouched on my chest, driving all the oxygen from my lungs. In the emptiness left behind, Olivian’s words came back to haunt me.I care about Oceansgate more than about myself. But for her, I’d let it burn.
Gods. Only now did I understand what he’d truly meant, how very alike he and I were. Because I already knew what I would do. I didn’t have to measure anything on the scales of justice or the greater good.
Amryssa wasn’t going into the swamp. She was going to Hightower, because the world needed her sweetness and light. So did I. Without my friend, I’d be nothing but an orphan again, without purpose. Without worth.
I burrowed against Ky. He seemed to sense what I needed, because he tucked my head beneath his chin, his breathing deep and even. I was so profoundly grateful that he hadn’t pushed or judged me that I couldn’t hold back any longer.
I touched his birthmark. It wasright there, a pale beacon just inches from my face.
A muffled gasp escaped him. The hand he’d cupped around the nape of my neck tightened.
I froze. “Sorry. Did I hurt you?”
A pause. “No,” he said thickly. “It’s only...that’s a sensitive spot. One I very much like having touched.”
I should’ve pulled away. But the skin below his collarbone was smooth and enticing, and the groan that rumbled from his chest when I resumed stroking fired bolts of warmth through me. His breathing accelerated, though he didn’t take my attentions as permission to touch me back.
And goddess, I adored him for that, for granting me that control. For gifting me a shard of power in this horrendous situation.
When I glanced up again, his lips had parted. His eyes were low blue flames.
Seven hells. Talk about a distraction. I let my fingers still and stop.
He growled a soft protest. “You wouldn’t be so cruel as to leave me hanging, would you?”
I gave him an impertinent smile and curled my hand against my chest. “Of course I would. It wouldn’t be any fun if I didn’t.”
“Oh, I beg to differ. I can’t think of anything morefunthan me pinning you to this bed and fucking you hard enough that you forget what we just read.”
Want ignited in my breast, pure and unadulterated. There was something perversely erotic about hearing such filthy words in that silken accent. “That sounds like a terrible idea.”
His tongue swept over his bottom lip, leaving it gleaming. “It sounds like a fantastic idea. The best idea anyone’s ever had, anywhere, in all the world, throughout the entire history of time.”
“You’re being ridiculous,” I said, but I sounded breathier than a maiden being laced into her first corset.
“Maybe.” Scorching promise lit his eyes. “That doesn’t mean you wouldn’t enjoy yourself.”
My thighs ground together. Zephyrine, Iwouldenjoy myself, of that I had no doubt. But...
The truth, deep down, in a place too clandestine to see the light of day, was that I craved more than just pleasure. I didn’t want the inch, but the mile. I wanted...shit, the same thing he did. To map him from the inside until I could draw him in the dark. To bury myself inside him.
What Ididn’twant was to give it all back in a handful of days. To have it wrested from me.
To be left. Again.
But I would, because he would make Amryssa a princess and disappear. Just as I’d asked him to. So I disentangled myself and turned my back.
Ky groaned. “My cruel, wicked wife. You have no idea what you do to me.”
“Of course I do. Why else do you think I do it?”
