My heart pleaded for me to turn and run.
They stood at the entrance, Rivean guards watching me without a word, eyes dripping with primal appetite. I shook my hair away from my face, smiling coyly at the one who looked as though he might be in charge. “Hello,” I said, imbuing the single word with all the rich luster my voice could carry.
He glanced at his comrades, then back to me, his Rivean accent filled with uncertainty. “How can I help—”
“I’m here for Captain Cenek,” I said, leaving my mouth to hover open as I lifted my chin, my tongue lingering on the edge of my lip. “I’m his birthday gift for the night.”
He stared. They all stared. My moon-damned blood ravaged my veins.
I wasn’t good at this. This had been a horrible idea. A horrible, terrible, desperately stupid idea.
“I didn’t think his wife would—”
“My dear,” I said, leaning in even closer to him and twirling a lock of hair around a finger as I tilted my head back, baring my naked neck and chest under the edge of the fur. I let my voice drop to a cooing whisper. “His wife is the one who sent me.”
None of them moved. The faint scent of arousal drifted from them, but none took my bait.
I patted his cheek in false care, cursing myself for a fool. Selena could have managed such a feat, sewn with cool grace and sultry glances. I wasn’t Selena. I don’t know how this had been my best idea of a plan. I let my chest brush his as I turned back to Kolibri, suddenly anxious to escape and think of something else. “I suppose I’ll tell her no one let me in,” I drawled at them.
The one near the back gulped his air. “The captain is in a meeting.”
I leveled a look at the man from over my shoulder. Straight. Stoic. His cheeks flamed as our eyes met. “Do you have someplace for me to wait for him?”
The guards glanced at each other, unsure. I fought the urge to ravage my lip with my teeth.
“Leos,” the red-cheeked man said.“Zavolajte sekretárku kapitána Ceneka.”
My heart dropped, watching the youngest man turn sharply on his heel and march inside.
“Má narodeniny?”One of them whispered.
“Nemôžem si spomenút,”another answered.
“I don’t mind waiting,” I said, letting the back of my fingers drift down the lead guard’s arm. “I’m easy to entertain. What’s your name?”
Behind him, the Riveans darted looks around each other. But I held the eyes of the guard who stood before me, listening to his heart begin to race.
“Marik,” he said, something wavering within his gaze.
“Hello, Marik,” I purred, my tongue stroking the words as they left my lips. “What kind of birthday gifts doyouenjoy?”
He finally let his gaze drip over me, my shoulders and chest. The corner of his mouth lifted. “Not the kind that comes as wrapped up as you,” he murmured low enough his fellow guards couldn’t hear.
Mihaunain the stars. I had him.
Ihadhim.
Nerves fluttered in my stomach as I adjusted the collar of Marik’s crimson uniform, letting the edge of my dress slip down a shoulder. “I’m simple enough to unwrap,” I whispered, and the scent of him flamed the air, thick with heady impatience.
“The captain’s private office is occupied at the moment,” he said, his voice suddenly husky. “But I can take you to the parley chamber.”
“Perfect.” I flashed a row of teeth and watched his eyes glaze, falling to my mouth and lower.
Marik cleared his throat. “Follow me.”
The other guards gawked, wide-eyed as we passed under the stone arch. Inside, the air was suddenly stale on my palate, moldering and wet. Condensation stuck to the stone walls, dripping to the floor, and our steps echoed with a hollow kind of cold that made my bones shudder.
Slow-burning torches lined the walls, though they did little to light the passage the guard led me down. Shadows leapt between the light, as though the fortress blocked out the sun merely to create a playground for Darkness.
