“A-a mess?” I faltered. Had I missed something? Someone snuck past me the moment my back was turned? Why was he still smiling like one of the palace cats who had gotten into the cook’s cream? “Show me!”
He produced a key and swung open the handle. I hurried past to check.
Not a thing was out of place. All the books still on their shelves, the giant maps of Jerar and its neighbors aligning the walls, the great Council table and chairs, the great chests still with their locks, even the flourishing tapestries exactly as before. Not since my inspection an hour ago had one object moved in the slightest.
I turned an accusatory finger back at the prince. “You see, nothing has changed!”
“But it will.” Darren shut the door and locked it behind him, looking up at me from underneath long, sooty lashes. The side of his mouth was twitching to hold back a smirk.
Oh. I wanted to kick myself. This.
“I am sorry,” he said, “that I have been so busy.”
I sucked in a sharp breath.
“I’ve been going mad,” he confessed. “Our wedding postponed. All the Council meetings. Only sharing meals. I…” He stopped as he drew up next to me at the center of the room. My back was pressed against the cold stone table, and there was nowhere else I could go.
Even if I wanted to. Which I didn’t.
“I miss you even when you are standing in front of me now.” The words came out in a rush as he met my eyes. “All I’ve been able to think about is you. We are going to go to war, and I’m the Black Mage and the whole time I am supposed to be leading those meetings I am thinking about you.” His head dipped so that his lips were bare inches from my own. “I haven’t stopped, love.”
“I…” I could barely speak, my pulse was deafening. “I think about...”
“What do you think about?” His hands fell to either side of the table, pinning me in place. His eyes were like coals.
“You.” His whole body was pressed against me, and it did odd things to my head. I was dizzy and too hot and too cold. All at once. All I could think about were his legs brushing mine, his chest rising and falling with my own, his hands on my skin.
“And?”
I licked my lips and his eyes followed the movement. A smile tugged at the corner of his own.
“Kiss me, Ryiah.”
I rose to my toes, and he cut the distance in half. Sparks flared in the shadows as his mouth found mine in the dark. I heard him choke back a groan, and it was all I could do not to gasp.
“What else do you think about?” His breath was hot in my ear. His fingers were trailing down my ribs as he pressed down, my back arching against his.
“Do you think about this?” He bit down on my lower lip, and I couldn’t stifle the whimper I emitted in response.
His tongue tangled with mine, and my whole body was ablaze. Hot, searing chills assaulted my limbs until I was panting for air. The prince of Jerar kissed me, and I swear to the gods I was catching fire because of it.
Heat flared in the pit of my stomach as he whispered the words. “What do you want, Ryiah?”
His hands lifted me against the cold marble top, and my legs wrapped around his waist before I even realized what I was doing. Shock and desire coursed my cheeks.
“Darren,” I stammered.
“Ryiah.” He was staring down at me, and I fought to break the spell that had found its way inside my head. His hands were pressed flat against the table on either side of me and heat was chasing through my veins, filling the pit of my stomach and up, up, down. The entire room was a haze. I wanted to pull Darren down to me and close any semblance of space between us.
I didn’t want him wearing those clothes.
I swallowed. The thought should have stunned me but now… Now when every part of me was dying just for this.
I knew what he wanted.
I wanted it too.
“Ryiah.” Darren raised one hand to lift my chin and meet my eyes with his own. His gaze was a bottomless abyss. Dark garnet swallowed me whole. The color reminded me of a setting sun: the moment red faded into black and became something else, something that pulled and drove you to madness, so beautiful you kept staring because you could no longer see anything else.
“I love you,” he whispered.
I pulled Darren to me and kissed him. One long, slow kiss that told him everything I was too afraid to put into words. His eyes flared and Darren pressed into me in response, kissing me back in a breathless rush. His fingers slipped down, down to the hem of my shirt and my breath hitched.
My pulse thundering as I tore off his vest, my grip sliding on tile as his mouth found my neck.
There was a scratching, an odd creak, and for a moment I thought it was my fingernails against the marble top. But they were still in his hair, pulling as hot lips pressed into my skin, searing me alive.
Then the creak again and the soft squeak of a hinge.
I jerked back, my head banging against the table while Darren threw himself around, blocking me from the intruder, one hand casting a bright sheen of light against the chamber door.