Honestly, I didn’t want to ever leave this bath—especially not to meet yet another possessive, domineering horseman. The warm water licked at my bare breasts, and I found myself staring at Adonis’s powerful back, imagining running my fingertips over his chiseled shoulder blades.
I loosed a long sigh. Yep, I wanted to stay in here forever, thinking about how Adonis’s fingers had felt on my body. Almost unconsciously, I began tracing the path his fingers had taken up my leg, staring at the back of his shoulders.
Adonis folded his arms behind his head. “I want to hear your thoughts when you’re with him.”
I froze. “Oh. That again?”
“If I leave my mark on you, it will allow me to hear your thoughts. Not every single thought—not all the filthy thoughts I’m sure you’re having about me right now while you wash yourself and stare at my back.”
I cleared my throat. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not sure why everyone thinks Aereus is the one with the ego. Wasn’t Adonis the legendary figure who got trapped mooning over his own image in a lake? Is that who you’re named after? It’s fitting.”
“That was Narcissus,” he said sharply. “Not even close.”
“Anyway—you want to read my thoughts?”
“I can link us. You’ll be able to feel me, a little. And I’ll be able to hear if you’re in trouble. You can scream for me in your mind.”
“So…is this a permanent thing, or what?”
“Only if you want it to be. In any case, it’s the only way you should go in there on your own. You don’t know what he’s capable of. He’s quite fond of torture. Mental. Physical. All kinds.”
I cringed. “Give me a minute to think about it. I’m not looking forward to meeting him, but going alone is probably for the best. All that I know about him is that his ego is his greatest weakness, and if I can flatter it, I might be able to get him to talk. If you’re there, you’ll suck up all the attention in the room like a black hole of narcissism and ruin it all.”
I stepped out of the bath, and water dripped off my skin onto the stone floor. I grabbed the towel to dry myself off, and scrubbed at my hair.
On the bed, I’d laid out one of Tanit’s outfits—a short, silver dress with long sleeves. And by the dress, my most important item: the poison-tipped knife.
Adonis sipped from his flask. “Can I turn around now?”
“Not yet. I’m completely wet and naked.”
A bit cruel, maybe, but I enjoyed watching his entire body tense, fingers tightening around his flask.
I pulled the dress over my freshly cleaned body, completely bare under the luxurious fabric that fell midway down my thighs.
I pulled on the thigh-high boots, then slipped the sheathed knife down the side of one of them. “You can turn around now.”
Adonis rose from his chair, and a deep curiosity burned in his pale eyes when he turned to me. He prowled closer. “Do you agree to what I asked?”
I crossed my arms. I’d hardly make a very good spy if I let someone I didn’t trust invade my thoughts. “The whole mind-intrusion thing. Not a fan. Couldn’t I just wear a wire?”
He shrugged, a smooth gesture. “I’m not familiar with that technology. But I can tell you that you’re about to meet with one of the most dangerous beings who has ever walked the earth, and it might be wise to have an even more lethal ally backing you up.”
“Yeah. Not really into it. How about I just call for you?”
“His rooms are often sealed so screams can’t escape.” Adonis’s eyes darkened. “I once watched him trap two human women in his torture room for hours. Just for his own amusement. When he emerged, not a single piece of them was recognizable. He radiated joy that day.”
I swallowed hard.
I leaned against the wall, still trying to gauge how much I trusted this self-professed dangerous being. He’d held back from telling me the truth about things. He wanted an insane amount of power for himself.
But—I didn’t get the sense that he’d lied to me. And more—he was asking permission, when he really didn’t need to. We’d already established that he could control my mind if he wanted to, yet he never did it. “It’s definitely temporary?”
Another step closer, and he was standing right next to me, so close now that his magic slipped over my skin, kissing my bare thighs.
“Just temporary,” he confirmed.
I let out a long breath. In this world, maybe I had to pick and choose which monsters I wanted to trust. The lesser of two evils, as it were. “Fine. Do what you need to do. And if I find out it’s not like you described, I’m carving the thing off.”
Without another word, he slipped his fingers into the sleeve of my dress and gently pulled it off my shoulder. Goose bumps rose over my skin, and I gasped at the feel of his fingertips on me.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I need to leave my mark on you, in a place where no one will see it. It won’t hurt.” His voice skimmed over my body, lighting me on fire. “Much.”
I nodded mutely, the power of speech deserting me.
Adonis leaned down closer, and in the next moment, his mouth was on my shoulder, his kiss searing me. Involuntarily, my back arched into him, and liquid heat swooped through my core. Pure ecstasy lit up my body, until I was only dimly aware of my leg hooking around his to pull him closer, or of my fingers threading through his thick hair. His tongue flicked over my skin, then a hint of teeth. I moaned lightly.
Visions burned in my mind of Adonis pulling my dress all the way up, of his hands and tongue exploring my body. Wild heat arced through me.
Then, a sharp pain scalded my flesh below his mouth, snapping me out of my fantasies.
“Ow!” I clenched my fingers tight.
Slowly, Adonis pulled his face from my neck, his eyes burning with desire. It was at that point I realized that I hadn’t threaded my fingers through his hair, but through his soft, midnight feathers, and I’d entirely wrapped my leg around his, sliding my foot higher until my dress rode up, practically to my hips.
“You’re piercing my wings with your fingernails.” Despite the complaint, an erotic tone suffused his voice. “Although I guess I kind of like it.”
Reluctant as I was, I unwrapped my leg from Adonis and pulled my fingers from his wings. “Sorry.”
When I looked down at the place where he’d marked me, I found a small, black tattoo—a perfect circle with a sort of dash in the center.
“That’s your mark?” I asked. “What is it?”
“Theta. The eight letter of the Greek alphabet.”
“Okay, but…why?”
His arms loosened around me, but his eyes remained locked on the mark on my shoulder. “Thanatos. Death. It’s what I am. It’s who I am.”
I pulled up the shoulder of my dress. “I like the name Adonis better.”
A faint smile played over his lips. “So do I.”
“And now you can hear my thoughts?”
“Unless you’re capable of guarding them from me, I’ll hear your thoughts. Particularly if you shout.”
Oh sweet heavenly gods. Had he just heard...? “Were you privy to my thoughts just a moment ago?”
That slow, seductive smile. “I didn’t need to hear your thoughts to know what you were thinking.”