Okay, sorry. I’m on my way. For both.
My shoulders shook with the laughter I tried to suppress, while simultaneously pressing my thighs together in an attempt to disregard the pooling heat. Horny bastard.
Despite all of my fears, and the doubts that still lingered in the back of my mind, the promise of his presence left me feeling lighter already.
Chapter Sixty
Kieran
The ride home from the Pyrhhan Coast was swift thanks to Muniin and her steady gallop. While most men in the Elder Guard rode standard-issue horses from our stables, I had brought Muniin with me when I moved from Pyrhhas to Sophrosyne.
She had been a gift from my father on my sixteenth birthday, and the mare was easily one of the fastest and most reliable steeds one could ask for. My commander had raised an eyebrow at the request to keep her back then, but allowed me to stable her along with the other cavalry horses so long as I remained responsible for her care.
I was thankful for her haste tonight, guilt beginning to gnaw at me for keeping Arken waiting over my lazy office nap and thesilly little urge to get introspective on the beach. The woman was hungry, and I was eager to provide in more ways than one.
I made it back to the city just as the skies began to darken from sunset to dusk. After returning Muniin to the stables and setting her up with an indulgent trough of oats and apples, I walked briskly towards the Merchant’s Quarter—hopefully Roshana’s specials tonight could travel well. As I wove through throngs of people, I thumbed the smooth stone in my pocket, pathetically excited to give her the crystal I had found, just to show her that I had been thinking of her all day.
It was bizarre howimmediatemy mood had shifted from somber hope to something more akin to incandescence, just by being within ten minutes of her studio. Or… perhaps it wasn’t strange at all. Not anymore.
The pleasant, brassy clang of the city’s central clock tower rang out seven times as I left Roshana’s tavern with a dinner worthy of my apology—the scent of roasted duck and freshly baked bread reminding me that I hadn’t really eaten much today.
Within a single knock, Arken opened the door.
“Hello there, Little Conduit,” I said, unable to resist smiling at the very sight of her face. “I do believe you have my house key.”
“I do believe you have mydinner, Captain,” Arken replied with a smirk, scooping the bags from my hands as I stepped inside.
As she attempted to turn and bring the food over to her kitchen table, I wrapped my hands around her waist.
“Oh no you don’t, woman,” I murmured. “Come here.”
Arken’s sigh was soft and melodic as her body melted against mine. She let the paper bags in her hands sag towards the floor, releasing her grip once she knew they wouldn’t topple over—andthen her hands were in my hair, fingernails against my scalp, eagerly returning the kiss I had needed to claim.
“You smell like the ocean,” she said after we eventually managed to part.
“I had to make a stop on the Pyrhhan Coast,” I explained, still feeling guilty. “And Imayhave ridden Muniin by the ocean just for fun on the way home.”
The lie left my mouth a little less easily than it once might have, the misdirection feeling heavier on the tongue. This wasn’t the first time I had to offer Arken half-truths to side step something too dark or too dangerous to share, but this time, I was just being a coward.
Still, she didn’t need to know about my nightmares—I never seemed to have them when she slept by my side.
“Chasing your own cheap thrills on the clock? How unbecoming of a captain,” she teased. “Your secret is safe with me, if only because whatever you’ve brought for dinner smells like heaven.”
In her proximity, food was thelastthing on my mind, but if I knew Arken half as well as I thought that I did, she hadn’t eaten today either. For her sake, I kept it in my pants. For now. And Arken was right, the food did smell divine.
As we settled in to eat, making casual conversation here and there, I studied her like an artist might study their muse, eyes wandering from her collarbones, up the length of her neck where I could still see evidence of my affection blooming against her skin in the form of bruises and bitemarks. I was thankful to be seated at the table with her today, instead of our usual spot on the couch, lest she think I was getting hard over the discussion of her studies. It was only when my gaze drifted to her mouth that I noticed something was a little off.
In between bites of food and tidbits about her day, Arken was chewing on her bottom lip with surprising fervor. Shedidn’t even seem aware of it, either. My eyes flickered to her arm—though her left hand was on her lap beneath the table, subtle movements at her elbow told me she was picking at her fingernails, or perhaps at the hem of her sweater. That wasn’t entirely abnormal for her, but as time went on, her lip was looking a little raw. She was clearly anxious about something.
“You alright over there, Ark?” I asked before taking a sip of the white wine she’d poured for us to accompany the meal.
“What? Oh, yeah. I’m fine!” she chirped, her face brightening with clear intent to mask whatever it was she’d been thinking about just then.
If you say so, sweetheart.
I had no right to push her on the matter, I just hoped that whatever it was that was eating at her wasn’t my fault.
By the time we wrapped up with our meal and Arken began to clear the table, I was losing my grip on my self-restraint. Despite everything else that had transpired in between, I hadn’t forgotten how brazen she’d been at the art gallery—reaching for my cock in public like that.