Page 160 of The Trials of Ophelia

He sighed, grabbing my hips and placing me on the arm of the couch, then he crouched before me. His hands dragged down my legs, over the Mindshaper leather pants I was still wearing. When he reached my boots, he untied the laces.

“I am certain because I have watched you persevere for years now. I may have been in the background,” he said, working one boot off, “but the shadows are a great place to observe. I have seen your strength and the undying love you hold for our people. I have seen how the queen’s actions have affected not only us but planted the continent with seeds of reasons to resist. They’re growing now, love.” Kissing the inside of my ankle, he stood back up and placed his hands on my thighs. “In you, in me. In Malakai and Barrett and every other warrior on the council and beyond. So I feel confident in saying we will fight our way out of this, regardless of how brutal that battle may be, because I have seen it.”

Tolek looked around the room, seeming to understand everything I’d seen a moment before. “You want a house like this when we’re done? I’ll build it myself.” He squeezed my thighs, pulling me to the edge of the couch so my legs wrapped around his hips. “I am infinitely yours, apeagna, and I will weave new constellations to light the night sky in your honor, if that is what you wish when this is done. A house seems small in comparison.”

His nose skimmed my jaw, working a shiver up my spine.

“A life,” I said, breathless, “where we aren’t running or fighting—that’s what I want with you, Tol.”

“You can admit you like the thrill of the game, Alabath.” His lips ghosted down my neck, pushing aside my tunic to drift across my collarbone. “I see it when you fight. The way you come alive, even if it is to deliver death. Though you want serenity, this is a part of you, too.”

Relief unspooled in my chest, warm and inviting, at the reminder that Tolek saw every side of me. He saw the brutal and bloodthirsty, but also the wistful dreamer. Loved them both, too.

“I was born a warrior, and I will always love that,” I admitted. “But there is so much more I want to do and become.”

I wanted to fall asleep at night and wake to tea in the morning without worrying about who would come for us that day. I wanted to fight, yes, because I’d never be satisfied if I was idle, but not like this.

Two sides of me had been sharpened in this battle thus far. A need for reassurance and a need for revenge. They’d cleaved me after my world was destroyed at the Battle of Damenal, but I was beginning to see how they balanced me instead.

Tolek pulled back to meet my gaze, the amber specks in his eyes completely ignited. “And those constellations?”

“I’ve had enough of promises built on stars.” I needed roots in the ground to steady us, not wishes to the heavens we may never reach. One day, I wanted both. A life of assured safety and endless dreams. For now, though, I just wanted him.

He exhaled a laugh because he certainly had not meant for me to spin the conversation that way, but then his lips dipped to meet me. As his tongue slipped against mine, I melted into him, hands hungrily in his hair and legs wrapping tighter around his hips.

“No way,” Cypherion’s deep voice boomed through the room causing us to break apart. “Not out here. We are all living here!”

“Technically, we’re all leaving tonight,” I shot back. Tolek’s shoulders shook with laughter, his forehead dropping against my temple.

Cyph’s eyes narrowed. “I think I might have liked it better when you only bickered with him.”

“I prefer this,” Tolek said, eyes locked on me.

“I still bicker with him,” I corrected. I still enjoyed it, too.

“Yes, but now it ends like this.” Cyph waved a hand at us. “And while I love you, Ophelia, I do not want our fights to turn into that.”

For the first time since Cypherion entered the room, Tolek looked at his friend, shooting him a murderous glare.

Cyph sighed. “I’m going to take care of some preparations, and when I return, I do not want to find you two naked in the living room, regardless of how long we are calling this place home.” Cyph gestured over his shoulder. “You have a room right there.”

His stern tone made me laugh, but before I could answer, Tolek grabbed the back of my thighs and lifted me. He kissed me deeply, one hand diving into my hair, the other gripping me to him.

As we passed Cyph, Tol released the hand in my hair and pulled back. “I’ll see you later.”

“Later?” I asked, as he carried me to our room.

“He and I have things to take care of before we go.” Tol kicked the door shut and deposited me on a large bed. The flickering and crackling of a fire filled the room. “But I have more important business here.”

I couldn’t evaluate the vagueness in his first sentence. Not with his lips warm against mine and his hands deftly untying the binds of my leathers behind my back.

“Before we run again,” Tolek breathed against my lips, “I want you properly. In a bed, where your screams can shake the walls.” My core ached for him, and I tugged his tunic from his pants, throwing it to the side. When he kissed me again, I moaned against his lips. “That’s a start.”

He pulled my top over my head, then lifted my hips for my pants to follow. Once we were both only in our undergarments, Tolek slowed down. His tongue stroked lazily against mine, hands roving slowly over my body, not leaving an inch untouched.

Wanting to touch him, too, I dipped my hand beneath the waistband of his undershorts and gripped him. Slowly rotating around his length, I dragged my hand from base to tip.

“Spirits.” He shuddered, dropping his head to my shoulder. “I was trying to go slowly with you.” His hand ghosted up the inside of my thigh, teasing the thin layer still separating us until I was squirming.

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