Page 107 of Born for Silk

Odio hovers in the red haze.

Straightening, I take a big breath in. I’m about to walk with my head held high when I hear footfalls and a man yell, "You are not permitted in there."

I spin to see a Guard approaching, and brace myself for what I might say to him or if I am even allowed to speak to him?—

Suddenly, Odio lands with a thunderous pulse, and he is not happy, menacing even—wings outstretched, head arched low, eyes like darts. He blocks the man from me.

He lets out long screech, and the wave of his sound trips the Guard backward with its intent and warning. Puffs his chest. Scrapes his talons along the stone path, flicking loose rocks and dirt. I've never seen him behave like this, which means he's never been aggressive toward me, not once.

"I yield, Odio!" The Guard scurries backward on the floor with one hand raised in surrender.

Blinking at the spectacle, I decide it’s now or never. I slowly turn and walk between the twin marble pillars and into a grand foyer with high-painted ceilings and two elaborate wooden doors at the far end.

Voices come from behind one of the doors almost instantly. I peer back at the entrance, seeing Odio steadfast, and other Guards beyond him, trying to soothe the giant beast.

“You're going to trust the eagle to be her Guardian?” I hear a voice say, drawing my chin back to the door.

“I trust his loyalty more than I trust yours,” Rome states, his deep, otherworldly timbre resonating in my toes, flooding me with an ocean of tangible memories. The feel of his weight on me, his mouth at my forehead, and that powerful voice spilling praise across my skin.

My nipples bead and my core clutches and kneads together, wanting his pressure.

Shit.

I stifle a moan.

“That is truly hurtful, Sire.” The other man says, genuine offence lacing his tone. “I am your brother. We may not see eye to eye on certain political matters, but your heir is mine, too.”

“So, it's you.”

I walk to the door and press my ear to it.

“What is me?”

“You will not have an heir,” Rome confirms.

“Cairo—"

“Said nothing of you.”

Leaning away from the door, I wrestle internally with what to do. Stay. Listen. Leave. Mind my own business.

“Correct. I will not have an heir.”

Who will have no heir… his brother?

I hold my breath to the beat of my heart, the torturous silence amplifying the frantic organ. It’s too quiet, so inadvertently, I lean in again, my ear meeting the wooden grain, stamping it with sweat from my cheek.

“So, Aster will carry our blood into the next generations,” the man who must be Turin Two says. He is talking about me. They all know. “Her safety, now that it's no secret, is a matter of great importance to me.”

“You are Warden of The Estate,” Rome’s smooth utterance sails with further meaning. “You know every inch of it. You can ensure it is locked down and secure.”

“And the eagle?”

“I trust no man or woman to watch my little Silk Girl and not want to taste what is between her pretty thighs. I know I was unprepared for her affect, and I'm a far stronger being than most.”

My affect? On him?

My heart doesn’t just race; it gallops.

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