Page 66 of Midnight Salvation

“I will have my people on the outskirts ready for any eventuality,” Papa replied.

Sensing that the meeting was coming to an end, I put the board back in place and crept upstairs and into my bed. They were planning a war, and that terrified me because their enemies didn’t play by the rules. They didn’t care who they killed or maimed on the route to getting what they wanted.

I curled up into a ball under a blanket and closed my eyes because everywhere I looked, death surrounded me. My thoughts were so dark and filled with images of blood and horror that I didn’t hear Ash coming into the room. It was only when the bed dipped behind me and his arm found its natural position at my waist that I was broken from my contemplations.

“I don’t want you to go,” I said and he stiffened behind me.

“How much did you hear?” he asked in a dull tone.

“Most of it.” I turned in his arms and stared into his deep blue eyes. “I don’t want you to go.”

He tucked my unruly hair behind my ear. “I don’t have a choice, that’s the way my world works. The Council summons and I attend.”

“Your wife needs you here.”

His lips tipped up in a sad smile. “My wife needs to rest.”

“Ugh!” I pushed him until he rolled onto his back before I straddled his hips to stare down at him. “I am not going to break if you touch me.”

“You nearly died,” he pointed out.

“But I didn’t.” I leaned forward until our noses were touching. “If you keep treating me like delicate glass I might explode.”

His hands settled on my hips, his head tipping back slightly so that our lips almost touched. “How would you like me to treat you?”

“Like you did on our honeymoon when there was only you and me and the moon watching us.”

His lips ghosted over mine. “That was a different time and place.”

A tear escaped and fell on his cheek. Immediately, he had me rolled under him so that he could study my face, his thumb wiping away the next tear that followed. I desperately tried to look away, but he wouldn’t let me.

That deep, penetrating gaze always saw too much. His hands clamped around my wrists and trapped them at either side of my head.

“How could you ever think that I don’t want you?” he said in nothing more than a whisper, the tip of his nose tracing a delicate trail along the side of my cheek. “I’ve changed my entire world to have you at the centre of it.”

“I’m so scared all the time,” I confessed. “One day we were happy and the next it was almost stolen from us.”

His lips created a seductive trail down my neck. “My heart nearly stopped along with yours. I had to watch as they struggled to save you, knowing that it was because of me that you were there.”

My legs wrapped around his waist. “I had a dream when I was ill. Mum was there and she said that I could stay with her or return. Before you came into my life, I would have had little to return for. All I could think was that I had to get home to you.”

His head came up so that he could stare down at me. “Nothing matters if you’re not here.”

I felt the same way. He had seared himself into my soul. I wiggled my hands free so that I could trail them through his hair and drag his mouth down to mine. Ash took control the way he always did, leaving me breathless with desire. I moaned into his mouth, gripping his hair tighter.

I didn’t care what anyone said or did, this man belonged to me.

“Lucrezia, we can’t,” he groaned and tried to pull back.

“I swear I’ll die right now if you don’t impale me to this bed with your cock.”

He stilled and stared down at me. He started laughing and it didn’t take long before it was infectious. “Impale you with my cock?” he queried. “That’s a new one.”

“Stop it.” I pushed his chest. “I was trying to talk dirty. It’s like sexting, I need to practice. Want to put your cock in my mouth and infect me with your naughtiness?”

“You’re fucking crazy,” he chuckled, his hands going to the waistband of my yoga pants. “What panties do you have on?”

That definitely got my attention and my hands covered his. “I think I need to change,” I said and tried to wiggle away.

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