Page 73 of Captive of the Stolen Empire

More than a warrior. More than a killer. Could I be more than Captain Lucien, First of Emperor Ryszard? If he hadn’t found me and I hadn’t died from starvation, or cold or illness, I’d have been no one. But maybe that no one was someone she could love, even where my someone wasn’t.

“Me? I’m just a captive heiress. Worthless.” Her voice cracked on the word. “All I ever was is lost.”

The pain in her voice wrenched something in my chest. For all the strength and passion she shone with, there was something fragile under the surface. And she shared it with me. The vulnerability, the trust in that wasn’t lost on me.

“That’s not true,” I said. If my words could heal a few of her wounds, I wanted that. “I don’t care what you once were. It’s not who you are.”

Sheets ruffled, but she didn’t pull away. Her faint shadow pulled in on itself as if she was hugging her knees to her chest under the sheets. “Who I am? How can you know that if I don’t?”

A shiver ran down my arm as her fingertips traced along the back of my hand, barely a tickle across my skin.

“Because I see you every day. I see the fire in your eyes, the way you care for your friends, your sharp wit, your courage. All of those are you. Perhaps…” I swallowed, suddenly nervous as a boy rather than a hardened man. “We could find ourselves together. Not our past, not our titles, but who we are without all that.”

Treason. Blasphemous. My fellow captains would laugh at me. Emperor Ryszard would certainly disapprove and remind me of the important role he’d entrusted me with. At the moment, none of that mattered. A glimmer of something greater shone in the darkness, a sense of self I’d never quite considered. A man apart from the role I’d been trained to fill.

“How am I supposed to hate you when you say things like that?”

Laughter rumbled in my chest. “Perhaps one day you won’t.”

Ilya sighed as her hand dropped away to rest in the narrow space between us.

“You tried to seduce me not long ago. Those dresses…the time you climbed into my lap…” Memories I could never forget. The captain couldn’t want those things, couldn’t linger over them, but the man within was another matter.

“I was drunk,” she whispered. A hint of embarrassment colored her words.

I’d never called out her antics before. I’d hoped to discover her aim before then, though she likely wanted to ingratiate herself with her would-be captor.

“Only once. You’re not interested anymore?” Now that the thought was in the air, I couldn’t let it go. If anyone listened, hopefully they’d hear only mumbled sounds rather than words.

Ilya sucked in a deep breath and rolled over, away from me. “We need rest,” she said to the night.

Her rejection stirred my curiosity further. Why not deny it?

Fuck it.I slid across the sheets and wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Luc—” She cut off her exclamation. “What are you doing?” she hissed. “Let me go.”

Bare feet brushed my legs as she moved against me. The thin material of her nightdress tickled my chest, caressed the planes of my stomach, and fed the burning ache below.Fuck, what was I thinking?The way she moved, the press of her against me was enough to drive me wild.

“Keep moving on me like that and I never will.”

Ilya went utterly still.

I savored the silken feel of her nightdress pressed against my chest and the rapid thump of her heartbeat as I held her close. Her breath hitched and her stomach tightened under my palm as my lips grazed the shell of her ear. “What do you want?”

She shivered. “You.”

Oh, fuck me.

My head swam as I rubbed a slow, broad pattern on her stomach, keeping away from the sensitive flesh above and below my fingertips.

My muscles drew taut in anticipation as she turned in my arms. Her soft breaths heated my face where we nearly touched. My hand flexed on her back as I fought the urge to fit the soft curves of her body against me.

Ilya cupped my face, sending my heart racing so loud, she likely heard the rapid thump in the quiet night.

“One kiss.”

Her hoarse whisper set my blood on fire. I barely had time to process her words before her soft lips touched mine, tentative and testing.

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