Page 41 of Princess of Death

I turned on my side and faced him, pulling the sheet to my shoulder to fight the cold. “No.”

The hardness faded, not turning soft, but not callous either.

“I just thought you would leave after you got what you wanted.”

His stare continued, slowly sharpening. He removed his arm from behind his head and turned on his side, his large body blocking the window from my sight. “I haven’t gotten what I wanted—not even close.” He slid his hand under the sheets and grabbed the back of my thigh before he hooked it over his hip, bringing our bodies close together. My socks were still on, so I couldn’t feel the backs of his legs with the pads of my toes. But I could feel his warmth against my inner thigh, feel his hard muscle from thigh and ass. He wasallman, from head to toe.

I could also feel his hard length against my stomach because it was impossible to ignore. It was practically a branch from a fallen tree, thick like a trunk. It radiated its own heat against my flesh.

He was rock hard like he wanted me, but he didn’t initiate another round. He shared my pillow, and he moved his big hand up my soft thigh to my ass. His fingers gripped the muscle and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“Did you start the fire?” I whispered.

He brought me closer to him, my tits almost touching his mountain-like chest. “You were cold.”

“I’m definitely not cold now.” I had the fire against my rear and his flames against my front. It was the most relaxed I’d been with him, the most peace I’d felt since before I’d left on my journey. Wrath was the only one who knew what I’d endured because he was there, keeping me going every step of the way. “What did you do to the men on that ship?”

He moved his hand to my lower back, and his fingers gently grazed my soft skin.

“How did you help me get away?” I pressed.

“There are dangerous things that live in the deep. I commanded one of them to destroy all those on board—except for you.”

“How—how did you do that?”

“I’m God of the Underworld and King of the Dead. I can command any corpse to rise and fulfill my orders.”

“Are you saying the creature that attacked the ship was dead?”

“Yes.”

That was not what I expected.

“A kraken.”

“What is that?”

“A giant squid.”

“I’ve never heard of anything like that.” And I’d sailed the seas for six months.

“Then consider yourself lucky.”

None of the sailors had mentioned it either. Perhaps they were just too afraid to talk about it, like it might overhear their words. “I can touch you, and you can touch me. But you didn’t reveal yourself to others in my company. Didn’t raise your sword and fight when I needed your aid.”

“You didn’t need my aid—not until the end,” he said. “And it doesn’t work that way. I don’t interfere with the living, only the dead.”

“Raising a giant octopus to kill everyone on a ship doesn’t count as interference?” I asked incredulously.

A slight smirk moved over his lips. “I didn’t directly interfere. I can touch you and feel you because you came to my lands. That barrier between us is broken.”

“So…could you take me to the underworld?”

“Yes,” he said. “I can take you to many places.”

My heart started to race.

He seemed to feel it in my pulse somewhere on my body because he said, “I vow never to take your life or your soul without your explicit consent. Do not fear me.” He slid his hand into my hair, and just like last time, it took my breath away.

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