Page 24 of The Beautiful Blade

Now when I touched him, I felt no give beneath my fingers. His body was no longer something that could be shaped by the world around him. It had been sculpted by battle, by survival, by his own will.

No, Jorge wouldn’t bend anymore. And gods help me, that thrilled me.

Heat coiled in my stomach. This was the same boy who used to kneel at my feet, who once followed me with wide, reverent eyes, who never resisted when I pulled him into a dark place and made him kiss every part of my body. Now there was steel in him, literally.

I had never liked the enhancements that warriors brought into the Games. Prosthetics made of gleaming steel and arcane tech, turning flesh into something unnatural. It had always unsettled me, likely because I was a fairy, and we had our prejudices against metals.

And yet Jorge’s fingers wrapped around mine with such familiar precision that if I closed my eyes, I wouldn’t have known the difference.

It felt like him.

Because it was him.

I ran my thumb over his knuckles, expecting cold metal, expecting that jarring difference between man and machine. There was warmth pulsing beneath the surface like a heartbeat. His fingers tightened ever so slightly, responding to my touch the way they always had.

The lean muscle in his arms was nothing like the bulky builds of the warriors surrounding us. Jorge’s muscles were deliberate, honed with precision, as though his body had been carved from steel and tempered in fire.

They'd found his name in the records and officially welcomed him as a return competitor. The Games were over for the night, and we were sent with the other survivors to the warriors’ quarters. Jorge's gait as we walked through what could only be described as a small village was confident, his stride long and purposeful, as though each step declared his place in this space. His clothes were finer than anything he’d ever worn back home, tailored to fit his frame.

I couldn’t stop staring at the stubble on his jaw. He’d never had stubble before. It suited him—too well.

If I hadn’t known the feel of him down to my very bones, I might have thought this was someone else entirely.

The way people looked at him only added to the dissonance. Guards moved out of our path with a snapof respect, their heads bowing in deference. A murmur followed us, rippling through the crowd. I caught the word “Commander” more than once.

He swept us into one of the cabins, closing the heavy door behind us. A large bed draped in rich fabrics dominated one corner. A sitting area was tucked by an unlit fireplace. I spied the glint of a marble-tiled bathing room beyond.

Before I could marvel—or demand answers—Jorge turned, his expression dark and thunderous.

“What were you thinking?”

I stumbled back a step, my mouth opening and closing like a fish as I tried to process his anger. Jorge had never raised his voice at me before. Never.

His hand was at my throat, the prosthetic one. His chest pressed against mine. His eyes were fire.

My brain fizzled. He was yelling at me, and all I wanted to do was kiss him. No, I wanted to push him down on the bed, sit on his face, and have him yell into my core. Oh, I was wet thinking about it.

But I knew I couldn't move his hand. He had me pinned. At his mercy. I pressed my thighs together and got no relief.

"I came to find you."

His jaw worked. He looked at my mouth, my lips. His nostrils flared.

I leaned forward, trying to capture his lips. He heldme in place. I didn't like that. I didn't like not being able to have him.

"You shouldn't be here," he said.

That made no sense. He was here. I was supposed to be wherever he was.

"You were supposed to be at the summer castle," he continued.

"How do you know that?"

"Because I suggested it to him."

I stopped struggling. Jorge let me go. He paced away from me. It gave me a look at his tight ass. And his stride. His thighs had never been that thick, that strong. His shoulder blades were bigger. It was like he had been rebuilt to my every fantasy. I hadn't known I wanted him this way until he was standing in front of me with so much power coming from him.

"Wait. You suggested what to who?"

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