Page 35 of Vows of Sacrifice

He grimaced.

“Would you prefer that I confess to you that I desperately want to look at you in these clothes for as long as possible, even if it means suffering martyrdom?”

I felt myself blush. He wanted to stare at me for as long as possible?

“Smooth talker,” I shot back, raising my nose in the air.

“Good-looking, too?” he then suggested, undoing his gambeson.

“It’s not modesty that’s suffocating you.”

He then threw the garment on the floor, but only after rolling it into a ball. I mechanically went towards the garment to pick it up. This room was spotless. Making a mess of it was a real crime.

“Don’t you think I’m handsome? Don’t I take your breath away? Don’t I make your heart beat a little faster?”

After grabbing the garment, I straightened up and turned around. I almost fell over backwards when I found him so close to me and half-naked. I let out a miserable hiccup of surprise. He was smiling at me, but whatever was sailing in the dark water of his eyes seemed singularly dangerous.

“So?” he insisted in his most velvety voice.

“So what?” I croaked, my mouth dry.

I tried to back away, but unfortunately, there was a sideboard behind me, preventing my escape. As for what was behind Dovah at the moment, I wished I hadn’t looked at it. A large bed. A very, very large four-poster bed, just waiting for a couple in love to frolic between its sheets. God in heaven! One God! Have mercy on me! Dovah wore a strange expression, before slowly turning his head to see what had caught my attention. Ashamed, I lowered my eyelids for a second. I hadn’t had any impure thoughts. I had nothing to reproach myself for, but I felt embarrassed. It was completely incomprehensible.

“Would you like to try it?” he inquired, articulating with exaggeration.

I opened my eyes again.

“What?”

“The bed. I asked if you’d like to try it. It looks comfortable.”

This time, my voice jumped to a higher pitch. Dovah’s smile widened. He was having fun at my expense, the bugger!

“Or perhaps you’d like to try . . . me?”

“Dovah!” I exclaimed. “Are you trying to . . . seduce me?”

“Yes,” he confirmed boldly, confronting me openly. “I like you, my lady. The more I look at you, the more I like you. And the more I like you, the more I want to please you, too. Do I please you? I’m your husband. I belong to you.”

No. You belong to Nadrisse, I thought at once.

I bit my lower lip hard. I wasn’t that kind of woman, jealous and bitter. Or at least, I refused to become one.

“You’re not an object. You don’t belong to me.”

He grasped my wrist firmly but gently, pressing my palm against his chest, where his heart was beating. Where his heart was beating very fast.

“Oh!” I exhaled, my eyes wide with astonishment.

The touch of his hard, warm skin unsettled me more than I’d like to admit.

“Do you feel that? How can you doubt it? Of course, I’m yours,” he whispered as he approached me. “We’ve united before the Source. Separated. United again. Paivrin swears this is how flames dance. They attract, repel, attract again, until they complete each other and merge. Are you attracted to me?”

“Yes . . .”

I whispered the response without even thinking about it, hypnotized by the sensuality of his voice and the extraordinary touch of his skin.

“I’m attracted to you, too.”

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