Page 21 of Daughter of the Ninth Line: Part Two

Ugh, those husky words again.I sucked in a calming breath, trying not to pant, and clinging to my higher reasoning by my fingernails. I shook my head. “My body doesn’t know what’s good for me.”

He smiled at me. A wide, beautiful smile that lit up his whole face and made my own go slack. Had I ever seen him smile? I mustn’t have, because it would have been burned onto my retinas.

“Maybe your body knows exactly what you need.” He sat up. “But don’t worry. I can wait for your mind to catch up.” He rolled off the bed and got to his feet in a lithe manner that I could only dream of replicating. I climbed off his bed like a drunken fawn and followed him to the stairs that led down to the dorms.

I couldn’t believe I’d been in Vox Vylan’s bed. I took one last look around, committing everything to memory so I could tell Viana and Acacia about it.

Vox looked amused. “Don’t worry, Avalon, you can come back and climb into my bed as often as you like. I promise you an enjoyable time.” He leaned closer so his breath feathered across my cheek. “I’ll make you scream my name so loudly, even the stars will hear it.”

My breath stuttered in my throat, and I turned toward him. His face was so close to mine, his lips just there, tilted down toward me. Unable to resist, I lifted up on my toes and brushed my lips across his. They were softer than I’d imagined, and tasted a little like the chocolate we’d shared. He remained still, and I lowered myself back to my heels, sucking in a breath and fixating on the top button of his shirt so I didn’t have to meet his eyes.

A finger tucked under my chin, tilting my head back. His hands gripped my hips, then hekissedme. Not a peck, like I’d given him.

No, he owned my mouth, taking and taking and taking until I was breathless and my whole body tingled. Only his strong hands on my hips, holding me close to his torso, kept me from falling down the stairs on rubber legs. He pressed himself closer, and I chased his warmth like he was an inferno I wanted to perish within.

When he finally pulled away, my heart was thundering so loudly, it was like I’d just run a hundred laps of the training ring. My eyes felt too wide, and my hands were trembling softly where they hung at my sides. His normally icy eyes were simmering with desire, and it felt warmer in the Dome than it had all night. Even the fire looked larger.

“Goddess,” I muttered beneath my breath, my brain synapses glitching inside my skull. I needed a healer, or maybe some serious alone time in the dorm showers.

Vox grinned, making my knees go weak once more.

“Put that away,” I mock chastised.

“Put what away?”

“That smile. It’s dangerous. Represses every single responsible thought I’ve ever had.”

He laughed and wrapped a band of air around my ribs, holding me steady as he led me down the spiral staircase. It was still as quiet in the common room as it had been when I arrived, even though it was close to midnight.

“I’ll walk you back to your dorm,” he told me softly.

My first instinct was to tell him no. He didn’t need to trouble himself by walking me through the perfectly safe halls of the college. But I stilled my tongue, because despite my earlier statement, I wasn’t really ready for the night to end.

He led me out of the dorm and onto the landing, and once again, I felt the subtle brush of whatever element he used to keep the dorm secure. Air, I guessed, but it felt more charged.

Almost as charged as whatever was happening between the two of us. It could all be in my head, though. What experience did I have with flirting and sex and making moves on Heirs?

The silence stretched between us as we made our way down the six flights of stairs. It had never occurred to me that it took the same amount of effort to get to the Dome as it did to the bowels.

We hit the atrium, and Vox moved toward the stairs that went down to the Lower Line levels. “Have you ever been down here?” I asked, and he shook his head.

“Only once. There hasn’t been any other good reason to visit.”

He meant when he’d carried me down to the Twelfth Line dorm. I’d forgotten, with all the healing and crap that came afterwards. I didn’t know how to feel about that. On one hand, I preened, because apparently I was a good enough reason, but on the other, it made it blindingly clear that we were from two separate worlds that could never meet in the middle.

Was that something that mattered to me, though? I didn’t have dreams of power and privilege. I’d hate living in Fortaare, always under the eyes of others. I wanted a quiet life somewhere out of the way, preferably by myself. I guess I’d take Epsy, my stolt, with me too now, but that was it. A simple life for a simple person, away from my father and politics, Heirs and the war college.

“What are you thinking about?” Vox asked quietly as we descended past the Sixth, then Seventh Line floors.

I chewed my lip, trying to decide how honest to be.Fuck it.I hadn’t made it this far by being a sycophant who spared his feelings. “I was thinking how terrible it would be to be your wife.”

His feet stilled, and he stared down at me, shock written all over his face. “I don’t disagree, but I’m not going to lie and say that doesn’t prick at my pride.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “I think your ego will be fine, Vox Vylan.”

We moved past the Eighth Line’s landing, until finally, we were standing outside my door. He paused, and I turned toward him. He was looking down at me as if I was a problem he couldn’t quite solve. Some part of me knew that if he ever did solve the riddle of me, he would move onto the next puzzle or woman or problem.

“Out of interest, why would it be so terrible to be my wife? I promise, my wife will have all the pleasures I could offer her.”

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