Page 127 of The Myths of Ophelia
She inhaled. “What?”
Leaning forward, I caught her lips in a gentle kiss, one that was almost a caress. But even that taste drove me wild. I cupped the back of her neck, tugging gently to angle her head so I could kiss her deeper.
“Please,” I said against her lips.
“Your back…you need…”
“I’ll be fine, Mila. I swear.” Angels be damned if I let these stupid wounds stand in the way of being with her. “You…you are what I need.”
And at the raw desperation in my voice, her eyes flared. Like that was exactly what she needed, too, but she hadn’t wanted to say it.
“I thought—” She whimpered, and the walls of her fortress came crashing down. “I thought you were going to die. When they kept—and there was so much blood—it wasn’t stopping.” She shook her head, tears slipping between her lashes.
The sight of them took me right back to the chamber, when she’d been assuring me I was going to be okay, and the words she’d claimed.
“In the manor,” I began, “you said I saved you. Did you mean in the Labyrinth?”
“No.” Mila took a deep breath. It rattled through my own chest, made me feel on the verge of a free fall I didn’t understand. Then, she added, “The reason I was freed during the war was because the warended.”
Only our heavy breathing filled the air as I waited for her to continue. Did she mean…
“When you signed the treaty, Malakai, I was freed from my imprisonment.Yousaved me.”
I saved her. She’d never told me how her imprisonment ended, and I hadn’t pushed for details. She’d said she was released. ButIhad saved her.
Through a treaty I’d come to think meant nothing more than deceit.
But it had meant something to Mila. To others out there, I was sure, but to this woman before me who I fell for more and more every day.
I’d saved Mila when I signed that agreement, entered myself into torture…but she’d walked free. Somehow, knowing that cleared every sordid feeling I’d associated with that decision. Made every scar worth it because they kept more from her skin.
“I saved you.”
“You saved me,” she repeated, blinking away tears. When she looked at me again, an inferno burned behind her irises. “I think we’ve always been connected because of that. A part of me was always meant for you. And I’m tired of waiting for the future with you, too.”
Mila kissed me desperately, and I swept an arm around her waist to turn us, her back falling to the sheets. Ducking my head, I dragged my tongue along her bottom lip, nipping until she opened for me.
“Why didn’t you mention that before?” I asked against her mouth.
Her hands dug into my hair, pulling me closer as if she’d never let me go again. “I didn’t want you to think that’s why I’m here. As some twisted debt.”
“Even if it was,” I said, kissing along her jaw, “I’m not dumb enough to let you go because of it.”
Tiny tremors wracked her body. I grabbed one of her hands, locking our fingers, and her palm shook against mine.
“Relax, Mila,” I whispered with a kiss to her cheek, then one to her wrist. “I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”
“I know,” she breathed. And slowly her hands stopped shaking. “I know.”
Then, she leaned up to catch my lips, pulling me back down to her. We both grew more frantic, my cock aching. Her legs were braced on either side of my hips, and when I rocked against her, the most satisfying moan vibrated up her throat.
“Fuck, Mila,” I breathed, ripping my mouth from hers to explore her neck. I pressed her hand into the pillows beside her head and rolled my hips against her center once more, getting rewarded with another one of those needy moans. “If you already sound like that now, you’re going to ruin me when I’m inside you.”
Her laugh turned into a breathy gasp when I bit down on the skin of her neck, sucking gently. Even through her leathers, her heat taunted me. So much, I could barely feel the pain in my back.
“What are you waiting for?” she asked, and it was the only permission I needed.
Pulling her to her feet, I first unhooked the empty weapons belt slung across her hips. Carefully, I set it aside. Then, I moved to the many clasps adorning her leathers, stripping them off her in slow layers. I kissed across her chest as more skin was exposed, down her stomach and hips and thighs, not pausing where she wanted me, but keeping my eyes on hers the entire time.
