Page 66 of The Myths of Ophelia
My brain was too clouded with mashed up sentences somewhere between Endasi and the common tongue to make a joke of the wording she’d chosen. Phoenixes, hearts, and races. Soulguiders, gods, and Starsearchers. It all melded together.
I shook my head to clear it as Ophelia stood from her seat across the table and walked toward me.
“We’re making progress,” she encouraged.
“Is it enough, though?” When it was her safety—her damn life—at stake, would it ever be?
Ophelia gripped my chin, turning my attention toward her. “Give me a thought,” she said, as I’d said to her before when she was afraid.
I blew out a heavy breath, leaning back in my chair. “I still see it, you know. All the time.”
She stiffened, but I kept up the gentle tracing of her waist, grounding myself with the feel of her skin against mine and studying the scars on her midriff. “Not every night, but sometimes, when I jolt awake, I still see me having to cut Kakias’s power from your arm. Sometimes the wound never stops bleeding. And…” My words faded into silence.
“Tolek,” Ophelia said softly. She cupped my cheek, pulling my gaze upward. “I am alive because of you. So many times now, you’ve saved me.”
“What if I can’t one time? That’s all it takes, and tonight, I wasn’t even there.” I waved a hand at the table behind her. “You need to survive this, Alabath. I need you to.”
I wasn’t above saying it, pouring my heart out to her and reminding her how desperately I needed her in this life or any other.
“I’m not going anywhere.” Leaning forward, she brushed her lips against mine softly. I knew while she was equally angry and scared of the unknown, she was being strong for me right now. But Angels, kissing her was one of the best fucking feelings in the world, so I didn’t care. “I know what you’ve been doing ever since we first went to the outposts.”
“What’s that?” I asked, tugging her a little closer.
“You’ve been holding everything together. Holding me together when I thought I’d implode, trapped on that little island waiting for Ritalia.”
I laughed. “It’s a bit bigger than alittle island,” I corrected her, but she only rolled her eyes.
“You kept me from going crazy, but you can let go, Tolek. It’s not only your responsibility to protect me. It’s our responsibility to protect each other.”
“I think you’re more inclined to risk your life than I am, Alabath.”
“Yes, well, being chosen by the Angels will do that to you.” She crossed her arms. “Regardless, we’re a team, Tolek.”
“Best damn team there is.”
She smirked, and mine matched it. Even this small conversation, the tiny reassurances, made everything a bit lighter. With that weight lifted, I admitted, “I keep thinking about being in the outposts. About how nice it was to have a reprieve.”
“Mm-hmm,” Ophelia hummed, and I knew without looking that her eyes were on my hand, slowly creeping up her thigh.
“But they were also some of the cruelest weeks the Angels could have given us.”
“What do you mean?” she breathed.
“Now I know what it’s like,” I said, and I leaned forward, placing a kiss to her stomach. “Now I know that semblance of a normal life with you. Being able to stay in bed for hours, to sit at a tavern or on the beach and indulge in every moment.”
Ophelia knotted a hand in my hair, and I dragged my fingers up the back of her legs slowly, slipping beneath her skirt. Gripping her thighs, I pulled her closer.
“I know what it’s like to have you whenever I want.” I dragged my lips across her stomach, pressing those words into her skin. “And even after all this time”—I traced the seam of her lace undergarments, and she arched her back—“all I can think about is being between your legs. About what you taste like, how you feel around my cock.”
I stood, hiked up Ophelia’s skirt, and backed her toward the table. “Every day, it feels like there are collars around our necks.” I teased over the lace between her legs, circling where she was so fucking needy, and her breath quickened. “They’re pulling us further away, taken by some curses we don’t understand. And if I’m going to go, it’ll be with the feel of you imprinted on my skin.”
Ducking, I kissed beneath her jaw, and her head instantly rolled back.
“We really should go to bed,” she gasped as I worked my lips down the column of her throat, still toying with the fabric that stood between us.
I brushed a knuckle over her clit, and her hips bucked.
“Right,” I muttered. “Bed.” The lure of her heat was driving me wild. “Are you sure?”
