Page 123 of A Crown of Tears and Treason
EVIE
The change was instant.
One second I was laying on top of Zandyr, our legs tangled, face right above his and wishing I was closer.
Then he moved with that incredible speed of his that took my breath away. He shifted us on the floor, so that he lay above me now, leaning on his elbows.
His steady palm cradled the back of my head against the hardwood floor. Such a simple touch, more instinct than a clear decision, but it warmed my chest all over again.
This wasn’t the blazing heat of my power. Oh, no.
This warmth spread slowly, stroking my senses. Up it went, straight past my clavicle, up my neck, and tinging my cheeks until I could no longer hide the effect Zandyr had on me.
The warm, flickering light from the candle fought with the cold glimmer of the moon filtering in through the window. The glows clashed, casting an eerie shine over Zandyr’s face, splittingit down the middle. One side was warm and comforting, the other one cold and calculated.
Even in the different shades, his eyes were just as dark as they bore into me, as if wanting to access my very soul. My trembling soul, which craved too much, too soon, after a lifetime of being small and silent.
“What do you want, Evie?” His whisper was molten silver, caressing my skin and senses. The way he said my name, reverent and wicked at the same time, sent trembles through me. It sounded likehewanted to drive me wild with only a few words.
A simple question. Yet I parted my lips with no reply.
WhatdidI want?
I wanted him here, that was certain, looking at me with that bottomless hunger, the same way he had right before our first kiss.
But I wanted more. I wanted to feel the press and pressure of him against me. An instinct much older than me, almost ancient, demanded it.
“Kiss me,” I whispered.
This was a man who’d been sought by countless women throughout his life. With my inexperience, I had no chance of seducing anyone, least of all him. Better to be as direct as possible.
“Are you sure?” he asked, leaning down infinitesimally.
It wasn’t enough. He didn’t touch an inch of my body, except for the palm holding my head gently, and I wanted his hands all over me. No, Icravedhis touch.
“I need you to be sure, Evie,” he went on, my name now a prayer on his lips, whispered and reverent. “As sure as I am of you.”
My heart stuttered, caught between wanting to be open and believe or sealing itself against these promises. “Maybe I am.”
A shadow passed his gaze. I recognized it all too well. Hope, fighting not to be born. “I don’t think that’s possible. You haunt my mind. You haunt my dreams. I feel you in every breeze and smell you in every breath. You undo me. You mesmerize my thoughts away constantly.”
Heat murmured through my body, pulsing lower and lower, until I squeezed my legs together to alleviate the pressure.
Gods. This man. Making me squirm with nothing but a look and a few words.
He lowered his face to the junction of my neck, inhaling deeply. “Do you think of me?”
All. The. Damn. Time. “Yes.”
He hummed in satisfaction. “That could be either very good or very bad for us. The gods have already thrown their dice. The question now is...”
I stopped breathing as he turned his face toward me. Our lips were only a shiver away, the small distance between us brimming with expectations.
“...how will they land?” His whisper beckoned me closer, as if daring me to move first.
I swallowed thickly, my gaze bonded to his parted lips. One move, one small, little–
“Who’s to say we don’t decide where they land?” I murmured.
