Page 81 of Crown of Darkness
“Without her—” Eris bites off a curse.
“We will have to find someone else to help us.”
“Thereisno one else.”
“There arealwaysopportunities.”
“Ugh. You’re starting to sound like Thalia.”
I grin.
She pushes herself further upright. “What did you do last night? I felt you. I heard you calling to me in the dark. And it….” She shakes her head, bleakness flashing through her eyes. “Itknows you were there too.”
“What is it?”
“Oblivion,” she says with a whisper. “Something that is best kept locked inside me. Forever.” And then she’s angry again. “And I had it locked away. I had it buried down deep inside me until you woke it!”
“I’m sorry. I was just trying to help you.”
Eris throws the bedspread back, slinging her legs over the edge. I reach to help her, but she waves me away sharply. “Don’ttouchme.” And then a little quieter, when I rear back. “Don’t touch me. It can sense your presence. It wants to drain you dry.”
“Will you be able to… handle it?”
Tension tightens her jaw. “I have to.”
There’s strain on her face as she dresses swiftly. And I wonder if this is what every day of her life feels like.
“I’ll hold myself together,” she growls, “until Thiago gets back, and then he can ward me seven ways until Sunday.”
* * *
Sometime during the night,warm arms curl around me in bed, a gentle kiss pressing against the back of my neck.
“Did you miss me?” comes a familiar rumble.
It draws me out of sleep—nice dreams for a change—and as I blink in the light of a lantern that’s been newly lit, I realize my husband is home.
“You’re back.” I turn into his arms, pressing my face against his shirt and the hollow of his throat. I don’t quite cling to him. “How was the front?”
“Busy.” He steals a kiss, and I melt into it.
Every hard inch of him drives me into the mattress, and I run my hands through his hair as I drink at his mouth.
Finally, I can breathe again.
“What are we doing today?” I murmur.
He gives me a rather pointed nudge.
“That’s only an hour’s worth of distraction,” I tell him. “After that?”
Thiago smacks my hip. “And after that we do it again.” He kisses my chin. “And again.” A kiss to my throat. “And again.”
And then he’s working his way down, his fingers brushing against the silk nightdress I no longer need to be wearing.
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Chapter Seventeen
