Page 64 of The Chaosweaver's Daughter
Kas cleared his throat, and continued, “AndI regret that I didn’t meet you earlier. I had no idea you were his daughter, not until that dinner at the palace, when Ehmet said.”
“Oh,” slipped out as she felt heat rushing her face. She began to trace the rim of her wine glass, round and round her finger went as her thoughts whirled in parallel.
Papa wasfriendswith Kas?Did that change anything? Nes wasn’t positive, but felt as though it meant she could permit herself to relax and enjoy having her own friendship with him, guilt-free. Thathadto be acceptable.
But she was also at the symposium... and there were next to no rules here. Kas’s confession replayed in her mind yet again,“You know I’m attracted to you, right?”A cloud of butterflies snapped into action in her belly, sending Nesrina further into anxious turmoil.
You cannot feel this way!her conscience shouted.
But you do,her consciousness replied.
She set down her glass with force, earning a raised brow from Kas.
With an exaggerated faux yawn that was more of a silent scream than anything else, Nes stood from her seat and stretched. “I’m exhausted.”
He nodded without tearing his gaze from her face.
Nes’s heart fluttered. One of the belly-butterflies must have made its escape. With that, she crossed to her wardrobe.
“I’ll join you shortly.” His voice tumbled over to her on a gust of wind that nearly buckled her knees.
An odd little choked sound came from the back of her throat, and she rushed into the washroom to change into her nightgown.
Nesrinafloatedonabed of clouds, held aloft by the duke’s billowing magic as it swirled about her.
Where was he? It was Kas who trapped her so delicately in a hammock of air, she was positive. She couldn’t see him anywhere, but she recognized the feel of him.
Tendrils peeled away from the mass of power, roving over her body, licking at her sensitive skin. A shiver of pleasure and need shot from the center of her chest downward, where it nestled at her core.
One bold breath of wind made its way to the apex of her thighs, parting her to push its way to her most sensitive spot where it began to whorl gently, pulsating against her.
The duke’s wisps of magic coaxed her higher and higher, closer and closer to the top of that cloud-covered precipice.
“Oh, Kas,” she whimpered, cresting over the peak, her body drifting, floating, and plummeting in pure bliss. She was left shuddering in the wake of his ministrations.
twenty-two
Kas learns many new things.
Nesrinalaynudeona bed of asters, her emerald eyes sparkling in contrast with the purple flowers that surrounded her. Her rosy nipples peeked at him beneath strands of her caramel hair.
“Mi tilal,”my beloved, he whispered as his eyes and molten wisps of his magic traced her curves.
“Eth ye de mi,” she rasped. I am yours.
Tendrils of his magic flowed over her skin, cupping her breasts and gliding down the smooth plains of her stomach. One particularly bold cord of his power wound its way down between her thighs, where it made her writhe and pulse, flicking against her clitoris as he coaxed her higher and higher.
She moaned, calling out his name as she came for him.
Kas awoke with a start, his erection straining to escape his linen trousers.
“Leneteki,” he cursed quietly, swinging his legs over the side of the bed where they met the cold floor. Flexing his thighs, he willed the evidence of his desire to dissipate, to no avail. With a huff, he stood from the feather-stuffed mattress.
Nesrina rolled over, drawing his attention. He hadn’t meant to wake her—and it turned out he hadn’t. She sighed contentedly, still asleep, the blankets kicked down to the foot of the bed and her small form spread out to overtake the space he’d vacated.
How was he ever going to move forward with her? Every time he was close to making progress, his foot found his mouth, and he choked. With a weary sigh, Kas made his way into the washroom to handle his simmering need.
“Iknewlightmagesaren’tinherently‘good,’ and darkmages aren’t ‘bad.’ But I didn’t realize how cyclical their magic is, for lack of a better term,” Nes mused, her shoulder bumping his elbow when she glanced up.
