Page 45 of The Poison of the Earth
“What? No! Nope, not happening.” She glares at me.
My patience snaps and I growl, “Your safety is of the utmost importance. We need you for the transition of power. Do not push me on this, Ollie.”
“And what if I do?” She tilts her chin up imperviously. Even though I don’t generally take bullshit from anyone besides Kai, I normally find her pique adorable. But not right now.
“Then I’ll call Kai up here to put you over his knee and spank your bare ass while I pleasure myself to the scene.”
She gawps at me, mouth opening and closing a few times. Eventually she sputters, “You’d never!”
I arch my eyebrows, fully angry enough to enact this. “Try me, little Queen.”
Her look turns menacing but she sits, silent.
“No, no bath. I would like my nightclothes and my book though.”
She still sounds annoyed, but I’ll take it.
I nod. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.”
I slip out of my rooms, still in my towel and quickly grab those and few other things from her rooms.
When I return, she’s just as she was, and I’m again struck by the image of her in my bed. I hand her her nightgown and turn my back as she stands.
A moment passes and she says, “I’m decent.” She pauses as my mind runs away on how she’s entirelymorethan decent when she says shyly, “Are those... your gill slits?”
I turn back to her. “Yes. Would... you like to touch them?”
She wrinkles her nose, a worried look on her face. My heart drops but she says, “It wouldn’t hurt you?”
She isn’t disgusted, she’s concerned.
“Not unless you’re rough.” I arch an eyebrow and she meets my gaze with a loaded look. We both chuckle at the same time.
She steps forward, her linen night gown with pearl buttons clingy in the right places. Her hand reaches out and I make sure to be still.
She touches me, gently, just below where my chest tattoo ends, fingers tracing my gills. They flare and she makes a surprised noise, withdrawing her hand.
“Tickles a little,” I explain, still frozen.
She reaches back out and touches them a bit harder. “Why are they here, not on your neck?”
“It’s where my Mother’s were. Just an evolutionary quirk in an attempt for an advantage.”
“Do they work?”
“Of course.”
Her other hand raises to touch the gills on the other side as well. I look down at my mate and struggle for control of my cock. The sight of her touching me is fucking intoxicating though.
“Ishkae are rare,” she quietly muses. “Powerful.”
“Mmm,” I agree.
“Were your parents Ishkae?”
I tilt my head, still staring at her hands on my body. “No. Mother was a siren. Father was an Aestus.” I pause, smiling. “Here I am, telling you all about me again.”
She blushes. “Fine, let me ask two more questions, then you can ask me for two truths.”
