Page 88 of Of Kings and Kaos
Instead, neither happened, and I ordered her to return to her room.
Like she was a child.
Groaning, I ran my hand down my freshly washed face and shook my head slightly, desperately trying to rid my consciousness of thoughts of her.
My dick jumped in my black pants, attempting to get my attention and some sort of relief—even if it was from my own hand. But I refused to pleasure myself to thoughts of Faylinn. Especially when she hated me, and especially when I almost killed her tonight.
I should apologize—to her and to Lex.
My position was never one where I had to apologize often, and I could count the number of times I’d actually apologized on less than one hand.
Alois back when we first started working together.
Lex before entering Alois’ torture chamber.
Lexafterhis Awakening.
And now, apparently, I was contemplating adding Faylinn to the small list.
She’d be in good company, I supposed. There was no one I valued more in this life than Alois—or at least that used to be true—and Lex was like the little brother I never got to see grow up.
Faylinn, though. Faylinn was neither a friend nor a sibling. She was . . . a colleague? An object of desire? An absolute force of nature?
I shook my head at the errant thoughts before striding into my militaristic, sparse sitting room, my feet intent on carrying me to Faylinn’s room.
What would I even say?
“I’m sorry” seemed almost immature and wasn’t nearly the type of apology that was warranted, and not just because I almost killed her. I also regretted my behavior toward her when she Bonded Ben and, again, when I sent her away from Hestin.
My words always seemed harsh and less than adequate around her, even if my silence and reticence never seemed to bother her during those late nights we worked together in my office.
And now my cock was twitching again with the memory of Faylinn laying on the floor of my office with her legs bent, hair strewn around her head. It would have been so easy to just spread her knees tonight and push my body between them . . .
I shook my head with a growl before striding purposefully to the door. Checking the lone mirror in this room that I forgot to remove, I ensured that all traces of blood were wiped from my face. Content that I showed no outward signs of the sickness that erupted tonight, I pulled the handle of the door, only for a figure to crash directly into my chest when the door was pulled open fully.
“Oof!” the offender said as their hands came to land on my chest, their lower half coming in direct contact with my still semi-hard dick.
What the hell?
Instinctively, my magic jumped to the surface of my skin, ready to defend my life, and I felt a heaviness in my nose in response.
Fuck.
I quickly pushed my magic back and out of reach, but the damage was already done. In a matter of moments, I’d have blood gushing from my nose.
“General! I’m so sorry. She just snuck past us, saying something about a cat and fish? And before we knew it, she was pushing on your door . . .” Wache, one of the Mages guarding my door, explained in a rush, his cheeks red with embarrassment and frustration.
I cocked an eyebrow at him, extremely unimpressed with his inability to restrain a small female from entering my room.
“This is the best you could do, hmm?” I asked dryly, and his ears pinked further.
“Oh don’t be so ornery with him. It’s reallymeyou should be angry with—I’m the one who broke into your room, after all.”
That voice.
Thatvoice.
I inhaled deeply through my blood-clogged nose and, predictably, detected notes of pine and parchment.
