An Orchid Among the Thorns by Kira DeSomma

Author:Kira DeSomma [DeSomma, Kira]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent
Published: 2021-12-18T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

“You don’t have to carry me back,” I murmured as he made a move to scoop me up. I was still all over him; hands in his hair and on his shoulder, on his shirt, on the edge of his shirt, wanting to be under his shirt and against his skin…

“I know,” he said, sounding almost puzzled. “But I like carrying you. It’s become a favorite pastime.”

“You have carried me quite a bit,” I said drily.

“Do you not want me to carry you?” he asked. “Just say the word, Esther. I’ll let you walk.”

“I didn’t say that,” I said, miffed. He chuckled.

“So…” he trailed off.

“So you can carry me, I guess, if you want,” I grumbled.

“Esther.” His eyes searched mine. “Do you want me to carry you?”

I swallowed hard. “Yes, please.”

“I will carry you. You know why?”

“Why?”

“Because I love you.”

I grinned, and he scooped me up — slinging me around his back. I wrapped my arms around his neck and tucked my head into the nape of his neck, breathing in the scent of pinesmoke and his cologne.

“Tomorrow we can talk about training,” he said. “But tonight’s the verdant advent of the season of Tourmaline, and the dark orchid has called herself mine. So, I think it can wait. Just a little while.”

I laughed like a child.

When we got back to the room and I saw myself in the mirror, I couldn’t help the gasp that escaped my lips. The scrapes on my hands and knees were worse than I’d thought, and I had streaks of soot and ash across my skin. My dress was in tatters. I turned back to Cayden, whose wings were covered in filth.

“Why didn’t you tell me I looked like this?!” I asked.

“Tell you what? That you’re beautiful? I keep trying, princess, but the words just don’t do justice to it. You’re beautiful, sure, but you’re more so potent and magical and fierce and — “

I kissed him again, his cheekbones and his eyes and his lips — he kicked the door shut behind him and let out a sound like an engine starting. I pulled back only long enough to shrug out of the straps out my dress, but the bodice was so tight it made little difference.

“Esther…” his eyes took me in hungrily as his breath hitched, his eyes tracing my collarbones, my neck. “Shall I draw a bath for us?” he asked. Then his eyes turned concerned as they found the faint, barely-there scar on my throat — where Dehaan had bitten me, again and again. I swallowed hard as his gaze met mine. I felt raw desire, but under that there was still fear. Visceral, potent fear that buzzed just under my skin. He waited and wet his lips. I knew whatever I said, he would listen.

“I love you,” I said quietly, “But I’m not ready to have sex with you.”

He blinked rapidly, confusion and apprehension flitting across his face. “I’m… not asking you to have sex with me,” he said.

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