The Imperial (Bloodlines Book 2) by Shannon West

Author:Shannon West [West, Shannon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Painted Hearts Publishing
Published: 2024-02-21T18:30:00+00:00

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Rakkur

As it turned out, he did mind. Very much. He tossed me out of his room, and I’d hardly seen him for the past two days except for when he escorted me somewhere. I’d been good and I hadn’t tried to go anywhere alone, because I’d already pushed him pretty far.

I’d given him a couple of days to cool off, though, and I’d decided to come back to try to wear him down. I was currently standing in his room, watching him sleep. Tariq was snoring softly on his bunk beside me.

He slept in the nude, like most Tygerians did, so I was being very careful not to touch him and keep a little distance between us. After the last time I sneaked in, he had spoken very sternly to me and told me in no uncertain terms that if I did it again, he’d be forced to tell my parents.

So here I was, doing it again.

It had seemed obvious to me that I could talk him out of telling my father when I was safely in my room. Now that I was here, though, I wasn’t at all confident about what he’d do once he woke up. Oh, I was confident he’d be furious and get that face again, the one that looked as if he’d just stubbed his toe on a razor blade, and it was all my fault. But I still held out hope.

I was hopeful that calling my parents was just a bluff, and I could eventually talk him into doing what I wanted him to do.

I had a lot of practice in sneaking around quietly, not to mention getting my way, or else I’d never have managed to get out of the palace to join my friends at all. There was always hell to pay when I got home, because Blake had discovered I was missing by then. Occasionally, he’d send the guards out after me, but usually, he was just waiting for my footsteps in the hall.

Yesterday, when I got into Tariq’s room, I’d used the code that I’d seen him put in the keypad the very first day onboard the ship—and if he really wanted to keep me out, why hadn’t he changed that code? At home we used retina scans, but that wasn’t practical for rooms used by a lot of different people on a constantly changing basis, so the numbers he punched in made it much easier. But I knew he still could have changed it if he’d really wanted to.

I’d thought he’d maybe change it that first night I caught him in the shower, and he’d kicked me out, but he still hadn’t, which led me to believe he didn’t really want to. At least not consciously. Some part of him was enjoying this game we were playing, or at least I really hoped so.

Carefully, I eased myself over him so that I was straddling him, making sure we had nothing between us. His eyes immediately popped open, and he seized my hands, so I quickly bent and pressed my lips firmly against his.

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