“Tell me.” A flat command and a warning.
“Six years above two centuries,” she said cautiously.
“You are a fledgling, you’ve hardly lived.”
The heavy regret in his voice had tension stealing through her limbs. The entire encounter was charged with a dangerous tension she did not understand. She did not want to arouse his suspicion even though she doubted he worked for the emperor. However, no one must know she planned to flee tonight. For any chance of success, the element of surprise had to be on her side.
“Are you a Mevian?” she demanded carefully.
“No.”
“Which kingdom are you from?”
A slow smile softened the hard edge to his mouth. “I cannot own to it.”
Her anxiety deepened. “Why not?”
“I am a spy, and you are in bed with my enemy, in every way.”
“I’m not the emperor’s lover,” she murmured, searching for his varied meanings.
“Are you not?”
“Why should it concern you if I am in his bed?” she asked, watching him as one would the most dangerous of animals.
The unspoken words were implicit in his penetrating stare. His face took on a cast of intense, aroused beauty, a touch of sensual cruelty about his mouth, Oh! He wanted her. That awareness drew a fierce, almost violent feeling from her, and a shock of heat darted between her legs, mortifying her. Breathing was nearly impossible as she waited for him to move, to say something.
An odd feeling of regret curled through her. Once she fled the empire, she would not see this man again. “At least tell me your name.”
“Lachlan Ravenswood.”
It suited him. Old world and elegant. “I want to be courteous and say it is a pleasure to be introduced, but I am anxious as to why you are here in my chamber without an invitation, again, Lachlan Ravenswood.”
She got the sense he had been here a long time too. He glided closer to her. Power hummed beneath the surface of her skin as she tried to read his intentions. His lack of aura bothered her, but she sensed there was something inside of him, still and watchful and so full of danger.
A fingertip brushed against her chin. His touch was inexplicably soft, entirely at odds with the sensual harshness of his expression. Her breath left her lungs in an unexpected rush and wings seemed to flutter lightly against the inside of her belly.
“I demand to know why you are—”
He dipped his head, pressed his lips to hers, catching her world on fire.
4
Shilah stood transfixed for a timeless instant, then shock exploded through her. His arm curved around her shoulders and dragged her against the solid wall of his chest. Lachlan Ravenswood’s kiss tasted like midnight, dark, deep, dangerous, and bone-deep satisfying. She gasped, and he stroked his tongue deep inside. She gripped his shoulders with the intention of pushing him away, and instead pressed her fingers into the muscles of his shoulders. Shilah trembled at the pleasure that arrowed through her with such exquisite delight. It startled her for she had never felt like this before, not from a mere kiss. He dragged the response from her with the raw force of his embrace, and she answered his desire kissing him back. Their tongues tangled, and she was at once helpless against the sweeping sensations working through her body and invigorated by the intense need humming through her. She got achingly wet. So fast she was mortified. Shilah could feel her flesh preparing for him, aching for his possession. Something deep within her belly quickened, sending sharp darts of longing through her.
I am kissing the enemy. For somehow, she knew this man was not an ally.
She pulled her lips from his, breathing raggedly. “I am the Princess of Dxyriah, I cannot—”
He kissed her. Again. Over and over.
The intensity of feelings he evoked had nothing to do with logic or reasoning and that brief protestation burned away under the tide of passion. Swirls of want and need denied too long came rushing to the surface. A muffled moan of surprise sounded against his mouth as she felt the cool silken sheets beneath her back.
When had he moved them? Her thighs were nudged apart and his heavy weight cradled between her legs. Tremors started in her stomach, delightful pleasure built, and she clutched at his shoulder, purring her approval. Even through his shirt, she could feel that he was pure muscle and sinew and strength. One of his palms cupped her breast, his fingers tweaking at her nipples, stabbing pleasure to the heart of her. She felt overwhelmed and tried to drag her thoughts from the hot pull of bliss. This should not be happening, not now.
Pushing at his chest, she tried to put some distance between them. His cock was thick and hard, pressing into the juncture of her thighs. He was large, at least twice the size of her previous lover. He gripped her hips and dragged her down so he could roll his hips against her, and Shilah arched into him, shivering as his aroused cock ground against her clitoris through his trousers. The shock of feeling him right there had her dragging her lips from his. Sh
e stared at him, suddenly and inexplicably petrified.