I wasn’t sure what Karmuth could do for me if he was here. All I could focus on was the intense necessity to have him close. I hadn’t had a peachy day, but neither had he. We needed each other to look past this, so why wasn’t he here?
Minutes ticked by, hours even, and I kept shifting around the room like a big cat in confinement. I’d gone over my mother’s history lesson more times than I could count. King Ilario. Prince Nefari. I was a princess three times over. I hated the title and everything that came with it.
I wished to be back in Elverstone at our cottage by the waterfall. Things had been easier then. Brighter. If I could go back I would, but only if Karmuth could come with me. He’d changed everything.
A murmuring behind my door prompted me to stand up again and shamble closer.
“I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.” Sinister’s muffled voice was only barely audible through the thick wood. He paused. “Are you wearing cologne?”
“Shut up, Sin.” It sounded as if Karmuth swatted at the other man. “Do you think she’s still awake?”
“Only one way to find out, ain’t there?”
A short shuffle later a knock reverberated through the wood. I squeaked and jumped away from the door, then reprimanded myself.
Wiping my hands on the bathrobe, then swiping at the bathrobe once more to make sure it covered me, not that Karmuth hadn’t already seen me naked, I bought more time to compose myself. As if the seconds I won did anything to calm my racing heart.
My hand shook as I placed it on the handle and pulled the door open. With my teeth biting into my lower lip, I wasn’t able to say a thing as our eyes met and he lowered his hand that was raised to knock once more.
“Isay,” he breathed in a sigh. “I swear I would’ve come sooner had I not heard you were looking for me just a few minutes ago.”
I nodded. My throat was too dry to reply, and even if it wasn’t, I was stunned into silence.
Karmuth looked comfortable in a pair of faded dark jeans and a simple t-shirt. His hair was wet as if he’d just come from the shower, and he looked flushed in the way cool air always brought colour to the skin.
With his bright blue eyes roaming over my body hungrily, I had to check if the bathrobe hadn’t unintentionally fallen open. It was still perfectly tight around me.
“Beautiful, are you all right?” he murmured.
I nodded again. “I am now. Would you… would you like to come in?”
Karmuth glanced back at Sinister, who gave him a slanted grin. “Just keep it down, would you? I’m not in the mood to stand here with a hard-on for the rest of the night,” the man remarked.
“That’s not—ah…” Blushing, I took a step back as Karmuth entered my room. He shut the door in Sinister’s smirking face, then leaned his back against it. His intense gaze made my knees weak.
“Are you… all right?” I asked. My heart in my throat made my voice hitch.
“I am now,” Karmuth replied with a small smile.
I worried at my lip harder, stepping back to the space I’d occupied before he’d entered. He smelled incredible, like exotic spices and the drink I’d had on my mother’s wedding day, before I’d realised the tang of it didn’t do its scent any justice.
Karmuth’s arms came around me immediately when I stepped into him to press my nose against his collar. He did wear a cologne, an incredibly intoxicating one at that.
“Isay.” He groaned this time, pulling me tighter into his embrace.
My shield sent shivers through my skin as one of his hands travelled up my back and into my hair, cradling my head into the crook of his neck where I succumbed to the sweetness of his perfume.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, not finding any words.
Would he feel how sorry I was? I hadn’t gotten even a hint of a feeling from him after I’d left him standing before the king. His father?
“King Grath? Is he…?”
“I don’t want to talk about that now,” he murmured against my hair. “I want to talk about us and what you mean to me.”
I closed my eyes. “Kar…”
“Please hear me out, beautiful.”
I nodded, waiting for him to continue.
His steady heartbeat sped up. “I know I’m not worth your affection. I wasn’t able to protect you when it mattered the most, and I don’t blame you if you despise me. I need you to know that you are the only thing keeping me sane right now. Knowing you’re safe comforts me.
“I don’t want to lose you or the bond between us. I promise not to invade or misuse the connection, if that makes any difference. Please? If I lose this—”
Raising my head from his shoulder, I was just in time to catch sight of his throat bobbing. He was truly worried that I’d have our bond broken. He’d shut me out… shut me out thinking I didn’t want to be connected to him.
“Kar…” Okay, I needed to get myself together.
If I didn’t say anything worthwhile in the next minute I might as well shoot myself in the foot.
I steeled myself. “No. I mean, yes. I mean, I don’t want to break the bond.”
His eyes widened with hope. “You don’t?”
I shook my head, not able to get any more words out. If I couldn’t talk, I just had to convince him in another way.
Raising to my tiptoes, I reached for his lips. But then my ankle acted up, and I lost my footing for a moment until Karmuth steadied me and met me halfway, capturing my mouth in a hungry kiss. I melted against him, audibly sighing.
