Page 87 of This Shattered Star

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

My arms wrapped around Kodhan’s neck on their own accord.

A sharp tug pulled at my middle, enticing my body to press closer to his despite the fact that there was no space physically left between us.

Anyone could burst through that door. Darion had done it. One of Maverick’s guards had come close, too. Wit could begin right this moment. But the feel of his lips against mine, the heat of his magic caressing me like invisible fingers…

There was a certain bliss in distraction. And I found myself needing it just as much as I wanted to be crowned as a Starlight Champion. I neededhim.The haze that came with his warmth. All of it.

He deepened our kiss, his tongue parting my lips with ease. I welcomed him fully. Then he inched us backwards until I was pressed up against the wall.

“Tell me to stop.” The words were muffled, his lips barely leaving mine.

He was giving a chance to end this here—the gift of walking away. But my mind had already been made. For once, I’d let go. Wouldn’t think. The consequences, I could deal with later.

I drew his bottom lip between my teeth, and his answering groan sent my toes curling. I pulled back just a fraction. “This changes nothing.”

I may have wanted distraction—wanted to give into the attraction I’d so stubbornly ignored—but I wasn’t so foolish as to immediately forget everything he’s done up to now. Evenafter knowing the intentions behind it. Forgiveness would take time. But here, in this cold, tiny room, time was inexistant. Like the world held itself stagnant while we indulged in a moment of selfishness. A moment of ignorance to the wreckage beyond these four walls.

His body tensed against mine. An emotion flashed across his face, too fast for me to pick apart.

“This changes nothing,” he repeated, though it sounded hollow. Empty. Before I could further analyze his sudden change in demeanor, he slanted his lips across mine once again, and my hands went from around his neck to his shoulders, his chest. Like they couldn’t decide where to settle. Greedily seeking to touch him in any way that they could.

These kisses were not gentle, or sweet. They were hungry and claiming. Rough. Each time our lips made contact was a battle for dominance.I needed more.

Like he’d heard my thoughts, he tore his lips from mine, only to redirect his kisses to the column of my throat. His hips rolled into mine then, eliciting a soft gasp as his hardness pressed into me. Unlike mine, his hands knew exactly where they wanted to go.

He reached for the first button of my vest. Popped it open without looking. Then went on to the next one. And the next. Until they were all undone.

We were both panting by the time the last button snapped.

Fingers leaving a scalding trail in their wake, he slid them across the exposed skin of my stomach, right above the lining of my pants. “You haven’t told me to stop.”

I looked him dead in the eyes and began working on the buttons of his own vest. Mercifully, he’d chosen to abandon the undershirt. “Don’t you dare.”

I could see the barely restrained hunger there, waiting to be unleashed. And it was like my words were part of the spell that could unbind it.

Fire burst to life around my body, lighting his face ablaze.

It wasn’t hot, not like it had been back in my room. No, it felt like what he’d done during Strength, withholding just enough of its heat for it to resemble more of a warm caress, the barest of tingles along the places it made contact. It curled along the wall, outlining my figure.

“Do you see how badly I burn for you, Eloise?” he asked, his voice rough.

My eyes fluttered closed as his fingers slid directly over top of where I needed them to be.

Pressure closed around my windpipe. Far from what was enough to fully cut off my airflow, but enough that my next breath stuttered. Through my lashes, I peered down at his other hand, which had wrapped around my throat. Small flames rose from his fingers and wrist. But where it should have scalded my skin irreparably, I felt only the natural heat of his skin, and mild fascination.

His fingers stopped moving. “I asked you a question.”

Bastard.

“Yes,” I hissed, glaring at him the best I could while running my hands down his chest, splaying across his abdomen. The feel of his bare skin was addictive. I couldn’t get enough of it.

Without warning, he plunged a single finger into me. Hungrily swallowed my moan by crashing his lips into mine. And began to pump slow circles, retracting that one finger to the first knuckle only to sink it back in to the last, repeatedly.

“You were right,” he whispered, nipping my bottom lip just like I had his. “I am mad.Youdrive me mad. Your presence pulls the very essence of common sense from my head. Reduces myability to think properly until every logical thought becomes an incoherent muddle of nothing.”

He added a second finger then, wringing a whimper from me. My knees shook from the effort to keep me upright.