Page 109 of Sands of Atonement

“I have no doubt,” he whispered back. We’d never had such a harmonious conversation before… His hands slowly brushed down from my hips over my bottom, and my core sprang into sensation.

My eyes dipped to his full lips, and his fingers pressed against my skin.

Oh my God.

My breath hitched, and heat pooled between my legs.

“Careful, little warrior,” Ezra warned. My eyes flew to meet his. “I’m still a man, even if I am Atrovian.”

Blood rushed past my neck and to my cheeks, to the tips of my ears.

He wanted me. He was tempted and was warning me.

A part of me wanted to push him, to see how far I could go. That surprised me.

At last, we moved to the side of the baths, and he lifted me effortlessly back to the dry land. I almost kissed the floor. But I was all too aware of my nakedness and rushed over to cover before I realized Ezra wasn’t even looking. He lifted himself from the baths. I suddenly became fully focused on dressing.

Ezra left without saying a word, and I found myself drifting in my mind, aimlessly walking through the halls.

I had just survived another drowning. Both times were because of Ezra.

My body tingled just before I remembered what he said about Kavid. I felt a twist in my stomach—I had a strong feeling he was telling me the truth. It made sense why Kavid had acted so strangely before that fateful day in the baths, and why he was so guilty afterward. He was guilty because he almost killed me. Did he kill my family? And if so, why? Why would he want us dead? I needed answers from Kavid.

I stopped in my tracks when Yven appeared around the corner.

“How were the baths?” she asked thoughtfully.

“It was fine.” I flushed again, wondering if she knew something about it, the part where I was drowning or the part where Ezra had been entwined with my naked body. I cleared my throat, “Though it’s a wonder why there are no stairs in the baths.”

“No stairs?” She frowned. “Of course there are stairs to enter the baths. They were on the other side between the two pools, where the shallow part of the baths are.”

My lips parted, and I was speechless.

Ezra, that fucker.

Chapter 27

Ezra

The room was dark, and orange smoke swirled around my head when I entered. Candles lit every small, low table in the stone-domed room and in the hanging chandeliers. The smoke drifted up my nostrils, and I tried my hardest not to inhale too much. It would create fog in my mind, and I couldn’t afford that, not with Eshe around, especially since I chose this life for myself.

Casimir couldn’t help himself. All he could think about was partying. I shook my head and scoffed. The sun had already set, and though I had been feeling particularly refreshed, my body was frustrated.

But I suppressed it.

Casimir had Yven on his lap, and they were laughing over something probably not worth laughing over.

At least he was enjoying himself.

Norrah was eating some of the meat and cheese spread out on the back table, enjoying herself. It was easy to tell she had grown up in a wealthy family by the way she carried herself.

My eyes flitted over to Eshe, who was talking to one of the servants near the smoking bar. The only thought running through my mind was my throbbing fist meeting his nose so hard he no longer breathed right and then died in his sleep because of it.

What the fuck was wrong with me? I shook my head again.

She was wearing a green linen dress, revealing too much of what was between her chest with too many rippable buttons from the center to the floor. Her vulnerable naked body was fresh and now permanently ingrained in my memory as I attempted to push it to the furthest part of my mind. I fought the largest war I’d ever had in my head when her legs were wrapped around me.

Her skin was so soft, her body just so fucking perfect, naked in my hands and in my arms. I fucking hated it.