Page 76 of Wings of Ice and Steel

‘Sascha let you in, didn’t she?’

Nieve nodded. ‘And distracted the guard.’ She finally met Ariadnne’s eyes. ‘I had to see you.’

‘What happened?’ Ariadnne prodded. ‘Whatever it is, I’m sure we can fix it.’

Nieve didn’t answer at first. Then she said, ‘You know, I really wish I could have danced with you at D’avant’s ball.’

‘I don’t understand…’ Ariadnne slid a hand around Nieve’s waist, pulling her closer, confused by the rapid spin of her thoughts. Nieve rested her head against her shoulder and Ariadnne soaked in the smooth outline of her face, chilling as Nieve said her next words.

‘Melixanthe told me another varan child has been discovered. She said she’s been impressed with me. Enough that she has made a recommendation for me to be his handler.’

Ariadnne’s body locked.

Melixanthe was removing Nieve from her company—in a way that appeared to anyone else to be a promotion.

This was why she’d let Nieve take her into town. It had been a goodbye.

‘You can’t… she can’t! How will I see you?’ A new, coiling hatred for her handler wormed through Ariadnne’s gut, followed by a sickening sense of betrayal.

Nieve swallowed. ‘I tried. I told her I’m happy where I am, that I have no desire to be this child’s handler. But she said it’s too late, it’s done. The Council have agreed.’ Tears glistened in Nieve’s ice blue eyes. ‘I don’t know what to do!’

Ariadnne stared at Nieve’s porcelain features with a crushing sense of loss. No convenient answer or cunning plan came to mind, only that she couldn’t lose the one person in this world she needed this much. Nieve was her freedom, her saviour from a slow, suffocating death. Almost audibly, her calm, collected shell cracked and she reached out to brush Nieve’s face, running a thumb over her lower lip—unbearably soft, and hers. With a catch in her throat, she tilted Nieve’s chin to take her mouth, her hunger threatening to break her. With a shuddered breath Nieve’s scent slid under her skin—filling every fibre of her as their lips melded with a scorching, ice-kissed heat.

Nieve belonged to her

As her mind whirled with these thoughts, her mouth moved with reckless abandon, kissing Nieve’s jaw, her neck, her collarbone, every inch of her skin a map she had yet to trace. She breathed in her frozen forest scent and grazed her teeth down the curve of her neck, Nieve’s answering shudder sending a thrill rippling deep in her belly.

There would never be enough.

‘I can’t stay…’ Nieve whispered between heavy breaths, the way her arms wound round Ariadnne’s lower back belying the weight of her words. ‘Sascha made it explicitly clear that I’m not to stay.’ She drew back.

‘Do you think I care what anyone thinks?’

Nieve’s lip twitched, and Ariadnne took her hand, pulling her closer.

‘If this is true, who knows how long we have.’ She searched Nieve’s beautiful face, marvelling at the perfection of each feature; the tiny dimple at the side of her mouth; each perfectly placed freckle.

She wasn’t going to let her go. Not tonight.

Ariadnne felt the moment Nieve’s restraint melted away; she moulded into her arms, her body soft and pliable as her mouth welcomed Ariadnne’s.

The kiss of someone to whom she would give everything.

There was no gentle exploring this time—only a clash of desperate need. Nieve’s hands swept along the silk of Ariadnne’s nightgown with a lick of icy flame, shivers of pleasure rippling through Ariadnne’s body quickly chased by a wave of sorrow so great it threatened to choke her. Ariadnne couldn’t face the idea of not having this.

Of not having the chance to learn Nieve in all her forms.

Her nightgown was the barest slip of silk between them, skin prickling as Nieve’s fingers traced a pattern down her side. With a gasp, she arched, and Nieve was against her, kissing her neck, her jaw. She closed her eyes as the hot honey of Nieve’s tongue caressed the skin by her ear. A soft moan escaped her lips, the sharp pang of desire almost painful as she ran a hand down Nieve’s back, tracing each bump and divot of her spine.

‘I will find a way to keep you.’ Ariadnne pressed her face into Nieve’s hair. ‘One way or another, this is not an ending for us. I won’t let it be.’

‘Well, I am one of those thorns that’s hard to be rid of—' Nieve’s voice tickled her neck until she broke away, sadness flickering in her eyes. Visibly fighting it, her brow arched in the playful way Ariadnne was learning to love. Slowly, so slowly, Nieve slid backwards, edging up the bed without releasing Ariadnne from her cerulean gaze, daring her to follow.

Deep in her belly Ariadnne’s dragon uncoiled and rumbled, responding to the challenge in Nieve’s eyes.

Her lips parted as Nieve reached the pillows—she was made to lie in her bed. To recline beside her every night for the rest of their lives. She swallowed the bitterness that followed that thought.

Nieve tilted her head, reading the emotion flickering through Ariadnne’s soul.