Page 13 of Once Written in Gilded Blood

I’m glad he thought that’s what I was worried about and not something deeper. Part of me does want his knot, though.

I let my hand glide down his back gently and study his features as he does mine. His dick throbs inside me and makes my eyes shut with pleasure. “I want it. I want you,” I murmur over his lips.

His eyes widen a fraction before he lowers into me more, filling me completely and making me cry out as his knot starts to stretch my entrance.

Kalel’s groan rumbles through me as his knot slowly seats itself inside me and starts to swell so much that it makes my stomach feel like it will burst.

I bury my lips into his shoulder to muffle my scream. He starts purring from deep in his chest to soothe me.

“You take my knot so perfectly, little godling,” he murmurs against my forehead as his cock starts to throb deep inside me, pouring his come into my womb.

The pain slowly subsides and is replaced with pleasure that spreads through my entire body. Kalel’s knot keeps us locked together, swelling and pulsing in tandem and making my stomach swell with his seed.

I moan with each wave of him, and he kisses me tenderly, wrapping his arms around me and adjusting us to lie on our sides so the knotting is more comfortable. His chest is warm against my back, and he rubs my abdomen soothingly to ease the pressure building inside.

Our breaths start to sync up as they slow. Kalel nuzzles his face into the back of my head, inhaling the scent of my hair before letting out a content breath. I can feel his lips pull into a smile over my neck as he murmurs, “I think I might be in love with you.”

My chest warms, and I slide my hand down to his. “I think I might be too.” I whisper the words as if they are a mortal sin.

He only holds me tighter, possessive and unwilling to part. We remain this way, tucked into one another and content. Sleepy and satisfied. Talking softly about what we’ve been doing during the days.

As Kalel tells me about the supposed “training” he’s been doing beyond the veil, an apprehensive emotion coils in my chest. He doesn’t say much after that, and he’s cold when he retreats from me, pulling his hands away from my hips and finally unknotting us. His eyes have returned to his somber thoughts.

“You would tell me if the war wasn’t over…wouldn’t you?” I ask. I hate how sheepish my voice sounds.

He looks at me for a few moments, an empty and hopeless stare, before nodding. “Of course.”

It’s then that I decide I can no longer trust him.

I’m relieved when I find Nikolai waiting for me outside my door today and not Tessa. He’s dressed in a uniform similar to the one she wore yesterday. A navy paladin jacket with the collar up and a shoulder armor plate with a half cape that extends down his left side, meeting his heels.

“Nikolai, you’re okay!” I throw my arms around his neck, and he chuckles as he sets his hand on my back.

“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?” he says casually as he smooths down the fawn strands of hair from his eyes. The small horns on his head prick through and catch a few locks.

I help him untangle them and get them out of his face. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe because Kalel keeps coming back to the palace late at night with blood all over him. I was so worried you were being worked to the bone healing or fighting or…I don’t know.” My perplexed tone has Nikolai assessing me, making me feel even more unreasonable than I already felt.

His expression is relaxed, and he doesn’t have that anxious energy around him like Tessa did yesterday. But then again, he rarely ever does. “We train like this regularly, Alira. Maybe being fit for battle isn’t something the demigods do, but we have to be ready for anything. King Achill and Kalel both take it very seriously.” He taps my shoulder three times in reassurance, a gentle smile accompanying it.

But I can’t shake the way Kalel acted last night. The fact that he’s hiding something from me.

I blow out a sigh of relief. “Well, thank gods. I was worried when you were swapped out with no notice. It wasn’t the same without you.” I cross my arms and give him a look.

“Sheesh, was Tessa that much of a bore? I was only gone for a day.” Nikolai grunts out a laugh that makes me smile.

I shake my head. “No, she wasn’t. She just had this…ominous energy around her, you know? Like she’s scared of something…” I pause and consider my words before hesitantly bringing my gaze up to his.

If there’s anyone I trust here, it’s Nikolai. He’s been nothing short of my best friend. I know he’s guarding me because he’s ordered to, but even before the new restrictions were applied, in the three months leading up to now, he’s been around every day. Laughing in the hallways with me between daily activities or showing me around the kingdom on day tours. I’ve heard the others call him Nik enough that I call him that now too.

Besides him, Nina and Ustel are my closest friends. At least, I like to think of them as friends. I’m not so certain how they feel about being acquainted with a demigod, but they act like they are fine with it. Which is enough for me.

“Is it because I’m a demigod?”

“What?”

“That Kalel is lying to me?”

My eyes are steady, and I don’t miss the slight widening of his as he studies my features. He’s likely using his gift to search through my head to see what I’m suspecting.