Page 64 of Clash of Kingdoms
“Just wanted to say my piece,” he said. “Now I’m going to get something to eat because I’m fucking starving.”
“How about you shower first?” I suggested. “You smell…” Like a sweaty horse. Like death. Like blood and guts. “Bad.”
“Good idea,” he said. “I want to take this shit off anyway.” He stepped aside and walked away.
Aurelias came back to my side. “I need a shower too.” He grabbed the front of my shirt, which was caked in the mud from his armor. “Care to join me?”
“I’d love to.”
I joined him in the shower, and the warm drops of water immediately soaked my skin and dripped down. My fingers touched his hard body, feeling muscle everywhere they moved. His fair skin didn’t have a bruise or a scratch, so his hard armor had protected him well…or his sword had.
We didn’t speak as we washed each other, as we let the soap wash away all the evidence of battle. The mud was out of his hair and off his cheeks. His dark eyes maintained their intensity, like he was still on the battlefield in his mind.
I wanted to enjoy him the way I did every night, but I wasn’t the one who’d just watched so many people die. Even though he didn’t show it, I knew he carried a burden of horror. It wasn’t his people who’d fallen, but they were still the people he fought for. “Are you okay?”
His eyes hardened on mine. “I’ve fought many battles.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
His eyes dropped. “They’re all the same. The battles. The dead. The stench.”
“You don’t have to put on a front with me.”
His eyes remained down for a moment before he looked up again. “It’s not often that the loser of the battle is actually the winner.”
I swallowed.
“They know we lost over half our soldiers. They know they’ll destroy us when they return. Your people paid a heavy price for an empty victory.”
Now my eyes were down.
“Our only hope is the destruction of that crystal. Perhaps if we destroy it before they attack, they’ll think twice about pursuing another war.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because their lives will be on the line as much as ours,” he said. “The humans have an afterlife—and I suspect they don’t. They fight viciously because they have nothing to lose, but once they do have something to lose, they’ll be far more cautious. If there is another battle, it’ll be far different from the first.”
“We must destroy that crystal.”
“My brothers and I need to gather a few things before we leave.”
“You’re going?” I asked quietly.
He nodded. “We’re the only ones strong enough to pursue it.”
Just when I’d thought the worst was over, I realized the worst had yet to come.
His fingers cupped my cheek, and his eyes softened, feeling the terror that surged in my heart. “I’m here now.”
“But I just got you back…”
“And you’ll get me back again, baby.” His hand guided my head back so he could kiss me, part my lips with his to slip his tongue into my mouth. The water cascaded around us as our kisses deepened, as we both forgot the conversation we’d just had. His hand gripped my ass, and he tugged me into him, his hard length right against my stomach.
My back hit the wall, and he turned the faucet, cutting off the water that drenched our skin. He guided me out of the shower and to the bed, laying me down right on top before he moved over me. Our bodies wet and soaking the sheets, we came together, and he entered me, sinking inside nice and slow.
My hands scratched his back as I moaned in his face, reacquainted with his body as well as his soul…or what I felt was a soul.
He rocked into me slowly, his eyes on mine, kissing me between his moans, whispering his love to me and only for me.