Page 112 of Tides of Shadows

“I used to cut myself a lot. Too much brawling.” He gave a small smile. “It was quicker to mend myself than to listen to the healer’s scolding.”

“Are you angry with me?”

He lifted his eyes from the bandage, his gaze softening.

“With you, no.” After a moment he added, more honestly, “Perhaps a little. That you didn’t tell me you wanted to hunt.”

“If I recall, the last time I wished to hunt with you, you disdained me and ended up in the arms of a young Dorthal girl.” I smiled crookedly. “I didn’t want to risk it.”

A well placed blow. Aidenar sighed and annoyance crossed his face.

“You wanted to ride out with a pack of drunken Lords, most of whom wanted to sleep with you,” he said seriously. “It’s not that I didn’t want you to go hunting. I just needed to stop you then. That’s why I said what I said. I didn’t want a repeat of what happened with you and Magnus. I couldn’t protect you in the forest.”

“Nerissa.” He met my eyes. “As you know, there aren’t many Ladies our age among Families. Then you walked in out of nowhere—a storm of red hair, legs for days—and every man in the palace thought the same thing.”

“And you?”

“I thought about fucking you the moment I saw you,” he said, his face without apology.

My face was motionless. “And now?”

“Now I want more. Now I want it all.”

I wasn’t ready to know what “more” meant. He was finishing bandaging my hand.

“Are you jealous of Tristan?” I asked, unable to resist,

Aidenar’s teeth clenched. I could see the struggle in his face. At last he let his shoulders loosen a little and tied off the bandage.

“Tristan,” he began, then paused. “Believe it or not, he was even more of a woman hunter than me. For him, chasing girls is the highest form of sport. And if he can annoy me at the same time, even better.” His fingers tightened on the linen. “I can see the way he looks at you. I know what’s going on in that empty head of his.”

I wondered. Were they fighting over the same girls? Was that the wound beneath his words?

“So you are jealous,” I said, almost triumphant.

Aidenar stilled and looked me straight in the eyes.

“Perhaps you haven’t noticed,” he said, his voice low and dangerous, “but I don’t like to share. And I don’t like anyone touching what’s mine.”

I lifted my chin proudly, meeting his gaze, my heart pounding.

“So I am yours?” I asked, taunting him.

He parted my knees and stepped between them. His hands slipped to my lower back and drew me closer to the edge of the table. He tilted his head and bent over my lips, stopping an inch from them.

“Prove me wrong,” he whispered, his breath warm on my lips.

He had me. All of me. He knew it. He knew I desired him with every part of my body.

I wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed him. I had forgotten how wonderful his lips were, how his kisses set fire to my blood, how they devoured me.

I felt his arousal, hard against my belly. I knew how he had hungered for me.

His hand slipped beneath my thin shirt and cupped my breast. My nipples tightened at his touch, and a soft sound broke from my throat.

He groaned into my mouth. With his other hand he caught the back of my head and deepened the kiss, his tongue moving with mine in a desperate rhythm.

I clung to him, my fingers digging into the cloth of his shirt. I could not stop. I did not wish to stop.