Page 97 of Autumn Queens & Shadows

Pushing her arms through the massive sleeves, she quickly buttoned the jacket up until the top. “Chilly,” she lightly announced to the rest of the room, pulling a chair with a shaky pair of hands.

Grabbing her chair, I pulled it out for her to sit.

She jumped in her seat just a little when I sat down next to her. “I’m not going to jump on you, little bird,” I murmured in Adriatian to her, and reached for her clammy frozen hand under the table so I could cool mine down—or justify myself for holding her. “Fuck, you’re cold.”

“Sorry,” she murmured back, glancing just about everywhere but me.

“You’re finally talking to me,” I said, as Elias continued counting down the number of attacks Iskyla had ordered in Isjord this past week and their calculations for the next one since there wasn’t a grain of brain in her head when it came to being unpredictable.

Maybe it was because she was wanting to be caught.

I couldn’t have that. Not when Thora was determined to not show that side of hers to anyone.

“I don’t know what you mean,” she replied, ducking her chin inside the massive jacket’s opening.

“You slept in Rain’s room last night.” If I had not found them so cozied up, holding each other tightly, I would have taken Thora back with me. I would have taken them both, but Rain’s doll wasn’t going to be near where I slept at any point if I didn’t want to sleep with an eye open for the rest of my life.

“She missed me.”

“I missed you.”

She glanced at me with the corner of her eye, not even deigning me a fraction of her attention. “Well, you left for ten years so that cancels out.”

“You’re going to hold that over my head until the next lifetime?” I wanted her to. I loved this—loved her torturing me like this. I wanted her to make me beg for it. I wanted her to make me get to my knees. She had to—she had to make me beg and torture me and get me to my knees because I was fairly close to doing it voluntarily.

“Why only until the next? You also insinuated that I’ve been trying to jump your bones since day one because apparently, you’re my only shot at ever touching a man, kissing a man, wanting a man. It has to be at least five lifetimes.”

“Jump my bones, huh?”

“Shut up.”

Everyone on the table had a quarter of their sight on us even though they all had angled their bodies toward Elias who was still going on and on about Iskyla’s methods of attack as if they mattered.

“Quieter, sweetheart, if my dick hears you one more time, I’m going to have you do something about it.” Just the idea of her on her knees, lips warped around my cock, had me reaching to adjust myself.

Her hand got even colder, and she shrunk a little in her chair, going red up to her little ears.

“That’s it,” I cooed, bringing her hand to my lips and leaving a kiss on her almost frosted knuckles. “That’s better.”

Her chest fell and rose faster, but her hand warmed up.

I didn’t particularly enjoy making her nervous, not when I knew that if severe, it could sometimes put her in a catatonic state—a way for her mind to block itself from going into a panic attack. But this was a different kind of nervousness. The type that had her shift in her seat, flustered. The type that made her bite into her lower soft lip as a way to control her breathing. The type where her forest green eyes darkened just a little, almost making them appear black.

The type that made me just a little curious and dared me to open my senses to see if I could tell shades of lust in her shadows. One thing held me back. I’d want to wash the curiosity away if I did find that to be the truth, and then she’d be on this table with her cunt on my face.

“Malik,” Elias called, and I had to look away from her.

At least my hard on died a little at seeing his face. “Yes?”

“You’ve been assessing this for a couple weeks now. What are your findings?”

“You will see their results shortly.”

“Results?”

Even Thora turned to me at that.

“I don’t just sit and watch and take notes, Lord Venzor.” Pointing to the map laid on the table, showing the north of Isjord, I added, “Notice how their attacks are concentrated there now and usually almost right at sunrise? Once or twice, even after it.”