Page 108 of Thief of Hearts

“We are untouched by him, and by any other,” Nesdahlia assured me.

Given how lascivious the king was, how long would that last?

“We heard what the king promised you,” she added. “That we would be free to go with you once you retrieve his weapon. What if he goes back on his word?”

“Then I will find a way to free you all. I promise you that.”

Cotys started to cry and Nesdahlia put her arms around her sister. I walked over to Dione and Zain. “You still think I should leave them?”

“No,” Dione said, unshed tears shimmering in her eyes.

“We will find a way to save them and help Epirius.”

She nodded. “I need to get back to my room. I’ve already been missed.” She let herself out.

I was watching the girls and asked Zain, “How long should we keep them here?” I didn’t want Actos to think they’d displeased me.

“Two hours at least.”

“Two hours?” I demanded over my shoulder. “I would get sore.”

He came up behind me, his hand going around my waist to rest on my stomach, and it fluttered in response. His mouth was next to my ear and I leaned back against him, his body hard, hot, and solid behind me. My breath stuttered inside my chest.

“Oh, illora, you can’t begin to imagine how much time I would spend savoring you.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

That was the problem. Especially after what had passed between us. I could very much imagine exactly what he would do and how well he would do it.

But he was not forgiven. “You should be grateful that I am more mad at Actos than I am at you right now.”

His laughter was low and deep. “I am.” He kissed the side of my neck and it began to burn.

Then he walked away from me and I felt untethered.

Which wasn’t something I had any experience with.

There were things I needed to say to him. I couldn’t keep kissing him until we got some things straightened out.

He was walking into the washroom and I followed him there, closing the door. “Are you sorry?”

“For earlier? Not even a little.”

Now was not the time for my blush. “For stealing the diviner stone from me.”

He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “I know that I should apologize to you, but I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m not sorry. I had an important question and I got the answer I needed. If I got the chance to do it over again, I would make the same choice. And if I hadn’t used it, it would have fallen into the hands of the Dracanians or Actos.”

I hated it when he made sense. “You didn’t get an answer because I am not helping you.” He had told me during our dinner in Sagaris that he planned on asking the stone to help him find a great treasure. I didn’t care what the stone had said. I wasn’t going to assist him in stealing something.

“We’ll see,” he said with that infuriating grin. “And perhaps you should apologize to me.”

“For what?”

He walked over to me and grabbed my left hand, holding it up. “When you took this off earlier? You shouldn’t be giving away my trade secrets.”