Page 124 of Onyx Cage: Volume II

I hadn’t been wrong before. She could never be anything less than perfect to me, and this moment, her trust, the offering of her body and soul, meant everything.

For so long, we had been on opposite sides of battlelines of our own making, refusing to cede ground to the other. But now, she was trusting me to take care of her, and I had every intention to do just that.

I was awoken from a deep, dreamless sleep by Rowan’s gentle touch. It was one I’d already become accustomed to in the endless hours of the night. We hadn’t been interested in sleep, not until our bodies were spent and exhaustion pulled us under for a few brief moments of reprieve.

Without opening my eyes, I lifted her hand from where it was tracing the lines of my face. I brought her hand to my mouth, pressing a kiss to each of her fingertips.

The mattress shifted slightly, some of her weight coming to rest on my torso as she pressed kisses to my cheek, my forehead, my nose, and finally my lips. The heat of her mouth and the tasteof her tongue doing more to wake me up than a cup of coffee ever could.

Every part of me wanted to continue where we had left off last night, even if my body was beginning to learn just how far the reaches of my stamina were.

“Der’mo, Lemmikki,” I said, still unable to open my eyes. “Aren’t you sore?”

She hesitated before answering. “No.”

Finally, I forced my eyes open to see the lie face I had known she would be making.

“Terrible liar,” I muttered.

She narrowed her eyes, making such a ridiculous irritable, pouty expression that I couldn’t help but laugh.

A huff of air escaped her before she arched an eyebrow in challenge.

“Well, I’m fine, but if you aren’t up to the task…” she trailed off, adding provocation to her list of ways to seduce me.

“I am always up to the task, Lemmikki,” I said, fighting back a grin. “Particularly whenever my wife is in the room.”

She preened, her eyes flashing with the same need she had every time I referred to her as my wife. And that reaction had me regretting my next words immediately, since I doubted we had much time, if any, for me to show her what that word meant to me as well.

“But I did request a bath be drawn for us,” I said before glancing at the clock. “Right about now.”

It was ten minutes past the hour, which meant the herbal bath I’d requested for Rowan yesterday should be ready by now.

Every muscle in my body protested at the effort it took to force myself from bed to check the adjoining bathing chamber. I nearly laughed when I considered how much better a night with my wife would be for conditioning than any other exercise I had done in the past.

And if I was stiff, I knew my lemmikki was as well.

As soon as I opened the door, steam and the floral scent of marigold, lavender, and chamomile filled the room. A giant bronze bathtub rested in the center of the room, small flower petals floating along the top of the steaming water.

Rowan grinned as I scooped her up off the mattress and carried her to her bath. She let out a small, contented sigh as I settled into the water behind her, her muscles more relaxed the longer we soaked.

I took my time, running my hands along the length of her body and working the oils from the bath into her skin. One night together, and I already knew I would never grow tired of this. Of her or the way her body felt against mine.

Somehow the more I touched her, the more I wanted her. She was an insatiable thirst I would never quite quench. An addiction I would never be able to fully satisfy. And I would be damned if anyone tried to take her from me.

Eventually, as the water grew tepid, Rowan twisted in my arms, her lips tracing an invisible path from my chest to my neck that awoke every one of my senses all at once.

She breathed against my skin, and I pulled her closer against me.

“I love you, Evander,” she said softly.

I swallowed. Still unused to this raw honesty between us. The freedom that came with the admission, the naming of this feeling that had filled the space between us for so long.

“And I love you, Lemmikki.”

Her shoulders relaxed in response to my words, but there was something else burning in the embers of her eyes.

Fear.