Forged in Frost and Fire (Book 1 in the Chronicles of Kings trilogy)

Chapter Thirty Nine

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

I had never made out in a closet before.

I never thought I would. It's not something I ever really thought about before. Not when I was starving in Rame, or when I was in the army, especially not when I was in Verglas. But now...now I wanted to do it all day everyday.

Sable lifted me easily and set me down onto some sort of box, never once losing contact with my lips. He set one hand on my hip and the other he used to spread my legs. He stepped in that space between, making our hips touch. I wrapped my arms around his neck, breathing in his scent of leather and embers that was easily filling the entire space of the small closet. We were both in our training outfits, my hair had been in a ponytail, but he was quickly solving that problem. Once my hair was down he ran his fingers through it. He really liked my hair.

"We're going to be caught," I muttered, raking my hands down his front. It had been one thing to simply admire Sable's form, but touching it...touching it was a whole different experience. He looked muscular and well built, but his body felt like a statue. All hard planes and ridges.

"You don't think I already have that covered, love?" he asked. I loved the way he said 'love'. With his accent, it made my heart go fluttery and my chest warm. I had never felt that way about a man before. I had never felt that way about anyone before. The rush of feelings that filled me every time I was with Sable, and even when I was away, were not familiar. I felt something akin to a bout of sickness....but in a good way. I'd get flushed, my stomach would twist, my heart would pound. But I didn't hate the feeling.

I continued to kiss him when his words suddenly registered. "Wait, what?" I broke the kiss to see that the once dim light of the closet was now extremely dark. No light at all. We were trapped in darkness. I watched in awe as shadows swirled around us. He had wrapped us up in his shadows so we'd stay hidden. One tendril reached down and brushed my cheek, wrapping into my hair. I closed my eyes, shivering at the sparks of pleasure that washed over my skin at its touch.

"How do you do that?" I asked, keeping my eyes closed. He reached a hand up and traced his fingers against my neck, my collarbones. He still wore gloves, even when he was touching me. In fact, I had never seen him not wear gloves.

"Do what?" he asked, his voice thick. I felt his lips press to the hollow of my throat and I sighed loudly, grabbing a fistful of his shirt.

"Make your shadows feel like that?" He sucked lightly on my skin and if my eyes weren't closed, I was sure they'd be rolling into the back of my head.

"Like what?" he asked. I felt him smile against my skin and I jokingly hit his shoulder. "I can make my shadows feel like many things. Sometimes I can make them feel like a blade-'' I had remembered what that felt like. "Other times I can make them hot as a brand-'' I felt the marked skin on my forearm tingle. "And other times I can make it soft, like a caress." His hand reached out and grabbed at my arm. He broke away from the kiss and examined the black mark marring my skin. Like a black serpent coiling up my limb.

"I am sorry for hurting you," he said, his thumb brushing the tattoo. "I won't lie, I did enjoy watching you squirm, like I like to make all my enemies squirm but..." he sighed. "I hated hurting you. The way you'd look up at me sometimes such...anger in your eyes, such cold. And then...then for a time, there was nothing at all in that gaze." I remembered that time. That blur of time after Tellie's death when all the days were nothing but gray blobs shifting together.

"I don't hate you for hurting me, Sable," I said gently. "We were both in dark...dark places. What we did before, when we were at our darkest, does not define us. The darkness we did not ask for does not define us." He leaned his forehead against mine, still staring down at that swirling mark.