“Does it matter?”
“It may. Those markings on her arms prove she’s linked to the Argonauts. And the one on her hip means she’s bound. If she’s bound to one of the Argonauts and they come looking for her—”
“She’s not bound to an Argonaut.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I do.”
“You hope,” she muttered, moving to his other arm. “Argonauts have soul mates. If she’s someone’s soul mate, he’ll never stop looking for her.”
His patience reached a breaking point. “No Argonaut will ever find this kingdom. And the topic of soul mates is finished. She’s my prisoner, and that’s that. Are we clear?”
Ana’s hand stilled against his shoulder. She didn’t answer, but he knew from her silence she’d gotten the hint.
Talisa was off limits. He wasn’t about to discuss her with this nymph or any other.
Ana went back to rubbing the soapy sponge over his skin. He leaned forward so she could rinse his back then reclined once more so she could clean his chest, pushing the chain around his neck to the side as she worked.
Candlelight flickered over the water and his skin. She was silent, but he sensed something lingered in her mind. Something she was working up the nerve to say.
“Your shoulders are tense,” she said softly.
Yeah, no shit. His shoulders were always tense.
She splashed water over his pecs with her free hand. “You haven’t been sleeping.”
That wasn’t a surprise, either. He rarely slept.
She ran the soap over his chest then down to the edge of the water and beneath, across his abs, edging lower with each pass. Against his ear, she breathed, “I could help you with that.”
His skin tingled. The only person who’d ever been able to completely make him relax was his mono mia.
The female currently locked in a tower in this very castle.
Ana’s hand slipped lower, beneath his belly button, but before she could release the soap and wrap her fingers around his cock, he captured her wrist and lifted her hand out of the water. “Stop.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m tired.”
And because he wasn’t interested in her. He’d never been interested, but that didn’t stop her from trying.
“I can finish by myself.” He took the sponge and pushed her hand away. “You’re relieved, nymph.”
She didn’t move. Just knelt silently on the tiles at his back.
Tension crackled in the air between them. He’d just ticked her off, but he barely cared.
She was clever as far as nymphs went, and she’d proven herself a good student, picking up spells more easily than the others when he bothered to train them. She would make a good mage one day, maybe even a healer for her people. But he wasn’t attached to her. No more than he was attached to any of the others. If she’d gotten her hopes up for something more, that was her misunderstanding.
“If you’re sure,” she said quietly at his back.
“I’m sure.”
“Very well.” She pushed to her feet, her motions jerky, telling him she was anything but well. “I’ll just leave you to it then.”
He could say something to break the tension. Regardless of the fact he had no use for her personally, he didn’t need her causing problems with the other nymphs. He knew how they could get worked into a frenzy if led by the wrong person.
Words lingered on his tongue, but he didn’t speak them. Her footsteps sounded across the carpet in his bedroom, then the heavy wood door opened and closed, leaving him in silence.
With a frown, he lifted the goblet to his lips and took a deep drink. He could control the nymph. She wasn’t a threat. He just needed to make sure she stayed far away from his captive in the tower.
His captive.
His mono mia…
His blood warmed as he sipped his wine again and slinked lower in the tub, resting his neck against the edge so the water hit at his chest.
Images filled his mind. Images of Talisa in that big bed in the tower. Wearing the gauzy white nightgown. Her pert breasts pressing against the thin fabric. How the small silver balls on each side of her pierced nipples would feel rolling between his fingers. Sliding under his tongue…
The marking on his hip warmed, spreading heat all through his groin and up into his torso. He pictured her marking—the same straight lines and curved arcs that matched his—heating and glowing against her pale skin, radiating warmth all through her body as well. Imagined her stirring in that big bed, pushing the covers down her body and slowly releasing the buttons of her gown one by one until the flimsy fabric fell open against the mattress, leaving her naked and hot and aching for something only he could give her.
Touch yourself, mono mia…
A groan echoed in his mind. A groan that hadn’t come from him. A groan, his senses told him, that was soft and feminine and reaching him through wood and glass and stone because his life force was now connected to hers.
He closed his eyes and saw her fingertips trailing down her flat belly, grazing the soft curls at the juncture of her thighs, then disappearing between her folds.
She was wet. Very wet judging by the way her fingers slipped as she stroked. He watched with rapt attention as her back arched. As her breath caught. As she tipped her chin up, eyes closed, and touched herself again, exactly as he’d urged her to do right here from this bath.
Oh yes. Just like that, princess…
Unable to stop himself, he wrapped a hand around the base of his already hard cock beneath the water and slowly slid his palm up to the tip. Electricity arced through his whole body. He cuffed the head, twisted his wrist, then slowly slid back down again, watching with his mind as she touched herself, growing bolder with each pass, lifting her hips as she rocked up against her hand.
Mm, yes… That feels good, doesn’t it?
Another groan echoed in his mind, only this time he felt it vibrate through his balls, making him hotter than before.
His hips lifted. His hand slid up and down his thick shaft, tightening with every stroke. In the virginal white sheets of her massive bed, her fingers moved faster against her steamy sex, her body twisting, light from the low lamps reflecting off her creamy skin, off the silver balls on each side of her hard, little nipples just aching for his mouth.
He wanted to taste them. Wanted to draw them between his lips and suck. Wanted to drive her mad with his tongue while he thrust hard into her body.
Imagine it’s my touch teasing your tight pussy, mono mia. My tongue flicking your sensitive clit…
She grunted. Her back arched higher. Knowing she was close, he tightened his grip and stroked faster as he watched her writhe against the mattress and toss her head from side to side.
“Oh gods, yes…”
Her voice echoed in his mind, causing pleasure to gather at the base of his spine. He thrust faster into his hand. Stroked harder. Perspiration dotted his forehead. Water sloshed over the side of the sunken tub.
His attention was fixed solidly on her. On the way her body undulated against the sheets. On her mouth-watering nipples pointing straight up. On her fingers rushing over her clit as he drove her toward a blistering climax he couldn’t wait to reach with her.
Mm, yes. Just like that. Feel me touch you. Feel everything, mono mia. You want to come, don’t you?