Yawning, I pad to the bathroom area and use a chamber pot (which beats the bushes I've been using for the last while) and then splash myself clean with a bit of water and soap left by the mirror. When I feel marginally fresher, I head out of the bedroom and towards the sitting room, opening the fancy beaten-metal double doors.
Kassam sits in a plush chair, petting a golden-feathered falcon as he pops something that looks like a cookie into his mouth. There's a tray with no less than eight wine goblets on a table near him, and two servants hover a short distance away, both of them armed with what look like masses of pastries.
"My light!" Kassam declares as I step inside, feeling about as fresh as roadkill. He gives me a cheery look. "You are finally awake. Do you feel better?"
I thump down into the chair across from him and steal one of his pastries. It melts into my mouth, a sugary-sweet concoction filled with fruit and flaky pastry, and I moan at how delicious it is. "I'm starving," I admit. "Have you been waiting long?"
He shrugs, petting the falcon. "What is time when you are endless?"
Okay, fair point. I smile my thanks at the women as they set another tray on the table nearest to me and fill it up with food—all vegetarian from the looks of it. There's a thick bean-like paste, chopped vegetables, bowls of nuts, crackers, breads of all kinds, and so many different sweets that it makes my head spin. I shove some of the bean paste onto a cracker and bite down. It's heavily spiced and salty and delicious and I immediately want to eat the whole bowl. "What happened while I was asleep?"
"Not much. I did not stray far because I did not wish to pain you. You needed your rest." He watches as the two servants leave and we're alone. Kassam gets to his feet and opens one of the windows, murmurs something to the falcon, and then watches as it flies out into the night. "It is barely past sunset, so you did not sleep for too long."
I yawn between bites, then steal one of his goblets of wine. "I'll be honest, I could sleep again." Oh man, the wine is delicious, too. I chug it, then stuff a cut length of raw vegetable into the paste and eat it next. "Any sign of our good buddy Seth or Margo?"
Kassam shuts the window, giving me a curious look. "He is not my good buddy. And no. I did not look for him, and I imagine he is hiding her for his own protection. If Riekki has faithful here in this city, they will quietly go after him for daring to challenge her for her position."
Makes sense. I pick up another goblet of wine—different blend, equally delicious—and glance up at him. "So what's the plan, then?"
He shrugs, moving to my side. He pulls my hair over to one shoulder and then leans in, kissing my neck as I stuff my face. "There is a celebration tonight in my honor."
I groan at the thought. A party. I'm sure he wants to go—he's thrilled at all the attention after being forgotten for so long—but I kind of just want to crawl back into bed with a plate of pastries and call it a day.
Kassam chuckles, grazing his teeth over my neck in a way that sends prickles of awareness through my body. "It is probably wisest if you hide away."
"Awesome. I love that idea." I tilt my neck a little more, setting down the food to focus on him. I'm suddenly less hungry for pastries and feeling a different sort of craving. "Are you…going to stay in bed with me?"
He nips at my ear, sending shivers up my spine. "Alas, I must go. But the conmac will remain at your side. I shall keep you safe and protected, never fear." He presses another kiss to my neck. "Perhaps Seth has the right of it, hiding Margo away in his bed and not letting anyone gaze upon her. Letting her serve him and only him."
I moan, because this is sounding less like we're talking about Margo by the minute. "Is that what you want to do? Have me in your bed, waiting to serve you?"
He chuckles, the sound low and sending aching pulses through my body. "Among other things. Can…I kiss you, my little light?"
As long as you don't call me your “little light,” I want to grumble, but I don't bring it up. Just like I don't bring up the whole declaration of love he made in the courtyard. I'm almost positive he was lying to make people feel better about my presence. He's told me before that gods don't feel things that mortals do. But…I also don't ask about it, because I don't want to know the truth. I'm going to bask in the lies for a little while longer. "You can kiss me as long as it means something to you."
He takes my hand and pulls me out of my chair, and when I face him, he's smiling. Kassam has been so filled with joy all day long that it makes me ache to see him so happy. It's like being back here is filling all the hollow parts inside him and making him who he was meant to be all along. And I love it, because I love it for him. I want this to go perfectly for him. I want people feasting his return and celebrating for days that someone as awesome as Kassam has returned. Because in my eyes, he deserves the world.
I'm falling for him, which might be the stupidest thing ever. This time, it won't be me pulling the plug on the relationship. It'll be the gods themselves, either sending me home or severing the bond between us and sending us on our separate ways. But until then…he's mine.
The thought makes me so desperate that I'm the one that crosses the short distance between us. I kiss him fiercely, holding onto him so tightly that I dig my nails into his skin. I want to leave my mark on him somewhere, somehow, so after I'm gone, he'll be able to remember me. Did all his anchors feel like this, I wonder? Desperate for his love and knowing it'll always be out of reach because of who and what he is?
"Mmm." He runs his hands over me as I kiss him, my mouth frantic on his. "I see you missed me."
"Nah," I lie, and I don't even sound convincing to my own ears. "Maybe I just woke up horny."
Kassam's eyes flare at that, and he grins down at me. "Good, because I want to play for a bit."
Play? I blink at him, surprised. "Okay?"
"I asked for a few things to be brought up to our rooms," Kassam tells me, hiking me into his arms and sliding a hand under my butt. I put my legs around his waist, and he carries me back into the bedroom, toward the bed. "And since we have time before my feast tonight, this seems like the perfect opportunity."
He settles me gently down onto the bed again, then flings off the tiny scrap of loincloth he's been wearing. He's bare to my gaze once more, his cock hard and as breathtaking as ever. I automatically reach for it—and him—only to have Kassam grab my hands in his. He kisses my palms and then grins down at me. "Are you ready?"
"For?"
"For a one-up, as you call it." He leans in and gives my palm a lascivious lick and then moves back into the sitting room.
Oh god. A one-up. He's thought of a suitable payback for me putting a finger in his ass. Hot arousal floods through me, and I clench my thighs together tightly, waiting to see what he went to get. Another type of food to share? More wine? Something sexy to wear?
Kassam re-enters with a lacquered box, about the size of a large jewelry box. More quartz, I wonder? Is that the goal—to cover me in crystals and turn me on without his hedonism? He sets the box down on the table beside the bed and pulls out a long, silk length of fabric. "Give me your hand."