“That’s what I said,” she murmured, her heart fluttering like a trapped bird within her chest.
Lucian ran a calloused thumb across her bottom lip in the ghost of a kiss. It was the only place he touched her, and she ached for more.
More pressure.
More contact.
More Lucian.
“Effie, you should know . . . if that’s all I wanted, if that was all this was, I’d have had you beneath me five times over by now.”
His eyes flicked up to hers then, the raw need shining there robbing her of breath and sending a flood of heat into her core.
“I’m afraid I won’t be satisfied with anything less than all of you.” His voice was a deep rasp, his emotion laid bare before her.
If there were any walls she’d still been clinging to, they crumbled. Decimated by his tender declaration. Of every reaction she could have foreseen, this hadn’t even been a remote possibility.
“I’m not going to settle for only getting to taste your body.” He leaned closer, his breath washing over her burning face. “Nor your heart.”
“What else is there?” she whispered, her body swaying closer to his as her tongue darted out to wet her lips.
Lucian tipped her chin up, his eyes never once leaving hers. “Mortals believe that love can only be known once. If that is true, it is only because their lifespans rarely allow them to experience it more than once. As such, they mistakenly believe that this is all there is. That love is the deepest connection they can experience with another.
“Immortals know better. There is something more; a sharing of self so total that once experienced, it can never be undone. We refer to it as the fuj d’âme. A merging of souls.”
Effie was speechless. Lucian was generally a man of few words, but Mother’s tits did he know how to use them to devastating effect. Of course it would be all or nothing with him. He would hold nothing back, and he’d expect the same out of his partner—out of her.
Mother help her, but after hearing Lucian explain it, that’s what Effie wanted too. She wanted to know what it would be like to be with someone that completely. Not just loved by them, but a core part of who they were, as essential to them as the air they breathed. For Lucian to be that man—to be the one asking to have that kind of claim to her—it was more than she ever dreamed.
If the woman in her was drawn to him, so was the timid little girl. Lucian wouldn’t walk away; wouldn’t leave her behind because of some perceived fault. Not only would his honor never allow for that kind of betrayal, he could never be that cruelly dismissive of someone he claimed as his. Lucian would be hers just as much as she was his.
To belong to someone in that way . . . it was the ultimate lure to the broken, scared girl locked away inside of her.
“Okay,” she whispered, the word feeling inadequate, but it was all she was capable of.
Lifting on her tiptoes, Effie cupped his face and pulled it down so that she could brush her lips over his, hoping she could tell him with her kiss what she had no way of articulating with her words.
Lucian’s response was immediate, his lips sealing over hers as a low growl rumbled in his chest.
She expected urgency, but there was none of the frantic desperation of their kisses in the cave. He was savoring her; exploring her mouth as if he had nothing but time. His lips rubbed over hers as he nibbled and sucked—in no hurry to go further.
He might not be, but her need was an inferno inside her. It had been steadily building throughout the day, taking a brief hiatus after her confrontation with Kieran, but back now with a vengeance.
Lucian ran his hands through her hair, tangling his fingers in her curls and gripping just enough that she could feel the tug all along her spine and in that pulsing heat between her legs. He pressed another kiss against her tingling lips and pulled back just enough to meet her hooded gaze. Her heart was thundering so wildly she was certain he could hear it.
“You want to get out of here?”
Effie blinked, her mind muddled from his kisses. She wasn’t certain she’d heard him correctly. “What?”
“Do you want to get out of here and go somewhere with me?” he repeated, a small smirk playing about his mouth.
She glanced at the bed not more than three feet away from them. Clearly, it wasn’t privacy he had in mind.
“Are you celibate?” she blurted, momentarily horrified by the thought she might have just tied herself to some kind of warrior monk.
Lucian’s eyes flared wide, and he roared with laughter, tears swimming in his umber eyes. “No! Mother, no, Effie,” he said between spurts of laughter. Still chuckling, he pressed another hot kiss to her mouth. “I just want to spend a night with you. One night where we can make the kind of memories that true intimacy is built on.”
Her disappointment evaporated as her heart somersaulted in her chest. That might be the only answer he could have given her that would allow her to forgive him for making her wait. Again.
A bit of coherency returned as she shifted her focus away from Lucian and her in bed. “That sounds wonderful, but can we afford to do that? With everything else going on, is it wise to take the afternoon off?”
“It’s not that much different than what you had in mind,” he teased, the bronze in his eyes glittering.
Effie blushed. “At least we’d be in the citadel if someone needed us.”
“Would you really want Kael to rush in while you’re crying out my name?” he purred, nipping her earlobe.
Her heart stuttered at the erotic image he painted in her mind. She could vividly imagine her nails raking over his back while he thrust deeply inside her, her back arching off the bed as she climaxed around every throbbing inch of him. Then she imagined Smoke rushing in and shuddered. Lucian had a point.
“You’re trying to kill me,” she muttered. “Aren’t you? This is some kind of sadistic game where you see just how far you can push me before I lose it completely?”
Lucian shifted to look at her once more, a smile softening the harsh lines of his face. “No. Not a game. I just want one night with you where the fate of the world isn’t hanging in the balance.”
She sighed, begrudgingly agreeing that it would be nice to spend that kind of time with Lucian.
“If it makes you feel better, our little trip serves the dual purpose of allowing me to perform a task for the Triumvirate, so it wouldn’t really be selfish or an afternoon off.”
Effie laughed and shook her head. “Fine. Where are we going?”
He gave her one of his enigmatic grins. “Do you want to come with me or not?”
“You know I do.”
“Then stop asking me questions and grab your boots.”
Rolling her eyes, she grumbled, “So bossy.” As she turned to obey, there was a loud thwack. Effie jumped, her hands covering her ass as she gaped at Lucian. “Did you just spank me?”
“Want me to do it again?” Lucian winked, sending a surge of liquid heat through her.
Mother help me, I do. She couldn’t even fling a comeback at him, her mind lost to the idea. Effie’s cheeks burned as she struggled to stay focused on finding and lacing her boots. Lucian’s smoldering stare was doing little to help her.
“Need help?” he offered with feigned innocence when she dropped her lace for the second time.