Chapter 161: 161. Caught
Maisie
I tip-toed quietly up the staircases, heart thundering in my chest, praying to the Goddess that I didn’t get caught.
Anytime now, there would be screams—actually, I was pretty sure I could hear the voices coming from the distance. "Fire! Fire!"
Soon, the entire castle would wake, and while I had sounded confident with Tessa, I had been going on a single moment of madness. Now that my anger was spent and my smug satisfaction had passed, I felt like a child who had done a bad thing and was going to get punished for it.
I just had to ensure I was back in bed before anyone found out what I had done. I picked up my pace, breaking into a silent jog, turning the corner—and walked straight into a wall.
I rebounded, hard, and staggered back, falling flat on my ass. Again.
When I looked up, I froze.
I thought the novelty of always falling on my ass whenever Soren was around was never going to wear off.
Violet blue eyes meet mine. Chandelier light cut across the angles of his face, deepening the shadows beneath his jaw, highlighting his strong features. His strong...everything.
He had dark circles under his eyes and his hair was sticking up this way and that, and his silk night shirt was askew. He looked like he hadn’t gotten any sleep and fell out of bed in frustration. Said frustration now twitching his left eye.
"Where have you been, Adams?"
My lips darted out to lick my lips. "I was thirsty. The jug was empty. I went to... get some water."
He cocked his head. "Well, where is it?"
"Where is what?"
"The jug?" he growled in annoyance.
"Oh. I... uh..." I laughed nervously, shaking my head. "I left it back there—"
"And on your way back from the kitchens, did you maybe fall into a pool of mud?"
I glanced down at myself. I was mostly clean. But my feet were dirty. I winced again and I knew if I looked behind me, I would find a faint track of mud. I grinned sheepishly at Soren. "I heard midnight walks are good for the soul. You should try it sometime. It’d make you less grumpy."
2
His left eye twitched again. "And does your midnight walk have anything to do with House Graham being on fire, Adams?"
I batted my lashes innocently. "Now, why would you think that?"
1
"You have soot on your cheeks and you smell like smoke," he growled again.
1
I sniffed my armpit. "Must be the new cologne or something."
1
Soren growled something under his breath and dropped to his haunches in front of me. I yelped as his long fingers wrapped around my ankle and tugged it toward him. "If you’re going to commit murder," he muttered. "you should at least warn your alibis."
I hissed when he pulled a tiny splinter of broken branch from the sole of my foot. His eyes lifted to mine, catching the light and turning a rare, luminous violet. "Now, is there a body I should know about?"
2
Always plead the fifth.
"No," I said.
But he was studying me closely like that and it didn’t help that and Soren had the kind of face women would happily sit on. Add in that sharp, cunning gleam in his eyes, and it was hard to think straight.
1
"Probably," I admitted shyly. "I might have knocked out a guard."
"One guard?"
I chewed my bottom lip. "Er... maybe four."
He dropped his head into his hand, exasperation written across his face. "Did anyone see?" He shook his head before I could answer. "Never mind. I’ll handle it. Give me your hand."
I frowned, though I already lifted it into his.
There was another broken piece sticking out. Must’ve been when I was climbing down Tessa’s balcony, using the surrounding trees as a boost.
Soren plucked it out of my palm.
Then he dipped his head and licked the blood from the cut.
I gasped.
His tongue was hot. His mouth was gentle at first, soothing, then rougher, teeth grazing the cut before he pulled the skin in a slight... suck I felt all the way inside my still sensitive sex.
The heat that had been simmering under my skin from the very moment I saw him became a wild living thing as I watched him lick and feast on the cut like it was the nub between my legs.
My skin prickled and my nipples hardened against the robe. My thighs shook and it was nothing that should have been intimate, but my hips bucked, my insides spasming.
My mouth opened, but nothing came out of it.
When he lifted his head, the wound had closed, and his eyes were intense, tracking the way my back had arched ever so slightly. And my knees had clamped together.
He licked his lips and I thought his hands trembled a little. "I like it."
"What?" I asked, voice faint.
"The smell of fire on you." His nostrils flared. "It’s sexy."
2
Goddess boil me.
2
I didn’t know what I might have said next if my stomach hadn’t chosen that exact moment to growl loudly.
Amusement sparked in his eyes. "Mercer didn’t feed you?"
I flushed. "He did."
Mercer had washed and fed me before returning to border patrol to fill in for Soren, who took the brunt of the first wave of the attack. Had he known I intended to sneak out afterward, despite everything that happened tonight, he would’ve probably chained me to the bed himself.
Judging by the state of my stomach, however, climbing trees to avoid the guard detail stationed around the house to protect me for the better part of an hour and starting fires apparently burned more calories than orgasms.
Maybe not. I would have to do some research on that. For personal reasons, of course.
2
My stomach growled again.
Soren shook his head with a small laugh when my stomach growled again. He rose, pulling me up with him. "Come on. I’ll make you something."
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