Scorched by Darkness (24 page)

And now…

Now she felt as if someone had sucker-punched her at the realization that it was over.

The treasure had been found, and Torque had been released from his duty. And she was back in the harem, in her rooms that had never felt so lonely.

As the last tear fell, Rya stepped out of the baths and wrapped a terrycloth towel around her naked body. Then, heading into her bedchamber, she considered whether or not she could force herself to eat.

She wasn’t hungry despite the hours since her last meal, but she knew she had to keep her strength up if she wanted to join the mission to rescue her mother.

Still undecided, she stepped into the large room that was designed in a traditional Chinese style. The doors and windows were decorated with golden latticework motifs, each of them reflecting harmony between man and nature. There were several crimson-painted pillars and a door that led to an inner courtyard decorated with carved dragons and a koi pond with a tiny bridge built across it.

And in the center of the room was a large lacquer bed with a crimson satin cover and a matching armoire.

Lost in her thoughts, it took a second for Rya to recognize the heat that was pulsing through the air. With a frown she turned her head, her heart coming to a painful halt at the sight of Torque standing just a few feet away.

Dear goddess.

He was so gorgeous.

Not handsome like Baine, but his sternly chiseled features and brilliant sapphire eyes were so strikingly perfect Rya found that she couldn’t look away.

Or maybe it was just the fact that she’d assumed she would never see him again.

Licking her dry lips, she was jerked out of her dazed sense of disbelief as he broke the silence.

“Hello, Rya,” he drawled, strolling forward. Like her, he’d recently bathed. She could catch the scent of soap on his warm skin. And he’d changed into a pair of jeans and soft blue sweater that matched his eyes. “Did you think you could hide from me?” he demanded as he came to a halt directly in front of her.

“Torque.” She was forced to clear her throat. “How did you get in here?”

His lips twisted. “I threatened to have Baine turn this place into a barbeque joint if I wasn’t allowed to speak with my betrothed.”

She shook her head. Although the harem wasn’t as fiercely protected as her father’s inner lair, Torque must have terrified the guards to let him past the front doors.

“We’re no longer betrothed,” she reminded him in stiff tones.

Without warning he was prowling around her, his fingers lightly brushing over the tattoo that was exposed on her upper back.

“This marking says differently,” he murmured.

She hissed, caught off guard by the shocking pleasure that jolted through her.

His touch wasn’t supposed to make her gut clench or her pulse race. Not anymore.

“You heard my father,” she muttered.

His fingers trailed over her shoulder as he continued to circle around her. Sparks and smoke rose from her bare skin, revealing her intense response to his touch.

“I did,” he admitted.

She shivered, longing and pain churning through her. Why was he doing this to her?

“He’s convinced that the treasure we were fated to discover has been found,” she reminded him, as if he could have forgotten the staggering revelation. “You’re free.”

He stood in front of her once again, his fingers tracing the top edge of her towel.

“Good,” he murmured.

The soft word felt like another sucker punch.

Rya clenched her teeth, wondering how her toes could be curling in bliss at the same time that her heart was breaking.

“Yes, it is good.” She swatted away his hand. “Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to get dressed.”

His gaze lowered to the soft swell of her upper breasts that were revealed by the towel. Heat crackled through the air, sizzling over Rya’s skin even as her inner dragon purred in anticipation.

A slow, wicked smile curved his lips, then at blinding speed, he bent down and swept her off her feet.

Rya made a choked sound of astonishment.

How had she once thought this male incapable of emotion?

Right now the entire room shuddered with the force of his desire.

“Torque, what are you doing?” she breathed.

Holding her wary gaze, he cradled her against his chest.

“Don’t you want to know why I’m happy Synge decided my father’s debt is paid?” he demanded.

She ignored the voice in the back of her head that warned she should struggle against his possessive hold. He didn’t have the right to touch her as if she was his mate.

She didn’t want to be released.

Not when her heart was thudding and her entire body was zinging with excitement at the feel of being wrapped so tightly in his arms.

Desire, white-hot and intoxicating, flowed like lava through her veins.

“You don’t need to. You never wanted to mate with me,” she forced herself to mutter. “Now you can return to your life as a warrior and I don’t have to worry about being a burden—”

Her words were cut short as he lowered his head to press a silencing kiss to her lips.

“Hush,” he commanded against her mouth.

She stiffened. Okay, Torque might be surprisingly good at sweeping a female off her feet, but that didn’t give him the right to interrupt her. “Hey.”

He nibbled at the corner of her mouth before brushing feather-light kisses over her cheek.

“I’m happy because I want it to be crystal clear that our mating has nothing to do with visions,” he murmured, his lips tracing the line of her jaw. “Or obligations.” He once again found her mouth, kissing her with a tender yearning that she felt to her very soul. “Or duty.”

She tilted back her head, groaning when his lips took advantage of the new angle to skim down her throat.

“There is no mating,” she reminded him.

Or maybe she was trying to remind herself.

With a slow movement, Torque lifted his head, his dragon smoldering in his eyes as he gazed down at her.

“Is that what you want?” he asked. “Would you like the betrothal to be broken?”

“I—” The words stuck in her throat.

He studied her with a brooding intensity. “I’ll accept what makes you happy, Rya, but I hope very much you’ll give me the opportunity to prove that I can be the sort of consort you desire.”

Rya’s breath caught in her throat. Was he saying that he actually
wanted
to be her mate?

“You do?”

“Yes,” he said, a rueful smile curving his lips at her disbelieving tone. “I do.”

“But you said—”

“Please don’t remind me of anything I might have said,” he pleaded. “I was an ass.”

She grimaced, the memory of his stoic speech about duty still capable of making her cringe in revulsion.

“I can’t argue with that,” she told him.

“Ouch.” He winced, as if she’d truly struck a raw nerve. “If I’m being honest, there was a part of me that resented the idea that my future had been decided for me,” he admitted. Rya’s lips parted, but before she could tell him to take his future and shove it, he stole her words with a fierce kiss. “Wait.”

She tried to hold on to her brief spurt of annoyance. Something that would have been easier if his lips weren’t nibbling a path of destruction from her mouth to her jaw and down the curve of her neck.

“Bossy,” she muttered as delicious tingles raced through her, tightening her nipples and creating an aching void between her legs.

“Which was why I told myself that it was duty that made me so easily accept the betrothal,” he said, his lips finding a tender spot just behind her ear before his mouth continued its slow, glorious exploration. Rya swallowed a moan of approval. “Of course, that didn’t explain why you haunted my dreams,” he continued. “Or why I couldn’t so much as glance at another female.”

“Not even a glance?”

“I couldn’t see them,” he insisted, licking a rough tongue over the pulse that hammered at the base of her throat. “Not when my heart was set on a dark-haired beauty with amber eyes and the intoxicating scent of lotus blossoms.”

It was increasingly difficult to concentrate. How was she supposed to have a reasonable conversation when her mind was filled with images of stripping Torque naked so she could kiss every hot, granite-hard inch of him?

“Pretty words,” she managed to grumble.

He lifted his head, his eyes luminous with a sapphire fire. “You don’t trust me?”

“I trust you with my life,” she slowly admitted. “I’m not sure that I trust you with my heart.”

His jaw tightened at her blunt words, but he offered a slow nod, accepting he deserved her lack of faith.

“Just answer one question, Rya,” he said.

“What?”

“Do you want to end our betrothal?”

Oddly, she wasn’t prepared for his direct attack.

Her first instinct was to deny her fierce desire to become his mate. She didn’t want to make herself vulnerable only to have her heart crushed.

But one glance at his wary expression warned her that she would regret the lie for all of eternity.

He’d said he would walk away. She sensed he would keep his promise.

Did she truly want to spend the next century alone, crying in her private baths?

“No,” she breathed, holding his gaze. “I don’t want it to end.”

Heat blasted through the room as her soft words fell from her lips. But unexpectedly, Torque froze, doing a mannequin routine for what seemed to be an eternity.

Okay.

Was he pleased? Excited?

Feeling like she’d just put a noose around his neck?

At last he smiled.

And it wasn’t just a regular, things-are-good smile.

It was a stunning, I-just-won-the-lottery smile.

“Thank the goddess,” he breathed, turning so he could carry her toward the nearby bed.

Her heart soared with excitement. How many nights had she dreamed of this moment? Even when she’d tried to convince herself that she didn’t want a mate, her dreams had been filled with vivid fantasies of lying in Torque’s strong arms.

And now that it was here, she wanted to savor each and every moment.

Her gaze drifted over his stark features, committing each one to her memory. The noble brow. The aquiline nose. The high cheekbones and finely sculpted lips.

And most compelling of all, the sapphire eyes that held the awesome power of his inner dragon.

“So we’re staying betrothed?” she breathed, suddenly needing to know that this was forever.

“That depends on you,” he murmured, gently laying her in the center of the bed.

Her breath caught at his words. “Me?”

Leaning forward, he planted his hands on either side of her shoulders, gazing down at her with a burning intensity.

“As far as I’m concerned we can formalize the mating today,” he said, instantly easing her fears. Then, allowing his gaze to move down the length of her slender body, he gave a slow shake of his head. “Well, maybe not today,” he corrected in husky tones. “I already have plans for the next few hours.”

She released a low chuckle as her beast roared in approval. In this moment, she was feeling much more dragon than fey.

“I think I can guess your plans,” she assured him.

“Can you?” He lowered his head until they were nose to nose. “Tell me.”

She shivered, her usual shyness seared away as she basked in the heat of Torque’s desire.

“I think you intend to kiss me,” she told him.

“A good guess,” he agreed in throaty tones. “Where?”

“Here.” She placed a finger against her cheek, enjoying the sensual game as his lips instantly pressed a soft kiss to where she pointed. She moved her finger to the tip of her nose. “And here.” Another lingering kiss. She trembled, pointing toward her lips. “And here.”

With a low growl, Torque released his pent-up passion, kissing her with a fierce intensity that sent shockwaves of pleasure jolting through her.

Oh, hell yeah.

His tongue pierced between her lips, sweeping through the moist heat of her mouth. Her hands lifted to fist in his hair, her body instinctively arching upward as his kiss deepened.

Sweet and tender were great. More than great.

But she was ready and willing for the full blast of his hunger.

Tasting her over and over, he moved his hand to skim over her shoulder before lightly tracing the line of her collarbone.

She made a sound of approval as his roaming fingers moved downward, giving a firm tug at the towel wrapped around her. Instantly the thick material fell away, offering him full access to her naked body.

Swift to take advantage, Torque allowed his mouth to ease from her lips so he could blaze a path of kisses down her neck and over the upper curve of her breasts.

“What about here?” he teased in soft tones.

“Yes,” she breathed, her flames making a rare appearance as his lips at last found the aching peaks of her breasts.

Rya squirmed against the bedcover beneath her, the intensity of her pleasure almost overwhelming.

Seriously. Had anything ever felt so good?

Cupping the breast in his hand, Torque used his tongue, and even his teeth, to pleasure her tightly budded nipple.

Her fingers tangled in the satin strands of his hair, her breath a ragged rasp as a tight knot of need formed in the pit of her stomach.

“Lotus blossoms,” he murmured, giving her nipple a last lick before he was rubbing his face against the flames that formed between her breasts. “And fire.” He lifted his head to gaze down at her with eyes darkened with restless hunger. “A potent combination.”

“You’re all fire,” she murmured, trailing her hand down his nape before exploring the hard muscles of his back.

“I feel like it,” he said in a harsh voice. “I’m burning up.”

“Maybe you should take off some of those clothes,” she suggested, shockingly comfortable in the role of Torque’s lover.

No doubt because he made no effort to disguise just how much he wanted her.

She felt sexy and confident and well-desired.

A cascade of heat rippled through the air as he slowly smiled. Then, straightening, he deliberately held out his arms.