his thigh, calling to his hand. He gently parted her damp folds and found her small nub. Her head fell back and she cried out. He stole the sound with his mouth, swallowing it when he recaptured her lips.
She’d thought his mouth magic, but his hands. Heavens. His hands.
He rubbed her, and she thought she might explode with delight. She liquefied. There wasn’t a bone or a cartilage left in her body. The swollen recesses of her body yearned for more, and he didn’t disappoint, easing a finger inside her. The vibrating touch of his thumb and the slick stroke of his finger threatened to send her staggering into a mysterious world of sensation unlike any she’d ever known. She ripped her mouth away from his and offered him her breasts. His feverish lips found the pink tip of one full globe, and she glimpsed that other world for one heavenly moment.
His hands fell away. Deprived of her goal, she clutched at his shoulders, unwilling to let him back away now, as he had before. “No,” she said. “Don’t stop!”
“I won’t.” He rolled them over until she lay beneath him and his erection found the throbbing ache his hand had left. She felt her eyes widen as he filled her. He was so hard, so thick. There was a tiny stinging pain, but it dissolved in the sea of pleasure he roused as he began to move.
Gideon rested on his elbows so he could see her face; her eyelids were half-lowered over her sparkling eyes, her full lips open in a blissful smile. Her gasping moans were music to his ears. Her head rolled back exposing her neck. Gods. How he longed to drink from her.
Do it, the monster hissed. Gideon forced him back. He would not hurt her.
At least not now. The demon got in one final word before Gideon conquered him, stuffing him back in his iron cage.
Thalia sighed and moved her slender hips, pulling him into the cradle of her thighs and he forgot his struggle. Nothing existed but the joy of their union. He took his time, reading the expression on her lovely face. Taking her to the apex of pleasure and then bringing her back, again and again. Finally he could hold back no longer, he lost control, driving into her as the tight clench of her muscles impelled him over the edge.
Thalia rested her cheek on Gideon’s sleek chest. She resisted the impulse to nibble his golden skin. Aftershocks still rippled through her, and already she wanted more. She felt her face heat and buried it in Gideon’s side. She’d never even imagined it could be like this. She leaned up on one slim elbow to look at his amazing face, and opened her mouth to tell him how much joy he had given her, then stopped. He was asleep.
She grinned, nestled into the shelter of his strong arms, and slept as well.
The brown eyes in front of him were wide. The expression in them shocked, as if she couldn’t believe what had just happened. Her startled cry still died away in the hot, parched air. Gideon pulled free his curved blade. Inanna grabbed her stomach.
She stood bent over for a moment and put out a graceful, accusing hand. Blood dyed her palm and fingers like henna on a bride.
Her eyes changed color. The velvety brown he’d compared to polished agate became the sparkling blue of a sunny tropical sea. Now it wasn’t Inanna standing there, her arm outstretched, begging for mercy.
It was Thalia.
Her face was bleached white with pain. Her body shook. Tears spilled from her eyes and streaked her lovely face.
She collapsed, a sapling slain by a violent summer storm.
Blood pooled on the thick carpets, streaming into the thirsty sand.
He wiped his stained blade and left her without a backward glance.
And it began again.
What had he done?
Gideon opened his eyes and looked over at Thalia. She lay on her side, one hand pillowing her rosy cheek like a child. The dream faded, but its ominous message gripped him, twisting his stomach into a knot. He raised his hand and glided it an inch above her shoulder and down to her hip, reassuring himself that this was real. She was here. She was safe.
He brushed a strand of hair away from her temple, her scent rose to his nose, musky and sweet. He wanted her again. His body was already hardening in response. He didn’t think he could ever get enough of her.
He