Reign of Darkness (The Prince's Assassin #2) - Ariana Nash Page 0,102

soon wore off with every passing day and the more Niko’s body ached from the saddle.

Eventually, the meandering track grew busier, filling with folks dragging cartloads of goods south and messengers riding back and forth. Vasili stopped a messenger for news on Loreen. From his expression when he’d finished speaking with the woman, the news wasn’t good.

The road delivered them to a village near Loreen that Niko had vaguely heard of. They traded a few of the tools they’d no longer need for food and a room in the village’s only coaching inn. Their disheveled and unkempt state kept the village-folk from looking too closely.

Vasili’s silence grew thick the more information they gleaned from the inn’s paying guests. The king hadn’t been seen in weeks. With no guards patrolling the streets, the city had become lawless and unsafe, driving all the good people away. Loreen was full of thieves, killers, and probably elves. If elves weren’t already in the city, they’d be watching.

Knowing Vasili, he blamed himself.

After dinner, Vasili wordlessly left via the back door, probably to check on Adamo. Niko let him have his space and lingered in the lounge area for a few hours, listening to the local farmers and tradespeople talk of the harvest and raids, hoping for clues as to the state of the city they’d find when they arrived. He returned to their room long after night had fallen and found Vasili at the washbasin, shaving off his beard by candlelight. The soft light painted him in wonderfully seductive hues, and given how they were both safe and dry for the first time in days, Niko unashamedly admired the prince’s figure.

“That would be better done in daylight.”

“I grew bored waiting for you.” He washed out the straight razor and applied its edge to his soapy cheek.

Niko stopped at his back, not yet touching, but fingers twitching to. Even after so long pressed against Vasili’s back atop Adamo, the desire to touch hadn’t faded. The long journey north had been practical and rough, with no heat between them. But now, the needs came roaring back, tingling through Niko’s cock. “You were waiting for me?” He reached up to slip the razor from Vasili’s fingers, hoping the prince would yield. His light fingers surrendered the razor without hesitation.

Niko stepped in, close enough against Vasili’s back to feel his breath hitch. Vasili tilted his head, inviting the blade’s edge against his skin.

They hadn’t touched like this since the cabin. Days on the road, and with every mile that had passed beneath them, the memories of the cabin had begun to fade, dreamlike, into something that had happened to someone else.

But standing close again, Niko breathed him in and burned to hold him… More, he yearned for Vasili to hold him down and do all the wonderful things he so effortlessly did with his wicked tongue.

Niko drew the razor’s edge down Vasili’s cheek and glided it over the curve of his jaw, leaving the skin smooth and clean.

Admittedly, his focus wasn’t all on the shave. Much of it was on how the press of his erection nudged Vasili’s ass through his trousers fabric, and how Vasili occasionally shifted back, deliberately frustrating Niko. The reflection of the prince’s blue-eyed gaze flicked questioningly to Niko.

Niko brought his right hand around to hold the front of Vasili’s throat while he brought the razor in his left hand around to smooth off the stubble. The prince’s pulse beat against Niko’s thumb. Niko had him pressed against the basin, trapped in his arms, and so thoroughly caught. Not so long ago, this would never have been possible. The fact Vasili trusted him enough now made his head spin, made him breathless, made him want to scatter kisses down his neck, make him writhe and moan and gasp.

Vasili leaned his head back against Niko’s shoulder. So free, just like he’d said. Niko set the razor down, never taking his eyes off Vasili’s reflection. He bowed his head to Vasili’s neck and placed a soft, open-mouth kiss on his clean, damp skin. He smelled of soap, and a smile upset Niko’s kiss. These little moments, these tiny fractures in Vasili armor, letting him see the man inside, these were so fucking precious.

“My turn.” Vasili extracted himself from Niko’s embrace and came up behind him, pressing in close, their positions now reversed. Vasili’s warmth pressed against Niko’s ass, his chest against Niko’s back. They were both still fully clothed, but not for much longer if Niko had