Reign of Darkness (The Prince's Assassin #2) - Ariana Nash Page 0,99

pinned high. He smiled against Niko’s mouth.

“You truly came for me?” Vasili asked, as though still not believing it, despite all the evidence around him. And it was only then that Niko realized nobody had ever rescued Vasili. Until now.

“Like you once came for me when Julian turned and the elves tied me.”

Vasili’s tongue darted out and flicked against Niko’s lip. “I had many reasons for saving you from those elves. Your name, for one. Don’t mistake my motives as good, Nikolas.”

“There’s no chance of that, my prince.”

A fresh kiss quickly became messy and breathless. Niko twitched beneath Vasili’s tight grip, so desperate to touch him, hold him, taste him. He hooked a leg around his as a sign he wasn’t letting him escape, but then Vasili dug his knee in-between Niko’s thighs and spread his legs, opening him up while holding him down.

Vasili’s teeth nipped at Niko’s lower lip and then the prince freed Niko’s left hand. Niko instantly plunged it into his hair, pulling him down, mouth to mouth, the kiss unyielding until Vasili’s hand roamed over Niko’s thigh and rubbed against Niko’s rigid erection.

Vasili broke off, gasping. He pressed his forehead against Niko’s, breathing hard, his gaze fixed on Niko’s. “There is nothing else in this world that frees me like you do, Nikolas Yazdan.”

There was no answer he could give, no words that would match that startling admission, and so Niko kissed him like he was a treasure all Niko’s. This cabin and who they were inside its walls wouldn’t last, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t happen. Niko needed this. He needed to feel again, like he hadn’t in so long, like maybe he hadn’t felt since Marcus at the front line, when he’d thought he’d found love and lost it the very next day. Since Julian, when, still reeling from Marcus’s death, he’d hoped for love again and had it cruelly thrown at his feet.

After seeing Vasili near-death, after feeling him sob in his arms and watching him wrestle with the darkness alone, Niko needed to feel him again. And by the way Vasili rocked into the kiss, his hand desperately stroking Niko’s cock, Vasili needed it too.

This night, in this place, they could be two humble men, a blacksmith and a farmer, not a soldier or a prince, and nothing could stop them.

Vasili withdrew, moistening his lips, and rolled to Niko’s side on the cabin floor.

Niko waited for the prince’s next move, but as his breathing slowed, Niko brought his arm down and tucked Vasili in close against his side. He was soon asleep, and to have him so close and so thoroughly relaxed enough to sleep in his arms, it was enough. It was everything.

Chapter 30

The fire had burned down to a humble glow and the air was cooling, but Niko couldn’t bring himself to move from the bed. Vasili was sitting on the floor, resting back against the edge of the bed, angled toward the fire, with his long legs crossed at the ankles. His arm lay along Niko’s thigh, and Niko absently ran his fingers over the back of Vasili’s hand, drawing invisible loops on the prince’s pale skin—one of the few places unscarred. The fact Vasili let him so casually touch his hand was some kind of revelation to Niko’s hungry mind.

He was dressed in the crumpled and frayed shirt and trousers, having reapplied all the layers they’d gradually shed over the weeks in the wilderness. Earlier, Niko had watched him dress, admiring the way warm firelight had stroked over smooth skin, wishing he could kiss those narrow hips. He’d give anything to hear Vasili hiss in pleasure again or moan out his name. Each of Vasili’s kisses was a gift. Each moan summoned from his lips was priceless because he gave them away so rarely.

He’d lose this Vasili again soon, but at least this time, with no distractions, no war or elves or terrible responsibilities, he knew what they’d shared was real.

“I need to explain some things,” Vasili began.

Niko stopped drawing patterns on the back of his hand. “Walla fuck me. Vasili Caville is about to speak the truth? Surely not.”

“Hush.” The prince tossed him a coy smile. Twisting, he folded an arm over Niko’s legs and propped his chin on his fist. With his hacked-at hair falling in front of his scarred eye and his creased clothes, he looked careless. He looked content and happy.

But soon his smile faded and his eye lost its gleeful shine. “I