give us anything we need."
Harrison shook hands with his brother. "Watch your back, Charlie."
"You, too, bro." Charlie smiled the cocky smile Harrison knew so well, but his eyes said what they never put into words. I love you, brother. Harrison nodded, knowing his own eyes replied in kind.
As Charlie walked off, Harrison turned to Ilaria. To tell her... To ask her... He couldn't remember. She met his gaze and all thoughts flew from his head. Everything but the need to touch her, to pull her into his arms.
He released her hand to brush the hair back from her face.
"Ilaria."
"Kiss me, Harrison."
It was neither the time nor the place, but he couldn't stand being separate from her another moment. With a stunning loss of control, he hauled her against him, covering her mouth with his in a kiss of such blazing hunger he half expected to burst into flames. One hand dove into her hair, the other curved around her waist, hauling her hips against that part of his anatomy that desperately sought release within her.
She moaned low in her throat, looping her arms around his neck as she pressed herself hard against him and opened her mouth, her tongue sweeping out to welcome his.
She tasted of goodness and tears and warm, willing woman. Beneath his hand, her back curved, strong and sure, and her small head nestled perfectly in his palm.
Her scent, gardenias and lush, passion-filled nights, intoxicated him.
He kissed her desperately and she kissed him back with equal fierceness. Need and aggression, desire and sweetness. He drank of her lips, plundering her mouth, holding her tight against him. If only he could keep her like this, in his arms, forever.
The kiss blazed red-hot for only moments, before he remembered where they were and wrenched back control. With Herculean effort, he pulled back, though his arms refused to listen when he ordered them to let her go.
"I want you," he said against her temple. "I can't deny it. But this isn't the time." Looking up, he saw no fewer than six soldiers watching. "And it's definitely not the place."
Just hours ago those soldiers had lost friends and brothers-in-arms to the Esri bastards. Dozens dead. Watching him kiss an Esri must make them feel like pounding the life out of him. Out of both of them.
And he couldn't blame them. Look at all Stephie had suffered at the hands of the invaders.
No, at the hands of one invader. Baleris.
Not Ilaria. Never Ilaria.
He looked down at her, at her pink, kiss-swollen lips, at the heat and shadows in her eyes. Even as he watched, her expression hardened with determination.
"We need to go," she said, pulling away from him.
"I agree. We'll take a boat and get out of D.C. for a while."
"No. I'm not leaving the city."
"Ilaria... King Rith is hunting you now. I can't keep you safe here."
"I'm not asking you to keep me safe. When I came into my queenship, every Esri felt it. In return, I felt their emotions, individual entities. Most, from a distance, back in Esria. A handful, those here, I felt sharply. Most of the latter were surprised and dismayed. Kade felt relief. One, Rith I presume, was furious. And one, just one, felt true joy."
His head turned slightly, his gaze never leaving her face. "Who?"
"I don't know. Those among the royal guard who'd been openly loyal to me were all trapped in the Forest of Nightmares with me."
"But you think there's another, one of the guards here, who's glad you've claimed the draggon stone."
"Yes. I felt relief and devotion twined with that joy. I don't know who he is, but I must find him."
Harrison's jaw tightened as he realized what she was saying. "We're not hunting an Esri."
"I can't just hide. My world is in as much danger from Rith's power as yours."
Tension wove through the muscles of his neck and shoulders as he remembered all too well their last encounter with King Rith's men. What if they'd succeeded in getting him pounded to a pulp? What if they caught her? Rith would never let her return to Esria alive.
"Ilaria, think about this. Whoever your man is, he's almost certainly with King Rith, chasing those stones. It's too dangerous to go anywhere near them, any of them."
"If I can find him, if I can catch his attention without the others knowing, I might be able to convince him to help me. To help us both."
"How will you be able to tell which one is loyal?"
"The same