60. Chapter Sixty

The ride home from the Pyrhhan Coast was swift thanks to Muniin and her steady gallop. While most men in the Elder Guard rode standard-issue horses from our stables, I had brought Muniin with me when I moved from Pyrhhas to Sophrosyne.

She had been a gift from my father on my sixteenth birthday, and the mare was easily one of the fastest and most reliable steeds one could ask for. My commander had raised an eyebrow at the request to keep her back then, but allowed me to stable her along with the other cavalry horses so long as I remained responsible for her care.

I was thankful for her haste tonight, guilt beginning to gnaw at me for keeping Arken waiting over my lazy office nap and the silly little urge to get introspective on the beach. The woman was hungry, and I was eager to provide in more ways than one.

I made it back to the city just as the skies began to darken from sunset to dusk. After returning Muniin to the stables and setting her up with an indulgent trough of oats and apples, I walked briskly towards the Merchant’s Quarter—hopefully Roshana’s specials tonight could travel well. As I wove through throngs of people, I thumbed the smooth stone in my pocket, pathetically excited to give her the crystal I had found, just to show her that I had been thinking of her all day.

It was bizarre how immediate my mood had shifted from somber hope to something more akin to incandescence, just by being within ten minutes of her studio. Or… perhaps it wasn’t strange at all. Not anymore.

The pleasant, brassy clang of the city’s central clock tower rang out seven times as I left Roshana’s tavern with a dinner worthy of my apology—the scent of roasted duck and freshly baked bread reminding me that I hadn’t really eaten much today.

Within a single knock, Arken opened the door.

“Hello there, Little Conduit,” I said, unable to resist smiling at the very sight of her face. “I do believe you have my house key.”

“I do believe you have my dinner, Captain,” Arken replied with a smirk, scooping the bags from my hands as I stepped inside.

As she attempted to turn and bring the food over to her kitchen table, I wrapped my hands around her waist.

“Oh no you don’t, woman,” I murmured. “Come here.”

Arken’s sigh was soft and melodic as her body melted against mine. She let the paper bags in her hands sag towards the floor, releasing her grip once she knew they wouldn’t topple over—and then her hands were in my hair, fingernails against my scalp, eagerly returning the kiss I had needed to claim.

“You smell like the ocean,” she said after we eventually managed to part.

“I had to make a stop on the Pyrhhan Coast,” I explained, still feeling guilty. “And I may have ridden Muniin by the ocean just for fun on the way home.”

The lie left my mouth a little less easily than it once might have, the misdirection feeling heavier on the tongue. This wasn’t the first time I had to offer Arken half-truths to side step something too dark or too dangerous to share, but this time, I was just being a coward.

Still, she didn’t need to know about my nightmares—I never seemed to have them when she slept by my side.

“Chasing your own cheap thrills on the clock? How unbecoming of a captain,” she teased. “Your secret is safe with me, if only because whatever you’ve brought for dinner smells like heaven.”

In her proximity, food was the last thing on my mind, but if I knew Arken half as well as I thought that I did, she hadn’t eaten today either. For her sake, I kept it in my pants. For now. And Arken was right, the food did smell divine.

As we settled in to eat, making casual conversation here and there, I studied her like an artist might study their muse, eyes wandering from her collarbones, up the length of her neck where I could still see evidence of my affection blooming against her skin in the form of bruises and bitemarks. I was thankful to be seated at the table with her today, instead of our usual spot on the couch, lest she think I was getting hard over the discussion of her studies. It was only when my gaze drifted to her mouth that I noticed something was a little off.

In between bites of food and tidbits about her day, Arken was chewing on her bottom lip with surprising fervor. She didn’t even seem aware of it, either. My eyes flickered to her arm—though her left hand was on her lap beneath the table, subtle movements at her elbow told me she was picking at her fingernails, or perhaps at the hem of her sweater. That wasn’t entirely abnormal for her, but as time went on, her lip was looking a little raw. She was clearly anxious about something.

“You alright over there, Ark?” I asked before taking a sip of the white wine she’d poured for us to accompany the meal.

“What? Oh, yeah. I’m fine!” she chirped, her face brightening with clear intent to mask whatever it was she’d been thinking about just then.

If you say so, sweetheart.

I had no right to push her on the matter, I just hoped that whatever it was that was eating at her wasn’t my fault.

By the time we wrapped up with our meal and Arken began to clear the table, I was losing my grip on my self-restraint. Despite everything else that had transpired in between, I hadn’t forgotten how brazen she’d been at the art gallery—reaching for my cock in public like that.

And I could read between the lines when it came to our little exchange, just before I dragged her home to act upon it. We had enjoyed a lot of sex as of late, and plenty of it rough—but she was demanding something specific from me. Tempting me to take something that I had only really teased her with so far. But that threat to ruin her when we got home hadn’t been an empty promise. Not by a long shot. She had no idea how badly I had been craving this.

I wanted my hands around her throat, I wanted her choking on my cock, I wanted her perfect body strung up and suspended by ropes of Shadow, my own pretty little painting to admire and devour.

Only under duress.

Did she even know how those three simple words had condemned me for life?

It was all terribly ironic, considering the woman was the perfect picture of innocence right now, humming softly to herself as she cleared our plates and silverware, flitting from the table to the sink like a sparrow. And I was clearly the tomcat, ready to eat her alive.

“I can take care of that,” I said, not wanting to be rude… Well. Not wanting to be impolite. “Here, let me help.”

“No, no—I’ve got it,” she replied airily. “It’ll only take a minute.”

When I got up to follow and help her with the dishes anyway, she gave me her best attempt at a threatening glare, though it turned out more like the petulant pout of a child. Fates, I adored her.

“Amma would kill me if she knew I was letting a guest clean up after themselves,” she whined. “It’s poor hostess behavior.”

“Well, Amma isn’t here right now,” I replied. “And thank the gods for that, because I’ve got plans for you tonight.”

Arken’s eyes widened before they began to glimmer.

Oh yes, Little Conduit, I mused to myself. I didn’t forget.