Chapter 37

ChapterThirty-Seven

Her awareness came in fits. Mostly she was lost in the darkness of a deep, dreamless sleep that should have been terrifying. Was this death, she found herself wondering a few times. Was this what it felt like to slip into that bitter darkness that never allowed her to wake?

Hissing out a breath, she sat straight up in bed. Clinging to the sheets, she held them against her chest as she tried to get her bearings. Where was she?

She couldn’t quite remember what was happening. She’d been... in the jungle? No, there were no jungles in this kingdom. Only sand. Dust. The overheated sun that made her sweat, just like she was doing now. Dripping with all the emotion that she couldn’t shake off her body because this was wrong. She was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

“Shh.” A voice. The same voice that had soothed her time and time again. “Stop fighting it, treasure.”

Stop fighting what? The fever? The heat that billowed off her body and slicked her skin with so much sweat she couldn’t think or breathe through it? She had to fight it. It would kill her. Didn’t he know fevers were deadly to humans?

She needed to get out of this bed. A bath. Water would cool her off, and maybe then she could think or remember what had happened.

Cool hands skimmed down her shoulders, sliding over her bare skin with a little too much ease. “It’s all right,” he said, his voice deep and low and oh so soothing. “You are well. It is the spirit inside you, remember? You are giving it a chance at life, Varya, and it will make you immortal in return.”

“I didn’t want to do this,” she whispered. “I don’t want to be immortal.”

“Ach, my love.” She felt his lips against her shoulder now, pressing so delicately that it made tears prick in her eyes. “It’s not something you can take back.”

His love.

She’d always known she was his love, hadn’t she? She had just wanted to hear it from his lips and then everything would be all right. Well, she’d heard it now. And everything would be all right. He’d watch over her and make sure that nothing happened, no matter how hard it was to keep her eyes open.

She drifted again. Back into that dreamless place that frightened her as much as it was a comfort. At least here she didn’t have to think about anything. She just floated in the darkness. Nothing and everything all at once.

The next time she woke, she felt a bit more like herself. Varya could remember the choice she’d made, how she had ended up in this familiar bed, covered in silken sheets that clung to her sticky body. Stretching out her arm, she searched for him.

And then she remembered that he’d never been too far. How many times had she woken in a panic? The illness that spread through her body had consumed her mind, as well as heating her from the very core. He’d explained with so much patience countless times, telling her that she was all right, he was with her, he wouldn’t let any harm come to her.

By the gods, he’d been amazing. And she’d been... less than amazing.

Sitting up, her long hair a tangle around her face, she held the blankets against her chest and tried to still the rolling nausea from the movement. She wasn’t entirely herself, it seemed, but this was significantly better than before.

Bathing would be a good option first, then food, then water. Oh, she needed something to drink. Her mouth was so dry, her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.

The door to the room opened and Greed slipped inside. He had a tray balanced in one hand, clearly trying to not make a single sound. He even exaggerated his steps as he closed the door so slowly that it didn’t make a sound as it clicked shut.

Was he... tip-toeing? He was! Just gliding across the floor as he stared at the tray with so much concentration. Like he didn’t want the single cup to touch the single plate. As though making no sound at all was life or death, and if he did, then everything would crumble down around his ears.

This darling, dear, ridiculous man who wanted nothing more than to take care of her. He wanted to treat her like a queen. Like the most precious item he owned and for once in her life, Varya couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

He had done so much wrong. She was mad at him for so much.

And yet he looked like a complete idiot trying to be quiet when his big body already thudded hard against the floor. He was a bull, rushing into the room but trying his best to be quiet as a mouse.

“I’m awake,” she said, her voice filled with wry amusement.

Greed almost dropped the tray. But he got ahold of it before it toppled over, balancing everything in a wobble that should have sent the glass to the floor. Somehow, he recovered.

She might have laughed if his eyes hadn’t found hers. And the relief she saw there, the hope that burned through him like a fire... Ah, it made her burn too.

“Varya,” he said, his voice strained. He rushed to her side, setting the tray on the table beside the bed before sitting down at the edge.

She’d thought he would be gentle. He certainly had been the entire time she’d been fighting with the spirit. And he still was. But he didn’t ask permission to reach out and run his hand down her bare back. And he didn’t ask if he could skim his lips down her shoulder, sending goosebumps scattering across her body.

“You’re awake,” he whispered against her skin.

And how did she respond to the reverence in those words?

Varya leaned closer to him, wincing as soon as she smelled herself. “And I haven’t bathed in how long?”

“A week.” He pressed another kiss closer to her neck. “A week of utter torment.”

“I thought you said the spirit would heal me.”

“It will now. It was too weak to stay inside your body, so it had to feed upon you or be expelled.” His voice deepened, a little gruff and angry if she heard it right. “I should have guessed it would do that. I should have known.”

Maybe he should have. She couldn’t have guessed it.

But Varya felt... stronger. More powerful. More capable than she had in a very long time. As she stretched out her arm, staring at the muscle as though she’d never seen it before, she could almost feel the little spirit inside of her.

“Should I be able to know it’s there?” she asked, her voice low and quiet.

“No.” He moved her tangled hair out of his way, his lips skimming over the long column of her throat. “It will be as if it is not there at all.”

But she could feel it. The heat that burned through her before was much less than the fever she’d been suffering from, but it was still there. And it wasn’t her. She could almost sense the strangeness that moved through her body at its own whim. First in her arms and hands, then into her belly, where it coiled up. A life, inside her. Not a baby, but a spirit that lived deep inside her very being.

“Come on,” Greed said, his hand petting through her hair. “Let’s get you clean. If you feel well enough?”

She did. She thought. Maybe she shouldn’t move, but a bath sounded lovely. Almost enough to distract her from the strange spirit deep inside her body that already seemed to stir again at her thoughts.

At her nod, Greed scooped her up in his arms. Gentle, oh so gentle. Didn’t he know she was stronger now? He didn’t have to treat her like she was made of glass, even though it felt rather nice to have him holding her.

Again, like the last time they’d bathed together, he didn’t remove his clothing. He just strode into the water of the pool with her. Greed held her tightly against himself, almost as though he didn’t quite trust himself to let her go.

And that was ridiculous, wasn’t it?

That power stretched inside her again, unfurling like a bloom with soft petals dancing in her mind.

“What an adventure it would be to test him,” it said. “Perhaps we should push. Just a bit. How deep do you think that well of patience goes?”

It was wrong. So wrong. She shouldn’t push him when he seemed so focused on making sure that she was well.

He poured soap into his palms, lathering it between his hands before he started on her shoulders. His fingers dug into her muscles and she couldn’t help herself. A low moan erupted from between her lips.

He stilled behind her, shifting ever so slightly back before he cleared his throat and continued.

“Again,” the voice whispered in her mind. “What a thrill.”

She shouldn’t. The temptation, though... It was too hard to ignore. Varya arched her back, lifting her arms over her head in a stretch that displayed her body for him to stare at. One more light twist of her hips and she pressed up against him, his hardness sliding between her cheeks.

Rocking against him only flared that need inside her a little brighter. It wasn’t much of an adventure, it was no tomb to raid or endless dunes to gallop across. But she had no idea what he would do next. And that little thrill was enough to satisfy.

A low growl rumbled in her ear. “Careful, treasure.”

“Why?”

“You are still not well.”

“I’m well enough.”

Well enough for this, at least. He was touching her too carefully, with too much intent. She wanted his hands, hot and hard, on her hips as he held her in place. She wanted to hear him panting, grunting, straining against her as he worked himself into a frenzy. She wanted... Wanted...

Another rumble against her back distracted her from those thoughts, even as his soapy hand slid over her belly. “Something is different about you. I cannot tell what it is.”

She could. The spirit he’d given her was running the show right now. Though, she was still very aware that she had a choice in this matter. But she didn’t want to choose. They both agreed on what they wanted to do.

The man they adored, probably loved, was right behind them. They were both slippery and alive.

What an adventure it would be to try this in the pool, as well. What a wonderful, thrilling, exciting time to be had.

Some thought in her mind blared with anxiety. This wasn’t like her at all, and Varya had never been one to actively seek out the most dangerous parts of her life. She’d always had some knowledge of when she needed to be careful. But right now? That wasn’t there at all. The natural ability to realize when something was going to be dangerous had flung itself out of her body.

Turning in his arms, she plastered herself against his chest. Her hands made quick work at the belt of his pants, tugging it free and letting it sink to the bottom of the pool around their feet.

“I’m alive,” she said, moving him through the water until his back hit the edge of the pool. “I’m alive and you’re alive and I don’t want to waste a single second of that.”

His throat bobbed in a swallow. “Varya.”

“Greed.” She hummed low in her throat, her lips going to his neck as he had just teased her before. He smelled like man and musk and bright, glorious sunlight.

She wanted to bite him.

“Bite him,” the thought echoed in her mind. “Mark him. Claim him. He’s yours for the taking, isn’t that why he gave me to you?”

With a little moan, she let the spirit make the choice. She didn’t bite him hard, just a light nip against the vein in his neck that thrummed against her lips. His heart beat pounded and her teeth closed down on him.

It was like she’d struck him with lightning.

He wrapped an arm around her waist, flipping them so her front was pressed against the cool stones and his hot body lined up perfectly with hers. The warm head of his cock slid through her folds, stroking and teasing, mimicking what she wanted him to do.

His hand coiled in her tangled hair, tugging her neck back so she was forced to arch, pressing herself harder against him.

“Is this what you want?” he growled in her ear. “You’re supposed to be healing, and this is what you beg for?”

“Yes,” she hissed. Varya ground her hips against him, trying to coax him to slip inside her.

Greed was not so kind. He used her hair as reins, holding her in place for his touch as his free hand slid between them. He touched her, his thick fingers sliding inside, stroking her inner walls in a tempo that wasn’t enough. Would never be enough.

His thumb slid over the puckered hole that no one else had ever touched. “This is mine,” he snarled, his cock pressing against her entrance, but never quite pushing all the way inside. “You are mine, all of you, every moan, every gasp, every whimper.”

Anger rose in her chest. Defiance against his words as she rolled her hips, tempting him, showing him who owned who. “Tell yourself whatever you need to hear,” she hissed. “We both know who belongs to who.”

With a grunt, he pushed inside her. One powerful thrust that shoved a wave over the stones near her hands and spilling out onto the floor. But the feel of him... Oh, she’d missed him. Too big, too much, and yet never quite enough.

He was everywhere. His hand now holding one of her breasts, her hair tumbling free as he grabbed onto her hip, anchoring her to him as he rutted against her like a beast possessed.

She was the one possessed. She was the one who wanted to consume him, brand him, mark him so that he knew no matter how many times he said he owned her, he didn’t. He was hers. He’d been the one to find her a spirit, so she was immortal. No one else would ever worship her the way he did, and she claimed that here and now.

And as he worshiped at the altar of her body, his grunts echoed in her ears. She hissed out words that sounded like, “Faster, harder. Fuck me, damn it.” It all made sense.

He wanted to claim her, but she wanted him to worship her.

They’d both been fighting for the same thing. Wanting the same thing.

And as his fingers pinched her nipple hard, forcing her mind back into this moment, with him and no one else, Varya realized this was right. Together. They were meant to be doing this even as the waves rose higher with each of his powerful thrusts.

She was his. He was hers. They owned each other, body, mind, and soul.

With a gasp, she coiled tighter around him. Clenching, squeezing, hearing the curse as he felt her react.

“That’s it, treasure,” he grunted, somehow pushing inside her even harder. “Give it to me.”

And together they spiraled out of control. She felt herself sinking, that spirit inside her appeased by the madness of their frantic fucking. And she felt the heat of him spurting inside her, his thrusts slowing as he leaned over her.

His panting breaths brushed against the back of her neck even as he slid his hand up her bare back. There were no words in this moment. Nothing they could say.

Only the knowledge that everything had changed.