Chapter 39

ChapterThirty-Nine

She had woken when he left, but Varya hadn’t wanted him to know. Even though her entire body was slick with sweat and other fluid she didn’t want to think about, she was still ready for him. She’d wanted him to come back, slide underneath the covers, and give her all the attention that she so desperately wanted.

It had never been enough. No matter how many times he made her clench around that beautiful, thick cock, it wasn’t enough. And not because her body wanted more. No, she was more sore between her legs than she’d ever been in her life. She wanted more because the spirit inside her wanted to push a little harder.

Just what would happen if she did this? What if she arched her back like so? What would happen if she used a little teeth, even though he’d hissed at her not to do it?

Varya wasn’t complaining. The spirit had very interesting ideas that she agreed with. What she couldn’t understand was why it was in her head, talking as though it was another person existing inside her body.

Once the door closed, she sat straight up in bed. “Are you listening to me?”

“Yes.”

“How long are you gong to be able to listen to me?” She tilted her head to the side, wondering if this was just the beginning stages of the bond and if it would fade away.

“Forever if you wish.”The spirit seemed to hesitate before adding, “Unless you wish me to go.”

Did she want the little spirit to be gone? It was rather unnerving to have someone else talking to her inside her head. Varya hadn’t been quite so aware of her own thoughts in a very long time. It had always just been her own voice and now it was two people, and that was rather disorienting.

But she didn’t mind the thoughts that it gave her, and she didn’t mind the suggestions it liked to give so... Well, maybe they could try it a little while?

“How long do I have to make a choice before we’re stuck with each other?” she asked.

“We’re already stuck with each other. I live inside you.“

Right. Well.

How strange was it that she was talking to thin air? Varya wasn’t certain that she’d get over this.

Running a hand through her hair, she stood up and went to get dressed. Of course, her clothes were everywhere, and it took a rather long time to even find them. Why were her pants hanging up there on that leaf?

A flash of memory had a vision of Greed in her mind, his eyes flashing yellow and slitted like a cat while he peeled these pants off her the last time she’d tried to put them on. He’d thrown them over his shoulder before diving between her thighs with a growl that still made a shudder dance down her spine.

Ah, but that man did make her quiver. Even the spirit inside her did a little shake, shuddering underneath her ribcage in a rather concerning movement before its attention turned to something else.

“You’re still thinking about your family,” it whispered in her mind. “You think they are in danger.”

Of course she did.

The Horde hadn’t disappeared just because she wasn’t there. They would continue to fight and claw and tear away at the world until they got what they wanted. And therein lay the problem.

She was here. Safe and sound and well taken care of. Well fucked, as well, if she were being honest with herself. While the rest of her people stayed in their homes, terrified and uncertain of their future.

“Wouldn’t it be an adventure to sneak out?” The little spirit said, vibrating so hard that she could feel the hairs on her arms rise. “We could leave right now, he wouldn’t know. He’s with his brother. You’ve already stolen one of his mounts before, and then we’d disappear into the sands too quickly for him to catch. The dunes will hide us, and then we can find your people. We could gather them into an army! We could—”

She had to stop the spirit before it started making more sense than it already did. “I promised I wouldn’t do that.”

The door creaked open and her eyes flew to Greed, standing in the doorway. Though she’d expected him to be angry, that perhaps his eyes would flash with more anger than ever before, he only looked tired. “Promised you wouldn’t do what, treasure?”

She should lie.

She should tell him something that would make him forget this ever happened. Or fall to her knees again and draw him into her mouth, since she knew he loved that so much.

But she couldn’t lie. Not now. Not when her heart thudded hard in her chest at the sight of him, and when her entire body clenched to be nearer to him.

They didn’t really know each other. Or maybe they did. Maybe her heart knew his, and she was the only one holding them back.

So instead of lying, she chose a better path. “The spirit you gave me isn’t quiet, Greed. I’d argue that it’s quite loud.”

He tilted his head to the side, nostrils flaring with some unnamed emotion before he cleared his throat. “What did you say?”

“I said, it talks. A lot. Most of the time I don’t even realize that it’s talking, but it’s gotten better at speaking in my head and, to be honest, the ideas that it tells me are rather good ideas. I was just telling it we will not be sneaking out the window and stealing another mount, even though it’s quite convinced that the last time we did it was an adventure. And I’ll be honest, since you gave it to me, I have been more likely to seek out adventure in a much less... careful manner than I’m used to.”

Oh gods, he was turning rather sickly pale. His normally sun-tanned and freckled face approached the color of parchment, and that wasn’t right at all.

Even though she still wore nothing but her skin, she darted forward and grabbed his elbow. He listed to the side before she caught him up, wedging herself under his arm and drawing him closer to the bed. “Come on. Easy, now. You’re a big man to fall that far, and don’t expect me to catch you.”

He grunted before landing hard on the bed. She sat down next to him, skating her hand over his back as he seemed to struggle to piece these thoughts together.

“The spirit—” he started, then stopped, staring at her hand when she placed it on his leg.

She felt it too. The strange desire to pick up where they had left off. Like they hadn’t gotten their fill when they’d been so deep in each other’s bodies that she knew every wrinkle, every scar, and every hidden place like it was her own. She wanted to touch more of him, to hold him tighter inside her body for just a few more moments.

Maybe because it felt like things were going to shatter into a million piece at any point. Like everything was going to break and they would get none of it back.

“The spirit is talking, yes.” She turned her hand over, pressing the back of it to his leg while she waited for him to take her hand. “I know it’s not what you expected, but it’s happening and we will move forward from here.”

His fingers laced through hers. “And you do not mind this new... situation?”

“I don’t think so,” Varya chuckled. “I don’t know what to think. This all has been so strange. First you tell me I’m immortal, then you give me a spirit who talks in my head. I have moments where I wonder if this was all some fever dream and I’m going to wake up any second realizing I’ve been in this bed the whole time and that you’ve been trying to heal me.”

Even though she knew that couldn’t be the case, she still had that vague thought in the back of her mind. What if she’d conjured all this up? What if she had made it up in her head that he had spent so much time making sure she felt loved, honored, and cherished?

He lifted her hand and pressed it to his lips. “You are here, Varya. This is not a dream, though it is my honor to hear that you believe it is a dream to be with me.”

She felt her cheeks burn. “Stop that.”

“Stop what?” His tongue slipped out, tracing between her fingers before he pressed one more kiss there. “I cannot get enough of you, woman. That should tell you all you need to know about how I feel.”

Did it? Not really. She wanted to hear the words as well, but they’d get there. She had to believe that.

“It wants me to save my people.” She traced her fingers over his, keeping her touch gentle and soothing. “I want to do that as well. Perhaps the spirit only amplifies the feelings that are deep inside me.”

“You want to run?”

“I don’t know.” No, that wasn’t quite right. She knew the answer to that. “I don’t want to run from you. I don’t want you to be angry at me again, or to feel like I’ve betrayed you somehow. But I cannot linger here in this luxury as you do.”

Varya looked at him, then. At the fine cloth that clung to his body, the loose pants made of silk, even though her own people wore scratchy cotton and wool. At the rings that always decorated his fingers and the gold clips in his hair that swung from tiny braids.

“You are Greed,” she whispered. “I know that means you will take whatever you can and make no apologies for it. But I am not you.”

“I know we are very different. But I…” He paused at the thought, perhaps trying to figure out a better way to tell her no. And she knew he was going to say it, long before he did. “I cannot risk you again, Varya. The idea of losing you tears me apart. And I have no wish to see you harmed.”

“That’s why you gave me this spirit, didn’t you? So it could heal me if I did get harmed.”

“You can still lose your head. We are immortal, not deathless.”

And she was willing to risk that, if that’s what it came to. If her people were alive and better off without the Horde? Then she would gladly lose her head.

But he would not turn into a different man, not for her, and Varya still loved him. She felt that knowledge settle in her mind. For all his folly, for all his faults, she loved him.

And damn it, that meant she had to come at this in a different way. A way that would make him see the reasoning behind it.

Varya slid off the bed onto her knees in front of him. She moved so his thighs were on either side of her, the same position she’d found herself in many times throughout the past few days. His eyes flashed briefly, that heat she knew so well returning before he leaned back on his palms.

Smoothing her hands up his thighs, she pressed her kiss to the inner right one. “The Horde attacked us both, Greed. I’m sure you remember that. They took from both of us. They broke your tail, your ribs, made it so that you had to run from them.”

He grunted, obviously ignoring that he’d ever been injured at all.

She flicked her tongue against his skin, drawing his attention back to her. “They hurt me, Greed. I showed up on your doorstep broken and bleeding. Remember how that felt? Do you remember what it was like to see me like that?”

The flash of rage in his eyes was her only warning. Claws curled in her hair, pushing it away from her face as though he had never seen anything more lovely. His voice deepened to a low growl. “Careful, treasure. You don’t want to remind me what they did to you.”

“I want to remind you.” She tilted her head back, letting his claws play along her throat. “I want you to get angry at them, my king. I want you to punish them for what they did to me and to your kingdom.”

Oh, those were the words to say. Though he didn’t mind worshipping at her feet, she thought perhaps these were his favorite moments. When she begged.

Perhaps it was because seeing her like this was so rare. She got on her knees for no one other than him, and if this could convince him...

“You will stay here,” he said, his fingers picking through the knots in her hair. “You will be safe where I will not worry about you.”

“Greed, you don’t know how to find the Horde,” she replied. “You’ve never been able to find them, but I am good bait. You know they want me. You know they will do anything for the map that I stole from them.”

“Perhaps that is true, but I will not risk you.” His eyes had changed again, golden coins that flashed with more greed with each passing moment. “They do not get to touch you again.”

“And if they do?” She’d grown tired of being on her knees. Because Varya knew she wasn’t going to listen to him. She would fight by his side, just as his woman should. And if he had an issue with that, then he could fight with her later. In the bedroom, as all their fights should take place, tangled in his sheets.

“I will remove their hands.” Greed palmed her hips, dragging her a little closer. His mouth found her sternum, just underneath her breasts, where he lingered. “And then I will take their heads.”

“Mm,” she hummed underneath her breath.

Never in her life had she thought she would find it so attractive to have someone threaten another person’s life for her. The mere thought of murder had always enraged her. She’d seen it happen enough times in her life that it had always been senseless. Life wasn’t meant to be dealt with so casually.

And yet...

“I like it when you’re possessive,” she said, straddling him. “I like it when you want to kill for me.”

“Do you?” His claws dug into her sides as he drew her with him so he was laying down on the bed with her on top of him. Greed trailed his nose up her neck, inhaling deeply. “You smell like me.”

“I’m surprised I don’t reek.”

“You do.” Again he inhaled her, then flashed her a feral grin. “I love it.”

She wanted to hear him say that one more time. She wanted to hear him say that he loved her, and those words would carry along with her for the rest of her days, but...

This had to be good enough.

Reaching between them, she grasped his cock in her hand and lined him up where she wanted him. And as she sank down onto his massive length, feeling the burn and the stretch and her body telling her that they needed to rest, she let out a sigh of happiness.

Perhaps a little pain with her pleasure wasn’t all that bad.