Evie


    Evie’s mind had always needed a moment or two to catch up when something substantial urred. When she met The Viin for the first time, she’d held an unnatural illusion of calm in the face of the kingdom’s greatest foe. But that part of her subconscious, the part that reminded her to panic and scream and cry whenever the situation called for it, had made her il alone in her room for nearly two hours after she’d signed her employment contract.


    Her boss’s mouth on hers would catch up to her, too, the way his tongue glided against her lower lip causing her to make mortifying sounds as she pushed up onto her toes, desperately trying to get closer to him. Her fingers teased through his already messy hair, but this time she’d know that the wild direction of each strand would be because of her.


    Heat. She was a breathing blur of startlingly warm light as his hands slid down from her cheeks, caressing gently along each contour of her hips before gripping them and dragging her up against him. She writhed, he groaned, and there was nothing but an intense swarm of emotion as they separated, still inches apart, foreheads together, breathing heavily against each other.


    He stared at her, his dark eyes softening before intensifying again. “I want you.”


    Evie, for once, did not fill the silence that followed the statement with nonsense. “What does that mean?”


    She moved a hand from his shoulder to cup his cheek, feeling bold and finished with timidness. A sh of panic was all she saw before he started to pull back.


    Not this time, you coward. She forced him to stay with her, to stay in this moment.


    Trystan’s warm breath was shaky between them. “I want everything that I shouldn’t, and it’s selfish. Sage, the destiny monster—”


    Her hands closed over his lips. “I know. It told you of some horrific future in which you do something terrible to me because you always have. Because that’s the life you believe you’re meant to lead, and if you continue to live in that doubt, that’s the only life you’re ever going to lead.”


    Without warning, she grabbed his neck and tugged his mouth back down to hers, and his response was instant. And soft no longer. A frantic urgency took over his actions, like he was on the verge of saying goodbye to something and he intended to take whatever he could before that urred. His hands were everywhere, leaving fire in their wake and a strange sensation that prickled at her skin in something akin to pain.


    He was gripping her hips so tight it was near bruising, but Evie was keeping the upper hand. It belonged to her from this moment on. She put her palms on his chest and began pushing him back, step by step by step, continuing across the floor until the backs of Trystan’s legs bumped against the small couch tucked into the corner of the room and he fell…but not alone. Evie straddled his waist as theynded on the cushion, and she hummed into Trystan’s mouth as he sat up and undid her with each brush of his lips.


    On her corbones, on her neck, but no farther. Evie tugged his mouth back to hers and tried not to sumb to the ragged whispersing from him. “Gods, you have driven me to madness, Sage. Ever since I firstid eyes on you, I knew you would be the source of all chaos.”


    Her lips hovered over his, so close. Her body was aching, and her muscles were taut beneath her skin. “Then why did you hire me?”


    He came back to himself for a moment, his gaze serious as he said as simply as possible, “Because the thought of seeing you every day made me feel something other than angry. And I had forgotten what that was like.”


    It was the oddest, most beautifulpliment she’d ever been given, and she smiled before making him regret that admission. “I have a confession.”


    The wariness of his expression was not ttering, but Evie continued anyway. “That dirty dream I told Tatianna about a month ago…? When I said I didn’t mean it that way and I meant actual dirt…”


    The wariness was gone, and now only intrigue remained. “Yes.” His hands were still moving against her hips, making it difficult to keep her wits about her.


    “I lied. We were kissing…in the dirt.”


    He wasughing before thest word was fully out, and then they were kissing again, and this time, his hand went to shove at the cor of his shirt to expose her shoulder. Heid a scorching trail of kisses down and down until he was bringing a hand up to close around her breast. She gasped and clutched at his hair when his mouth glided over the fabric, his tongue moving the silk back and forth over her nipple until she was making the most mortifying sounds. Somewhere in her haze, she noticed Trystan’s gray mist movingzily around her ankles, and she thanked it for cooperating in this moment.


    His head was against her chest as he breathed heavily. “We are even, then. I’ve had so many inappropriate dreams about you I began to organize them alphabetically depending on whatever act of corruption we weremitting.”


    She took both his cheeks in her hands and held him still, tilting his head up to look at her. “I want you. And you want me. But for tonight? Forever? And what is it that you want? My lips? My body? My heart? My soul?”


    He shuddered, every muscle tensing. “Sage—”


    “They’re yours. All of them. Whether you want all of them or none. I gave them to you that first day along with that old wool scarf.”


    She felt strong and powerful in this moment, so it was a wonder that tears were burning and then sliding slowly down her cheeks. But then again, she supposed that’s where her true strength lived—in her ability to be vulnerable, in the depth of her feelings. The greatest power was bestowed to those who were brave enough to feel emotion and to do so thoroughly.


    Trystan merely looked at her, so much pain etched on his face, but he said nothing.


    Evie shook her head in disbelief over what was undoubtedly going to be the most mature and sound decision she’d ever made. Horrid.


    But she pushed away,ying one gentle kiss to his lips, teasing him with light passes of her tongue before shoving him back with one hand.


    “Enjoy them—your dreams. Because until you decide to forge your own path no matter what destiny says, until you decide to embrace a future with me, wholly andpletely, those dreams will be all you ever have.” She painfully separated her limbs from his, standing and leaving him shocked and sprawled out like a shirtless dark god.


    She wanted a trophy for what she was doing. A mark of valor, a godsforsaken invitation into the Valiant Guard—or rather, the Malevolent Guard. “Until then, you take the couch. I’ll take the bed, and you cane find me when you choose all of me.”


    She slid the covers back, and the cool sheets felt so good against her bare legs she began to kick them about. Okay, so she wasn’t having sex tonight, but at the very least she had this. “Good night, sir!” Evie called with a smile as she nestled her head against the pillow.


    He sounded a little too steady when he responded. “Good night, Sage.”


    Which was likely the reason she sat up and snapped her fingers. “Oh yes. I forgot to mention—I usually sleep in the nude. In case you were wondering. Night!” She shoved the covers up to her shoulders, and it all became worth it. Resisting him. Laying everything out in the open.


    Well, that and the loud, aggravated groaning from the other side of the room.


    Her eyelids drooped, and though her body hadn’t fully calmed, she suddenly felt exhausted. One more night and they would be back on their way. One more night.


    But as Evie drifted off to sleep, she didn’t have any dirty dreams.


    Only nightmares.