Chapter 95: Kiss Kiss
I stared at the ceiling.
The knocking happened again.
I dragged myself out of the warm sheets. The wooden floor was cold against my bare feet. I walked over and pulled the heavy door open.
Nea stood in the hallway.
She was not wearing her heavy knight armor. She was not wearing her vice captain uniform either. She wore a simple white linen nightdress. It was thin and soft. Her silver hair was still damp from her own bath and fell loosely over her shoulders.
She looked down at her feet.
"Can I come in?" she asked softly.
I stepped aside and let her pass.
The scent of soap and something distinctly sweet followed her into my room. I closed the door quietly and turned around.
She stood in the center of the room. She was gripping the fabric of her dress with both hands. The confident and terrifying swordswoman from the lake was completely gone. She just looked incredibly nervous.
"Did Keith have a nightmare?" I asked.
"No," she said. "Keith is asleep."
"Did the gnome break into the kitchen?"
"No."
I crossed my arms and leaned against the wooden door.
"Then what brings the fearsome Nea to my room at this hour?"
She finally looked up. Her charming eyes caught the dim moonlight filtering through the window.
"You kissed me today," she said.
"You kissed me first," I pointed out. "Up in the sky. Right before I blew up a thousand turtles."
"That was different," she stepped closer. "That was adrenaline. That was me being stupid and thinking we might die. But then we landed."
She took another step.
"When we landed," she continued. "You kissed me. There was no giant monster attacking us at that exact second. You just did it."
"I did," I admitted.
"Why?"
"Because I wanted to," I said honestly. "And because I promised I was done lying to you."
Nea stopped right in front of me. She looked up into my eyes.
The space between us was charged. But then her expression shifted from nervous to slightly annoyed.
"You left me behind," she said. Her voice carried a very real weight. "When you faked your death. You let me think you were gone forever. Do you know how much that sucked?"
I dropped my arms. I needed to be careful here.
"Look," I said. "Let us be completely fair. I faked my death because the Empire was a complete nightmare. They were either going to work me into an early grave or execute me for breathing wrong. I had to get out."
"You could have told me," she crossed her arms defensively.
"And risk you doing something incredibly knightly and ruining my escape?" I asked. "Absolutely not. You were a loyal vice captain. If I told you my grand plan to commit treason and run away, you would have tried to arrest me. Or worse, you would have tried to come with me and blown my cover entirely."
Nea stared at me.
"I did not do it to protect you," I confessed. "I did it to save my own skin. I am a very selfish guy, Nea."
She kept staring. For a second I thought she might actually punch me.
Instead she let out a long exasperated sigh. She shook her head and rubbed her temples.
"You are the least romantic man alive," she muttered.
"I am alive though," I smiled. "That is the important part."
A small laugh escaped her lips. The tension in the room broke completely. She knew exactly who I was and she was here anyway. That fact alone made my chest feel weirdly warm.
"You are completely shameless," she said.
"It is one of my best qualities."
She stepped right into my personal space. She looked up at me with a gaze that made my brain stop functioning for a solid three seconds.
"You still owe me for the emotional damage," she whispered.
"How much is the fine?"
"Make it up to me."
I did not need to be told twice.
I leaned in and captured her lips with mine.
It was not like the hurried desperate kisses from the battlefield. This one was deliberate and deep.
Nea let out a soft gasp. She opened her mouth and invited me in.
My hands slid down her shoulders and wrapped around her waist. I pulled her flush against my chest. Her body was incredibly warm. She was soft but I could feel the firm muscle of a highly trained knight right beneath the thin fabric of her nightdress.
She threw her arms around my neck. Her fingers tangled themselves deeply into my hair.
She kissed me back with a sudden fierce hunger. The banter was gone. All the built up tension from the past few months poured out into the space between us.
I walked us backward blindly. My boots had been left near the bed so I just slid across the wooden floor in my bare feet.
We bumped hard into the edge of the mattress.
I pulled away for a fraction of a second just to catch my breath.
Nea looked at me with hazy eyes. Her cheeks were deeply flushed. Her chest heaved up and down.
"Are you sure about this?" I asked her. "Because I am entirely out of magical butterflies to distract us with."
She reached down and grabbed the hem of her white nightdress.
"Shut up Axel," she breathed out.
She pulled the fabric over her head and tossed it blindly onto the floor.
The moonlight hit her bare skin. She was absolutely breathtaking. Her body was athletic and toned. The pale scars from her years of intense training only made her look more beautiful and real to me.
My mouth went completely dry.
"Wow," I muttered intelligently.
She smiled. It was a wicked and confident little smile that belonged on a battlefield.
She reached out and grabbed the collar of my sleepwear. She pulled me down hard.
I fell right on top of her. The soft mattress bounced under our combined weight.
She wrapped her strong legs around my waist and pulled my face back down to hers. The kiss this time was messy and hot. Our tongues met and tangled together. The taste of her was entirely intoxicating.
We rolled over in the tangled sheets. I pinned her wrists gently above her head. She looked up at me with burning desire.
Right now there was only Nea.