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Annika de Riva, leader of the self-named Veilguard, protege of the Fifth Talon of the Crows, and (hopefully) soon-to-be godkiller, was one more teasing caress up her thigh away from standing up to sling a leg over Emmrich’s lap in front of everyone present.
Really the only deterrent at this point was the Fifth Talon himself glaring at her from across the table they were seated at, having snapped at her for the third time to pay attention during their meeting. Each time he would snarl something to the effect of “Pay attention, Idiot,” she would experience a strange warring feeling of embarrassment and absolute hungry arousal as Emmrich’s grip on her thigh would tighten in irritation at Viago’s berating.
As Teia read out the Governor’s latest letter to the Crows, one of Emmrich’s long, lithe fingers pressed to the seam of her leather trousers at her center. Maker damn him, how could he look so utterly unaffected as he sat there taking her apart piece by piece? He seemed utterly engrossed in the discussion at hand, his handsome face its usual expression of open interest.
The fingers pressed against the seam moved in a teasing circle just as Teia finished reading the letter and Viago opened his mouth to speak. Annika’s knee hit the table as she jolted, silencing the Talon. “Tell me, Rook, are you ill?” he asked coldly.
“N-no,” she managed to get out, even as those damned fingers doubled down on rubbing her through her trousers. “Sorry. I had a chill.”
“
Mierda, you two,”
Lucanis muttered under his breath on her other side. That didn’t help the blush she’d been trying to fight off for the last five minutes.
Emmrich merely offered Viago a placating smile. “You’ll have to forgive Annika, I don’t believe she got much sleep last night.”
The glass of water she lifted to try to wet her increasingly dry throat nearly slipped from her grasp. Memories surfaced of Emmrich coming up behind her as she sorted through missives in that nightgown of hers she knew he liked, wrapping his arms around her with searing kisses to her neck, all but steering her toward her room as he wiped her mind of all other thoughts…
Across the table, Teia caught her eye and smirked, almost catlike. Oh, Maker, did she know what the necromancer beside her was doing beneath the table? Or was she imagining things?
She had to stop this, before he decided to start undoing the laces of her trousers for better access…or perhaps she should just let him-
Think, Idiot, she ordered herself, the internal voice sounding a little too much like Viago for comfort. She seized Emmrich’s wrist and pushed it away from her crotch, nearly moaning at the loss of contact. He didn’t put up any resistance as she threaded her fingers through his and pinned their joined hands to his knee.
As it turned out, having Emmrich caress her hand with his thumb turned her mind to mush just as badly.
When Viago at last dismissed them, Lucanis rose quickly from the table and headed off to visit his favorite smith in Treviso. The heat of his breath grazed her ear as he muttered “Get it together, Rook,” before disappearing down the spiral stairs of the Diamond.
She released Emmrich’s hand and rose as well, the necromancer following suit. The hand he placed on the small of her back as she scooted past the table could have been seen as innocuous, supportive, but Annika didn’t miss the way Teia’s narrowed eyes lingered on the contact.
Mercifully, Viago didn’t seem to notice as Annika gave a short flick of her head to Emmrich to follow her. He obeyed dutifully, an infuriating little smirk lifting the corners of his mustache.
She led them away from the watchful eyes of the Talons, greeting Chance and Heir as they took the spiral staircase down closer to the casino level with as much casualness as she could manage. The weight of Emmrich's gaze rested on her back as tangible as a hand as she opened the door to a cleaning supply closet and dragged him inside.
The door was scarcely shut before he was on her, caging her against the shelves laden with cleaning supplies before she could open her mouth. His kiss was hungry, passionate, sweeping away every rational thought she had as she gripped him by the lapels of his burgundy overcoat to keep him against her. His hands came to grip the shelf above her head, completely encompassing her vision. Maker, how could he be so tall?
With great effort, Annika forced herself to push him back enough to break the kiss. Emmrich’s eyes were dark with need, the force of his adoring gaze nearly breaking her resolve. “For someone so afraid of dying,” she panted, “you certainly have a death wish.”
“Whatever do you mean, darling?” His hands roamed her waist as he moved to kiss her neck instead. Teeth grazed her earlobe, and she clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle an involuntary groan. This closet was just large enough that if she wrapped her legs around his lithe hips…
Focus, Annika. “We can’t do this here,” she hissed. “I don’t think you understand that if Viago finds out about us, you will have a contract on your head before you leave the Diamond.” A horrifying thought sent shivers down her spine. Or maybe that was one of Emmrich’s fingers ghosting over it beneath the leather of her shirt. “Oh, Maker, he’d probably make me do it.”
A gold-laden hand gripped the shelf beside her head as his lips traced the curve of her ear. “What an exquisite death, to be struck down by your fair hand."
Her head fell back against the lip of the shelf with a weak, amused groan. Big mistake, as Emmrich took the opportunity to move his ministrations from her ear to her exposed throat. “Harding was right. You are truly a besotted fool, Emmrich Volkarin.”
“Mmhmm.” Not the slightest bit repentant. The hand not on the shelf moved to squeeze her ass, bringing a whimper to her lips. “You know how partial I am to the lovely pink dresses you wear around the Lighthouse, but I will admit, your Crow ensemble offers quite the view when I walk behind you.”
He was going to kill her. She swatted his shoulder and was rewarded a nip to her neck. “Emmrich!”
The hand on her ass shifted to slide down the waistband of her trousers, the cold metal of his many rings a tease through her thin smallclothes. Annika let another groan slip past her lips before she reached behind her to grip his wrist and yanked it away from her backside. His lips left her neck then, an annoyingly smug expression playing on his handsome features. “I’m serious,” she told him, keeping a firm grip on his arm in case he got any ideas. “Hands to yourself while we are in Treviso. Viago can find out about us when Lucanis is officially First Talon. He won’t be able to stop us then.”
“I don’t find your personal life to be any of Viago’s business,” Emmrich said with no small amount of distaste.
“Everything I do is Viago’s business,” she replied tiredly. “So please, Emmrich, for your own sake…”
Emmrich gave a dramatic sigh and lifted his palms up in surrender. “As you wish, my sweet. Hands to myself until we are safely back through the eluvian.”
Maker, was he pouting? And why was it working on her? “I’m sorry about this, Emm. I promise I’ll make it up to you when we get back.”
With that, she brushed past him to the door of the closet, a hand on the handle, when the familiar tickle of well-groomed mustache and oh-so-soft lips brushed the nape of her neck. She whirled to face him again, hoping her eyes conveyed irritation rather than the pulsing need between her legs.
Emmrich smiled broadly, his hands pointedly folded behind his back. “You said nothing about my mouth.”
Maker, his mouth…
Before Annika could escape from the haze of frustrating need that clouded her senses, Emmrich reached past her to open the door. He murmured low in her ear, careful not to touch her. “Worry not, dearest. I shall remain a perfect gentleman around your Talon.”
Then he was gone, leaving Annika to stare after him unconvinced.
***
Emmrich Volkarin was a wicked, wicked man.
That was the only conclusion she could come to as Teia offered them coffee from the Diamond’s kitchens while they, along with Viago, waited in the rooftop lounge for reports from scouts surveying around the Antaam’s stronghold. The kitchen staff she had summoned recommended the House special, affogato. (Lucanis had scoffed at the notion and slipped off to get ‘real coffee’ from Cafe Pietra.)
Now she was forced to watch Emmrich methodically cleaning his spoon of vanilla ice cream and coffee. That tongue that haunted her waking and sleeping hours was so very, very thorough as he lapped up every last drop of the cream…Oh, Maker, how was she jealous of a damned spoon?
Then he dipped the spoon back into the cup once more, eyes meeting hers. Smiling.
“You looked rather flushed, Rook,” Teia noted from where she lounged on a chaise nearby. “Perhaps you’d like an affogato as well?”
“Most refreshing,” Emmrich agreed blithely. There was a smudge of brown cream on his upper lip, coloring the edge of his mustache.
Lick it off, a mad voice in her head demanded.
She shook her head, struggling to regain the words back. “I…yes, I’ll take one. Thank you.”
Teia gave her another one of those sly, knowing grins that had her shifting in her seat.
***
They were so close to leaving. Lucanis had decided at the last minute to pick up some extra ingredients at the market, however, which left Annika and Emmrich to continue dancing around each other under Viago’s watchful eye for another hour yet.
Annika was going to implode. Teia, ever the gracious host, had offered to take Emmrich’s coat, and now he stood talking animatedly to Chance Candide with the sleeves of his shirt rolled up. The many bangles on his wrists were on full display on his lean forearms, folded as he seemingly listened in rapture to one of Chance’s tall tales. A vein was prominent on one arm beneath the dusting of hair, shifting with the muscle there as it flexed-
She wasn’t going to make it to the eluvian at this rate.
Chance noticed her gawking a few feet away and gestured for her to come join them. She tried pretending to have not seen him, turning as though she would peruse Fletcher’s stand, but then Emmrich all but stepped in front of her. “Rook!” he said with a beaming smile. “Chance here was just telling me all about your days as a fledgling!”
Her cheeks reddened, even as she reluctantly turned to glare at her fellow Crow. “All greatly exaggerated, I’m sure.”
Chance boomed a laugh. “You never talked about me to your companions? Chance Candide is gravely wounded!”
“I’m not sure I could have possibly captured all of this-” she gestured up and down the length of him- “effectively through words alone.”
“Ah, I suppose I cannot blame you there. What are stories compared to the real thing?”
Emmrich cleared his throat. Annika was fairly certain whatever was about to come out of his mouth would make her suffer. “You never mentioned Mr. Candide here was your first kiss as a youth!”
Oh Maker. Her cheeks burned to the point of pain. “Well, that was a VERY long time ago, under VERY strenuous circumstances.”
Chance laughed again. “The Dellamorte boys were visiting House de Riva. I was scarcely more than a fledgling, making sure I was properly primped and curls gleaming in case I happened to meet the First Talon herself. All of the sudden, little Annika here came racing around the corner of the hedges, grabbed me by my hair, and squeaked ‘I’m sorry!’” He gave her a fond grin, even as she hoped she shrivel up and die on the spot. “Next second, she was practically mauling me!”
“Mauling you?” Emmrich clarified, a brow raised. “How positively animal!”
She would kill him. Then Chance. Then herself.
“Chance Candide tends to have that effect on people,” Chance continued with a wink. “But who am I to deny such a desperate need?”
“The ‘desperate need’,” Annika cut in, feeling the need to defend herself, “was because Illario Dellamorte had gotten wind of my ‘virgin lips’-”
“-his exact words-” Chance added, his smile slipping just a bit.
“-and felt the need to correct that. And Viago basically egged him on.” Annika finished with a scowl. “Chance seemed a preferable option at the time, and if Illario happened to see me kissing someone else, well…”
Chance winked at her. “Happy to be of service.”
“You were lovely, Chance, but I fear that might make a certain merchant jealous.”
At least she made one person blush that day, though she’d have preferred it to be the necromancer beside her. “Speaking of, I shall take my leave. They are about to take a break.”
As the crow scurried off, Annika willed her blush to go away, even as Emmrich turned to face her. “'Mauled by an animal.' I wonder if anything's changed since then.”
“Keep this up and you won’t be finding out tonight.”
“Something the matter, darling girl?”
The pet name elicited the butterflies it always did, but she cringed, glancing around to make sure none of the other crows milling about the rotunda could hear. “You know damn well what you’re doing,” she hissed.
He put a finger to his mouth as though deep in thought. “My dear, I’m afraid I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about. Enlighten me.”
“You…you just…you’re just so…will you please stop that?” she snapped, seizing his wrist to pull his finger away from where it traced the shape of his lower lip. “Maker help me, Emmrich, you are making this far more difficult than it needs to be.”
“Am I?” he asked delicately. He dramatically flicked his gaze down to where she clutched his wrist. “You’re the one not adhering to your own ‘hands off’ rule, sweet girl.”
She let go quickly in favor of running a stressed hand through her hair. “The pet names too. You can't call me those things here, there are ears everywhere!”
“Whatever you say, my dear.”
Her deadpan stare was probably less effective paired when paired with a deep blush. Emmrich merely winked, the portrait of innocence.
Annika sighed and looked toward the railing of the rotunda, a pit forming in her stomach. The anxious wreck roiling in there was certainly in large part due to fear of Viago finding out about her new (and first) serious relationship, and frustration over Emmrich's apparent lack of shared concern, but there was something more. Something rather ugly.
“It isn't fair,” she muttered. “I can't be as unaffected by you as you are of me.”
It was the closest she’d admit to that small insecurity. The feeling that she had no control over herself while Emmrich was around, versus the years of practice in relationships he’s likely had to remain cool and collected.
Emmrich’s eyes softened a fraction from their amused crinkle. “I assure you, I am certainly not ‘unaffected.’” He leaned closer to whisper in her ear, so that no one else could hear. “Do you know how difficult it was for me not to seize you in front of Chance and kiss you properly, the way you deserve? To not ravish and torment you the way you do me before all of these assassins?”
His words had their intended effect. Annika’s next breath was a shallow gasp, a hand coming to her mouth as though to try and stifle it. Emmrich leaned back a bit to continue, pretending to straighten the collar of her shirt so he could continue speaking in a low tone. “Once we return through to the Crossroads, I intend to send Lucanis on ahead so I can take you in front of the eluvian, where you can know full well that your Talon is just on the other side.”
“Oh,” she whispered, eyes wide and throat very dry.
“Indeed.” Emmrich took a step back, now looking somewhat chagrined. “I apologize for my behavior today. Your fears may not be ones I particularly share, but they are important to you. I shall do my best to keep things…restrained until we leave this place.”
“Thank you,” she said softly. “Lucanis should be back soon, and then we can get out of here.”
Emmrich huffed a laugh. “Not nearly soon enough.”
***
It was rapidly becoming apparent that Emmrich didn’t need to go so far as licking spoons or calling her those sweet endearments in order to get her riled up.
He had stayed true to his word, keeping his distance as they awaited Lucanis’s return from the market. Annika had done all she could to stay distracted, even seeking out Viago against her better judgement to discuss the situation in Minrathous in the aftermath of the dragon attack. His normally cold exterior had softened as she detailed the Venatori’s swift takeover of the city, the destruction of many homes, and had promised to provide aid as the Crows were able.
Even with her back straight, the mask of the cool, collected assassin in place, standing before her superior, she still couldn’t stop glancing at Emmrich. The necromancer was at a balcony across the rotunda, staring out into the twinkling lights of Treviso with his back to her. Her eyes traced the lean lines of his back before settling on his backside, shapely despite his lanky frame…
She could not wait to leave this place.
“So I take it you’ve decided not to pursue Dellamorte?”
That snapped her attention back. “Wh-what?”
Viago’s icy eyes were irritable, but no more so than usual. “Lucanis does not appear to be smitten with you, despite you spending months together now.”
Annika relaxed slightly, smiling wanly. “He wasn’t interested when we were younger, so why should he be interested now? The heart wants what it wants, or so the saying goes.”
He snorted, eyes drifting unconsciously to Teia where she ran fledgelings through a drill out on the veranda. “Pitiful excuse.”
“I could always try for Illario,” she smirked, despite feeling slightly nauseous at the thought. “He’d be easier.”
“Then I’d have to deal with the headache that is Illario Dellamorte on top of having to deal with the one before me,” Viago muttered tiredly. "Thank the Maker that idiot isn't hanging around tonight. At any rate, keep working on Lucanis. Being married to the heir apparent of the First Talon is not an opportunity to throw away.”
The little pit in her stomach every time she was reminded of Viago’s expectation of her grew, but this time, a spark ignited there, hot anger washing through her like a wildfire. Lucanis was well aware of Viago’s hope to have one of his proteges marry into the Dellamorte House and had promised her an out from the organization as a whole upon taking the mantle of First Talon.
That didn’t stop her from letting the rage at the injustice of Viago’s order sweep her up. A wild, mad idea practically screamed at her from the feral part of her psyche, but she merely smiled, empty and pretty. “Yes, sir.”
***
Less than five minutes and a trip to the bathing room later, Annika approached Emmrich where he still leaned on the railing of the balcony. He gave her a soft smile. “Is Lucanis back yet?”
Despite her pulse pounding in her throat, Annika grinned back. “Not yet. If you're bored, I'm certain you can find entertainment somewhere around the casino.”
The blooming red that stained the necromancer's cheeks at her unsubtle implication was positively heady. He seemed wholly taken aback. “I…see.”
Be bold, she told herself. She reached into her pocket to withdraw the small bundle and turned to leave, slipping it into Emmrich's palm. “Closet. Five minutes.”
As she sauntered away, she watched Emmrich open his fist-then clamp it shut quickly. Her step quickened at the thrill that pulsed in her as he stuffed the lacy pink fabric into his pocket and looked at her with an unabashed hunger.
Unaffected, indeed.
***
With each minute that ticked past the five she’d given him, Annika’s confidence withered away until she was pacing the tiny closet space. Emmrich Volkarin was nothing if not prompt, so was he having second thoughts? Finally taking her warnings about Viago seriously and keeping his distance from her while here?
Maker help her, how was this closet more claustrophobic without the necromancer’s imposing presence?
Breathe, she ordered herself. Perhaps Lucanis returned and Emmrich doesn’t have a discreet way to come find me.
Yes. That made sense. That felt alright.
Still, she waited another five excruciating minutes before slipping from the closet to return to the Crow rotunda.
But Emmrich wasn’t there either. She scanned each individual person throughout the circular space and out on the balconies, but no tall lean form of her lover in sight. Her heartbeat quickened, but still she forced herself to relax and step out the broken window toward where the eluvian waited.
Her stomach dropped at the sight of Lucanis standing before the mirror, surrounded by canvas sacks of provisions. “Where have you been?” her fellow Crow demanded irritably. “Did Emmrich already leave?”
“No…I mean, I don’t think so.” A heavy sense of dread settled in the pit of her stomach. “You haven’t seen him?”
Lucanis straightened at her tone, irritation melting away to worry. “No. I thought you two might have snuck off together.”
“We were supposed to, but he never turned up.” Her voice quivered, feeling ill.
The assassin nodded once, face grim. “I’ll enter the Crossroads to see if he’s merely waiting there. You go ask around for him. We’ll find him, Rook.”
She took a shuddering breath. “Right. He’s got to be around her somewhere. It’s only been about twenty minutes since I saw him.”
Lucanis stepped through the mirror without another word, leaving the canvas sacks behind.
Annika turned on her heel and stalked back into the rotunda, eyes scanning for any sign of Emmrich. Her gaze landed on the exit to the rooftop training ground and set off to check there.
She didn’t make it three steps before being stopped by Heir. The strange elven woman gripped her arm perhaps a bit tighter than necessary. “You search for the death mage,” she said bluntly.
“Have you seen him?” Annika tried to keep her voice tempered, but the panic building in her chest roared to escape.
Heir’s face was rather grim. “He was speaking with the Fifth and Seventh Talons. Fifteen minutes ago.”
She was going to vomit. “Thanks.”
The trainer released her arm. Annika all but raced down the spiral stairs again, taking a turn at the corridor at the base toward the suite that Teia gifted Viago when House de Riva’s headquarters had been taken over by Antaam.
The door to Viago’s office was half-open at the end of the hall, the warm glow of a lit fireplace within. Annika took a moment outside to let the Mask of the Assassin slip back into place over her entire being before pushing the door open.
Sitting on a short-backed chair directly across from the door was Emmrich. A gag of white cloth was shoved between his teeth and tied around his head like a bit, his eyes bulging at the sight of her. His arms were bound behind his back, ankles shackled to the chair legs.
On a chair beside him, Teia lounged with her feet crossed at the ankle atop the necromancer's knee. She flipped a small dagger idly in her hand as she smiled at her predatorially. “Good evening, Rook.”
Behind her, the door clicked shut. She didn't need to look to know Viago was there, standing close enough that she could feel his body heat. He was deathly silent behind her. An intimidation tactic.
Assassin Mask. Assassin Mask. She forced a world-weary smile on her face as she ignored Viago. “This is a strange way to show the famed Cantori hospitality, Teia.”
Teia dropped her legs from Emmrich’s knee, rising to stand beside him and caressing the knife down his cheek. He shuddered, breathing somewhat uneven. Frightened. “It seemed appropriate to pull out all the stops for such a special guest.”
“Well. I’m sure Professor Volkarin has had a lovely evening doing…whatever this is, but if it’s all the same to you, I would like my Fade expert back, please.”
Emmrich’s eyes widened further, garbled words muffled by the gag. She wanted so badly to offer some form of reassurance, a soft look, anything. But the cold, slithering voice of Viago kept her stone-faced as his breath hit the back of her neck. “Keeping secrets from your Talon never ends well,
Anni.
I thought you understood that.”
“What are you on about now?” she said icily, still not turning around. Clearly, Viago craved the dramatics, so it was best to let him have them.
“Not some old death mage, unlike you.”
She fought the rising blush and sighed heavily. “Is this because I haven’t bedded Lucanis? Jumping to wild conclusions inst-”
“Save it,” Viago snarled. “All that training, all that time spent beating practices of stealth and subterfuge into your head, all for you to have the subtlety of a bronto. Honestly, Rook, are we supposed to think your death mage’s little performance with the spoon was for mine and Teia’s benefit?”
Teia piped up from where she idly ran the dagger up and down Emmrich’s leg, paying no mind to his involuntary twitches. “I don’t know, Vi, I think we benefited from it a
little.”
Annika’s cheeks heated, an uncontrollable dead giveaway. Emmrich’s cheeks too were red above the gag. “A…harmless crush, Viago. That’s all it is. It’s not serio-”
At that moment, Teia slipped the tip of her blade along Emmrich’s thigh, eliciting a muffled gasp, and used it to drag something lace and pink from the necromancer’s pocket. Annika’s stomach dropped even as Teia twirled the undergarments on the point of her knife. “These don’t appear to be your style, Professor.”
He gave her a reproachful glare in return.
“
Mierda
, Rook. You’re really fucking him?” Viago at last stalked around to face her, the cold fury on her face enough to make her take a step back. “Do you forget where your allegiance lies?”
“You were the one that cast me out,” Annika bit back, voice quavering shamefully. “You sent me away to fight gods. You can’t…it isn’t fair for you to-”
“
Fair
would be for me to gut your elderly lover as repayment for keeping secrets from me,” Viago cut across her. “Or perhaps I should fetch Emil and introduce the two of them.”
The pulse of fear that zinged through her nearly brought her to her knees. Emmrich let an angry, muffled grunt and lunged against his bindings, green fade energy rippling off his body. She’d shared her fear of snakes with him, particularly Viago’s pet adder, and were the situation not so dire she might have gotten butterflies in her stomach at Emmrich’s anger on her behalf.
Teia laced her fingers through Emmrich’s hair and yanked him back upright, her blade coming to rest against his throat in warning. Annika took a step toward him, breath coming in shallower pants as she fought the rising tide of panic, but Viago’s gloved hand clamped on her shoulder then and turned her back to him. “Tell me why we shouldn’t kill him now, Idiot. Beg for his life.”
There was no pride, no shame in her soul as she looked between her Talon and her lover, tears streaming freely. “Please,” she whispered. “Don’t hurt him. I’ll…I’ll do anything.”
Emmrich gave another muffled shout at her, cut off by a cruel yank on his hair by Teia. Viago smiled coolly. “Anything? That is an awfully big promise, Anni.”
It was. And she meant it, even if it meant selling her soul to the Crows forever.
She maintained Viago’s hard gaze, even as tears continued to fall. The only thing she could do now was wait for the hammer to fall.
But then Viago huffed a laugh, a full chuckle that Teia joined. Annika merely remained frozen. “Oh, Annika, you always were the romantic,” he said at last. “The little princess that wished for true love. Is this truly what you want? A subterranean schoolteacher twice your age?”
Annika nodded, throat tight.
Viago rolled his eyes. “
Mierda.
What do you think, Andarateia? Shall we let her leave with the death mage?”
Teia shrugged, still holding the blade to Emmrich’s throat. “I think she gets your point, Vi. And now the professor’s been properly introduced to the family.”
“Indeed,” Viago smirked. He stroked his chin in mock thoughtfulness. “But did my wayward fledgeling really learn her lesson in keeping secrets? Or do we-”
The throwing blade kept tucked in her leathers was out and flying at Viago before she could register what she was doing. The Talon had only a split second to react, twisting just in time for the knife to pin his cape to the wall rather than his arm. It hummed as the handle swayed side to side.
“You will let him go, now, or the next one will be in your throat,” Annika snarled through her tears. She clenched her fists to hide their trembling.
The room was deadly silent as Viago regarded her. Annika desperately hoped this would be the one time the Maker would heed her prayers.
Then Viago grinned widely. “Perhaps this little fling with the mage is good for you after all. You seem to have come into your claws.”
“Release. Him.”
The silent battle of wills between the two of them waged silently. At last, Viago clicked his tongue and reached behind him to yank the dagger free from the wall, throwing it down at her feet with a clatter against the wood floor. “Take your mage and go. Enjoy it while it lasts. When the contract is complete and the gods are dead, you will remember where you belong.”
And with that, he stalked out the door, Annika hardly daring to breathe.
“Well, good thing Vi is never dramatic,” Teia sighed, releasing Emmrich’s hair and removing the knife from his throat.
Annika rushed to Emmrich then, tears falling in earnest as she pulled the gag from his mouth. “Annika, my love, I’m so sorr-” he began, but was cut off with the crush of her lips against his.
“Don’t you dare apologize for this,” she half-snapped, half sobbed. She moved behind him and took the knife Teia offered silently to slice through his bonds at his wrists and ankles. “I should never have brought you here. This is all my fault.”
Emmrich rubbed the circulation back into his wrists and rose to his feet. He tried to pull her into his arms, but she stepped out of his reach, breaths coming in shallow pants. “Darling, come here.”
She didn’t. Couldn’t. Just like she couldn’t stop picturing Teia's knife hand slipping as she held the dagger to his neck, or Viago pouring him a glass of poisoned wine, or the adder she so feared being set around his neck…
“Annika. Breathe. Look at me.”
The command in his voice was never something she could ignore, not even in throes of pure terror and panic. She met his eyes then, and was startled to find the slightest hint of…amusement? The corners of his lips were twitching, as though barely containing a smile. “I’m alright. Truly. A little rattled, but nothing I didn’t expect from falling in love with a very beautiful assassin.”
“Oh, I like him,” Teia’s eyes sparkled as her head swiveled between the pair of them. “He understands us.”
“How can you both be so cavalier about this?” Annika demanded. Emmrich offered her a handkerchief from his pocket, which she took to dab furiously at her wet cheeks before jabbing a finger at Teia. “And why are you still here?”
Teia smiled slyly. Despite the lingering fear and rage warring within her, Annika couldn’t help but shiver under the weight of the Seventh Talon’s stare. “Look at you, angry and trembling. Your death mage has been very good for you indeed, gatita.” She leaned so very close, the scent of rose and citrus washing over her as the other woman’s lips brushed her ear. “I like it.”
The goosebumps that rippled across her skin were decidedly not fear-based.
Emmrich’s mouth was slightly open as he watched Teia kiss the delicate skin just below Annnika’s ear once before backing away with a wink in his direction. “Let’s do this again sometime. And don’t worry too much about Vi. He has a soft spot for you. Just give him that pretty little pout again and he’ll come around. Professor, it was a pleasure to get to know you better.”
“Likewise,” Emmrich said with a genteel air.
Annika’s mouth was quite dry as she watched Teia leave with one final smile over her shoulder.
“Well then.” Emmrich’s warm hand rested on her shoulder then, and she let him pull her into his embrace. “That was…quite something.”
She could only nod, the tears drying on her cheeks as the adrenaline wore off.
Emmrich kissed the top of her head before tilting her face up by the chin to look at him. Their lips met, soft and sweet, and Annika’s eyes stung again. When she pulled away it was to wipe at them with the handkerchief still in her grip. “Did they hurt you?” she whispered.
“No, my sweet. I daresay it was the most gentle kidnapping in history.” The attempt at humor was met with a snort on her end. He kissed her cheek, catching the tear that managed to escape her attempts to hold them back. “I’m alright, Annika. This wasn’t your fault.”
“How was it not?” she pulled away from him and turned, not feeling worthy of his loving embrace. “I knew something like this would happen if I dared…if I tried to be with you. It was selfish, stupid, horrible…”
“As I recall, it was I who pined for you first,” Emmrich said softly. “I knew the risks of falling in lo-being in a relationship with one of the famed Crows. That has not deterred me in the slightest.”
Her stomach gave a great leap in spite of herself at his near slip. He loved her…
Emmrich continued carefully. “Maker knows that my life and chosen field of work does not come without its risks as well. Risks that I know frighten you at times.”
He was right, though she refused to show it. There were elements to necromancy and the Necropolis that made her quite nervous when they visited. “That’s different,” she tried to argue anyway. “Being with you doesn’t specifically put a target on my back in the Necropolis. It’s simply an…occupational hazard.”
“You’re getting into semantics, darling.” Two large, gold-laden hands came to rub soothing lines up and down her folded arms, the warmth of his body pressing into her from behind. “Besides, Lucanis has promised to let you retire once he is First Talon. You won’t be a Crow forever.”
That promise had been made weeks ago in the bath chambers of the Lighthouse, but it had lit a fire of hope within her that she scarcely dared dwell upon, lest it be snuffed out cruelly.
Perhaps it was time she let that hope carry her.
“If you wish to…to end things with me until that happens, I will understand.” The words tasted awful as they left her mouth, but it had to be said.
The hands rubbing her upper arms froze for a second. Dread filled her stomach in that moment, until she found herself being spun roughly and backed against the study door. Emmrich’s eyes were hard as her hands scrambled helplessly at his chest. He seized her wrists and pinned them above her head to still them. “I will only say this once, Annika de Riva.” Her name on his lips brought a heat to her belly. “You will not be rid of me unless you order me away. I do not care what Viago, or anyone else in the world says.”
The hands holding her wrists softened just a bit as rested his forehead against hers. “I care about you too much to let any trifling thing get in the way.”
I love you,
her heart begged her to say.
“You’re crazy, you know,” she said hoarsely instead.
“At the risk of sounding too cheesy, I am crazy for you.” He kissed the tip of her nose as Annika gave a small, helpless giggle at that. “Now, let’s not keep Lucanis waiting any longer.”
He let go to give her space to open the door, but in a mad spur of adrenaline, she seized the front of his vest and dragged him back for a bruising kiss. The muffled cry he gave was promptly swallowed as she swept her tongue against his, those maddeningly big hands cupping her face and hip. Teeth caught her lower lip, making her gasp. As his lips moved to her neck, she felt more than heard him whisper “What happened to waiting until we’re through the eluvian?”
“Change of plan?” she offered weakly.
He regarded her for a moment, gaze searching. “What about Lucanis?”
“He can wait.”
Emmrich’s eyes smoldered at her tone. “Then I am yours to command, darling girl.”
A thrill went through her at the heated promise in his voice, dropped so low and husky in desire now. “Sit on that couch.” A raised brow. She blushed. “Please.”
Emmrich obeyed instantly, backing up with her still in his arms to the low red velvet couch before the fireplace. He fell back upon it, gazing up at her as she stood between his thighs. His hair was mussed already from Teia’s grip on it, eyes wide with adoration as he caressed up the sides of her thighs. She took his chin between her fingers and tilted it further to kiss him deeply once more. “Let me make you feel good,” she murmured before lowering to her knees.
If he noticed the tremble in her hands as she undid the laces of his trousers, he didn't comment. Instead he leaned back into the couch and watched her with heavy-lidded eyes.
Annika had done this once with him before, a clumsy, half-wild effort on the night they had first been intimate. It had stemmed from a need to reciprocate from having his mouth on her most sensitive area.
This time was different. This time, she needed to feel powerful.
He was already half-hard by the time she freed his cock from his trousers and undershorts. Before she could lean closer to lick a stripe up the underside, a hand caught her chin and tilted it up to look at him. “Darling,” he said hesitantly, the flexing of his free hand on the armrest betraying his desire. “Is this your way of…getting back at Viago? Getting on your knees for me in his office?”
“...a little?” Doubt crept into her heart as she looked at his unreadable expression. “Does that bother you?”
The hand on her chin slid up her cheek, higher, finding her ponytail. She could feel him winding the long blonde strands around his hand a second before he yanked, forcing her to bare her neck for him with a whimpering gasp. Teeth grazed the sensitive skin of her throat when he leaned forward. “ On the contrary…” he growled.
Annika’s pulse quickened beneath his lips at that. She smiled, more out of relief than anything, and tugged against his grip to lower back to his cock. Emmrich acquiesced but didn’t let go, instead sinking back into the couch with an indulgent smirk.
The first lick of his rapidly hardening length was heady, lewd in the face of their location. The next brought a choked groan from Emmrich’s throat. The third, ending in a kiss that encompassed the head of his cock, had him bucking into her mouth as she pressed closer for more.
She wrapped her hand around the base and squeezed lightly, looking up at him questioningly. He let out a strangled moan in reply. Emboldened, she took him deep in her mouth until her lips hit her closed fist. “Oh, that’s perfect, ” he groaned, eyes drifting shut. “Your mouth feels incredible. “
The praise went straight to her core, as it always did. She moaned into him as she let her tongue trail the underside, bobbing a little too far and gagging around him. The hand tangled in her hair tightened. “Fuck, darling, do you like that? Do you like having me in your throat?”
“Yes,” she whimpered as she withdrew to swirl her tongue around the head, tasting the salty bead that gathered there.
“Take more, then.” The authoritative tone did frightening things to her as she squeaked and let him push the length back into her mouth once more. “Look at you, so desperate for my cock. Do you think your Talon knows what a needy little thing you are?”
His words shocked her just as much as they sent a thrill pulsing between her legs. Her toes curled in her boots as she gagged on him once more. “I wanted to bend you over that table and show the Talons just how good you are for me during that meeting, sweet girl. Let them see that you are
mine
.”
The idea was so depraved, so wild, that she found herself clenching her thighs together for any sort of relief. The hand not fisting his cock drifted to stroke along the front of her trousers, where Emmrich had teased her so mercilessly early beneath the table. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes as she took him as deep as she was able to, an ugly whine escaping her lips.
When she lifted her gaze, she nearly came at the sight that met her. Emmrich, eyes squeezed shut, the fist not holding her hair clenched on his lap beside her head. He was trembling, as though barely holding back from utterly snapping.
She wasn’t sure she was ready to see what that looked like. But Sweet Maker did the thought awaken some wild, primal part of her.
Then his eyes opened and met hers, and she snapped first.
She let his cock slide from her mouth with a pop and rose to stand between his knees once more. He all but whined at the loss of her mouth, only to grunt as she seized him by the face to kiss him once more with abandon. Nimble fingers began to undo the top buttons of her shirt to free her breasts over the top of the supportive leather corset before finding her peaked nipples. “This Crow uniform is absolutely maddening.” he groaned, leaning closer to trace one with the tip of his tongue. “It is a wonder your organization ever gets anything done.”
The front laces of her trousers were quickly undone, the garment shoved off with her boots in one quick movement. Emmrich’s hands promptly found her backside and squeezed, massaging and pulling her closer to better lavish attention on her breasts. She swore sometimes that she could come from his lips, teeth, and tongue on her nipples alone.
But tonight wasn’t the time to find out, not as her soaked center clenched around aching emptiness.
She pushed him further back on the couch and straddled his narrow hips, planting her hands on either side of him for stability. There was no time wasted in sinking onto his length, not as his hands gripped the flesh of her ass hard enough to bruise.
This was a new position for her, being on top and in control of the pace. The stretch of him was different at this angle, seeming to fill every part of her aching cunt. Emmrich buried his face into her shoulder as she paused to adjust to him, teeth grazing at her clavicle. “Annika, darling, I'm not going to last like this.”
“I don't want you to,” she breathed. She rolled her hips against his to punctuate her point.
One of the hands caressing her backside suddenly lifted before coming down hard against the soft flesh with a crack. Annika jolted with a startled cry that turned into a whine. Emmrich's mouth was slightly open as he regarded her, pupils nearly swallowing the gray-hazel of his irises. “ Then move.”
The force within her that craved to please him, to hear him sing her praises, compelled her to obey. She writhed on his thick length, gasping as it hit new, untouched places within her. Emmrich sat back against the couch and watched through hooded eyelids, absorbing every detail of her as though she was a priceless work of art. “Look at you,” he caressed her hips worshipfully. “Look how absolutely perfect you take me. Such a good girl.”
She whimpered at that and thrust her hips harder still. The soft, strong cotton of his trousers delivered the most delicious friction against her bare thighs. It felt so sinful to be bare from the waist down, breasts freed from her shirt and bouncing with each drive of her hips into his.
Then his hands left her hips to gently grab her wrists. Annika slowed, the slightest bit of worry a sour tang in her mouth. Was she doing something wrong?”
Emmrich gave her an absolutely sinful smile. “Indulge me a moment, darling.” He guided her hands to rest on his knees behind her back, lips brushing against the peak of one nipple in a kiss that had her toes curling. As he mouthed along her breasts, his fingers undid the front laces of her corseted top and then the undershirt buttons until her shirt was fully open.
Annika helped shrug out of it, leaving her completely bare for him.
“Perfection,” he sighed. He leaned back to take her in fully, and she blushed under his attention. “Please continue, my beautiful girl.”
The blush extended down from her cheeks and over her breasts as she rolled her hips once more experimentally. Pleasure, deep and aching, bloomed deep in her belly, and she moaned. “Fuck, Emmrich, that feels so good…”
“Just like that,” he crooned before brushing a thumb over her clit just above where they were joined. The simple action dragged a much louder sob from deep within her chest, fingers digging into the lean muscle of his thighs behind her. “Do you like that?”
“
Yes!”
He shushed her with a dark smile and continued to circle her clit with his thumb. She bounced harder on his cock, the pressure of her release building like water behind a dam within her core. Whimpered cries rose in volume, echoing around the stone of the office, but she didn’t care, not as Emmrich began to thrust his hips upward to meet her.
Everything else in the world disappeared, leaving only the blinding pleasure of his cock deep within her and the devouring force of his gaze on hers. She was going to come, hard and loud, make a mess out of his trousers beneath her…
A snarling cry ripped from her throat as release raced through her. Emmrich sat upright abruptly and clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle it, rings digging into her lips. Heat spiked in her cheeks as that pushed her over the edge, vision going spotty with the force of her climax.
Emmrich groaned at the clenching of her soaked heat around his cock and pulled her off with a grunt. Annika was about to protest when she found their places swapped in a blur of movement-Emmrich kneeling between her thighs on the couch, her legs splayed wide open. He kept the hand on her mouth to muffle her screams as he fucked back into her.
“Do you see what you do to me?” he panted in between each thrust. Her head was pinned to the backrest of the couch with the hand on her lips, giving her the perfect view of the errant strand of hair curling down over his forehead and hungry gaze. “How you make me lose all control, drive me to madness…”
Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes and trickled onto the gold of his rings. “I am going to come inside you, and when we leave this place you will bid farewell to Viago and Teia and every other Crow we pass with my seed dripping down your thigh beneath your leathers. Would you like that?” She was certain she could blush no harder, trying to turn her head away from his blazing eyes only to have his grip on her face tighten to keep her in place. “Answer me.”
“Yes!” she moaned into his warm palm. “Please, please, please…”
Her muffled pleas finished him. Emmrich released her mouth to clap the hand over his own as he came with a cry of his own, eyes squeezed shut. Annika grabbed his wrist to pull his hand away so she could kiss him long and hard then, warmth blooming in her chest along with between her thighs as his spend leaked from between them.
It took some time for both of them to breathe normally again, enough for Emmrich to withdraw from her with a hiss and collapse beside her on the couch. “That was…” he began, eyes round in wonder as he beheld her.
“Wow.”
He laughed and kissed the back of her hand. “Wow.” He bent to pick up his discarded handkerchief to dab at her thighs with an apologetic grin. “How are you feeling, my sweet?”
Utterly taken apart. Shattered. A pile of mush at this point.
Powerful.
But also- “I just had sex in Viago de Riva’s office.”
“Indeed you did,” Emmrich smirked. Damn him, why was that so attractive?
“He’s going to kill me.”
“He most certainly will not.”
His tone left no room for discussion. Annika gave him an exasperated, fond smile before looking down at the mess between her thighs. “Well. My impending assassination aside, we shouldn’t keep Lucanis waiting.”
They cleaned up the best they could, though when Annika slid her trousers up over her bare ass, she noted the way Emmrich stared, as though envisioning his seed still dripping from her.
It was halfway up the spiral stairs that Emmrich stopped her, a blush tinting his cheeks. How adorable, she thought, after fucking her so hard she could barely remember her own name, that he was still capable of blushing. “Did Andarateia return your undergarments?”
The realization hit her then as well, making her face heat all over again. “No. She did not.”
“Ah.” They stood there on the stairs in silence. Annika blushed harder at the memory of Teia’s lips on her neck, the promise in her voice. When Emmrich spoke again, it was measured, a little too casual. “Do the two of you have a…history?”
“No,” she said a little too quickly. He quirked a brow, and she groaned, blushing harder. “No! Just…I may have had a little infatuation when I was younger. I didn’t think she really took much notice of me.”
“Isn’t she and Viago-”
Maker, this was getting embarrassing. “They have been on and off for years. I don’t think either are ones to be tied down. At least not yet.”
“Hm.”
Annika frowned up at him. “Emmrich, what are you thinking?”
He didn’t answer for a long moment.
“It was a passing crush, long over,” she insisted, now worrying. “I would never-”
“Annika, love, you need not ever worry about me doubting your fidelity,” he said with a kiss to her forehead. “It was an idle fantasy, nothing more.”
Oh.
Her cheeks were still hot all the way to the eluvian.
***
“He’s clean. Pristine record from the Necropolis, well-respected in his field, no accounts of any level of corruption.” The fledgling, a human girl called Dartonia, reported nervously. Viago scowled at her as she stood before him and Teia with a straight back. So anxious and eager to please, like Annika had been as a fledgling.
How things change.
“She’s right, Vi,” Teia said with a shrug over where she sifted through the reports at her desk. “Not even a disgruntled ex, by all accounts.”
Dartonia nodded, fidgeting with the edge of her cloak. “Will that be all, ma'am?”
“Dismissed, fledgling,” Teia offered an encouraging smile to the young woman. “Good work.”
The fledgling bowed once to her, and a little more stiffly to Viago before scurrying out the door.
Viago gave Teia a long-suffering glare. “You're too soft on your trainees. That will mean trouble, you know.”
“Mm. I suppose we'll see if Dartonia fucks a death mage twice her age in my office too.”
The reminder made Viago pull a face. Even after setting the finest cleaning team in Treviso on his borrowed office space, he couldn't even look at the couch without cringing. The damp patch he had discovered on the cushion after Annika and the necromancer emerged, red-faced and disheveled, still seemed to linger as a phantom despite being spotless now.
He'd have to replace the damn thing.
“Besides,” Teia continued, crossing her legs daintily. “You like him. You know he’s good for her.”
“I don’t like secrets in my own house.” He rubbed his temple tiredly. “She’s too sweet for her own good. Too much of a romantic. How will he react when he fully understands the extent of an assassin’s life? He will break her heart, and then I’ll have a weepy, useless mess on my hands.”
Teia’s smirk was far too pleased. “I see where she gets her sweetness from.”
“She’s already enough of a headache, even withou-”
“Sure, sure.”
A moment of contemplative silence passed. “I suppose he does put a little fire in her veins,” he admitted begrudgingly.
“That was one hell of a knife throw,” Teia agreed. “Relax,
mi vida.
Annika’s a big girl. She can take care of herself.”
For her sake, he hoped so.