Tissaia was in the middle of brushing out her hair when the lock clicked and the door opened. She spared Azael half a glance but continued with her task. "I'm surprised you didn't find somewhere else to sleep. You were gone so long I thought you must have."

    "I was just trying to give you ample time, and I was delayed from returning."

    "By?"

    There was a note of humor in his response. "Your brother."

    "Nepenthe spare us," Tissaia sighed. "What did he do?"

    "Nothing, surprisingly. He knows you were lying between your teeth though." Tissaia slipped her comb back into her satchel and began to braid her hair, but paused when Azael caught her wrist. She frowned at him. "Leave it down for a while," he requested.

    She crossed her arms, but digressed. "So, what else did my brother tell you?"

    "That you're still confused about some things, and that I need to be more honest with you than I've already been."

    Tissaia cocked her head. Much as she could smack her twin for sticking his nose where it didn't belong, she had to admit that he'd achieved the results she'd been wanting. She rolled her hand, gesturing for Azael to continue.

    "Like I said before, I can't promise that you'll be Queen someday," Azael repeated. "It's still too soon. There are things I have to sort out for myself before that time comes."

    "But?" She pressed, sensing there was more he needed to say in spite of his hesitation.

    "But I don't want you to think you're wasting your time on someone who doesn't care for you in return." Her eyes widened at that. "I do," Azael reaffirmed, taking the look as one of disbelief rather than surprise. "I do care for you, Tissaia, and I always have. I was just too afraid of the future to let it show." He inched closer, and when he took her hand in his own, she didn't pull away.

    "I know you do," she replied. "That's why it hurt so much when you pretended otherwise. I thought there was something wrong with me. That I had done something to make you dislike me. And your actions were so conflicting. Sometimes I thought maybe it was all in my head."

    "It's been better though, right?"

    She smiled and offered him a slight nod. "Yes, for the most part. I just wish you would give me the full truth. The answers I know I'm still missing. But I won't push you for them until you're ready, and you don't have to give them to me until then, no matter what my brother might say."

    Azael averted his gaze, his lips moving but no words emerging. He closed his mouth finally and she saw his throat bob. Her brows pulled together and she laid her hand over his, squeezing it gently. It was so odd, seeing him wrestle with such heavy confusion and so much self-doubt.

    For as long as she had known him, he'd been firm and heavy-handed, never backing down from what he knew needed to be said or done. Except when it came to her. What was it about her that unnerved him so? Or was it something within himself?

    Tissaia bit her lip, considering the words that had risen to mind. "I told you before that I would give you everything," she whispered at last. "And that is still true. I would give you whatever you asked, even if you asked me to leave you forever."

    Azael's pale gaze met hers. "I don't want you to leave me. I just want you to be safe."

    "I'm safe with you."

    Something within his expression twisted her heart but she didn't get the chance to question him further. His calloused hand cupped her face and her breath stole away. He leaned down, touching his cheek to her bare one before his head dipped lower and his nose brushed against her shoulder. Tissaia angled her face into his palm, arching her neck. She was breathing again somehow, though it remained light and shallow.

    She tensed as Azael's free hand drifted down to her waist and glided beneath her shirt to rest against her skin. A tingle lanced her spine and Tissaia laid her own shaking hands atop his shoulders. She couldn't swallow her breathless gasp as his lips touched her throat.

    She buried her nose in his hair, drinking in his familiar scent of teak wood and amber. The last time she'd been this close to him had ended in a disaster. If she was going to be discarded like that again, she at least wanted some warmth to carry with her.

    But Azael didn't pull away. His face remained nestled in the crook of her neck, leaving soft kisses that branded her skin. "Gods, you have no idea how much I hate my own mind," he rasped. "Things could've been different so long ago if it didn't plague me with these thoughts."

    "What thoughts, Darling?" Tissaia let her head fall back as his lips drifted to the center of her throat.

    She threaded her fingers through his hair and cupped the back of his neck with her other hand. His mouth traced a line down to her collarbone and his hands slid up her waist until he was holding her just below her ribs. Every inch of her was warm and humming in anticipation, though she did her best to staunch the feelings.

    Just because he was doing this didn't mean something else was going to happen. She shouldn't let anything else happen. It would only complicate the tentative closeness between them. And yet she wanted more. She'd wanted to feel appreciated and desired for so long. She had wanted him to want her. To need her. To crave her, just as she craved him, and he said he did, hadn't he?

    "The thoughts that tell me I shouldn't be doing this." His breath was scalding against her already flushed skin. He rested his forehead against her chest and try as she might, Tissaia couldn't slow her racing heartbeat. "The ones that tell me I'll bring you pain and death. But there are other thoughts too."

    Her face flamed when he lifted his head and met her gaze as he pulled one hand from her waist to trace her collarbone, then traveled lower. His fingertips stopped on her sternum. "The depraved fantasies you think I'm too proper to have."

    Her lips curled into a grin. "And what sort of fantasies are you having now, your Highness?" His gaze turned heavy and smoldering, its weight settling into the pit of her stomach. She kept her attention on his face even as she touched a hand to his thigh and let it wander towards where his body was already reacting to her.

    "I think I'll keep those to myself for now," Azael chuckled in response. He hooked a finger beneath her chin and pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth. "I have a better idea, if you want to have some fun."

    "What kind of fun?" She teased. "The kind my brother will kill you for?"

    "That is entirely up to you. Tell me one of your own fantasies, my Lady, and I will make it come true."

    Tissaia blinked, emotion rising to her throat unbidden. "Are you sure, Darling? I don't want there to be any more regrets between us."

    Azael drew back, meeting her gaze fully. "I'm sure. But we can set limits, if you'll feel more comfortable."

    "Tell me what you think you would regret, and I won't ask you for those things."

    He nodded with a small sigh. "Then, as much as I want the opposite, I think it would be best if we don't cross that final boundary just yet."

    "All right," she agreed. "I'll add the stipulation that we don't actually kiss just yet either. There...there is a lot of emotion, tied into a first kiss."

    "Have you never been kissed?"

    Her face flushed and she could feel the heat of it in the tips of her ears. "There have been those who tried, but that was the one thing I was never willing to give anyone."

    Azael's gaze softened and he nodded once more. "If that is your condition, I agree."

    "And I agree to yours."

    "Then tell me what you would have me do instead." His palms flashed amber as he cast a shield over the room, and she shivered at the promise of the gesture.

    Tissaia twisted away from him and inched further back onto the bed. Azael watched her with a crooked smile. She paused when her back reached the pillows, and let her hand rest on her thigh. "Remember what I mentioned about your hand?"

    His gaze tracked hers to the partially done laces of her pants. Tissaia swallowed, her mouth running dry as he nodded and pushed himself towards her. His hand landed on her leg and followed it all the way to her hip, before he moved her hand aside and unfastened her pants.

    "You said you wanted to feel my touch in many places," Azael murmured, his voice low and smooth. "But here especially, I gather." Tissaia's lashes fluttered against her cheeks as his hand dipped between her legs. A heavy ache spread through her lower abdomen and her breath came in soft pants as his fingers caressed her. Azael angled himself over her, holding her gaze when she opened her eyes again. "Is this what you envisioned in your fantasies, my Lady?"

    "Yes," she answered with a desperate moan.

    Azael's breath caught and she tipped her head back to let him resume kissing her neck. She swallowed another faint moan and lifted her hips, deepening the pleasure that spooled through her. His hand maintained an even pressure and slow pace.

    It was almost maddening. Just enough to grant her the perfect amount of pleasure, and yet not enough to bring her over the edge yet. Tissaia let her hips begin to rock and Azael added just a little more pressure to his gentle strokes.

    "Azael, Darling," she moaned once more, pleasure swelling through every point of her body.

    "Gods, you're torturing me," he grunted in response.

    Tissaia met his half-lidded gaze as she slipped her hands beneath his shirt and dragged her nails down his spine. Azael shuddered, dropping his face to her neck. His hips pressed against hers and she almost pleaded for more, feeling that hard spot between his legs. Instead, she hooked her own around him and arched into him. Azael went rigid, pulling his hand away from her to slip it beneath her back.

    His lips skimmed from her neck down to her sternum. Tissaia pulled her shirt down lower and let out a faint whimper as he took the invitation and kissed the curve of her breast. She ground her hips against his, chasing the wave of pleasure that was growing ever steeper. His groans echoed her own and he thrust against her, chasing that same overhanging pleasure.

    Her hand found his hair once more and she gripped his arm with her other hand, bracing herself against him. Azael's touch slid down her back and settled behind her hips. She didn't even pause to consider that he had felt her scars, and he said nothing about them. Tissaia moaned louder as he pushed her harder against himself. She could feel how desperately he wanted her. Wanted to please her. Wanted to claim her.

    "Azael," she breathed. "My Darling. My Prince." There would be no coming back from this. But she wouldn't regret it. She could never regret him.

    "Tissaia," he answered, her name both a prayer and a plea.

    Azael's lips met the shell of her ear, then the tender space below it. She tightened her legs around him with another moan as pleasure swept through her in unrelenting tides. Azael continued to layer gentle kisses to her neck and jaw, even as he shivered against her. Tissaia didn't lower her legs until the swell finally eased.

    Then she let herself go limp, fisting a hand atop her chest as she struggled to catch her breath. Azael swept another light kiss to her temple before he shifted off her. She watched him through heavy lashes as he changed pants and tossed her a pair of her own. She begrudgingly pulled them on before Azael returned.

    He climbed into his side of the bed and she scooted over to him. He smiled as she nestled her back against his chest. He folded his arms over her and slid one of his legs between hers. Tissaia rested an arm on top of his and laced their fingers together. Azael's breath caught, but he didn't pull away.

    "Goodnight, Darling," she murmured, her eyes already drifting shut.

    "Goodnight," he echoed. And as she faded to sleep, she was aware of him humming quietly once more.