Gates of Rapture (Guardians of Ascension 6)

Overt battle was only one facet of war preparation. Right now, the logistics of how to move a million warriors had become the focus.

He rounded the island, setting his cup down as he drew near. He sat on the stool next to her and rubbed his fingers over her arm. She could feel what that felt like to him, the softness of her skin beneath his fingers. She sighed again. And she felt grateful.

“You are a hard thinker, Grace. Even the muscles of your cheeks feel tense.”

She met his gaze and touched his face with her hands. He’d shaved, and his skin felt so smooth. She could feel how warm her fingers felt to him. “I’ve always been this way. You need to know that about me. I think about everything.”

“No problem,” he said, searching her eyes. “Just try not to shut me out.”

She frowned. “What do you mean?” She set her cup on the island and shifted toward him, one knee between his legs.

He tapped her forehead with his index finger. “Here. I suspect when you think this hard you believe you’ve spoken aloud, but you haven’t.”

“Oh. You may be right.”

“So…”

She blinked, and once more felt her brow furrow. Enlightenment dawned, however slowly. “I should share more.” Maybe that was part of her ghost ways: Her life was internal, and she rarely communicated her thoughts with anyone.

“Please.” But his eyes were lit with laughter so she did the only thing that made sense. She leaned into him and kissed him on the lips. As she drew back, he followed and captured her mouth, kissing her back and catching her around the waist.

She could feel his body light up. How quickly his maleness responded to touch, to sensation, to his tongue deep in her mouth. And because she could feel the pleasure riding him so quickly, she melted against him. In a way, his pleasure had become hers.

I feel your ni**les against my chest and my chest against your ni**les. This is so strange. Wonderful, but strange.

She drew back and planted a hand on his chest. How quickly sex could fire up between them. She kept her hand firmly in place and at the same time set up a quick succession of blocks to stop from feeling all that his body experienced.

“I’m feeling you very low,” he said. “How your body responds to me.”

“Hush,” she whispered.

“What’s wrong?” This time he frowned.

“Leto, I could so easily fall back into bed with you, but for the last hour I’ve been thinking about the doe that I saw on the villa lawn this morning.”

“You have?”

“Yes, because the moment I saw her, that was all I could see. She’s not the usual desert sight, a deer out in the open. I kept watching, completely distracted from everything.” Her obsidian flame power vibrated from deep in the earth.

Leto gasped and even looked down at the floor. “I don’t know if it’s because you have your hand on my chest, but I can feel that.”

She smiled. “I think it means I’m on the right track.” Chills chased up and down her arms. “I have an idea that might be exactly what’s needed. It would put pressure on Greaves on several fronts at the same time.”

He overlaid her hand with his own. His lips curved. “What’s on your mind?”

“Remember how, in Moscow Two, Greaves tried to have a military review?”

“Yes. Thorne and the Warriors of the Blood stopped it right in the middle.”

Grace nodded. “What if we had something similar, only featuring obsidian flame, a large very flamboyant spectacle event. We could demonstrate the triad’s power, we would give Marcus another PR tool for holding on to Endelle’s High Administrators … and … we could do some serious folding.”

His eyes widened. “The doe on the lawn.”

Grace smiled. “Do you see? While we’re giving a demonstration in public, which would be a huge distraction to the enemy, we could also be folding your divisions wherever you wanted them.”

“Dear Creator, it’s a brilliant idea. But can the triad do something like that?”

She opened her obsidian power, letting all that rumbling power flow up and over her.

Leto enfolded her in his arms. “What you’re experiencing is incredible. So much power. I can feel the vibrations along your skin.” He drew back slightly and kissed her.

I think your idea is brilliant, he sent.

Grace felt something deep inside her begin to warm. His praise meant the world to her. She could help. She wanted to help.

Of course, with so much power now rippling from her and with his mouth sealed to hers, Grace started forgetting about the topic at hand. Her hands slid up his back and his body curled around hers until his embrace was all that she cared about.

Leto. She whispered his name through her mind.

Grace.

He drew away slightly to look into her eyes. Her breathing sped up, but not just because she wanted him. His eyes were on fire, a blue fire that spoke to her. “What is it?” she asked. She wanted him to say the words out loud.

He caressed her face, kissed her lips again. “Everything seems to be changing. You are. I am. Do you think it might be possible…” He kissed her again slowly, then once more pulled away to look at her.

Grace’s heart thumped heavily in her chest. He hadn’t finished his thought, but she understood him. Would love be possible between them? Something deep and real, something not clouded by the war or his fractured state or her ghostliness. All these years, all these centuries, she had moved like a spirit through the world, much like her apparition-self, always studying and hoping, but for what she didn’t know.

Yet as she looked into Leto’s eyes, hope soared. Could she become real in his life? Could he give himself to her despite the ugliness of the war or his guilt over the past century of serving a monster?

If every step she took from this point forward brought her closer to a true union with Leto, she vowed that if called upon, she would throw herself into the depths of hell just for the chance.

“Let me call Thorne,” he said, releasing her. “We have a strategy to put in place, but at some point, I want to sink inside you, all the way, to find out what this can be between us.”

“All the way,” she returned.

Beware the dog twice bitten.

—Collected Proverbs, Beatrice of Fourth

Chapter 13

Leto watched Thorne pace Endelle’s sitting room. This time Endelle sat in one of the large purple chairs opposite Leto. Grace stood behind him, her hands resting on his shoulders. He loved it.