Praetorian Rising, стр. 70
Her head lifted then, a flash of confusion running through the green of her irises, a soft pout playing on her still swollen lips. "I am yours," she replied quietly, not understanding his meaning.
Smiling, he kissed her forehead and pulled her back down to his chest. He knew if he waited to ask the moment would pass him by, and he'd never get the courage to ask her again. Despite the fire in Camille's heart for Aspera, he knew deep down she struggled with what the High King asked her to do. She followed her orders with strict adherence. He doubted aside of their nights lying next to one another that she did anything outside the lines of her Praetorian restrictions—even if she desperately wanted to.
"Marry me?" he said in a rush, his words running together in a jumble of sound. "Marry me and be all mine—mind, body, and soul?"
She giggled, turning her head again to face him. Bringing her lips to his, she kissed him soundly. Her hand lightly stroked his cheek, and he noticed the glossy wetness forming in her eyes.
"I'd love nothing more," she finally replied, her voice husky with emotion.
He had woken several hours later, his bed cold with her absence, a note scrawled in an apparent rush pinned to the pillow beside him.
I'm sorry, I think she's alive. I must find her. I love you, my darling.
He sighed, recalling the memory, his steps echoing on the tile floor as he walked to her room. That night had been the last time he'd seen her, the last time he'd held her and felt the reassurance of her heated skin against his.
He felt incredibly idiotic thinking about such things with Metus practically on their doorstep. He stood outside her door with a mere two hours to escape the compound. His focus needed to be on the present, not sliding into the past of long ago wishes and once real desires.
Neeko was waiting just outside her room, staring at the door jamb as though he could open it with the power of his mind. The cat's tail swished back and forth across the ground, his feline body a picture of impatient stillness.
"She in there?" Theo asked, almost expecting a verbal response.
Neeko peered up at him with a look of feigned patience. The yellowed irises narrowed with annoyance at having been shut out of her room, something Theo was sure he wasn't used to. The cat raised a single paw to scratch at the door, but nothing happened. He meowed and scratched at the door a second time with increasing insistence.
Theo opened the door cautiously, uncertain of what he was about to walk into. Neeko pressed into the room before the door was fully open, jauntily bouncing across the wooden floor to the empty bed.
"Cam?" Theo called out. Her clothing was strewn all over the floor, but she was nowhere in sight. The room wasn't just quiet; it felt still as though even the air had halted in movement.
A heavy sigh resonated from the bathroom as water pummeled the tile flooring within the shower. Theo's entire body seized up with guilty intrigue. It's not like he'd never seen her naked, but it had been quite a while, and his body responded in kind. The bathroom door was pushed closed, but not completely shut, leaving a full five inches of open space for him to peer into the hazy warmth.
It was wrong—he knew it was—but he couldn't deny the pull of holding her against him again. Feeling the spread of warmth as they clutched each other skin to skin. He took two steps towards the door, and Neeko meowed loudly from his perch on the bed.
"What?" Theo asked the stoic cat, whose tail swished madly against the comforter. The cat tilted its head to one side as Theo spoke, as though taking in his words and organizing them in his cat brain to understand Theo's meaning. "We are in a bit of a rush you know."
Neeko continued to stare silently, the yellow depths sharp with accusation.
"I just want to make sure she's ok," Theo whispered. He lifted his foot to move toward the door again, but Neeko meowed even louder, making Theo instead take several steps backward. The water in the shower turned off, and both of their heads snapped to the door frame.
The door to the bathroom slammed open making Theo jump in response. Steam billowed around her towel wrapped body, wild wet hair a tumble of fire about her bare milky white shoulders.
"Speak," she said without preamble. Theo knew what she wanted but had no clue how to begin. "I need answers, or I'm not going anywhere." Her cheeks were red, as were the rims of her eyes, but the storm of fierce determination whirled with menacing force in the mossy depths of her stare.
His mouth gaped open, then closed again, before opening a second time, only to remain wide without emitting a single sound.
"Would you mind?" Camille asked, motioning for him to turn around, which he obliged. His own cheeks flamed red, his body's deceiving nature showcasing his physical desire for her. She wasn't just wearing a towel, but a tiny one, barely skimming the tops of her thighs. Thankfully, he had a moment to collect himself.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." he blubbered, wildly groping for what to say to her. His mouth suddenly went dry, and he felt an overwhelming urge to slap himself in the face. What was wrong with him? He wasn't some love-sick puppy; he was a Praetorian for Ma'Nada sake!
She padded softly across the floor gathering her own freshly washed clothing from the bed. A gentle whoosh of cotton rushed through his ears and his skin prickled with goosebumps as he realized that