Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1) by Grayson Sinclair (black authors fiction txt) 📕

bath. Odd, it’s gotten even colder, the fire stone can’t have degraded that fast. Need to talk to Adam in the morning.

I waded over the stone shelving and kept busying myself with getting clean, even taking the time to wash my hair. As I rinsed the suds out, I realized what I was doing. I wanted to be clean before I saw Eris again.

Maybe I do know how I feel about her? We just met, but I’ve never met anyone like her before. Yes, I was attracted to her, but that wasn’t enough to justify the lengths I’d gone to for her. Here I am, essentially married to her. Something I swore I’d never do, especially after Sophia. So what's going on with me? What force pushed me down this path?

It wasn’t Eris herself—that much I was certain—but no other answers presented themselves to me, and at this point, I was stalling. I was as clean as I’d ever be, so with some trepidation, I climbed out of the bath, snagging a towel by the door and tying it around my waist before exiting.

Eris was lounging in the same spot as when I’d left her. She tilted her head when she heard the door open, her ears twitched slightly and she smiled. “You smell nice, like cherries and sweet cream.”

“You can thank Yumiko for that. She enjoys making soaps and the like.”

I opened the top drawer of my wardrobe and picked out a pair of black cotton pants and a royal blue tunic with a deep v collar, not my usual taste, but it was a gift from Gil, and it’d do for sleepwear. I was conscious of her eyes on me as I changed but tried my best to ignore them. My hair was still wet and dripped water down my neck, so I dried it roughly before crawling into bed.

Almost immediately, Eris shifted, coming over to rest beside me, linking her arm through mine and cuddling into me. “Not that I mind, but you seem too comfortable around me, given that we just met.”

She chuckled softly in my ear. “I guess it must seem that way to you, but I’ve seen your soul, remember? I know exactly what kind of man you are. Your soul can’t lie or deceive, and I’ve tasted of your life, seen for myself the lengths you are willing to go to for those you love. And you keep proving yourself to me, you haven’t taken advantage of me, even when I’ve given you ample opportunity. You’ve impressed me.”

I turned away from her. “I’m just me…and who I am isn’t good.”

Eris crawled over me and took my chin in her hands, forcing me to look at her. “You are, my bonded. Your memories didn't tell me the reason why you tear yourself asunder, but you’re in pain, such tremendous pain. You don't have to be anymore; we are one now. Let me shoulder some of your burdens,” she said and leaned down to kiss me with abandon.

As if she could erase my despair with her lips alone. They burned me, but not near enough to burn away the past. The fires of hell wouldn’t be enough.

Her kiss was enough to bring me out of myself, and I returned it for a time, but soon enough, we broke apart, both acknowledging the closure of the kiss.

She sighed with contentment and laid on my chest. Maybe I could get used to this. I’ve been so cut off from everyone that I’ve forgotten how nice this feels. I traced my fingers through her hair and over her ears. They were softer than I imagined, and Eris quivered under my touch. Sensitive, huh?

I put a little more pressure on them and massaged a little harder. She squirmed and let out a squeak, which made me want to laugh, but she didn’t stop me. The more I kept it up, the more she shuddered, clutching at the hem of her tunic.

Her breathing deepened, and she moaned. It slipped from her lips, and she looked up at me with a flushed face and desire in her eyes. Uh-oh, not what I meant to happen. I’d been having fun and didn’t realize the effect it was having on her. I stopped touching her and withdrew my hand quickly.

Eris leaned back, propping her arms behind her to support her weight, still straddling me. When she shifted, her tunic bunched around her hips, giving me a brief glimpse and making it painfully apparent she wasn’t wearing underwear.

I looked away, but she’d caught my gaze, and my burning face betrayed me. She grinned at me, a devious little smirk that set her eyes smoldering. “See something you like?”

“Not on purpose.”

Eris raised her shirt even more, pushing up past her stomach, just under her breasts. The porcelain skin of her abdomen seemed smooth and soft, but there were hints of primal muscle as she shifted. And I knew something more than muscle lurked underneath.

She watched my eyes as I forced myself not to stare and grinned wide. “You can look, I don’t mind.”

“I’m good for now, thanks.”

She chuckled and lowered her shirt back down, covering herself once more. “Humans are such strange creatures. You get flustered over the most mundane of things.”

“I don’t think casual disrobing is that mundane.”

“To you maybe, but not for entomancers. Since we can share so much more of ourselves than just our bodies, physical intimacy is commonplace for my kind,” she said, crawling up to me and kissed my cheek, her lips like tiny flames on my skin. “Besides, you are my bonded. We belong to each other, bound together for now until eternity.”

Eris looked at me with want in her eyes, her hands slipping under my shirt to caress my chest. Her fingers burned, but it was pleasant. She took one of my hands