Chapter 345: Perspective

Chapter 345: Chapter 345: Perspective

Arik remained offended for approximately another thirty seconds.

Then he looked down at Liam with those golden eyes half hidden behind long dark eyelashes and smug.

Liam knew that expression.

Unfortunately, knowing it did nothing to help when Arik hooked one arm beneath him and moved.

The world tilted.

Liam made a startled sound as Arik rolled them across the bed, taking him along with enough ease that the entire maneuver felt deeply insulting to Liam’s dignity. One moment his head had been resting comfortably in Arik’s lap; the next, his back sank into the mattress while Arik settled over him, one forearm braced beside his head and the other still curved around his waist.

Liam stared upward.

Even after more than a year, the difference occasionally startled him.

Arik had always been tall.

Then the Gate had apparently decided that was insufficient.

His husband had emerged nearly a head taller, his shoulders broader, his frame heavier and more solid without losing any of the controlled grace Liam associated with him. From this angle, with Arik blocking most of the low bedroom light and black hair falling slightly over sovereign gold eyes, he looked enormous.

Liam should probably have found that intimidating.

Instead, the weight settling carefully against him made something deep in his body loosen.

Arik was still pouting.

That ruined the threatening effect almost completely.

Liam’s mouth curved.

Arik narrowed his eyes.

"Do not."

"I did not say anything."

"You are thinking it."

"That seems difficult to prove."

"I know your face."

Liam lifted one hand and pushed a loose strand of black hair away from Arik’s forehead.

"You are very cute when offended."

Arik’s expression became colder.

To anyone else, perhaps.

Liam had spent too long learning every variation of that face.

This one meant his husband was approximately three seconds away from doing something petty.

Kamal, Rubis, Narissa, and Mezos would probably question Liam’s mental stability if he ever informed them that the Emperor of Nuria looked adorable while preparing retaliation.

Severin would laugh until someone removed him from the room.

Liam smiled wider.

Arik stared at him.

"You are doing it again."

"What?"

"Looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

"As though I am amusing."

"You are."

Arik lowered himself until their noses almost touched.

"I could demonstrate otherwise."

Liam’s crimson eyes brightened.

"That sounded very imperial." His voice was full of sweetness; Arik distrusted it on principle.

"It was intended to."

"It failed."

Arik kissed him.

That worked considerably better.

Liam’s amusement disappeared beneath the slow pressure of Arik’s mouth, his hand moving instinctively to the back of Arik’s neck as the mattress shifted beneath their combined weight.

The first kiss remained soft, their pheromones filling the room with saint’s breath growing on warm stone.

The second did not.

Arik angled his head and kissed him more deeply, one hand sliding from Liam’s waist along his side beneath the loose fabric of the oversized shirt he had stolen earlier. His palm was warm through the thin material, large enough that Liam became abruptly aware again of how much Arik had changed.

He had felt those hands before the Gate.

They had not been this large.

Liam broke the kiss long enough to breathe.

"This is still absurd."

Arik brushed his mouth against the corner of Liam’s.

"What is?"

"You."

"That is vague."

"You are gigantic."

Arik paused.

Then he looked down at himself as though this information had only now become available.

"You have mentioned that before."

"It continues to be true."

"And yet you keep wearing my shirts."

"They are comfortable."

"They reach your thighs."

"That sounds like your problem."

Arik hummed, sliding his lips to the spot beneath Liam’s right ear that made the omega shudder every time.

"And here I thought you liked it."

Liam’s fingers tightened in his hair.

"That was an entirely different accusation."

"Was it?"

"Yes."

Arik breathed against the sensitive skin beneath his ear before dragging his nose slowly along Liam’s neck, and whatever clever response Liam had prepared became substantially less accessible.

Saint’s breath gathered around them, sweet and impossibly fresh, threaded through with the warmer scent of Arik’s ether until the bedroom seemed saturated with both of them.

Arik inhaled deeply.

Liam tilted his head without thinking.

"That," Arik murmured against his throat, "looks suspiciously like cooperation."

"I was getting comfortable."

"Of course."

His lips brushed Liam’s pulse.

Arik’s hand had meanwhile found its way beneath the shirt properly, spreading across Liam’s bare waist before moving slowly upward along his ribs. There was no urgency in the touch. His fingers traced familiar lines as though more than a year together had done absolutely nothing to diminish his interest in confirming Liam remained exactly where he had left him.

Liam watched him through lowered lashes.

Arik could cover most of his waist with one hand now.

That should not have been something Liam noticed every time.

It was.

"You really did get ridiculous."

Arik lifted his head.

"You are still discussing my size?"

"You are currently lying on me. It is relevant."

"I am barely putting any weight on you."

Liam glanced meaningfully at the arm braced beside his head, where the fabric of Arik’s black shirt stretched over a forearm that had also become considerably more bulky after the Gate.

"That is not helping your argument."

Arik followed his gaze.

Then the smug expression returned.

Liam regretted everything immediately.

"You like it."

"I like many unfortunate things."

"Name another."

"You."

Arik stared at him.

Liam smiled sweetly.

For a second there was silence, then Arik lowered his face into Liam’s neck and laughed.

The sound vibrated warmly against Liam’s skin.

It made him smile too.

His hand slid from Arik’s hair down the back of his neck, fingertips tracing the broad line of his shoulders beneath the shirt.

Liam placed his hands over Arik’s. "You are doing dangerous things."

Arik glanced down at their joined hands, then back at Liam.

"Dangerous for whom?"

"For your dignity."

"My dignity survived you calling me cute."

"Barely."

Arik’s mouth curved as he shifted his fingers beneath Liam’s, turning their hands until their palms aligned naturally. Even that fit was irritatingly perfect.

"You are very confident for someone currently trapped beneath me."

Liam raised an eyebrow. "Trapped implies I want to leave."

That stopped Arik for half a second.

Liam smiled, victorious.

"There. I win."

"You surrendered."

"Strategically."

Arik kissed the corner of his mouth. "You are impossible."

"And yet you love me despite it."

"Completely."