A Court of Thrones and Thieves (ACOTAR FANFIC)

Chapter 20

~~~~Nyx~~~~

Nyx watched from afar as Loki sat perfectly still, her eyes closed and her gloved hand mindlessly spinning a pen. 

She had been doing that for the past hour and a half, three hours before that she had spent scheming with Inej talking about Cauldron-knows-what. Nyx refused to admit the lack of her attention was grating on his nerves. 

He hadn't spoken to her privately since they made the deal.

Hell, he only touched her once and it was to shake her hand. He wanted to be the one to fly her up to the house of Winds, to have an excuse to hold her close, but instead, she went with Inej. 

Her presence was driving him mad. He could smell her gorgeously intoxicating scent everywhere in his house. He could not escape the endless thoughts of her that submerged his mind in endless lust and longing. 

She had sent him a passing smirk during the tournament and it nearly sent the poor male to his knees. Cauldron, he would do, sacrifice anything just to hold her once. 

He was nearly feral when she took off her coat and neatly rolled up her sleeves exposing her crow tattoo and the tattoo of their bargain. 

He lost himself at the smallest things she did. Finch swears he saw Nyx swoon when Loki tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. 

He was not coping as well as he thought he was. Self-control had never been a strong suit of Nyx's but this was agony. To be so close to her and yet worlds apart. 

She was a goddess to him and he was no more than a stranger to her. 

So all that was left for him to do was watch her think, praying she'd indulge him with an ounce of her attention. 

Inej had warned him not to interfere with her process, she was crafting a plan to steal the grail and a thousand backup plans for when that plan goes wrong. Her mind went through every possibility until she could ensure the safety of her crows and the completion of the mission. 

Nyx could almost see her brain at work.

He nearly jumped when her eyes snapped open finally. She turned his gaze to him, cold silver slicing him to his core. 

"Is there something you need, Nyx?" she crooned, sounding almost amused. 

YOU! I WANT YOU!  a voice in his head screamed, his heart sped up at her small hidden smirk. 

"I want to know what your plan is." Nyx tried his best to imitate his father's Hewn City facade. His sharp eyebrows perfectly posed in an amused, cocky arch. He placed an arrogant yet flirty smile on his lips as he kept his blue eyes trained on her.

Her eyes shut again, clearly seeing straight through the mask. 

"Tell me. Would you be willing to go into Xesha with me?" She casually asked. 

If he was honest he would have said, "I would dive straight into hell if you asked me to." 

What he said was, "My people are in danger of becoming fodder in another war. Of course, I am willing to go to Xesha to prevent that."

A smirk took over Loki's face. She opened her eyes and gracefully stood. 

Her eyes stared into his as she walked over to him with the grace of a High Lady. Nyx stiffened and she place a hand against the wall his chair sat against. She leaned down their noses a mere three inches apart. 

Loki just looked at him for a moment and Nyx tried his damndest not to be aroused. 

Aroused by her scent, by her face, by how close she was to him. So close he could touch her, he could kiss her. He audibly gulped at how close she was, his eyes dropped to her ruby-painted lips.

A smirk took over her face, "Good. Then inform your parents we leave tomorrow."

With that, she stood and walked out of the room. Leaving behind a frazzled Nyx and her intoxicating scent. 

~~~LOKI~~~~

Dumbass. Dumbass. Dumbass. Dumbass. Dumbass. Dumbass. Dumbass. Dumbass. Dumbass. Dumbass. Dumbass. Dumbass. Dumbass. Dumbass. Dumbass. 

DUMBASS!

Loki continued to chastise herself as she made her narrow escape from her mate. 

He was driving her insane. He could smell the scent of pine and night everywhere. She wasn't even aware 'night' had a fucking smell, but there he was filling her senses with the scent of the night.

She felt his gaze piercing into her the entire time she planned the job. She knew she was going on this suicide mission for him. If anyone else had asked she would have told them to fuck off. But it wasn't anybody else, it was Nyx. 

She got so close, so close to him. Her skin was burning, craving him. It was a feeling she had never experienced before. 

In her twenty years of life, she had never had the desire to be touched, quite the opposite. The idea of someone touching her bare skin made her want to vomit. Loki Brekker hated being touched, it was a commonly known fact. 

She had a man's entire family killed because he smacked her ass. She cut off another man's hand off because he grabbed her arm. 

Loki Brekker hated being touched. 

But this burning desire to feel every part of him was eating her alive and it terrified her. 

The smell of his arousal was making her insane. Loki had impeccable self-control but it was growing more precarious every time he looked at her. 

She both hated and craved that look. That look of utter longing, utter devotion. 

She was a curse, a demigoddess of death who would do nothing but ruin his life, she knew that. She hated how he didn't see that, she wanted him to see that she was a monster. It would make it easier if he knew if he saw her darkness if he knew her sins. 

She hated that look he gave her because it meant his assured destruction. She refused to drag him down with her. 

She couldn't let him look his light in her darkness.

But she couldn't stop herself from noticing everything about him. She watched him just as much as he watched her.

His cheery smile he tries to hide. The subtle freckles he had hidden in his tan skin.The bits of paint that covered his hands no matter how much he scrubbed them. His kind eyes as he looks at his loving family. 

She found the male to be perfection incarnate and she refused to be the reason for his corruption.