Thornhill Academy (By Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 130

Chapter 130

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Allison

The water is perfect. Warm enough to melt the ache from my muscles, cool enough to let me breathe. Steam curls around me, softening the edges of everything. I sink deeper until it laps just under my chin, closing my eyes for a moment, letting it wash away the day. When I open them again, Rhaziel is still standing there. He hasn’t moved from where I left him, his expression somewhere between reverence and sheer panic. His hands are clasped behind his back like he’s trying to stop himself from reaching for me.

The sight makes me smile, slow and quiet.

“Are you going to stand there all night?” I ask.

He swallows hard, the movement of his throat visible even from here. “I am ensuring the water remains at temperature,” he says, though the words come out rougher than he probably means them to.

I tilt my head. “Right. Because that’s something kings do personally.”

He doesn’t answer. His eyes-those endless, shimmering midnight eyes-drag slowly up my body before flicking away, guilt written across his face even as his tail twitches once behind him.

Something in me stirs at that, something bold and reckless and entirely done with pretending that I don’t

want him close.

“Rhaziel.”

His name comes out in a whisper, but it pulls him like gravity. He looks at me, careful and uncertain.

“Join me,” I say softly. “Please.”

He blinks once, like he isn’t sure he heard me right. His lips part, but before he can find words, my tail moves of its own accord, stretching through the steam,urling around his wrist. His skin is cool against mine, his pulse steady beneath the touch. He freezes. Then, slowly, he lets out a breath that sounds a lot like surrender. The pull is gentle, just enough to bring him closer, and he comes willingly, with that quiet grace that makes him seem carved from shadow and patience. When he kneels beside the tub, the candlelight catches along the curve of his horns and the blue glow beneath his skin. He looks like the night made flesh, and the way he’s looking at me makes it had to breathe.

I tilt my head, water rippling around me. “Will you be jining me?”

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Chapter 130

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For a heartbeat, he doesn’t move. Then he exhales, a sound low and rough, and leans closer until our foreheads almost touch. “If I do,” he murmurs, “I canno promise restraint.”

“Maybe,” I whisper back, “I don’t want you to.”

His tail wraps lightly around mine, the touch both grounding and electric. The air thickens; the candles flicker. He studies me for a long moment, as though he searching for permission he already has. When his hand finally lifts to my cheek, it’s trembling just slightly. “Tell me to stop,” he says, voice so low it almost

disappears into the steam.

I don’t, and he takes that as an answer enough. He stands then, towering over me, and I watch as he slowly undoes is pants and lets them drop to his feet. And holy…hell…is that a sight. It’s my turn to swallow now, because as sure as I am…I am very unsure if that, will ever fit inside of me. The water shifts as he steps in slowly, until he’s sitting across from me, close enough that the edge of his knee brushes mine. The contact is small, but it sends ripples through the entire bath. When he finally reaches for me, it’s to tuck a wet strand of hair behind my ear. His claws don’t scrape; they trace, careful and deliberate, like he’s memorising every inch of me, and I lean into the touch. The tension in his shoulders eases, and something

fragile and tender flickers between us.

“I have imagined this,” he admits quietly. “Not like this perhaps. Not so… human.”

I laugh under my breath. “Human’s not so bad.”

“No,” he agrees, voice barely more than a hum. “It isn’t”

The heat between us coils tighter, slow and inevitable. My heartbeat echoes in my throat, too loud in the silence. He leans in, stopping just shy of my lips, his breath cool against my skin.

“May I?”

His question hangs in the air, laced with centuries of self-imposed chains. My pulse thunders in my ears, drowning out the soft lap of water against porcelain. I meet his gaze and nod, the motion small but deliberate. “You don’t need to ask.”

The words shatter whatever invisible barrier he’s built. haziel’s eyes darken, the midnight in them igniting like a storm about to break. His hand slides from my cheek to the nape of my neck, fingers threading through my wet hair with a gentleness that lies the tremor running through him. He pulls me closer, our breaths mingling in the steam, and then his lips claim mine. It’s not soft. Not at first. It’s a collision of need and restraint, his mouth cool and insistent against my warmth, tasting of smoke and unspoken promises. I gasp into the kiss, and he deepens it, his tongue tracing the seam of my lips until I

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part for him. A low growl rumbles from his chest, vibrating through me, and his tail tightens around mine underwater, coiling possessively. His free hand finds my waist, claws grazing my skin just enough to send sparks racing along my nerves, a delicious edge that makes me arch toward him. I press closer, my hands exploring the hard planes of his chest, feeling the pulse of that ethereal blue glow beneath his skin. It flares brighter where I touch, as if I’m awakening something ancient and wild within him. “Rhaziel,” I murmur against his lips, my voice husky, urging him on

He pulls back just enough to look at me, his breath ragged, eyes wild with a hunger that steals my air. “You have no idea what you’re unleashing,” he warns, his voice a velvet rasp, his claws digging in ever so slightly

now, drawing a shiver from me.

“I do,” I counter, sliding my hands lower, tracing the ridges of his abdomen until I feel him tense. “And I

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