CHAPTER 13: CHAPTER 13: NO EASE

"I—no, I’m not—"

"Your hand." I reached out, not touching her, just letting my fingertips hover over hers. "See? Shaking."

She pulled back, a little too fast. The censer clinked softly.

"I have work to do," she murmured.

"So do I," I said. "But maybe our work overlaps more than you think."

Her breath caught.

"Oh... forgive me, Abbess Amber," Aiden murmured, tilting his head just enough to give the words a respectful weight.

The faint curl at the corner of his lips betrayed him. "I only wished for... a tiny thing from the new head Abbess."

Amber unconsciously stepped closer. Not enough to be seen as improper—just the faintest shuffle of her slippers on the polished floor—but close enough to catch the trace of him.

The scent hit her before she realized she’d moved. Not incense, not the clean wax of chapel candles, but something warmer... heavier. A heat that didn’t belong in consecrated halls.

She didn’t mean to move closer. She would have sworn under oath she hadn’t. Yet her body—this condemned, treacherous body—closed the gap for her.

Aiden’s smile deepened, the kind that said I noticed.

"Of course," she replied, steadying her voice into the practiced calm of the cloth. "We are here to serve. If it is something the Lord permits, then we, His humble followers, will never deny."

"Then please, Abbess..." His voice dipped low, coaxing her into leaning in without realizing. He stepped forward with measured slowness, closing the space between them, not touching—but making the air between their bodies feel thinner.

"I have been... bedridden with thoughts I cannot control. And I want to confess. Privately."

Amber’s breath hitched. "Thoughts?... a... about who?"

Aiden’s gaze locked on hers. The corners of his mouth curved like a secret being offered.

"...It’s about someone I find dear. I met her only days ago, and yet—" his eyes softened into something wounded, "—I cannot seem to forget her."

He leaned in just enough for his voice to fall to a whisper that brushed the edges of her ear.

"Her... green eyes still come to me in dreams. And my heart... sins for her every time I close my own."

Amber’s lips parted, but no scripture came.

"So please, Abbess... help this fallen child of God," he said, the words shaped like confession but dripping with prophecy.

Her face turned a shade redder than the wine on the altar. She gripped one hand with the other, as if holding herself together by sheer force.

"There... there must be a private room here," she murmured, eyes shifting to the hall as if seeking an escape from herself.

Aiden’s pulse quickened in quiet anticipation. His gaze swept the corridor—not for beauty, not for comfort, but for absence.

Any place would do. A closet. The storage cellar. Even the basement’s cold stone would be welcome if it meant she’d step inside it with him.

Then—

"Abbess Amber."

The voice belonged to a maid in the Viscount’s livery, one Aiden recognized: Lisa, personal hand to Lady Flora. She approached with her head bowed in proper deference.

"My lady requests your presence," Lisa said smoothly. "Her ladyship wishes to speak with you."

What!? Aiden’s thoughts cracked like a whip inside his skull.

Amber’s gaze flicked from him to the maid, and for a heartbeat, she hesitated. That hesitation was worth a prayer—or a curse.

He saw the truth in her eyes: she wanted to refuse. She wanted to tell Lisa that the Viscount’s daughter could wait, that the matters of her new station allowed her to prioritize the soul in front of her.

But position is a chain of its own. The daughter of a Viscount calling directly... few dared deny it without consequence.

Amber’s jaw set, her spine straightening into the authority of her new office. "I am sorry. This gentleman has—"

"I can wait," Aiden interrupted smoothly, stepping in before she could claim him as her priority. "Abbess, please... follow the maid. Fulfill her ladyship’s desire."

Her eyes caught his, a flicker of reluctance crossing the green. "...But—"

He gave her a single, deliberate nod. "I insist."

The pause was enough. Her mouth pressed into a thin line, and finally she inclined her head.

"Then... I will return," she said softly.

Lisa curtsied, already turning toward the staircase. "This way, Abbess."

Amber followed, the hem of her robe whispering over the steps as they ascended.

Aiden watched her go, his smile curling—not in triumph, but in the taut patience of a hunter forced to let prey walk away for now. His hand clenched into a fist behind his back, nails biting into his palm.

Inside, his mind howled in frustrated hunger.

Nooooo...

In that fleeting, electric moment, Akidna materialized in Aiden’s vision like a forbidden dream.

His eyes, molten gold, blazed with a primal, ravenous lust, his throat parched with an insatiable thirst that scorched his very soul.

Each step toward her was a predator’s prowl, deliberate and heavy with intent, the air crackling with unspoken desire.

"Akid... high maid," he purred, his voice a velvet caress laced with hunger, drawing closer until his breath grazed her skin.

Akidna’s gaze locked onto his, those gilded orbs burning with a need she knew all too well. Her cheeks flared a vivid crimson, a wildfire of anticipation and shyness.

"...Aiden..." she murmured, her voice trembling with a coy, kittenish lilt, her fingers nervously adjusting her glasses, the gesture both innocent and intoxicating.

Aiden’s lips curled into a knowing, wolfish grin. She saw through him instantly, her intuition slicing through his facade, understanding the storm of desire raging within him before he could even speak it.

His hand seized hers, firm and possessive, pulling her into the shadowed corner of the deserted hallway, where the world seemed to dissolve into secrecy. But... something gnawed at him. It was too easy. Far too easy.

’No,’ his mind hissed, a sharp jolt of clarity cutting through the haze.

His gaze flicked to the staircase, where Amber’s silhouette slipped into Flora’s room. His eyes ignited, the golden glow intensifying, a furnace of yearning and something darker, more dangerous.

[Ember: 2%]

"I’m sorry, Akidna... not now. Maybe tonight, like always," he said, his voice a low, regretful rumble, tinged with restraint.

Akidna’s face crumpled, her heart plummeting into a chasm of quiet despair. The sudden shift from fiery anticipation to rejection stung like a lash, but she swallowed her neediness, her pride holding her together.

She nodded, her lips pressed tight, determined to be useful to him, to be needed by him, even if it broke her heart a bit.

"But... do this one thing for me, Akidna," Aiden said, his tone softening, yet commanding.

Her eyes snapped to his, wide and eager, a spark of hope reigniting. "Of course, anything—whatever you need," she breathed, her voice trembling with devotion, her glasses glinting as she adjusted them once more.

Aiden’s smile widened, a wicked, ear-to-ear grin that dripped with charm and danger. "Make it so Lisa, the maids, and servants stay far from the ladyship’s room."

Her breath hitched. "...But that would be..."

"Twenty minutes," he cut in, his voice firm, unyielding. "Twenty minutes is all I ask."

A heavy pause hung between them, Akidna’s mind racing, gears turning as she weighed the risks.

Finally, with a resolute nod, she adjusted her glasses one last time. "Okay, consider it done... but twenty-five minutes, max," she declared, her voice steady despite the storm of emotions within.

Aiden’s smile turned predatory, his eyes gleaming with triumph. In a swift, daring move, he pressed her deeper into the shadowed corner, the darkness swallowing them.

His lips crashed against hers, a fierce, hungry clash that stole her breath, his tongue curling possessively into her mouth, claiming her in a fleeting, searing moment.

His hands roamed, bold and unapologetic, gripping the soft, yielding curve of her backside beneath her long maid’s skirt, squeezing with a primal intensity that left her trembling.

Then, just as abruptly, he pulled away, leaving her gasping, undone.

"Thank you..." he murmured, his voice a low, seductive growl, his thumb brushing the corner of his lips as if savoring a decadent feast.

"You..." Akidna stammered, her glasses askew, her face a blazing scarlet. She fumbled to straighten her attire, her heart pounding, her body betraying her with a flood of heat and need.

Her eyes, wide and yearning, dropped to the floor. "...you ....you just....," she whispered to herself, her voice a mix of frustration and aching desire, her entire being left in the wake of his touch, craving more.

".....it’s wet..now."