“Ye gave us our dream, she of the prophecy,” Corvit said as he rose into the air. “Ye gave us our freedom. Dinna hesitate to call upon us should ye ever need us.”
ChapterSeventeen
Lexi leaned back against Jeros’s broad chest and leisurely dribbled handfuls of water back into the tub. Fragrant steam rose from the bathwater’s surface, which shimmered with lilac-scented oils. “When did you get this wonderful bathtub? It’s as big as a pool.” She smoothed her hands under the water and tickled them across his hard, muscular thighs on either side of her. This tub was perfection. She could stay in here forever.
Jeros lovingly cradled her breasts in his hands and pressed a kiss atop her shoulder. “I had it commissioned the day after we sealed our bond. The artisans and craftsmen finished it while we were at Court. It would have been a surprise for ye had we returned to Sevenrest together.”
The sadness in his voice twisted her heart. She covered his hands with hers and stretched to reassure him with a long, slow kiss. “It’s all right now,” she whispered when they parted. “We’re back together, and that’s all that matters.”
“I feared I would never see ye again.”
She swallowed hard at the sudden knot of emotions caught in her throat. “I feared the same.” She turned in the water and faced him, pressing close and enjoying the slipperiness of his body. “I was worried about you. About the war. I knew I had to get back and save you.”
He framed her face with his hands and kissed her again while hugging her between his thighs. “I needed ye to save me from myself. My warriors and I can handle the war.”
Even as distracted as she was by his hard, muscular body cradling her and promising another luscious ride to ecstasy, she reared back and fixed him with her sternest, narrow-eyed look that used to send anyone who knew her running for cover. “I can turn all their animals against them. Unicorns. Horses. Dragons. And need I remind you I am also the overlord of the Fae of the Fires now?”
He looked aside, avoiding eye contact like a guilty child caught in the middle of stealing cookies. “I have not forgotten,” he said, biting out the forced admission.
“And you still don’t like it even though I told you that was the only reason the goddesses allowed me to return—the fact that we both learned our strengths, and how to trust them—how to trust each other?”
With a heavy sigh, he finally looked her in the eyes. “If anything happens to ye, I could never bear it. I canna even bear thethoughtof losing ye again.”
She lowered herself back down on him, sliding against his chest. “I have you, Aylryd, and a dragon clan to protect me. I couldn’t be safer.”
He cupped her buttocks in both hands and squeezed while arching upward and grinding the hardness of his length against her belly. “Enough talk about war, my own. I need ye.” He pulled her higher, sliding her up his body, then groaned as he kissed and sucked her nipples, each in turn.
Cradling his head in her arms, she ground herself against him, the oils in the water adding an exciting, slippery friction to their skin.
He smoothed his hands up and down her back, clutched her buttocks again, then slid them lower to her thighs. His fingertips teased across her opening, making her ache for him even harder.
They had loved each other as soon as they hit the bedchamber, but it was though she hadn’t enjoyed him in weeks. Unable to stand the yearning any longer, she pushed up and took him, settling him deep inside her with a groan of satisfaction. “I can’t get enough of you,” she said, her voice hoarse with need. She clutched him with her thighs and tortured them both with a slow, grinding motion. They were made for each other, fit together like missing pieces of a puzzle. Heaven help her, but she couldn’t imagine life without this man, no matter what.
“Ye are a goddess,” he said, then added a rumbling sound of aroused contentment. His hands encircled her waist, gripping her and helping her move. “Faster, love,” he rasped. “Ye’re killing me.”
Happily, she rode harder as his hands slid to her buttocks and held on tight. She clamped hold of his shoulders, rocking into him with such force that water sloshed over the sides of the tub. Ecstasy building like the tightening of a wire, she threw back her head, arched her back, and moved her hips faster. And then the wire snapped, and she exploded with the delicious bliss she’d been chasing.
Jeros roared his approval, rising up to drive himself even deeper. “My own,” he gasped as he shuddered, emptying into her. The water buoyed them as they collapsed, sinking back into the tub, sated and exhausted with the delicious aftershocks of the pleasure they had just enjoyed.
Breathing hard with her forehead pressed to his, Lexi couldn’t remember the last time she had ever been this happy, this contented, this certain that she had finally found her place, her other half, her one.
“I love you,” she whispered, then brushed a quick kiss across his lips.
“I love ye more, my own.”
A knock at the door jarred them out of their perfect euphoria.
“I will kill ye for this interruption!” Jeros shouted.
“Forgive me, Yer Majesty,” Nightleaf said, without opening the door. “Commander Darkcord insisted it was urgent.”
“Feckin’ hell,” Jeros rumbled under his breath. “I should kill him and then kill Darkcord.”
Lexi sighed, knowing it had to be important for the butler to work up the courage to interrupt them. “Poor Nightleaf is just the messenger, and you know the commander would never have you interrupted unless it was urgent.”
Jeros glared at her.
“It is unmanly to pout.” She pushed up, disengaged, and sank into the curved seat on the other end of the tub. “We are at war, you know. Precious moments like these are stolen. We’ll enjoy them when we can, but we have to be there for all those suffering under Faeniana.”
