Black spots danced before my eyes. The darkness burned through my veins, an empty scream in my soul. Ididn’t care that I was probably waking the entire palace just before dawn. I had Maggie at my mercy on the other side of the bond.
Maggie yanked on the bond until I drew air again and the release of my breath flooded my cock with lightning.
You hurt so good, Pumpkin.I told her.
She was too far away for my shadows to do the same for her and very awake so my Nightmare couldn’t enter her dreams. I only had my voice and a tight grip on the mate bond to work with.
Open your mouth and lick your thumb.
I nearly sensed the wetness on the pad of her finger. My fists strained the sheets of my bed, tangling in my long hair.
If I touch my clit I might come, Noth,she said, breathless even through the bond.
No one told you to do that, bad girl. Brush your nipples until they stand at attention for me.
The arrows of pleasure darted through the bond and I ate them up like they were my last meal. I could only get the vague sense she kneaded her breasts with her nipples hard against her palms. I gripped my cock tighter, rubbing my piercings to edge myself. It was agony being half blind when I only had my fist to fuck into.
I need to lick across those delicious silver marks on your hips. They drive me wild.
The room quaked along with Maggie’s want.
I need…
Igrowled at her loudly enough to bridge the distance.You need what I give you. Don’t you touch that pussy. That’s mine to tame, to fuck and fill.
She didn’t listen because molten pleasure flooded the bond and it arched my back off the bed. I barely choked my cock hard enough not to come.
Come-
I cut myself off because I almost said,Come homeand I refused to be that desperate. Instead, she took it as a command and her orgasm swept through the bond, filling me, ripping out my own into my stupid fist. I ordered my Nightmare to gather as much of her pleasure as possible through the bond, opening it wider so she could relish my spill for her until it all collapsed into a narrow tether between us. I tried to pull on it again, but it was too weak. My Nightmare roared into the nothing.
Skin on fire, my chest heaved, rubbing against my torn and sticky sheets. My claws scored through the mattress. I should have bitten her all over the second Brad got sucked into that portal. No. I should have covered her in bites the moment she stabbed me with that dagger in Ward’s keep. With a scream of rage, I tore the chandelier from the ceiling with my shadows and smashed my bedroom window, sending it sailing into the garden outside.
I clenched my teeth, my whole body. That hadn’t made anything better.
“Don't look at me like that.”
Gertrude just stared. She had already let me know of her displeasure. All that magic I poured into the air and I found a brown leaf on the floor. I had put her back in her place of honor, fed her extra worms and misted her leaves. That was the thanks I got.
I sighed. Several someones were going to be displeased that they had to haul a Bakh bull-sized chandelier out of the garden. The number of fucks I had to give was pretty low. I padded to my washroom and stepped under the heated waterfall that spilled onto the smooth stones below. I increased the heat of the water with my magic until it hurt as much as losing grip on Maggie after her orgasm.
My cheeks were rough with unshaved scruff. Tired, I hadn’t slept well since the night she left. Or much at all. Not that anyone cared. Suddenly, everyone clamored for my attention on a million things Brad had let go while he played at being King. Boring things like new laws to curb how many woody rosemary bushes would be harvested without destroying their habitat. Or the abandoned infrastructure project to bring the solar magic needed to light Elves homes in a clean and efficient manner. Things that managed to disappear when people lived in fear and focused on a pompous blowhard crowing about war and the superiority of the Elves.
I enjoyed battle as much as the next Elf. My Nightmare Walker thirsted for it even more, but most of my reign involved petty bickering over dirt roads and theprice of an Elven bushel of luma grass. The assassination attempts relieved the monotony of the crown. Here I stood, ready to take all that up again.
Forcing myself out of the boiling water, I yanked on the servant’s bell. I hadn’t allowed any of them near my apartments while Maggie was here, but since it was just me, I honestly hoped someone would try for me in my own rooms.
A flight of servants only hesitated for a second when they saw the broken window and the ceiling rubble all over the floor. Well trained, they lay out acres of clothes and regalia around the mess. A rush of emotion welled up inside me over the objects of my office I never thought I would see again.
Of course, Jax had to saunter in and kick some pebbles into a corner without a glance at all that gold on display. “Someone try to kill you with household objects again?”
“It was just that one time,” I said as a fine spider-silk shirt slipped over my head.
“And here I thought this was going to be an easy gig with you being such a badass and all.”
My eyes must have been flaring dark because the servant carrying my topcoat took a step back. Jax had gotten comfortable with his bodyguard assignment rather too quickly.
“I can show you if you’d like.” Isnapped my fingers to bring the coat.
