An incredulous look passed over his face, to be replaced by a feral expression that made her mouth go dry. Thantrel slipped from his side of the booth, took up the spot by her, and tilted her chin up with those slender, strong fingers.
If she’d been standing, her knees would have buckled.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“No, but I need to do this,” she whispered back.
His lips crashed into hers, and that cold magic that always swirled inside her turned to fire. A hot, blazing fire that made her toes curl and pulled an embarrassing sound from her throat.
He deepened the kiss, maybe thinking he’d never get another, that he’d need to make this kiss last a lifetime. Thyra’s tongue slipped into his mouth, swept over his, and she allowedher body to fall into him. To give herself over to the moment that had been haunting her dreams for weeks.
Chapter 17
VALE
My hand trailed along the skin of my mate’s stomach, smooth and exposed, just like the rest of her.
“Are you teasing me?” Isolde turned in our bed, and her breasts fell heavy to one side.
“Maybe.” I leaned in and kissed her.
Isolde moaned into my mouth and pressed her lush body into mine. Fates, we’d indulged in each other five times the night before, and yet, we both wanted more.
“As long as you follow through on the teasing, I don’t mind,” Isolde whispered. “In fact?—”
Three swift knocks came at the door to our suite, making us both startle. I pulled a quilt over my mate. No one would enter without our say so, not with a vampire guarding the door, but the gesture was instinctive.
“I’m sorry to bother you so early, Princess Isolde and Prince Vale,” a voice I recognized as Lord Balik’s personal butler, Valintin, drifted through the door. “But Prince Vale received a raven, and, well, Lord Balik thought you might want it right away.”
I rolled out of bed, pulled on a pair of pants, and went to answer the door. Next to Astril, Valintin stood, holding out a scroll smelling of raven feathers.
“Thank you.” I took the small scroll. “Is there anything else?”
“Nothing. Again, my apologies for intruding so early in the morning.”
I shut the door and, to my dismay, found Isolde standing there, tying a robe.
“Whose the message from?”
I looked the scroll over. Blue-gray wax, stamped with a sea serpent, sealed the message. I opened it and my heart rate kicked up.
It’s from the Lady of Ships herself.” I scanned the letter. “She says that Sayyida and Vidar have sided with you. That they’re on their way south with a small fleet. Lady Fayeth is waiting for their raven to decide if she will give you her entire fleet, but the ships in the south are to be used at Vidar’s discretion.”
Isolde placed a hand on a nearby chair. “Thank the stars Saga wrote to Sayyida. Though I can’t see how they’d choose to side with us from that. Saga hadn’t met Thyra at that point.”
“Friendship.” I handed her the letter.
Isolde read it over, and her eyes misted. “Sayyida and Vidar believe in us, so they stand with us.” She wiped a tear that fell down her cheeks. “I can’t wait to see them.”
I could not agree more.
Isolde lifted her gaze to meet mine. “Vale, if Lady Fayeth can be swayed fully, that’s three great houses on our side. We stand a chance.”
Yes, the Falks remained outnumbered, but the Virtoris Armada might turn the tides of any war. Especially if we took the fight right to Avaldenn. Much of the city was open to the sea, making an armada a pivotal piece on the board.
“Now that I know we have the support of Houses Balik, Riis, and very possibly, Virtoris too, I need to write to House Armenil,” Isolde said. “I hope that since my maternal grandmother was born of that house, they’ll be easy to win over. If we get them, then maybe the king will see a war is futile, and many lives can be saved. Would you mind adding a note too?”
I doubted King Magnus would back down, but nothing was impossible.
