It feels as if I’m being strangled when I look at her. I love her so fucking much that it physicallyhurtsto see her so frightened. So unsure. With a hand on her hip and the other weaving intoher hair, I walk her backwards into our bedroom. My gaze catches on a folded-up note lying on top of the side table next to the bed.You make me feel safe, she had written in her own letter to me this morning. Now that safety, one that I thought was impenetrable given that we are an entire kingdom away and behind an enchanted border, has been compromised.
I tilt her head back until her eyes meet mine. “Whatever you need is already yours,” I whisper as I glide my lips against hers. My cock grows harder at the sound of her breath hitching, at the way her hands go to my tunic this time and unbutton it with a softer urgency. I love the way her desire for me is always one gentle touch away, one light caress from igniting fully. My own hand slides down her neck and over her shoulders, reaching behind her to the buttons lining down her back. I kick off my boots, her sandals falling next to them. Together, we shed what remains of our clothing, the action fueling the steady slow burn of desire growing inside of me. My gaze drifts down her body as I reverently savor every inch of skin, every freckle and curve.
Wanting to fall to my knees should be a foreign feeling—something only reserved for my crown and my kingdom. But she rules above them all, a goddess that shines brighter than any star, and I crave to surrender only to her.
Particularly with my tongue.
I let her guide our next movements, swallowing my own eagerness to taste her in favor of whatever she wants—whatever sheneeds. Her warm hands run down my chest slowly, her green eyes acute as they drink me in before she turns us around and walksmebackwards until I’m forced to take a seat on the bed.
“I need you close to me,” she rasps, straddling my thighs with her knees as her hands wrap around the back of my neck.
I’m not going to last long like this, not with her taking control. Not with the way her scent hits me when she’s so close and how her hair frames her face in sweeping strands. She is myfantasy and my ruination, perfection created specifically formeto worship. One of her hands leaves my neck to wrap around my hardened cock, guiding it to her entrance with a confident touch.Shit, I definitely am not going to last.
Gritting my teeth, my hands find the soft divot of her waist, slowing her down so she doesn’t hurt herself. “Careful,” I murmur against her neck, the cover of darkness hiding the way I have to squeeze my eyes shut as I begin to fill her.
Sex was never something for me to linger on before her, nothing but a momentary pleasure. Yet the first time with Rhea had been different. Maybe it was stupid to expect anything else when it came to her, because she had been nothing but an axe to every preconceived notion I had since the moment I met her, but I was still surprised by the emotion I felt. How every second spent inside of her was like uncovering parts of myself that had been hidden strictly for us to find together. Like this, we aren’t two beings lost to distance and kingdoms divided; no, we are an inevitability.
Her breath stutters as she adjusts to my size, the feel of her nails digging into my shoulders making my own falter. “Are you okay?” I ask, kissing her jaw and working my way around to her mouth.
“Yes, are you?”
I smile against her lips, that ever-present ache for her thrumming in my blood. “Always.”
She opens to me, and my tongue slides against hers, our moans echoing in the room as I flatten a hand on her back and pull her closer. Shocks of pleasure coil down my spine at the feel of her soft skin against my chest, of how wet and ready for me she is. I’m completely overwhelmed by her, my body strung tight as she moves desperately for friction in my lap.
“Tell me I’m yours,” she commands, her voice a husky cadence that threatens to unravel me right then, my cock twitching in agreement. “Tell me that you need me, Nox.”
“You know that you are and that I do.”
“I need to hear you say it. I need—” She chokes on her words as her arms wrap around me more tightly.
My heart pounds to the refrain of anger, my magic wild as it dances to the chorus within me. She needs me to say it because, despite knowing to her core how I feel about her, there is a scar that has built up over time from someone else trying to say that she washis. I kiss her forehead, her cheeks, and the tip of her nose before bracing myself with one hand on the bed as I wrap my other arm around her waist, right above her hips. I need to make sure shefeelsthe surety of my words everywhere. That whenever she thinks of them, she’s brought back to only this moment between us and nothing else.
“I could say that you’re mine and that I need you, but that isn’t exactly true.” She leans back slightly to look at me, an adorable frown tugging down on her lips. “It isn’t true becauseneedisn’t a big enough word to explain how I really feel.” I push my hips upward as I hold her in place, the thrust of my cock moving inside her making her gasp. “None of it explains how you consume me in a way nothing else ever has. It doesn’t explain how I would give up everything that previously held value in my life just to see you smile. How I’d lose it all to gain amomentof holding you close.”
I thrust again, Rhea’s back arching as she groans and tilts her head up towards the ceiling. The soft light of the spelled flame moves over her naked skin, highlighting the curve of her breasts and her peaked nipples. My mouth waters at the sight of her.Gods,she’s so fucking beautiful and so fuckingmine.
“It doesn’t explain how you burn me from within when we kiss, a branding I’ll willingly take over and over again. But, sinceother words fail me, I’ll say that I need you. That Icraveyou.” Again and again, I pump deeper into her while pulling her hips down in time with my movements, her cries of pleasure skating over my skin like a silken taunt. I want to fill her not only with my body but with my devotion—so that no part of her is left to fester in fear and doubt. “I wished for you before I ever knew that you existed. And now that you’re here in my arms, I know that I’d destroy each and every realm, including my own, to keep you close. To keep you safe. Do you want to know why, Rhea?”
She drops her gaze back to mine as her hands twist in my hair, gently tugging the strands and tipping my head back. Her voice is soft, her perfect lips parting when she asks, “Why?”
I kiss the hollow of her throat, whispering the words against her skin and imbuing them with a different kind of magic. “Because you are my universe. You are my infinite sun and my endless sea. You are more than I’ve ever deserved, but you aremine, and nothing will ever take you from me.”
Her chest heaves and her hands move down to cradle the sides of my face as she begins to rock her hips back and forth. “You have every piece of me,” she rasps, her breaths coming faster. “All of me is yours.”
She crashes her lips to mine, sealing our words together as our bodies move in synchronicity. I feel her magic surge—I cantasteit, sweet like morning dew and honey. Her teeth nip at my bottom lip before her tongue smooths over it, and it’s too fucking much. We become frantic, a medley of ragged breaths, sliding hands, and whispered pleas. Her inner muscles squeeze tightly around me, and my entire body tenses as desire crashes through me in fiery waves, each one stronger than the last. I am consumed by her—her scent, her body, her voice, herlove. It all surrounds me until I’m moaning her name, my blood pounding in my ears as I spill into her.
Rhea collapses against me, our hearts lined up as they beat together—the flesh and bone separating them inconsequential. Possessiveness seeps into my every pore, holding me captive until I wrap my arms tightly around her to quell it. I wonder if she feels the same when her hands slide to my back and she squeezes us impossibly closer together. Trailing my fingers through her hair, I savor the way her body melts on top of me as I lay us back onto the bed with me still inside of her, unable to end that connection just yet. Our breaths slowly even out until I’m sure Rhea has fallen asleep, but then she lifts her head to kiss my chest before she rests her chin on it.
“My favorite part,” she whispers with a sleepy smile.
Chuckling, I carefully,gently, slide out of her and move us so that she’s lying at my side, her head still resting on my chest as our legs tangle together. Sleep pushes down on my eyelids, sweet darkness rolling in on the corners of my mind as my lips find the top of her head. Though the words aren’t enough to truly encompass how my soul calls to her, I say them still. “I love you.”
She snuggles in farther, her exhale a soft puff of air against my skin. I’m nearly asleep, perhaps even imagining it, when I hear her whisper back, “The moon may have the stars, but at least I have you.”
Part Four
Lies and secrets do not make impenetrable shields. At some point, they are going to turn into weapons; ones that we may no longer wield.
