The last word isn’t fully out before his finger hooks around my undergarment and yanks it to the side. And then it’s bliss—pure, unfilteredbliss—as his tongue dives into me. His appreciative groan vibrates over every inch of my body while he devours me like I’m his only sustenance. I clench my teeth together, panting through them as his tongue coaxes me closer and closer towards release. He slows his pace down, practically drinking from me one moment and then speeding up so that my toes curl from sensation the next. Two fingers slide inside of me, Nox pumping them in time to the bucking of my hips as he sucks on that sensitive bundle of nerves.
I have to remember to breathe while I struggle to grip onto any part of him that I can. The back of my head hits the doorwhen my orgasm unravels, sending a tingling sensation over my entire body. His name echoes out into the room on my cries. I expect him to slow down, to pause and come up for air, but he doesn’t. He continues wringing me of pleasure until one orgasm moves into the next and I’m practically hoarse from crying out. Only when my lips are numb and body pliant does he slowly take my shaking legs off of his shoulders, sending the shadows back and catching me as I lean forward, unable to keep myself standing.
“So perfect,” he whispers at my chest before standing, carrying me with him towards the bed. I nuzzle my face into his neck, melting with each lungful of our mingled scents. “Do you think you can stand now?” he asks, a purely satisfied lilt to his voice.
I smile as he slides me down his body, my hands already reaching for his jacket and helping it off of him. “I suppose that ego of yours feels fairly good after that?” I ask, then work on the buttons of his shirt.
“Lots of things feel good after that,” he murmurs, making me laugh. Tucking my hair behind my ears, he kisses me like it’s an exploration of my mouth, an infusion of my taste on his tongue. I’m breathless when he pulls back and drops his shirt to the floor before his hands cup my face. “I would do anything for you.Anything. You know that, right?”
I nod, my hands gripping his wrists before I slide them down his arms and to his chest. He leans in to kiss me again, but I push him towards the bed. “Lay back,” I order quietly, my heart beating in a riotous chorus within me.
Nox’s lids grow heavy, his eyes dark pools of desire and feverish heat, but he follows my command. Scooting back on the bed until he’s propped up by his elbows, he puts his naked upper body on display before me. I carefully remove his crown and set it on the nightstand, snorting when Nox makes a noise of protestwhen I also remove my own, and then I crawl between his legs—one hand gripping the comforter by his hip while my other reaches out to tip his chin up to me.
“Nox Flynn Daxel, you will be my husband,” I state, my voice wavering on the last word.Husband. Bound to each other forever. A part of me wishes we could get married tonight, if only so I could continue to call him that.
His eyes bounce between mine while a smile, soft and sweet, lifts his lips. “Yes.”
I kiss those lips before moving to his jaw. “Because you are mine,” I say against the warmth of his skin, trailing my mouth until I’m right over his heart. “Mine.” His breath stutters, and his hand reaches up to weave through my hair. I continue down his hard chest and farther, lingering over the carved muscles of his stomach. “Mine,” I whisper again. A deep noise rumbles from his throat when my fingers find the buttons of his trousers.
“Rhea,” he murmurs in a low warning when I free his cock from his pants. Stroking slowly, I savor every inch of heat that my palm envelops, my gaze locked on his. His fingers curl into my hair more tightly when I lower down until my lips are hovering right over his tip, his arousal already leaking from it.
“Allmine.” And then I claim him, licking a long line down the side of his cock and back up again, smiling against him when he lets out a string of curses as his taste floods my mouth.
“Fucking gods above.” Nox’s neck arches, his head falling back as the fingers of his free hand dig into the comforter and his chest rises and falls as if he’s engaged in battle.
I take my time, exploring how his body reacts to my movements, how his groans change with every slight alteration I make to my speed or how deeply I take him into my mouth. Swirling my tongue over him, I swallow him down,yearningfor more. I had been too nervous to try this with him before—afraid that my inexperience would ruin the moment, even if Nox promised otherwise.
I have no such fear now.
His stomach muscles contract, another curse slipping from between his lips when he abruptly sits up and reaches for me, pulling me off of him and, instead, placing me in his lap.
“What are you doing?” I ask, heat flaring in my cheeks as I drag the back of my hand over my mouth. “Was it— Did you not like that?”Oh gods, what if Iwasdoing it wrong?
Nox’s eyes are feral, his hands cradling the sides of my face as he brings our foreheads together. “I was about five seconds away from coming in your mouth, Sunshine.”
“So?”
He barks out a surprised laugh, kissing me soundly and stealing every bit of my uncertainty from me. His hands work deftly to slide the top of my dress down until my chest is bared to him. Leaning in, he whispers against my skin. “I’m so fucking in love with you, and I’m not ready for this night to be over. Not yet. I haven’t—”
Pounding on the door to the sitting room silences Nox as we both tense.
“Who could that be?” I ask, looking back behind me towards the sound.
“Just ignore it. I don’t care who’s there.” He gently guides my face back around, kissing me again before sliding his hands down my back. I moan as I arch against him, his mouth moving down my body and closing over one of my nipples as I spear my fingers into his hair to hold him there. Melting under his touch, I rock my hips over his length, both of us desperate to shed these final layers. But the knocking persists, this time on the door that leads into this room. Onyx shadows race across the floor and barricade the door, some of them slipping underneath it.
“You have five seconds to explain why thefuckyou’re in my room!” Nox shouts, holding me tightly against him.
“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important.” My gaze clashes with his at Cass’s voice. “Send your shadows back. I won’t go past this door.” Nox releases his hold on his magic but keeps his arms wound tightly around me.
“What’s wrong?”
There’s a considerable pause, as if Cass is weighing his words before he answers. “There’s something you need to see.”
We both dress back in our ball attire, leaving our crowns off as we open the door to find Cass pacing in the sitting room.
“What is it?” Nox asks, but Cass shakes his head, opening the door to let us pass before closing it behind him.
“A woman was found wandering the beach by a patrol. She was disheveled and disoriented, mumbling about needing to speak with the king. The guards brought her here, and as they were making their way to a secure room, the woman collapsed.”
