His body arched, drawn taut, and he shuddered as he roared my name.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“What was that?” I asked as he collapsed back into his throne, panting. My heart still beat arrhythmically, pulsing with unfulfilled yearning and frustration.
“I climaxed,” he said, his voice gravelly and shaking. At my bewildered expression, he added, “You brought me to completion.”
“Oh.” I was confused. “I thought that could only happen inside of me.”
He reached up to stroke the side of my face. “There is so much you don’t know.”
Show me.
I had to bite the words back. I might have just done something very bad. Something that couldn’t be undone.
He looked wrung out. Exhausted. Despite my fear of having potentially, accidentally broken my vow, all I could think about was that I had done this to him. I had brought the mightiest man in Ilion to his knees. A sense of power surged inside me, a feminine pride exulting in the fact that I could make him this way. I pinned his tunic closed for him, as he seemed unable to move.
I couldn’t help but smile. “I suppose that means I win.”
He laughed. “Wife, you may claim all the victories you’d like. I should probably feel embarrassed, as this hasn’t happened to me in years, but all I feel is ...”
Not able to stave off my curiosity, I asked, “What does it feel like?”
“There are no words to describe it adequately. It is euphoric. The most incredible pleasure you could possibly imagine,” he said.
Pleasure ... that I wasn’t allowed to give.
I couldn’t ignore that nagging voice in my head reminding me that I might have made a grave mistake.
The smile dropped off his face. “What’s wrong?”
“Pleasures of the flesh,” I told him. Maybe it wouldn’t count because I hadn’t intended to bring him to completion. Hadn’t known that I could.
Would the goddess hold this against me?
“You didn’t know,” he said, echoing my own thoughts.
“But if it happened again ...” I wanted it again. Wanted it for him, wanted it for myself.
His expression sobered even further. “So we can’t.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling the tears welling up in my eyes.
His eyes were so soft. “I’m the one who should be apologizing. I knew better. I should have stopped it.”
He crushed me to his chest and I held on tightly. I should give him up. He was king now. We had no further need for pretense. We could have separate rooms. I could stay away from him.
But this was where I wanted to be.
“Stand up,” he said. “Try the magic.”
I felt foolish for not having thought of it earlier. Fear and apprehension squeezed my heart as I said, “Dea Erinys.”
The hot-and-cold rush of the magic filled me. “It’s here,” I said with relief.
And somehow the glow around him had turned an even brighter white.
“I’m glad,” he said. But his smile didn’t reach his eyes.
