He spilled down her throat with a punch to the headboard and rolled his torso down into his hips. Her name was cursed in the air again as she drank him dry. He twitched with every move of her throat and swirl of her tongue. And once she was satisfied that he had been brought totally to his end, she straightened over him and started to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand. But Draven stopped her.
He took her wrist in his hand and held it to the side for a long moment, his throat bobbing. His chest continued to rise and fall heavily as he watched her with hazy eyes. She loved when he paused to look at her like that. Like they were the only two people in the world, and she surprised him every time he realized it was her in his arms.
Aydra slowly leaned into him until she was against his lips, and he kissed her softly.
“I’m glad you came early,” she whispered upon their parting.
He brushed her hair off her cheek, a small smile growing. “You’re lucky Bael needed help hunting,” he said. “I would have been here a week ago.”
She dared to laugh. “How long do you think I could have kept you hidden?” she asked.
His smile widened, and he grabbed her ass hard, giving it a shake that made her laugh into his neck. “You’re quite loud, my Queen…” he teased. “I’d have given your guards an hour before they began to talk….” His lips pressed to her jaw, and she curled up against him, relishing the chills rising on her skin as he sucked her throat and squeezed her backside.
He shifted and moved her sideways so that she was lying under him, and her eyes rolled every time he kissed her neck. But after a moment, he moved up to rest his forehead against hers, and then he simply pulled her close.
“How long until the sun rises?” Draven whispered.
“At least a few hours,” she replied.
Just as she closed her eyes, the pillow was yanked from beneath her head, and Draven turned quickly away from her and tucked the pillow in his clenched arms. She yelped at the abruptness and eyed the flash of white from his teeth as he tried to hide a smile.
“Draven!“
“Aydra,” he grunted sleepily back, and she swore she heard laughter in the way he said her name.
She sat up to grab his arm and tug at the pillow, but it was no use. His grip around it was like the mouth of the Ulfram around its prey.
She wondered if the Venari King was ticklish.
She dared to trace her fingers delicately over his side and up to the sensitive skin beneath his bicep over his ribs. He flinched, and she grinned.
“Aydra…” he drawled warningly.
But it only made her more eager. She tickled him, and Draven jerked against her, making her heart swell and laughter bubble. He squirmed and threw hands, laughing heartily in a way she’d never heard. And she memorized that deep chuckle as she had memorized the way he looked waking up beside him in the forest.
He didn’t let her keep that control long. Within seconds, he was on her. He shoved the pillow over her and pushed her back into the mattress. She struggled against the weight of his grasp until finally getting a knee to knock into his leg. He rolled her over, still grabbing at her waist and making her laugh as she sank back into the mattress and shoved at his broad shoulders. Laughter echoed in the room and sounded over the pounding rain. Lightning cracked outside, and she jumped when the thunder startled her. But Draven only held her tighter, his tickling fingers fading as her breasts rose and fell against him.
For a moment, it was only their smiles that met.
She hadn’t played like that in years.
Was it possible to drown in love with someone, she wondered? Was it possible for her to completely lose her sense of being and drift into a peaceful bliss never known to her core? To be free to be herself and feel as though she did not have to wear anything other than her own face before them?
She loved her family and her friends. But this… she didn’t have to be a Queen with him. She didn’t have to be a sister. A keeper. A savior.
She could just be Aydra.
His throat moved up and down as he looked over her face, those deep green eyes pouring through her, thumb stroking her cheek.
“Why did we waste so much time?” he whispered.
Pain akin to someone twisting her heart and wrenching out the blood started in her chest. And she blinked to stifle her emotion.
“We have now,” she breathed back. “And now, with you, is all I want.”
CHAPTER TWO
NYSSA CHANGED DRESSES three times that morning. First, because she had happily found that the one was too small. Second, because she realized that the second dress was too formal. And she had just decided on the third one when Dorian came bursting into the room and informed her they would be meeting with the Venari Second that morning, and they needed to get a move on.
