I pull back and grin up at him. “Look at that. Not only is Pliris’ king smart and handsome, but he tells jokes too.”
“My witty personality wins people over.”
I glide my thumb over his lips and say, “I would have bet it was your vibrant sense of fashion or that death-glare you give when someone doesn’t follow your directions exactly how you ordered them.”
“First of all,” he kisses the pad of my thumb, “there’s nothing wrong with preferring to wear black. Not all of us can make a jewel encrusted gown with a plunging neckline look good. Second, I reserve the death-glare you speak of for one runaway princess. Mind you, she thought tea sipping and dinner parties had prepared her to lead trained killers into enemy territory. I had a reason to glare.”
My heart flutters, and I can’t fight my smile. This is the easy stuff. The moments I once anticipated with Kyron. We still have a journey before us, but we have just regained a small piece of our normal.
I stand on my tiptoes and brush my lips against his. “Yet, you were the first to cave to her demands, and you even placed her before your king.”
“I don’t regret it, and I still bow to no one but you.”
“Is that so, Your Majesty?”
He lowers to the ground, kneeling before me with his hands on my hips. All playfulness leaves his face, replaced with complete adoration. “You’re my queen, and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. And the view? It’s beautiful from down here.”
“It’s breathtaking from here as well,” I say, combing my fingers through his smooth hair.
He presses a kiss to my stomach, his breath warm through the thin fabric of my tunic. My eyes flutter shut, and I cup the back of his head, holding him to me. His fingers inch under my shirt, and he lifts it enough to brush his lips over the sensitive skin just above the waist of my pants.
“I missed worshiping you like this, Raelle. Did you miss it too?”
“Yes,” I whisper, leaning against the basin and spreading my legs to make room for him.
He pulls the bow at the top of my breeches and sinks his finger behind the thin leather lace, sliding it through the first eyelets. He leans in and kisses the newly exposed skin. “I missed feeling you tremble, the taste of you on my tongue, and”—he unlaces my pants more and slides his thumb inside—“feeling how wet you are for me.”
“Fuck,” I hiss, clenching the edge of the basin and tilting my head back.
“Eyes on me, princess. I need you to look at me as you tell me if you want this.”
I don’t so much as blink as I say, “I do. I want your mouth on me.”
One side of his mouth tilts up in a satisfied smirk. “Good girl. Don’t look away. I want you to watch everything I do to you.”
I obey his order as he pulls the last of the lace free. My legs shake as he lowers my pants, abandoning them at mid-thigh. He slides a finger through my wet center and brings the glistening tip to his mouth. My breath hitches as he licks it clean.
“Do I taste like you remember?” I ask.
He kisses just above my slit, the tip of his tongue slipping out to steal a taste of my skin. “Better. So much better.”
He’s so close to where I need him, teasing me with the promise of what’s to come. I ache to feel the stroke of his tongue gliding through me and his mouth sucking my clit. Threading my hands in his hair, I press down on the top of his head.
“Please taste me,” I beg.
His lips turn into a wicked smile. “That’s my good girl. Let me hear you beg again.”
My frustration and desire get the better of me. I grip his hair and tilt his head back. Enunciating each word, I say, “Put your mouth on me.”
“Yes, my queen.” He digs his fingers into my thighs and pulls me to his mouth. His tongue licks along my seam, sending a jolt of bliss through my body. He nips at my tender flesh and sinks his tongue deeper. My legs give out when he sucks the most sensitive part of me. I surrender to the feeling as he holds me to his face, working me closer to my release.
My hips move with the tempo he sets, and his name slips from my lips over and over again. I watch as his tongue moves in rapid flicks. The heat low in my stomach tangles into a knot. Mybreathing speeds up as the knot inside me is pulled tight, ready to snap and send me flying with ecstasy.
Three hard bangs come from the quarter’s door, and my heart hammers against my chest, attempting to burst free from my body. Kyron holds me in place, refusing to stop.
A voice from the hallway says, “We’re pulling into the harbor, Your Majesty.”
I stiffen at the familiar sound.
