“No you don’t, princess. Give me what’s mine,” Kyron growls against my center. He replaces his tongue with his thumb and rubs slow circles. “Thank you, Rowan,” he calls over his shoulder.
“You’re welcome. I don’t suppose my sister would like to say hello before we dock?”
“No,” he barks. I glare down at him and he softens his tone. “Give her a moment and she’ll meet you out on the deck.”
With a grumble, Rowan’s retreating steps disappear down the hall.
I should be upset, but when Kyron turns back to me with lust-filled ebony eyes, all I can think is how I don’t want him to stop. I need to come apart for him, to give him the pleasure of tasting my release.
I relax against the counter, and he praises me, saying, “That’s it. Let me finish taking care of you.”
He slides two fingers inside me, and his tongue returns to my clit. My body tightens around him, racing toward a feeling only he can give me. With two slow pumps of his fingers, my body comes alive in a way it hasn’t for too long. My hand darts to my mouth to stifle my moans. Kyron doesn’t let up, taking everything I give. The flat of his tongue sweeps over me several times in gentle strokes until my pleasure ebbs.
With a final kiss to my slit, he pulls away. He runs the back of his hand over his mouth and reveals a pleased grin. “So much better than imagining it,” he says.
I place my hand on my chest and gulp down air to catch my breath. “I wholeheartedly agree.”
After cleaning up, I sit on the edge of the bed and pull on my boots. A thought I pushed away in the throes of passion creeps into my mind, and I ask, “You brought my little brother?”
Kyron stares into the wardrobe, avoiding my gaze. “Yourlittlebrother is almost as large as your father and a soldier now, and he insisted on coming.”
“You’re king. You could have said no.”
“I could have, but that wouldn’t have gone well in my quest to win your family over. Besides, he was closely watched the entire time.”
I shrug on a thigh-length royal blue coat, popping the high collar and fastening two of the gold buttons in the center. “Rowan doesn’t constitute as my entire family. Who, by the way, adores you. He was being an overprotective shit. He would have gotten over it.”
Kyron slides into his jacket—all black, tailored, with four braided closures down the front. “It had been weeks, and he was still devising ways to murder me in my sleep.”
I laugh at that. Rowan doesn’t stand a chance against Kyron. The king would have him flat on his back before he knew what hit him. “And that wasn’t a murderous look you shot to the door when he interrupted us?”
“He interrupted me in the middle of something very important. He’s lucky he’s still alive.”
“You know you’re in a dick measuring competition with my brother.”
“Is it really a competition when there’s a clear winner?”
I roll my eyes and fight back a smile. Breezing past him, I reach for the door.
“Hey, before we go, I have something for you,” he says.
I face him to find his lips set in a serious line and the playful sparkle gone from his eyes. My worry just begins to set in when he removes his hand from his pocket and uncurls his fingers. Laying in the center of his palm is the Eporri. We stare at the round opalescent stone. I didn’t have time to think about it when I thrusted it into his hand on the boat. The last time I truly looked at the Sacred Gift, it was covered in my blood. My hand moves to my outer thigh, brushing over the tender flesh I haphazardly sewed back together. I miss feeling the petals carved into the stone’s surface under my skin.
“It belongs with you,” Kyron says, bringing my attention back to him.
Nothing is further from the truth. The moment I fell from the Statera’s grace, I forfeited my crown. Only sovereigns and their heirs can call upon the powers found in the Sacred Gifts of the Statera bestowed upon their kingdoms. The stone that once gave me the power to harness the gifts of others is as useless as a river rock to me.
I clasp my hands in front of me, stopping them from taking what’s no longer mine. “The Eporri is too powerful for me to carry it around like some trinket. You should learn to wield it.”
He clenches the stone in his fist and his sharp jaw ticks. “You will be my queen and control its power again, Raelle.”
“You’re undeniably one of the most charming people I know, but it’s going to take more than that to get the Statera’s blessing to bind a union between us. No Sibyl will perform the marriage ceremony.”
He vehemently shakes his head. “That’s not an option for me. I’ll abdicate my throne, rip through every kingdom, and fall fromgrace myself if that’s what it takes. I will not rule Pliris without you as my queen.”
His declaration is everything I want to hear. He desires me above all else. But the duties of the crown are at the core of my being. Personal needs and wants can’t hinder the betterment of the kingdom. As much as he wants to dedicate himself to me, he has made a promise to Pliris’ people. It’s a truth I know he isn’t ready to hear, so I offer him another one.
“I’m not leaving your side. I will be there for every failure and triumph as you lead our people. What you will face in the weeks to come will be difficult, and you’ll need every ounce of help you can get. Right now, the Eporri serves you better than it does me.” I ease the stone from his hand and slide it back into his pocket.
