The queen went on to Jonas with harsher words leveled at him for worrying them and still not responding to her missive.
I was left to accept the cold greeting of the sea king. His red eyes were like dark blood, but he did not seem as indifferent on whether I lived or died. The calmer demeanor might’ve been because Livia’s young brother instantly ran to Bloodsinger’s side upon their arrival.
No doubt the Ever King did not want to scar the boy with his darker instincts.
“What will you do with it, elven?” Erik tipped his head at the looming isle.
“I don’t know. I wanted it to be part of our home here.”
“Then make it part of the land.” Mira waved her hands in a flourish, as though I ought to understand exactly what she meant.
“Make it part of the land?”
Mira gestured at Livia. “You’ve met the Night Folk king. The Night Folk fae have magic of the earth and it just so happens their king can bend the soil. Or, you know, fashion some sort of strip of land to the isle.”
Livia did not give us a moment to protest before she summoned her father. Behind the Night Folk king were Jonas’s mother and father, and the other fae kings and queens in attendance at our vows.
Jonas draped an arm around my shoulders while we all watched with a bit of awe as Livia’s father pressed a hand on the soil and the bedrock shifted in a great heave.
Sea floor raised, shorelines shifted, and when it was over, a smooth curve of land had fastened to the edges of Natthaven, securing the isle to the lands of the alvers.
Kase grinned when one of the kings with wheat-golden hair grunted in annoyance. “This should’ve been discussed. Tell me how it is fair that House Eriksson simply gets an entire isle for their lands and Night Folk have claim to the sea. It will be no time at all before you overrun our humble little kingdom.”
Kase chuckled with a bit of smugness. “Arrange vows and you get land.”
“You may be right.” The second king turned on hisheel. “Mira my girl, there is something I wish to discuss with you. I urge you to keep an open mind.”
His voice was lost through the chatter and new thrill from the alver folk interested in exploring the isle and the shadow elven tentatively peeking around shops and dock houses in a new land.
“Some Dokkalfar have never stepped foot off Natthaven,” I whispered.
Jonas smirked. “They will be corrupted soon enough.”
Debauchery of the Black Palace great hall lived on well into the night, long after Jonas urged me back to our bedchamber. The door hardly closed before Jonas had his fingers unlacing the back of my gown in a frenzy.
His mouth demanded mine. I parted my lips, needy for his taste, and I didn’t break away when he pinned me down over the bed.
Jonas braced his palms on either side of my head, watching as I unbuckled his belt. Before I could remove his trousers, he pressed gentle kisses to my still-healing wrists and pinned them over my head.
“Hold there, Fire.” He kissed across my chest, peeling my gown away as he went until I was bared to him. Jonas tossed the garment aside and kissed and licked his way down my middle.
I shuddered in desire when his teeth nipped at the sensitive skin of my thigh. With a soft moan, my hips rocked against his cruel, beautiful mouth. “More.”
Jonas followed his tongue with two fingers, filling me to the point I couldn’t draw in a breath.
I writhed and sighed until my thighs clamped around Jonas’s head and fell apart with a cry of his name.
My body still burned in pleasure when Jonas reeled back to finish ridding himself of his clothes, then he fitted his hips between my legs.
He shifted into a man undone.
Movements were fast and messy and deep. His breaths heated mythroat. I thought he might split me in two, and gods, how I wanted him to.
I moaned and scraped my fingernails down his back, desperate to cling to him as he drove me to the edge again. I shuddered and clawed and reached for him, my head spinning in a delirious fog.
“Skadi,” he whispered my name like it was a secret vow. In these moments, when he spoke my name in such a way, I felt as though my heart melded with his, never separate. “Together.” Jonas deepened each thrust. “Come with me.”
I didn’t know if it was his words or his deep movements, but my body bowed into his, shattering against the pieces that had already come apart before. Jonas went rigid, his soft gasps nestled against my neck as his release spilled into me.
