“Now,” he breathed against my neck, “touch yourself for me.”
The words alone were enough to send another shiver of near-release spiraling through me. Actually doing as he commanded made me dizzy in the best possible way—a heady combination of heat and desire andpower.He might have been the one giving the commands, but there was no question about whether or not I had any power; I could make his breath catch with just a single, purposeful swipe of my fingers. I could control the pounding of his heart with only a deliberate look at his reflection, locking my eyes on him as I pleasured myself.
We were both at each other’s mercy. Both starving for release, both hungry in a messy, heated way that didn’t fit with any proper, royal agenda. So when I decided I needed him inside of me, I didn’t speak, didn’t need to; I merely rose onto my knees and positioned myself so I was hovering over his lap. He rosewith me, his hands moving under my ass, supporting me as I rocked myself back and forth along his hardened length.
“Keep watching,” he whispered, and I did—and so did he, his eyes heavy with lust as he finally guided himself into me. He took me slowly, gaze burning into the reflection of us in the mirror, savoring every reaction as he pushed inside inch by inch.
He was so controlled. So composed. It was both maddening and unspeakably arousing, how focused he seemed to be on making me feel every sensation to the fullest extent. Maybe it was the fear, the uncertainty that loomed over every decision we made lately—and that needto keep control so that our magic didn’t spiral into something dangerous.
I’ll keep you safe, he’d promised me.
But after a night spent carefully watching every step, every word, every move that I made as I balanced a new crown on my head, I didn’t care aboutsafeany longer.
I lowered myself more fully onto him, drawing a groan and a curse as he throbbed against the deepest parts of me. I leaned back, pressing as much of my body to his as possible. Stretching my arms back as well, I hooked them around his neck, holding on as I worked my hips in an increasingly eager dance.
For a moment, he barely moved. He just let me grind against him, his hands on my hips, helping me balance. I watched him in the mirror—his head falling back, lips moving with silent curses. His fingers digging deeper and deeper into my skin. His composure slipping, bit by bit, until he reached his breaking point.
He abruptly adjusted his position, stretching his legs out to give him better leverage. Then he grabbed my arms from around his neck and twisted them against my back instead, pushing my breasts out, displaying them front and center in the mirror as he started to thrust, to control the way I rose and fell against him.
He buried his face in the crook of my neck, alternating between soft kisses and devouring ones, and occasionally just letting his lips rest against my skin as he breathed me in.
But he never went long without lifting his eyes and taking in the sight of what he was doing to me.
His gaze was wild with desire whenever it swept over the mirror image of my body—so completely, obviously enraptured by me that it pushed me a little closer to the edge every time I watched him drink me in.
“Now you get to see the beautiful sight I do whenever I’m moving inside of you like this. Do you see why I’m obsessed with you?” His voice was low, each word sending heat coiling through me, making me clench more tightly around him. He gave several quick thrusts in response to that tightening, keeping my arms pinned behind my back so my breasts heaved up and down with the force of his pounding. His gaze followed their movement—and soon mine did, too.
A wicked smile curved his lips. “Does it turn you on, watching them bounce while I fuck you?”
My reply was somewhere between a breathlessyesand a whimper.
Because gods, itdid. But it was more than a physical desire burning through me. It was the freedom of it that I craved. The way I felt exposed, yet safe. There was nothing proper or expected about what we were doing—all thought of royal duties and divine destinies faded whenever we were together like this—yet it felt indescribably, undeniablyright. Even as our magic stirred beneath our skin, and I held my breath and hoped it wouldn’t turn into a more violent storm.
But even if we were consumed by that storm, I don’t think it would have mattered.
I don’t think I would have stopped.
Because there was nothing I wanted more than this.
Nothing more thanhim.
He didn’t stop as the first swirls of shadow lifted from my skin, but his thrusts did grow gentler, more deliberate. He guided me into the more intimate position we’d started in, both of us on our knees with him filling me inch by throbbing inch. I reached back again, this time wrapping my arms around his waist, relaxing against his firm body and leaving myself completely at his mercy.
The slower pace he set made it easier to watch what he was doing. To study the commanding grip he took on my shoulder with one hand, pushing me down to meet each of his thrusts, while his other hand roamed over my front side, teasing every inch he could reach before finally sliding between my legs.
He continued driving into me with slow, deep motions, but his fingers quickly worked up to a rougher, more insistent rhythm. His mouth was equally rough, sucking on my neck until I was squirming, desperate for release.
Every part of my body was aflame by this point. My thighs squeezed tighter together with every building wave of my orgasm, with every balance-rocking clench of my insides.
“Eyes open and face forward,” Aleks rasped, his hand moving from my shoulder to my jaw, lifting my gaze. “So you can see how beautiful you look when I make you come.”
I hadn’t even realized I’d closed them. My awareness was slipping, giving way to hazy bliss. But I did as he said, fixing my eyes on the mirror.
And that was all it took: one last glimpse of him at my back. Of his fingers falling from my jaw to bracket my throat, all of him clearly just a breath away from coming completely undone…
I shattered.
He quickly followed, holding me against him until he’d given every last drop of himself to me—and then for several minutes after, until my body finally stopped shaking.
