“Yes.”
And then I was on my back, him braced on one elbow beside me. My soft nightgown still covered my body, but the heat of his hand seared through it when he slid his palm down to cup me.
He paused, and at my nod, he drew circles with a gentleness I hadn’t known he was capable of as he devoured my mouth.
A moment of intimacy with Emrys had played in my mind once or twice—a foolish, guilty fantasy. But I’d never imagined it would be this way. It felt as if we were always meant to be here, doing exactly this. The small sounds I made came bubbling up from my soul as he alternated circles to petting.
I’d come from a life of constant reminders that I was unwanted and foreign in Caervorn. But with him, I wasn’t alone. I was wanted.
“Yes, that’s it exactly.” Emrys’s encouragement was a soft whisper in my ear between kisses. “Is this a good rhythm?”
I barely managed a “yes,” I was so lost to the sensations building in my body, even if he hadn’t even touched my skin with his own. I’d chosen a silk chemise last night—now I was thankful for its softness.
“Sogood.” He whispered into my ear as I caught my breath. “Isca, you’re perfect.”
Emrys didn’t vary the pace or demand more from me. He just kept massaging me as he claimed my mouth with his.
A whisper of the wild power I’d recognized as his curse brushed along my skin. The sensation was like warm, blunt fingernails grazing the surface, making certain to reach every spot with its attention. It wasn’t unpleasant, just…more. A reminder of the monster’s presence, almost as intimate as Emrys’s touch.
If hundreds of powerful mages across the islands and on the continent couldn’t figure out how to break the curse, I’d have to live with it, share myself with it in this way, if I wanted him.
And, oh, I wanted him.
It didn’t take long until I simmered like a pot of water on a fire stoked so high it was ready to boil over.
“What do I…” I couldn’t even finish the thought. The pressure was building so fast.
But Emrys seemed to know what I was asking. “Let it carry you away.”
As if that whisper had unlocked something within me, my magic swelled up, threatening to rip out of me in a shockwave of passion that would reach far beyond the four flimsy walls of our tent. So I hastily erected the walls that would keep my magic contained—just as my entire body convulsed.
A delicious, unbearable sensation erupted from my core, arching my back of its own accord. Emrys continued to massage as my thighs tried to clamp around his hand. The ward of silence erupted around us, just as my lips parted in a sound that slipped out before I could stop it.
Pleasure lapped at me like gentle waves on the shore.
When the pulsing subsided, I collapsed, boneless, under Emrys’s embrace. A heartbeat later, I nestled into his warmth, finding comfort and safety in his arms. Exactly where I wanted to be.
The hazy fog of pleasure in my mind lifted slightly as I came to, the sounds around me gradually resolving into the normal rhythm of the camp. I could hear the steady, rhythmic thud of his heart as I snuggled into his chest.
While I recovered, he marked a string of kisses across the light dew that had formed on my brow from my overheated body.
“Do you feel…better?” his low voice purred in my ear.
I took a heavy breath, drinking in the intoxicating scent of him. Then, a long, slow sigh escaped my lips before I managed a barely audible, “That was wonderful, Emrys.”
A deep, satisfied chuckle rumbled in his chest. “I take it you’re still a maiden.”
“Yes,” I muttered into his shirt. I was too tired, too blissfully languid to care about hiding the truth.
Even lower, he added, “You’re going to be the death of me.”
“I think that performance was evidence enough that you have experience,” I said with a grin.
A truly wicked smirk played across his lips. “Only a little.”
With a soft pop in my ears, the ward of silence disappeared. He shifted again, and I felt the unmistakable, still rigid pressure of him against me. I rolled over and tentatively moved my pelvis up and down, mimicking his earlier motions.
Anotherpop, and a second ward of silence bloomed around us. The complex magic seemed effortless in his hands.
