“We both landed a blow,” he said.
“Yes, but you only have one more item to take off.”
“Don’t you too?”
Holding his eyes with a triumphant smile, she reached with her free hand for the sash around her waist. She tugged the tie, and it fell from around her robe.
His expression fell. “Damn that sash.”
“Now you know how I felt when I saw your undershorts. Which you will now remove. With both hands. I’ve won, so drop your dagger and take them off.”
Desire darkened his irises at the demand in her tone. He did as told, releasing the dagger and reaching for his waistband. She rose to her knees, still straddling him, and kept her blade to his throat. She accommodated his moves, easing her blade away to allow him to fully slide his shorts down. He held her eyes all the while, which only made the heat between her legs grow to an insatiable, pulsing throb.
Fully nude, he reclined back down, and she lowered herself onto him once more, spreading the folds of her skirt around her so nothing lay between their bare flesh. His hardness dug against her thigh, even as she continued to hold her knife’s edge to his throat. She wasn’t sure why she kept it there, only that it deepened the thrill, the desire that coursed through her. And from the way he watched her, jaw slack, eyes roving the sliver of naked skin her robe revealed, he felt the same.
“Do you want me like this?” she asked, voice barely above a whisper.
“You mean with murder in your eyes and a knife between us? Gods, Cora.” He uttered her name through his teeth. “I want you in every way you’ll have me.”
She shifted her hips, rocked them, and he moaned with want. His hands caged her hips, fingers clamped around the silk folds of her skirt with an intensity that spoke of either pleasure or frustration. Her dagger’s position left him with little range of motion.
He spoke again, echoing her question back to her. “Do you want me like this?”
In answer, she slid over him, holding his gaze as she guided him inside her. She seated herself fully over him and gasped at the feeling, the fullness. Teryn cursed, his eyes fluttering shut.
She tapped the underside of his chin with the flat of her blade. “Keep your eyes open and watch me.”
“Devils,” he groaned as his eyes locked on hers again, lips quirked in a devious smile. She moved then, sliding up and down his length, igniting pleasurable sensations that burned hotter with every thrust. Just when she thought she could quench that need, her desire only grew. Teryn’s expression, the clear yearning in his eyes, the sounds he made, the way he made no move to make her drop her blade, the way he watched her just like she’d demanded, only increased that feeling.
She never imagined she’d want something like this, that she’d take pleasure with a blade in her hand. But gods, it was a thrill. And yet, even as her passion burned, the thrill gave way to more want, and she couldn’t take another moment without his hands on her. She tossed her blade to the side.
Teryn moved at once, lifting his upper body to meet her in a crushing kiss, a violent dance of teeth and tongues. His hands roved everywhere he hadn’t been able to touch before, tangling in her hair, caressing the column of her neck, then down the length of skin visible through her open robe. He pulled back slightly and parted the robe further, baring her breasts, her stomach, and the meeting of their bodies.
They watched the way they moved together for several beats, then his mouth closed over her breast. She threw her head back at the caress of his tongue over her hardened peak, and let her robe slip fully from her shoulders. Moans left her lips, ones she didn’t care enough to stifle. The guards weren’t close enough to hear them, and even if they were, she didn’t care. There was a boldness to what they were doing that made her euphoric and a roughness between them that hadn’t been there the first night they’d made love. Through it all wove a softness in her heart that made her feel safe. Loved. Cherished. Even as Teryn’s teeth grazed her skin. Even as she dug her nails into his back.
Release began to unravel inside her, and she rode that cresting wave. Teryn aided it with his fingertips, circling over her most sensitive spot as he continued to move inside her. Then finally, the sweetest, fiercest pleasure erupted from her, one that sent stars to her eyes and whimpers from her lips. Teryn found his release next, and he guided her hips through every wave and valley until they both were thoroughly sated.
As they fell back, out of breath, and stared at the armory ceiling, Teryn spoke through trembling breaths. “Say whatever you want, but I think I won that battle.”
41
As Cora and Teryn left the armory, their clothing haphazardly replaced, Cora wondered if maybe they had been too loud after all. Not that the guards gave any indication as the king and queen emerged from the armory hall, but they were well-trained in keeping their composure. It was the silence of the sleeping castle that brought heat to Cora’s cheeks, strikingly still and quiet as they strode up the steps to the keep. Even their footsteps were too loud.
That was also when the mood between Cora and Teryn began to change. It wasn’t awkwardness. Teryn held her hand with the same warmth and attention he’d given her body in the armory, and his posture was easy. Instead, the strain came from an inevitable fall back to reality in the wake of their euphoria.
Teryn was the first to voice it, leaning in close and lowering his voice to the quietest of whispers. “King Darius made his first direct contact with us today.”
She nearly stumbled up the next step, but Teryn’s grip on her hand helped her regain her balance. “He did?”
“He issued a demand for our surrender and detailed the forces that await us should we decline.” He relayed those numbers now, told her about the meeting Darius had set at the Khero-Vinias border, and the legion of reinforcements already heading their way.
Cora’s head swam at those numbers, but before her dread could grow, Teryn handed her a slip of paper. They reached the top of the staircase, and she read the sparse words scrawled across the paper, illuminated by the dim lamps lining the halls of the keep. It was a short, coded message, but…
“Does this mean what I think it means?”
Teryn gave a nod, and she returned the paper to him. Hope filled her chest as she analyzed the words in her head again and again. It could only mean one thing. The rebellion in Norun was set to strike soon. Darius wouldn’t likely get those reinforcements.
Teryn’s secrecy made her wonder who else knew. Perhaps no one.
