My hands find her waist, pulling her closer, and she makes this sound—half gasp, half moan—that goes straight to my cock.
I deepen the kiss, my tongue sliding against hers, tasting her. She tastes like winter-berries and wine and something uniquely her, something I want to drown in. Her fingers thread through my hair, tugging hard enough to sting, and I groan into her mouth.
She responds by pressing closer, her body flush against mine, and I can feel every curve of her through the thin fabric of herdress. The way her chest rises and falls with each ragged breath. The heat of her skin even through the layers between us.
I want more.
Want everything.
My hand slides up her spine, mapping the delicate ridges of bone, the dip of her lower back. She shivers under my touch, and I swallow the soft whimper she makes, claiming it. Claiming her.
Her leg hooks around my hip, and that's it. That's all it takes for my control to snap.
I lift her in one smooth motion, pressing her back against the garden wall. Smooth stone cool against my palm as I brace one hand there to keep us upright, the other gripping her thigh to hold her in place.
She wraps both legs around me now, locking her ankles behind my back, and the feel of her like this—clinging to me, trusting me to hold her—makes my head spin.
I pull back just enough to breathe, to look at her, and she's gorgeous. Flushed and panting, her lips swollen from my kisses, her eyes dark with want. The silver-blue of her dress shimmers in the lantern light, and those layered petals of her mask catch the glow, making her look ethereal.
Like something I don't deserve but can't let go of.
"Lorenth." My name is a plea on her lips, and I kiss her again before she can say anything else.
Harder this time. Deeper.
I kiss her like I'm trying to memorize the shape of her mouth, the way she responds to me. The little sounds she makes when I nip at her lower lip or when my hand tightens on her thigh.
She meets me stroke for stroke, giving as good as she gets. Her nails dig into my shoulders, scratching through the fabric of my tunic, and the slight sting of it makes me groan.
I want to feel her nails on bare skin. Want to strip away every barrier between us until there's nothing left but heat and need and this consuming pull that's been building all night.
My world tilts. Shifts. Like everything I thought I knew is rearranging itself around this one truth: Senna is mine.
The thought should terrify me. Should make me pull back and think rationally about what the hell I'm doing.
But it doesn't.
It feels inevitable. Like gravity. Like breathing.
I kiss my way along her jaw, down to the sensitive spot just below her ear, and she gasps. Her head falls back against the wall, giving me better access, and I take full advantage. Teeth and tongue and lips working over her skin until she's trembling in my arms.
"Please." Her voice is wrecked, barely a whisper. "Lorenth, please."
I don't know what she's asking for, but I'll give her anything. Everything.
My hand slides higher on her thigh, fingers brushing the edge of her dress where it's ridden up, and she makes this broken sound that nearly undoes me.
I want to take my time. Want to worship every inch of her until she forgets her own name. But I also want to devour her. Want to consume her until there's no space left between us, until we're so tangled together neither of us knows where one ends and the other begins.
I settle for somewhere in between, kissing her like I'm starving for it. Like she's the only thing keeping me tethered to the ground.
Her fingers find the edge of my mask, and for a second I think she's going to pull it off. But she just traces the navy edge of it, her touch reverent, before sliding her hand back into my hair.
The silver threads woven through my tunic catch on her dress as we move together, creating friction that makes us both groan. I press closer, rolling my hips against hers, and she gasps into my mouth.
Fuck, I need?—
I need to stop. Need to slow down before I lose myself completely.
