“You are the only person I love.” She dropped her forehead to his, closing her eyes. Relishing in the closeness of him. “I want to be your wife, of my own free will, of my own volition. Not for salt, not for freedom, not for anything other than the unalterable truth that I am yours until I cease to pull breath.”
A part of Vaasa knew she was going to fall apart, that there were details they should try to fit together and potential outcomes they should anticipate. But she was so tired of living in what this city made of her, of spending all day in her own mind. “Please,” she begged into the minimal space between where her lips ended and his began. She crossed that distance, pressing her mouth to his, lifting her hands to run over his shoulders. She needed this—to be touched in a way that was not menacing, to be close to someone she knew would not put a knife through herback. To be the version of herself she so desperately wanted to be. The version of herself that was his. “Tell me you still want that, too. That in the end, it’s just you and me. That you will want me beyond your ten years as headman, that you will need me for more than power.”
Without a hint of hesitation, Reid rolled so that he was above her, one leg on either side of hers. He kissed her so gently it bordered on torturous. She didn’t want gentle. She didn’t want kind. This place sharpened each of her corners, and she couldn’t even protect herself from it. Her magic churned in her abdomen and melded with a kindling heat, the taste of Reid heady on her tongue. It was all she could do to ground herself now—to smother this pain with the feel of him, to sate this longing with his taste. “Of course I want more,” he whispered against her lips. “You are not the blood of war. You are everything that happens after for me.”
Anything she had ever felt for another dwindled into smallness. It paled in comparison to the enormity of what this man summoned from the depths of her—something she’d thought she would never once feel.
That she could trust every piece of her being with another.
That she wanted to.
Vaasa was greedy with her hands as she slipped them under his shirt. She kissed him so desperately, she thought she would be lost. Her nails scratched the hard muscles of his stomach. She wanted to drag her teeth along them, a thought that ignited more passion in her body. Fire blazed in her core, and she couldn’t believe how her desire consumed her. She bit his lower lip, and a sound emanated from the back of his throat, tongue sweeping through her lips to tease her. The intensity of everything she’d experienced speared through her, and she couldn’t contain it anymore. Her fingers dug into the skin of his back as she clawed at his shirt’s hem, trying to haul it off him.
Reid lifted enough for her to accomplish her task, his eyes going alight with the sight of her being so wanton. He grabbed ahold of her leg and maneuvered it so he was entirely between her thighs, looming above her, strong hands coasting over her hips and up to where her blouse tucked beneath her breeches. She stared up at his half-naked form with nothing short of reverence. The sculpted lines of him looked just as she remembered, only accentuated in the dim firelight. She caught sight of the small bite mark she’d left on his shoulder during their last encounter, and it sent a thrill through her. The strength sewn into his broad muscles reminded her of the way he worked oars upon Icrurian ships, the way he could lift her with ease onto his desk in the High Temple, how she’d been so fucking foolish not to take advantage of every opportunity to have him that she’d been presented. All that time wasted.
“What are you thinking?” he asked softly, his hands hovering above her stomach with the hem of her untucked shirt balled in his fist.
She bit her lower lip. “I should have fucked you on our wedding night.”
A smile formed on his face. “Oh, Wild One,” he laughed, pulling up on her shirt so she had no choice but to arch her back. His mouth dipped to linger just above her breast, his eyes looking up to meet hers. “If you had let me fuck you on our wedding night, you never would have left.”
He kissed her through her shirt then, teeth grazing over her nipple, leaving the fabric wet. He’d done this to her on the Settara as they made their way to Dihrah, just days before the election, just days before everything was lost. Vaasa dug her fingers into his hair, needing to be reminded that he was real. He was here for her. “You sound awfully confident,” she said.
“I am,” he insisted. His teeth grazed over her covered breast again. “You want to know why?”
“Why?”
His voice hummed along her skin. “Because you aren’t the only one who’s good with knots.” With one hand, Reid pulled her shirt over her head until the fabric was bunched on her arms and twisted, causing the sleeves to tighten around her wrists. Before she could register what he was doing, he looped the shirt onto the decorative arm of the couch, sliding it between two thick crevices of wood so the fabric was secured behind her head. She pulled, but she couldn’t release herself. Her arms were trapped.
Vaasa’s breath hitched, and her eyes went a little wide. Faintly, she felt the cool mist of her Veragi magic as it played on her bound wrists.
Reid smiled like the devil. “You’re at my mercy now.”
Vaasa could hardly breathe. Reid lowered his head to her now naked breast and took her nipple into his mouth, sucking until she let out a small gasp. He switched to the other side, flicking his tongue until she squirmed. Vaasa let her low moan unleash, finally alone with him, finally able to make whatever sound she wanted. His lips brushed the sensitive skin of her neck, hands roaming along her shoulders. His eyes roved over everywhere he touched, fingers brushing the base of her neck.
Faintly, she realized he was inspecting her—going slowly in order to look for wounds. Scars. He was going to find them. Yet she couldn’t stop herself from arching into his touch. His breath was so warm. Her collarbones, the swell of her breasts, each of her shoulders—and then he paused.
His fingers ran over the slightly raised lines on her upper arms where Lord Vlacik had cut her. Such fine, delicate work that man had accomplished with a blade. Reid’s eyes met hers, and she shook her head. He had to know she wasn’t able to handle those memories. That they needed to stay buried.
“You want to forget?” he asked in that low voice of his, somewhere between a growl and a plea.
“Everything except you,” she confessed.
“Hmm.” His lips pressed hungrily to her collarbone again in a way that told her he would oblige her. That despite his innate ability to cut right to the center of things, he had no intention of pushing her now. His thumbs scraped over her nipple, his mouth following, the warmth an indication of his desire to take away her pain. He was giving them both what they wanted: her an escape, him an assurance.
His fingers hooked into her breeches, and he tugged them down her hips. She lifted herself from the soft cushion of the couch, and then they were off, tossed to the floor. Sitting on his knees, Reid took in the view of her body beneath his. His eyes snagged on the shirt that still bound her to the couch. To the subtle outpouring of magic that Vaasa assumed had swallowed the entire wooden arm where he’d secured her blouse. His large hands rested on her bent knees.
“Perhaps I should keep you right here,” he said. “It’s an awfully tempting view.”
Vaasa licked her lips, anticipation and heat swirling in her lower abdomen and blazing between her thighs. From this angle, he looked more powerful than she had even fantasized. There was something intoxicating about being at his whim, yet an unexplainable trust wound between them; he would not hurt her. He had always paid attention to the signals of her body, and with the way he watched her every twitch, she knew he was doing so now.
His hands gripped more tightly on her knees, and then he spread her legs wider, watching her expression closely. She breathed heavier. Vaasa closed her eyes, but he tsked, squeezing her legs. “You’re going to watch what I do to you. Otherwise, I would have covered your eyes, too.”
Vaasa’s lids flew open, and she met his demanding, hungry gaze. She had known he would be good, that the sex wouldonly serve to make her want him more, but she hadn’t expected this. Their first night together, he’d been cautious with her. He hadn’t revealed the darker truths of his desires and the way their intimacy had the opportunity to develop. It was as if their time apart had sped it up; in the wake of their urgency, he was taking what he wanted with abandon. “Then stop waiting and show me something worth watching,” Vaasa teased. She tugged at the blouse, testing its grip.
Amusement danced in his features as he ran a hand up the inside of her leg, fingers brushing against the panties that covered her. He swept over them, her skin beneath the fabric incredibly sensitive, and there was something heady about the almost touch. His head lowered to the inside of her knee, his mouth brushing her bare skin. “What is it you want to see, Wild One?” he asked just before he grazed the inside of her thigh with his teeth. “Tell me.”
The words bubbled up in her, an unexpected shyness accompanying them. But when he stopped sweeping his thumb over her panties and his lips paused their descent, she knew he would go no further without instructions. “Your head between my thighs is a good place to start,” she whispered.
