Her eyes flutter closed. After what feels like eternity, she reaches up and her soft, warm lips press against mine. Sensation ripples through me. Her kiss is the sweetest thing I’ve ever felt. Though sweet isn’t the half of it. There’s an intoxicating tension inside her that jumps straight into me. She brims with passion and intensity, the slightly bolder brush of her lips already burning me alive. Groaning, I slide my hands into her hair, kissing her back the only way I know how—like I worship her. I could fall to my knees right now.
She softens against me even as the kiss turns harder, hotter. My blood rushes like a swollen river. My cock stiffens, growing impossibly rigid as the scent of her arousal fills my nostrils. With barely any coaxing, she opens her mouth for me, and I take every bit of space she offers. This…this is my eternity.
The thought jars me even as her moan warms my lips and her fingers dig into my sides, pulling me closer. She rolls her tongue over mine, and lust rises like heat from a volcano. As we kiss, doors slam shut inside me, keeping the feel and taste of Idallia safe and flourishing and mine, like I’m the vault and she’s the treasure. My dragon agrees, and my possessive thoughts, tight stomach, and nearly trembling hands tell me this is more than simple desire. I finally have Idallia in my arms—the woman I never dreamed would become the one thing I wouldn’t be willing to give up, even for my kingdom.
We breathe raggedly, our mouths and bodies fusing. Her leg slides over my hip, and she rocks into me. I rock back, showing her how much I want her. The sounds we make, loud and rough and urgent, set off sparks inside me. She feels like a sunburst in my arms, one I could both consume and let burn me. We kiss each other like this will never end. So, why does this searing moment suddenly feel like the road to losing Idallia, rather than keeping her?
A cold serpentine of fear tangles through the heat and desire just as she abruptly rips herself away from me.
Eyes wide, she backs away. She holds out a hand when I try to follow. Arousal still perfumes the air like a delectable meal we haven’t been able to share yet. My gut sinks at her distrustful expression, two centuries of lies a sizable anchor.
“This isn’t a good idea.” She shakes her head, biting a lower lip still plump and shiny from our kisses.
It’s a disastrous idea. But I’ve tasted her now. Smelled her passion. Felt her hands and mouth on me and swallowed down her moans to keep them locked deep inside. Bad idea or not, the man in me doesn’t have any intention of letting her go, and the dragon in me will have to be tied down in chains to give her up now. “You want me. I can hear it. Scent it. Taste it.”
“Want isn’t the problem.” The color drains from her face. “I’ve already been down this path. It didn’t end well.”
I gape in disbelief. “Are you comparing me to Kellan?” Shadows swirl around me, taking form. A solidifying talon grows too long and scrapes the floor. “Did my kiss taste like his?” I pulse with jealousy, skin and scales.
Her gaze darts to the scratch in the wood before bouncing back to my face. “Not to Kellan, to the situation. But this is worse. You give the orders. My job depends on you, my home. My birds.”
I tense, offended. Nothing she’s said is wrong, and yet there’s nothing right about it at all. Doesn’t she know me? If Idallia doesn’t know me, no one does. “Does any part of you honestly believe I would kick you out and take back your birds if you don’t sleep with me?” The fucking nerve. Flames build in my throat. Smoke seeps from my nostrils.
“How do I know what you’ll do, Bale?” she asks sharply. “Everything changes when intimacy is involved.”
“And you know this because of one failed relationship?”
She flushes angrily again. “It’s one more relationship than you’ve had in the last two hundred years.”
“That’s because all I could see was you!”
She rears back, shock stamping across her features. “No. You just liked being alone.” Her brow creases. “And then…”
“And then I wasn’t anymore. Because you showed up, and I was drawn into your orbit over and over.”
Her face pinches, her expression unsure. “Well, you were so subtle about it that I didn’t even notice.”
I chuckle roughly. “I didn’t want to impose. Kellan is still clearly an issue, and all you ever need are your birds.”
Her tongue darts out, wetting her lips. My eyes track the pretty pink tip like prey. Lust thumps inside me again, sweeping low and hot toward my groin.
“Kellan’s not an issue.” She doesn’t say anything about her birds.
“Does he know that?”
Her eyes flash brighter than all the golden coins in my treasure vault. “Does that matter? I can’t change what he does.”
I can. Which is why I sent him to pick up a helpless little fae package. Unfortunately, from what I hear, she arrived in tears. I have no idea what happened and don’t care, but Marissa Turin is going to remain Kellan’s problem so he can stop being mine.
“Let’s not fight anymore.” I take a cautious step toward her. “I want to kiss you, not argue.”
Heat rolls off her, flushing her chest and neck a summer pink I want to fly straight into and savor. She clears her throat. “Why did you lie to me the other night? What was the point?” The sudden tremble in her voice stops me in my tracks. “I came to you for answers. I was scared. I didn’t know what to think.”
Remorse heavy in me, I scrub a hand down my face. “I’m sorry. I made a mistake.” My mind whispers to me to tell her the rest, and my dragon tells me to shut up. The dragon in me has never been in charge before, but I listen to it tonight.
I’ll wait to see how the Council goes. I’ll keep Idallia close this time instead of sending her away. If things take a turn for the worse, maybe I’ll finally find it in me to pull my ace out of my sleeve.
Worry rips through me like a tear in my soul. But then my ace will become a wildcard, and I could lose everything—Idallia and the vote I need.
