Only then did I feel like I was back inside my own flesh.
But the desire wouldn’t leave. For a brief moment, as I stalked back to my dwelling at the top of Grymia before the village woke, I thought of veering east toward Rivenna’s dwelling. She wouldn’t deny me. I could shake off the memory of lust for Amaia onto her willing tongue. And wouldn’t it feel wonderful, to feel her teeth graze against metal andtug?Hard? Just the way I liked it?
But when I imagined the scene, all I could conjure was Amaia’s face peering up at me, the sensation of her soft, untouchable magic all around me like a shroud I wanted to stay buried in.
I recalled the punishing tease of her magic. I’d never felt anything like it before. I almost worried that she could do more than heal. I worried she couldensnare. Because I hadn’t been able to think of anything else since we’d left the cavern in Ny’am. Only her. Desperate and aching to feel her again.
“Fuck,” I hissed under my breath, veering toward my dwelling, the stone road familiar. The moment I entered my humble home, I bolted the door and stripped where I stood.
I sighed in relief, feeling cool air over heated skin as I maneuvered to the washroom, drawing open the thin, gossamer curtains to reveal the sunken stone bath.
As I waited for it to fill with steaming water from Ny’am Mountain behind us, I ran the backs of my raw knuckles down the metal piercings of my erect cock, breathing deep and slow. The metal felt cold against the heat of the injuries. I could feel the piercings pull and shift beneath my flesh, sparking pleasure, which coiled in my heavy sac.
Pre-come pushed from the tip, dripping over the head. I spread it with my thumb before stepping into the bath, the water so hot that it burned. Steam rose as I sat on the small ledge beneath the water and leaned back. The heat made me hiss, especially when the water met my sore knuckles, but it only made me grip my cock harder.
I was too far gone to draw this out. I’d been hard for hours, punishing lust fogging my mind ever since I’d been down in thecavern with Amaia. Ever since she’d opened up her magic to me. Ever since she’d emerged from the water like a tantalizing siren hellbent on stealing my soul, her clothes clinging to her lush body, her eyes burning like the namesake I’d given her, like embers.
A desperate sound clawed its way up my throat as I stroked down my thick cock, squeezing hard at the base before running my palm back up. My fingers dragged along the piercings lining the underside of my shaft, each click and subtle pull making my abdomen tighten.
I breathed out, my hips beginning to rock and thrust. I leaned my head back along the edge of the sunken bath, the hard stone supporting my neck as I closed my eyes. Imagining her. Those wide eyes. The curl of her full lips. I imagined the sounds she’d make if I fucked her like this, how good she’d feel around me. She’d demand her pleasure. She’d demandsoftness. Gentleness. She wasn’t at all right for me…but on Muron, I wanted her. I wanted to be soft for her, so she could use me up.
The drag of my hand grew rougher, tightening along the piercings. The water’s surface went choppy, little waves from my rapid thrusts. The tantalizing mixture of pleasure and pain brought me right to the edge.
And when that pleasure seared me, my vision went white with it, and it felt like a delicious brand on my skin, sizzling until I bellowed with it.
In the aftermath, I recovered, my chest heaving.
I didn’t know why she came to mind right then, but I remembered the Hartan witch. The first one that my mother consulted. The prophecy…that I would cut out the heart of my first love before I offered her mine in return. That I would be a king forever torn between three worlds.
I scoffed. My mother and her witches and her prophecies. She’d go from seer to seer when we’d lived in Harta because youcould find them at nearly every mountain or village entrance. Whereas in Karak, you’d never encounter a single one.
I understood now why she’d done it. She’d been lost. Looking for someone to give her an answer—or hope, perhaps—that she could cleave to. But none of them had ever offered her any peace. Except that last one, who’d told her that she’d never find what she was looking for in all of Harta, after she’d whispered into my mother’s ear about me.
That was why we’d left.
My mother saw riches if I was meant to be a king. A comfortable life. Everything she could ever want and more. It didn’t matter that we had nothing except the clothes on our backs and a bundle of dried meats for the journey to Karak. It didn’t matter that I’d been a young boy, that the journey had been dangerous, navigating steep mountains and blustering valleys and frigid nights.
Regardless, my mother hadn’t lived long enough to see me become aKarath.
As for the other prophecies that witch had whispered into my mother’s ear…well, I didn’t know what love was. I preferred it that way. And so I didn’t need to fear it.
And if I was to be torn between three worlds, then let it be Harta, Karak, and the next world in death.
Chapter 19
AMAIA
“He’s gone?” I asked, frowning. “Where?”
I hadn’t seen Alaryk for three days, ever since that night in the mountain. Nor had I seen him around the village, though I would be embarrassed to admit that I’d been searching for him, taking longer walks during meal times and breaks.
“Summoned to Elysom, apparently,” Ethrisha told us all, plucking a small fruit from the bowl she’d brought to our picnic lunch. It was a rich purple in color, so dark it appeared black, but the flesh inside was pink. Tart but sweet.
I watched as she bit into it before leaning back against Brune, whose arms came around her. Ever since the night of the feast, the pair had been inseparable. She held another fruit up to his lips and giggled when he splattered juice with his sharp bite.
“But why?” I asked Ethrisha, because she seemed to know everything about everyone. Even me apparently.
“Sad you don’t get any more late-night rendezvous with theKarath?” she teased, waggling her brows, a smirk on her fruit-stained lips, which I was certain Brune would kiss away later.
