She wanted to scream. She wanted to carve the truth into the walls so that he might see. But the moment his lips found hers, every ounce of resolve and inner turmoil slipped away like the dagger that Aziel was now kicking to the other side of the room. Her arms and legs wrapped around him immediately, his hands rough as they moved higher over her torso to where her breasts hung heavy and aching on her chest. The moment his fingers took hold of her nipple, her lips parted in a gasp. Aziel deepened the kiss then, letting his tongue move against hers in languid strokes that had her arching into the palm of his hand.
He thrust himself against her, dragging his hard length against her molten center. Even with layers of clothing separating them, they both still groaned—still filled each other's mouths with curses and hisses. Nymiria’s fingers curled into his hair, yanking hard enough to break him away from her. “Ihaveto marry him.” She growled, but it did not deliver the bite she intended, not when he was pressing the entirety of his cock against her sex.
Aziel licked his lips, eyes flickering to her neck, where her quickened pulse was very much visible. “Terrible fucking liar. You always have been.” And with that, he gripped her thighs with his hands, turning both of them towards the large bed at the center of the room.
When her back hit the mattress, Nymiria half expected for him to settle between her already spread thighs, but let out a noise of surprise when he flipped her over onto her stomach. His lips were at her ear, her hips lifting at their own accord when his hand traveled down the length of her spine to the waistband of her breeches. “Do you want this?” He asked. Nymiria couldhardly hear anything over the roaring of her pulse in her ears, could hardly understand anything other than the fact that she ached.
Aziel started to move away from her, but her hand shot out and gripped his wrist. She turned her head to where he rested beside her, his head propped on his fist. “Yes.” She said firmly, desperately. So desperate that she sounded depraved—and perhaps she was.
He was moving behind her. She could hear the soft fall of his footsteps, her brow furrowing when he came to a stop behind her. Before she could even question what he was doing, his arm was slipping underneath her, lifting her hips so that her ass was propped up in the air. And with one solid yank at the fabric of her breaches, Aziel pulled them below the pert cups of her asscheeks.
Cold air rolled over her skin, moved between her thighs and caressed the wetness that had gathered there. She trembled under the fire of his gaze. Even without seeing him, she knew the look he wore—she knew the darkness that she would find there. His fingers gripped at the round, pliable flesh, squeezing each globe. He massaged them with deft fingers and each time the pad of his thumb dipped closer to her center, Nymiria could not control the whimpers that spilled from her lips, nor could she stop the tremble in her thighs.
She could feel him moving closer, feel him kneeling at the side of the bed until his face was level with her most intimate areas. Those long, talented fingers of his were spreading her open, leaving nothing hidden by shadow as he moved forward.
“What is this?” He asked, voice laced with a headiness of overwhelming arousal. His fingers brushed over the metal in a teasing swoop, dangerously close to her clit. Nymiria jerked forward, sucking in a sharp breath when his hand clasped her hip, stilling her. He clicked his tongue tauntingly, in a way whereshe could hear the smirk on his face. “Moonflower, is this what I think it is?” He asked.
She rolled her eyes down at the mattress, her body going rigid as his fingers ghosted over the silver balls pierced through the delicate skin of her mound. Her lungs were on fire, every muscle in her body filled with so much tension it felt as if they were surely going to snap. “I was drunk.”
“Drunk.” The moment his tongue popped around the hardksound, he let his fingers dip just below the piercing to where that bundle of nerves seemingly pulsed with desperation. “Were you drunk enough to forget what this means?”
Nymiria closed her teeth around her curled fist, her back arching as his thumb pressed against her clit. “If I answer, are you going to call me a liar?” She ground out between breathless gasps.
“Not if you don’tlie.” He fell forward, lips moving over her cheeks as his fingers worked her. Swirling around the peak of her desire and then moving to her entrance. Her walls clamped around his knuckles, wet heat squeezing his fingers as he pumped them in and out of her. He pressed open mouthed kisses along her bare skin, his tongue dragging along her flesh as he worked into her, his thumb still rolling over the sensitive ball at the height of her sex. “Come on, Moonflower. Tell me the truth.”
One hard thrust of his fingers and Nymiria was crying out in pleasure, eyes and mouth wide as she tried desperately to find the words—to find the strength to speak. “Fine,” she gasped. “I know what it means. And I did it,” her voice broke off into a loud mewl when he curled his fingers, pressing against something inside of her that made white flare in her vision. “I did it on purpose.”
“For who?” Another curl of his fingers, another cry.
Nymiria whimpered, shamelessly rocking herself back onto his hand. “Foryou.”
It was all he needed to hear. Those two words made the most primal parts he’d hidden inside of himself come shuddering to life in response to the sinful sounds she made underneath the cruel calculation of his hands. He lifted himself to his feet and turned her over. Nymiria was already scrambling to kick her breeches off the rest of the way, her eyes round and brow crumpled as if she feared they were running out of time.
Aziel caught her ankle, lifting her leg and placing her foot against his chest. He tugged the fabric off, dropping it, and then switching to the other. She watched him closely, growing more and more impatient with every inch of skin revealed to him.
When he’d finally tossed the breeches to a darkened corner of the room, his hands hooked under her knees, spreading her. His eyes caught on the piercing, gleaming in the low light. “No one else has seen this?” He asked. Nymiria shook her head slowly, her legs growing heavy, her arousal pulsing impatiently at the apex of her thighs. “Good.”
He dove between her legs, his tongue and fingers battling over who would take ownership of her. She gripped his hair, moaning loudly when she felt the beginnings of horns sprouting from his skull.
Everything was too bright. Too much. Every inch of her body was ablaze with such intense pleasure that she felt as if her lungs would collapse—that her throat would explode with the screams she kept suppressed. He knew her body as if he’d mapped it himself, as if he’d drawn each imperfection, each dip and curve.
Aziel looked at her with determination, both of them moving with one another in a way one would assume they were in battle. She wanted passion, she wanted every ounce of everything she felt for him to be delivered by a kiss and a touch—she wanted him to listen to her body, to hear her. She wanted him. Shewanted him to erase every doubt and worry in her mind, hoping and praying that his hands could wipe away her fears. She wanted to set aside the war in her mind, if only for a moment. If only for now. To be with him. He, who had haunted her dreams. He, whose voice she heard when she was putting herself in danger. He… the only man who had seen every broken, bruised, and darkened part of her soul and did not bat a single eye.
Him.
She’d wanted destruction. She’d wanted for him to destroy her completely, if only he’d be the one to help rebuild what was left behind. Nymiria wanted to be so much more for him. She wished that she was stronger. She wished that she hadn’t been so foolish and fought him for this long. She wished…
She wished that they’d had more time. Less time fighting one another and more time together. More moments of bliss. More moments where she could shut out the world and justbe.So she took this moment. She took it, pretending that there was nothing on the outside of that door that could harm them, that could jeopardize the world he’d built.
Aziel pulled away from her sex, his eyes dark and hooded, his lips still wet with her arousal as he leaned forward and claimed her mouth with his own. He pressed his tongue against hers, his grip on her thigh tightening when she moaned at the taste. She curled her hand around the hardness of his horn, pulling him closer to her, as if her craving had shifted from having him to wanting to swallow him whole.
She’d tried—goodgods, she’d tried.
“You kiss me like I mean something to you.” Came Aziel’s breathy drawl, his fingers once again filling her. “You’ve marked yourself as a mated woman, Nymiria. That holds mirth.”
“I will love her. I know I will. And she will love me, too.”
That memory came rushing back the moment their lips connected again, his fingers curling inside of her as if todraw her towards him, to pull her from her thoughts. Nymiria gripped his wrist, her breaths coming out in gasps for all of the wrong reasons. Aziel stilled immediately, falling away from her. And though his eyes were still glossy with desire, his concern overshadowed all else.
