Her lower lip shook. That’s why she’d bitten into it before. Her entire body shook as she spoke. “All that matters now is saving Annwyn. My life is forfeit. The Sacred Trinity, whatever Arthur planned, it does not signify.”
“No.”
She closed her eyes, a single tear sliding down her cheek. “Arran.”
“I will not lose you.” I wasn’t holding her in place anymore. She was in my arms, trying to fuse her body to mine. I wrapped one arm around her shoulder, the other around her waist.
She was mine. Annwyn could not have her.
I let myself breathe in her plum and primrose scent, savor the silk of her hair against my jaw, before I drew back again. It was too far, too much distance, but I needed her looking into my eyes as I said it.
“Hear this vow, Veyka. To all of Annwyn, you can be queen and warrior, even savior. But before all of that, you are my mate. We will find another way or I will let this realm tear itself to pieces.”
Her throat bobbed. Another tear slipped down to join the first.
“Arran,” she breathed, halfway to a sob.
I did not let her break away. I pulled her even tighter, ready to fuse our bodies the way we’d already fused our souls. “Do you believe me?”
Her eyes gave one answer. But her mouth formed another. “Yes.”
I held her there for seconds that turned to minutes, needing to share breath with her, to feel the life and love that flowed through her veins.
After an eternity, I pressed my forehead against hers. “What do you want, Princess?”
She exhaled softly, her voice so quiet that the winter wind almost stole her words. “I want to live.”
17
VEYKA
Arran did not answer me with words. What words could he give me that would possibly mean more than his vow?
He let his body tell me. His lips, his hands, his cock.
His mouth started on mine, his tongue plunging deep into my mouth with all the confidence of a male who knew my truth. I was his. Unconditionally.
His hands roamed my body, claiming every inch he touched with enough force to leave bruises. This would not be a gentle fucking. He lifted his mouth from mine to snarl, as if he’d heard the thoughts in my head. Maybe he had.
“When you look at yourself in the mirror, you will remember this,” he growled. “Every bruise, every mark—you aremine.” His teeth dragged along my collarbone, the sharp tips of his canines piercing my flesh and filling the air around us with the coppery tang of my blood.
His cock pressed against my belly, his trousers doing nothing to disguise the rigid outline as he rocked his hips against me. He lifted one hand from my body long enough to rip the fabric away, freeing himself against my bare midsection. He was already unbearably hot.
“Are you going to spill yourself all over my stomach?” I teased, my voice and pussy quivering in time.
“A beautiful fucking sight,” he said as he alternated bites and sucks on my shoulder. “That soft belly of yours, wobbling as you touch yourself, as I rain down my seed on you so that every male in this Ancestors’-damned kingdom knows you belong to me.”
Ancestors. I was going to come just from his words alone.
“Not yet,” he commanded, the wall between thoughts and words obliterated by the strength of the golden bond between us. “First you’re going to mark me.”
Arran dropped to his knees. I didn’t have a second to think. He’d hiked my skirt up, grabbed my leg and slung it over his shoulder, and drove his mouth into my pussy. He plunged his tongue between my folds with the same intensity he had my mouth, and just as much teeth.
He sucked my clit between his lips, then nipped at it with his canines. The sharp prick of pain mingled with pleasure as he drove his tongue deep inside of me, past my pussy lips and into my cunt itself. One hand held my leg in place, the other kneaded the soft flesh of my ass. I’d have marks there too. Fuck, I was going to be one big, sexually charged bruise by the time he was finished with me.
“Moan for me, Veyka,” Arran demanded, his voice muffled between my legs. “Let me hear that beautiful voice of yours while you ride my face. Let all of them hear you.”
There was no one here but us. But I understood what he did not say.
