My core clenches around him as I crest the rise of my release.
“Say it.” His demand makes me molten, and it takes everything I have to push down the urge to give the male everything he wants.
A quiet curse slips from his lips when I peak, tightening around his perfect length, every pulse of my ecstasy drawing him deeper inside of me.
Before my body can fall slack against the silk sheets beneath us, he withdraws from me and flips me onto my side, pulling one leg between his thighs as he wraps the other around his side. I hardly have time register the position before he sheaths himself in me once again.
He cups my breast as he pulls back and thrusts himself deep, an act he repeats at a quickening pace. My back arches and I stifle a moan, my body too sensitive for his attentions to be anything but mind bending.
His hands wrap around my torso, and he pulls me back against him in the same moment he thrusts his hips forward. My head spins, my hands grasping at the sheets, my body contorting into a taut string, ready to snap. The tension builds in my belly and the male smiles down at me smugly as he repeats the motion.
With a ragged moan, every muscle in my body flexing in an uncontrolled demand for release, I spiral into oblivion. His own passion floods me as he follows after, chasing the stars and reforming the known constellations in the ripple of our combined breaking.
I’m lost among unknown worlds when he brushes a dark spiral from my face, trailing his thumb across the flush of my cheeks, bringing me back to him.
“Tell me you’ll stay,” he begs, “because now that I’ve found you, I know that whatever life I thought I had before was merely existing.”
His plea guts me, and I find that more than I’ve ever wanted anything for myself, for my kingdom, for my king, I want to give this male everythinghe asks. But how can I?
Even if I tell him everything and he allows me to live—which he won’t. How could he?—Even if I find out that everything they’ve told me about the La’tari is true, there is still more to consider.
“Vos,” I say.
His brow draws down and he brushes his knuckles over my cheek. “We are strong enough to deal with Vos when she comes for you, and there is no safer place for you on Terr than by my side.”
I know he believes that, and he might be right, but at what cost? I’m no fool. I know that I had gotten lucky when I felled her mate. What little I’ve learned about the female since then tells me all I needed to know about her strength and the impossible power she possesses.
A tick at the edge of his jaw draws my attention.
“It doesn’t take an empath to see the war in your eyes,mi’ajna.”
It isn’t a question but the need to explain bubbles up inside of me.
“I want to stay,” I admit, even as my stomach dips in fear of the proclamation, even knowing it won’t change a thing. He wants more; I can see it in his eyes as clearly as he is reading the tempest of muddled thoughts in my own, but he doesn’t press.
He simply nods and lands a gentle kiss on my lips when he says, “That is enough, for now.”
He begins to push away from me, a flash of disappointment exposing his weakness. My whole life I’ve been trained to exploit that weakness, to use it against him to further my own ambitions. But I don’t think before I thread my fingers in his hair and pull his mouth to mine.
I don’t want to use the male’s weaknesses against him, all I want in the world is to reassure him that I want him. That if it were just us, I would give myself to him without hesitation. With the caress of his tongue against mine, he deepens the kiss, his hand resting over my heart. When he breaks away, resting his forehead against mine, the tension leaves his body in a deep sigh.
He pulls me to my feet and ushers me back into the washroom, as he continues through, making his way toward the closet. Cringing when I look in the mirror again, I find a comb to untangle the mess of locks knotteddown my back. I’ve barely finished working my mane into manageable spirals when he comes up behind me, ready for the day, landing a lingering kiss in the crook of my neck.
“I sent an invitation for the masque to an old friend of mine,” he says, “She is set to arrive tomorrow, and I’d like you to meet her.”
My stomach pits at the tone of his voice and the serious look in his eyes. But I smile and nod, considering, as always with the feyn, what her gifts might be and how a moment alone with the wrong gifted will change everything.
A knock at the door calls him into the main room and he closes the washroom doors as he leaves. Dressing in a blue-grey gown with a matching pair of fitted pants, I immediately regret the absence of the leathers against my skin. Wishing I had some way to hide my precious blades beneath the skirt of my dress, I let myself out into the room beyond.
The general stands in the doorway of the war room speaking with Riesh, his brow falling in confusion when he takes in my chosen attire. I run my fingers through the length of my hair and raise my brows. If the male has something to say…?
“You don’t plan to train with Riah this morning?” he asks curiously.
I shake my head, pulling my shoulders back, well aware of the protests I’m about to receive from him.
“I’m going to visit my uncle,” I announce.
Despite the fact that it is not a question, he draws in a deep breath, considering me.
