“Come for me,” I growled, reaching around to wrap my hand around his cock, stroking him in time with my thrusts. “Let me feel it.”
Thane shattered with a broken cry, his body clenching around me as he came hard, spilling over my hand and against the wall. The sensation of him tightening, pulsing, pushed me over the edge, and I followed him into release, my hips stuttering as I emptied myself inside him, pleasure whiting out my vision.
We stayed like that for a long moment, both of us trembling, our breathing harsh in the quiet chamber. Slowly, carefully, I withdrew and turned him around, pulling him against my chest as his legs threatened to give out.
Thane sagged into me, his face pressed to my shoulder, his arms coming around my waist.
“Still mad at me?” I asked quietly.
He huffed a laugh, breathless and tired. “Always.”
“Good, because I’m not done with you.”
His grip on me tightened, and the bond between us settled, steady and sure.
For now, that was enough.
Aveline
The nest had always been my sanctuary.
I burrowed deeper into the furs and blankets, pulling them close until they cocooned me completely, shutting out the world beyond the small circle of warmth I’d created. The tower hummed beneath me, softer here than in the rest of the structure, as if it understood that this space was mine and adjusted itself accordingly.
I pressed my face into the pillow and tried to steady my breathing.
My body still felt strange—too warm, too aware, every sensation amplified in ways I didn’t understand. The blanket against my skin irritated me. The air moving through the room was heavy, warm, pressing on me. And underneath it all, a low, insistent pulse had taken up residence in my belly, a warmth that wouldn’t settle no matter how still I lay.
I told myself it was anger. Frustration at Malric’s commands, at the way he’d looked at me like I was a problem to be solved rather than a person. At the way Thane had looked at me with too much understanding, as if he could see straight through the walls I’d spent years building.
But anger didn’t make my thighs press together. Anger didn’t make my breath catch when I remembered Malric’s hand at my waist, strong and unyielding, or the warmth of Thane’s body when I’d leaned into him.
I squeezed my eyes shut and willed myself to sleep.
The tower was silent around me in the way it had always been silent—no footsteps, no voices, no indication that anyone else existed within these walls. For years, that silence had been a comfort. A promise that I was safe, untouched, alone in the way Father said I needed to be.
Tonight, the air was being pulled out of the room. Tonight, I knew there were other people here.
I shifted restlessly, the furs sliding against my skin, and tried to find a position that didn’t make the heat worse. Nothing worked. If anything, the movement only intensified it, the friction of fabric against my body sending small sparks of sensation through me that pooled low and insistent.
Then I heard it.
A sound.
Distant. Muffled. But unmistakably there.
I froze, my breath catching in my throat, every muscle going rigid as I strained to hear. The tower had been silent for so long that any noise was amplified, a disruption of the natural order.
It came again. A low, guttural sound that resonated through the stone, traveling up from somewhere far below.
A groan.
My heart hammered against my ribs. For a wild moment, I thought it might be Father, that he had returned and found them, that violence was unfolding in the lower levels while I hid in my nest like a coward.
But the sound came again, and this time it was followed by another. Higher, breathless, ending in something that sounded almost like a moan.
Heat flooded my face. My hands tightened in the furs, embarrassment and confusion warring inside me because I recognized that sound from the books I’d read, from the passages I’d skipped over because they made my skin feel too tight and my thoughts scatter in ways I didn’t understand.
I should stay here. I should bury myself deeper in the nest and pretend I heard nothing.
