With one hand digging into the flesh on my hip, adding another layer to this glorious moment, Keerian’s other slid up my sweater, kneading my breast and tearing another garbled gasp from me. I melted under his expert grasp, meeting him thrust for thrust as his body demanded more and more from me, my eyes squeezed shut, my nails creating deeep gouge marks down the sycamore.
My core clenched around him. Keerian let out a string of praise and curses as he fucked me harder, faster, bringing us both towards the promise of absolute bliss.
Our breathing grew ragged as we chased that high, until the most powerful orgasm I’d ever experienced crashed through me. I cried out, every muscle in my body seizing, as Keerian bellowed, following me over the edge and spilling inside of me.
If my nails hadn’t been anchored snug into the tree, I would have fallen to my knees, but between my magic and my mate, my shaking limbs were supported well enough so I could catch my breath, coming down from the most incredible sensation of bliss. Keerian was half draped over me, one palm splayed across my belly, the other braced against the trunk over my head between my own hands until he was in control enough to gingerly straighten and pull out of me.
I felt the loss of his immediately. I opened my mouth to protest, but my wonderful mate had already tucked himself away and was kneeling behind me to scatter a line of kisses up the backs of my thighs as he drew my own pants back up to my waist.
I finally staggered upright, tugging my nails out of the tree, willing my magic to revert them back to their regular length.
Keerian pressed up against my back once more, his arm extending past me to run down the sycamore’s trunk, tracing the gashes left from my nails. He chuckled, looking down at me appreciatively before kissing me again and wrapping me in his arms. “Have I pleased you, my Queen?” Keerian asked cheekily, his lazy smirk telling me he already knew the answer to that question.
I laughed, turning in his embrace to wrap my arms around his waist. “I must say, my King, you absolutely did. I’ll require you to do that again this evening.”
And after returning to Sparrow’s home and visiting the bakery with Lenna, Keerian made good on my demand. As the moon shot beams of shiny light through the trees, we were atop the waterfall closest to Florra, and I thanked the gods for my perfect mate. Horns and all.
Chapter sixty-four
Lenna
Lennawasimpressedatthe speed in which magical mail was delivered from the Opal Palace to the Slate Kingdom. She was less than impressed with the “fuck you” Leon had sent back in bold letters written across the decree to divorce.
Now, here she was–standing atop one of the mighty ships from Esmeray’s considerable armada, off the coast of Doortan, right outside the invisible, magic nullifying dome that surrounded the Slate Kingdom.
Esmeray, Laurent, and Lenna watched as the ships anchored in the Doortan port bobbed gently against the docks. Sailors were too busy loading and unloading crates, barrels, and freight to even notice the lone ship outside of the narrow inlet, its white sails displaying Esmeray’s crest–two curved horns with a golden staff in its center.
If they didn’t notice the ship, they were also completely unaware of its intentions.
Keerian flew down, shifting from his Sentry as he crossed the invisible barrier from the non-magic land to the sea.
“Leon’s definitely down there,” the Golden Gargoyle said as he shook his hair out, tying it neatly into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. Lenna used the Prism that morning to show them what Leon looked like. “Hisships are the four dark oak ones with the blue banners. They must’ve just loaded up the season’s trade goods–the holds are full of lumber, but there’s no humans aboard.”
“That’s why he’s there,” Lenna replied, feeling her rage build. Her voice was low, emotionless. No more would she play subservient wife to that man. Lenna had thought Leon a monster before she had come face to face with real monsters–and survived. Now, Lenna saw her soon to be ex-husband as nothing more than a weak man. “Leon’s paying the captains to begin their sail down the coast to sell the lumber.”
Damn him. After he dismissed the letter Lenna had sent him with the divorce papers included, Lenna sent another–this one with a handwritten note telling him she was not coming back to Doortan and that he needed to sign the papers and break apart their loveless marriage.
At Keerian’s recommendation, Lenna added that she would not take anything in the divorce, since the royal coffers were open to her for the rest of her life. If that was what Leon worried about, Lenna assuaged those fears saying all she wanted was out of the marriage. Nothing more from him.
Leon had written back two days later. A nasty letter demanding that she needed to stop the delusions of being someone who mattered, and to come back immediately to continue her wifely duties she had promised in her wedding vows. The divorce papers came back ripped clean in half.
Upset and needing to vent, Lenna showed Esmeray, and asked, albeit embarrassed, if she could put together one more letter with divorce papers. Esmeray decided a different course of action would be a better idea.
Atop the forecastle deck, Esmeray stood impossibly still, head cocked, her dark hair whipping down her back in a gust of wind. With disdain,she surveyed the four boats that would bring more riches to Leon once they delivered their precious cargo down south.
Laurent stood beside the Queen Absolute, resplendent in a white robe adorned with bright green vines embroidered down its sleeves. On Esmeray’s other side, Keerian stood in soft armor made from flexible black leather, his golden wings shining in the afternoon sun.
Lenna opted for a lighter dress, a soft lilac smock cinched around the waist with a brilliant silver chain. Blue amethysts studded the belt, offsetting her free-flowing red-gold curls. The belt had been a gift from Hale, who Lenna had been visiting often at his bakery–without the escort of Sparrow and Esmeray.
It felt fitting to wear it today.
Lenna’s eyes narrowed as Leon came into view. Her heart thudded, and her palms turned clammy at the sight of the balding, wiry man striding down the wooden planked dock. She balled her hands into fists, reminding herself that she was powerful, strong, smart, and loved by her true family. This poor excuse for a man was her past–and certainly did not have a spot in her future.
“Ew.” Esmeray crinkled her nose as Lenna pointed out Leon. “You can dosomuch better.” Keerian echoed the sentiment to Lenna, before leaning his head down to kiss his mate on top of a curled black horn.
As Leon stopped in front of the gangway of the first ship, Laurent stepped forward, blue flames dancing merrily at the tips of his fingers. He looked at Lenna. Lenna gave him a single, curt nod.
“Laurent,” Esmeray commanded, a serpentine smile gracing her face, “burn the boats.”
