My hair spilled back when he began to move, his thick length rubbing deep inside me and demanding that I respond. Our mating bond burned brightly, and his growing arousal coasted into me.
Moaning, I dragged him back to my mouth, kissing him thoroughly as he began to thrust into me again and again and again.
We madelove two more times. The second time we joined was again in the wardrobe, and the last was on the couch near the fireplace. It was well and truly close to eight by the time we’d both fully dressed again. But in a way, I was glad Jax had insisted on making love again. It’d certainly been a heady distraction. I hadn’t thought even once of his parents or what was to come tonight.
In a rush of Jax’s magic, he cleaned his seed away that had begun to slide down my thighs, and then, in another whisper of his magic, cleansed my folds too.
I gasped when his magic touched methere.
He smirked and kissed me softly before whispering in my ear, “Get used to it, my love. I plan to touch you ineveryway possible for many summers to come with my handsandwith my magic.” A caress of his air element danced down my spine, and damn him, but another stirring of longing began to pulse inside me.
Chuckling, he ran his hands over my gown, straightening it until it fell in a beautiful pool around my legs. Nobody would have known what we’d just been doing in his private chambers for the past hour.
Jax had changed into a pair of navy trousers and a crisp white buttoned-up shirt, covered with a navy jacket. He looked elegant and commanding, exactly as a prince should.
At the end of the wardrobe, near the door, a mirror waited.
I gazed at our matching attire, and for a moment, my breath was taken away. I knew most of my beauty came from my lorafin magic, but even I had to admit that we made a striking pair.
A smile tugged at his lips. “You’re gorgeous, Elowen, absolutelygorgeous.”
Warmth rushed through me, yet as we walked out of his suite, the doors locking automatically behind us, it truly hit me what we were about to do.
I was going to meet the king and queen of Stonewild Kingdom while their son declared me his mate, and then we were going to drop the news on them of what King Paevin had done.
This night had the possibility to end in triumph...or complete disaster.
CHAPTER 13
“Come. I’ll show you a faster way to exit my tower.” Jax tugged me down the hall, going the opposite way of where we’d arrived. Behind us, the circular stone stairwell that we’d climbed to reach his suite grew farther away.
Near the hall’s other end, he stopped at a large painting. The artwork was of the countryside, a beautiful rendition of the Wood full of vibrant color. Jax hooked his finger behind the frame on the top right. A click came, then the painting swung open. It moved on hinges as though it were an actual door.
“What in the realm?” I whispered.
A floating platform, encased within the stone wall, waited behind the painting.
Jax grinned. “It’s a lift. If you’re ever too tired to climb the stairs, you can simply take this.”
I snorted. “Now you tell me.”
He laughed and clasped my hand. We stepped over the tall stone lip to stand on the platform, and a fairy light instantly ignited, brightening the space around us. Stone walls encased the lift, no more than an arm’s length away on all sides.
Jax swung the painting shut, and a moment of fear hit me that we were locked inside, but he quickly showed me the latch that would open the painting again. “Just press here.”
He touched a small pad on the side, and the portrait immediately swung open. He even waited for me to try it too, seeming to sense that I was afraid of becoming trapped in this stone cylinder.
Once my fear abated, he grinned. “Ready?” As soon as I nodded, he stated, “Lift, take us to the first floor.”
The platform instantly began to lower, and the stone walls rushed past us. But it didn’t move so quickly that my stomach dipped, and it was definitely faster than taking the stairs. Similar to most lifts that inns and businesses used, we quickly passed multiple floors.
Laughing, I said, “I’m assuming this lift is enchanted, like Bastian’s suite, if all you had to do was call out your wish?”
“It is. Just tell it what floor you want, and it’ll take you to the correct painting to exit.”
We passed floor after floor of paintings on our way down. Their frames and the backs of each piece of art were visible as we glided past them.
When we descended seven floors, the lift stopped, and a pulse of green light emitted from the frame’s release pad.
