He ignored her order, lowering his mouth to her breasts, worshiping them with soft swirls of his tongue that made her already-sensitive body light up with a near-unbearable heat. Then, his hands ran over her, carefully and meticulously, as if he was trying to tattoo every inch of her to memory.
When his breath started to shake, she touched his face. “Let go, my love,” she said again. “I’ll still be here when you do.”
He kissed her desperately, his hips jerking against hers as his movements grew less controlled and he gasped for each breath against her lips.
“Don’t—leave me,” he begged, his hands sliding behind her to hold her as close as possible as he destroyed her with each stroke. “Not again.”
“Never.” She pressed her forehead to his, closing her eyes as his body tensed and he slammed to the hilt one last time. “I’ll come back for you.”
He shuddered, and each torch in the room flared red-hot as he poured himself into her.
Minutes passed in a haze, and neither of them moved, not until he said against her hair, “You’re not going alone tomorrow.”
She lifted her head. “But you said you can’t enter Arcadia without a summons or pardon?”
“Without consequence, apparently. I never tried. Johannas forbade it.”
“Vane, it’s too much risk. You have no idea what?—”
He was still inside her, and her breath hitched when he tugged her to his chest with one arm, the other hand gently gripping her face.
“It’s worth whatever the risk. You don’t know… I cannot send you into danger alone, not knowing if you’ll return.”
She shut her eyes. For all they knew, stepping over the border could kill him. She wouldn’t be surprised if that was the price, but she understood his need to follow her. She understood it as much as shecouldunderstand the pain of his past century.
“Together,” she finally whispered. “I did promise that.”
He relaxed, if only slightly, nodding and kissing her forehead.
“Vane?”
“Mhmm?”
“Should you…should we not stay like this?” He chuckled softly, and her breath caught, already feeling him harden again inside her. “Already?”
His lips curved up. “I will never stop wanting you. It will never be enough.”
Her gaze dropped to his mouth. “I know. It must nearly be dawn, though.”
“Probably.”
“We should speak to the others.”
“Yes.”
“Vane.”
He grinned. “Alright. Just know this is my preferred way to exist.”
“You are such a—” She gasped as he tilted his hips into her.
“Hmm, my love?”
Her head fell against his chest as she tried to focus, muttering, “I need to bathe.”
“We can do that. There are a few pools in these caverns, but we have to walk there.”
“I canwalk.”
