“But what?” I frowned.
“The magic didn’t let you through, and we don’t know why. I believe you when you say you didn’t steal those necklaces from your prince. But there must be a reason why you’re here. Until we can understand what that is, we have no idea how long you’ll be stuck here.”
My heart hammered. I hadn’t let myself worry about the whole portal thing very much because I hadn’t planned on trying to go through it again. I’d wanted to be stuck here, safe and sound, away from the prince and his mages. So, it hadn’t mattered why the magic trapped me here. I hadn’t cared.
But now an oversized question-mark stood in front of me, demanding to be asked. “It only traps you here if there’s a dark spot on your soul, right?”
He nodded. “Unless you’ve been banished here by another. Could that have happened?”
“I guess it could have…” I trailed off. That didn’t make much sense though. Yes, the prince had been chasing me, but he’d wanted to capture me for his mages’ punishment. Banishing me wouldn’t give him what he wanted. The terrified sound of my screams.
But nothing else made sense either. I hadn’t stolen from the prince. In fact, I’d never joined my father in his thievery. I’d helped him, but I’d never done the crimes myself. Surely that wasn’t terrible enough to trap me here.
“Your prince, did he see you go through the portal?” Yuto asked.
I nodded. “Well, no. His guard did.”
“He must know of Inishfall and what it is,” Yuto said with a nod. “He must have given you a sentence after you went through, even though you were not there to hear it.”
“But if that’s true, then we’ll never have any idea how long we’ll be stuck here.”
His lips tipped up into a smile. “We?”
My cheeks flushed. “Yes, I suppose we’re in this together now.” I gave him a look. “Don’t look so pleased with yourself.”
Grinning, he edged closer until a sheet of parchment couldn’t even fit between us. The scent of him enveloped me like a hug, fire and smoke and a spicy scent I couldn’t quite name. “You feel that way even knowing just how dangerous I am? I can never touch you, Aradia. At least not until I return to my homeland.”
Desire churned through my gut, thick and hot. My body instinctively leaned toward his. “But that’s only with your hands, is it not?”
A fire sparked in his eyes, and he curled a gloved finger beneath my chin. “Oh yes. I can touch you with every other part of me, if I wanted to. Just not my hands.”
“What parts of you?” I couldn’t help but ask, even though I already knew. I just wanted to hear him say it.
A devilish smile lit his lips. “My mouth, for instance. And my cock.”
Heat swelled in my cheeks. My lips parted. I’d wanted to hear those very words. I just...hadn’t expected him to actually say them.Oh my gods, what am I getting myself into?
“So, then do it,” I whispered, unsure where this sudden boldness had come from. “Touch me.”
Yuto smiled. He trailed his steel finger down my chin before slipping along the length of my neck. Even that made me shudder. His fingers reached the neck of my tunic and danced along my skin. I could scarcely breathe, not when a single brush of his knuckles could send me crumbling to the floor.
“More,” I whispered as I wrapped my hand around his and tugged it south. But he resisted, still smiling.
“Patience, my love. You will thank me for it later.”
I wanted to thank him for itnow. Need was a hot ache between my thighs, so all-consuming that I could think of nothing else. I’d never had a man touch me before, not like this. And I’d never known how unbearable it would be to get so close...and then be left hanging like a flag in a brutal wind.
His fingers snagged on the tunic’s rough material. In a single, fluid motion, he’d ripped the bodice in half, followed quickly by my trousers. Cool air blasted my swollen nipples. I’d worn nothing beneath my tunic, and now I was bare before him. His eyes greedily swept across my breasts.
Slowly, he reached out and brushed one nipple with his thumb.
Somehow, his touch was tender enough to send shockwaves of pleasurable pain coiling through me. My lips parted. A soft moan escaped from my throat.
Yuto eagerly ripped the rest of my tunic off my body and tossed the shredded remains into the blazing fire. The flames licked the fabric, swallowing it whole. The heat of it warmed my skin, even as a cool breeze swept in from the open window.
I slid my fingers across his soft skin and traced the ridges of his abs. There were a dozen tiny mountains on his skin, all desperate to be explored. My hands slid up to his shoulders. His muscles tensed beneath me as his eyes searched mine. An aching hunger curled my toes.
He twisted me around and grabbed my wrists, pinning them to the wall above my head. Wind whispered across my bare ass like a silken caress. I heard the clank of Yuto’s buckle as he undid the clasp and pushed his trousers to his feet.
