Laughing into her, he began again with his tongue, teasing around where she throbbed for him. She squeezed his head tighter with her legs, her hand gripping his scalp painfully.
Noren loved a greedy lover and made sure to stay there as long as she wanted him to—it was certainly no hardship. Her pussy clenched with her climax, again and again, ramping up every time he added his fingers, increasing her pleasure as he pumped them.
After the fourth time, she released him. He was sad to say he was sorry to go—she was beautifully responsive, and her quiet moans of pleasure made his cock harden almost painfully.
He slid up her body and positioned himself at her entrance, catching her eye—a silent question until she tilted her hips up, bringing her soft inside closer. He entered her, inch by inch, her eyes widening and then rolling back as he bottomed out.
She was tight and warm, and he gave her a moment to adjust before his brain went wild. His signal to start moving was the shift of her hips and the grip of her hands along his broad back.
His forehead dropped to the inside of her neck so he could kiss and bite her gently without breaking skin. His canines didn’t ache to taste her blood—they would only do that when he found his mate.
Until then, he enjoyed the barmaid’s company, savouring the feel of his cock buried deep in a willing female. His heart may be cold, but his cock was warm, and that was all he cared about.
Noren increased his pace, revelling in the feel of her until she signalled that she wanted to move. He flipped onto his back and brought her lush body on top of his, relishing the sight of her generous curves as she continued his fast pace on top of him.
His thrusts were merciless. He brought his hand to her clit and rubbed the spot he had just learned. She threw her head back as he worked her, her hands bracing on his stomach.
She clenched around him as another orgasm tore through her, bringing him to climax with her. He pulled out with a groan, right before he spilled onto his stomach. Noren batted away the flash of emptiness that overcame him, as it usually did, when he didn’t finish inside. He longed to be able to feel a cunt squeeze out his pleasure when he came.
Another thing he refused to do until he found his mate.
Once their pleasure wound down, she flopped to the side, bringing a cloth from her bedside to clean herself up before walking to her washroom.
Noren lay on his back, staring at the crumbling wood ceiling as his eyes drifted shut.
The barmaid came back and splayed herself over him, and he held her close, enjoying the weight of her limbs over his. He didn’t care whoshe was—it felt good to have company, especially one so willing to fuck him.
He drifted off into an easy sleep, his last thought of Easta and her family. He hoped they were okay.
“Thisisnottheright way!” North exclaimed with a sigh for the third time in the span of an hour.
Vali glared, eyes ringed with red. “Are you telling me you know the route to my home better than I do?” he asked, indignant.
Their hushed voices filled his tent, both aware of the many Idavoll soldiers within earshot. Their royal bickering being overheard would do no one any good.
North jammed her finger into the map, the paper crinkling under her unnecessary force. This had gone on long enough. She’d been as patient as she could—he’d just lost his mother and brother. And if the magic of the crown was any indicator, he would be the new King of Alfheim.
He had much to deal with, so North had tried to give him time to sort it all out. But it had been a week since they’d left Idavoll, and they were lost in some forest, red and orange leaves littering the ground, no path in sight.
Their supplies were dwindling, and the soldiers were getting restless. Some had died from their injuries and others were not far from the same fate. North was impatient to get to Alfheim. She wanted a bedand privacy so she could fall apart in peace. The strength it took to keep herself together was exhausting.
Instead she was stuck with Vali and his obnoxiously calm Elven self—it was grating on her nerves. She took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders, and faced him like the queen she was.
“Prince Vali,” she said in as steady a voice as she could muster, “we have been walking in circles. We are currently here.” North pointed to the map more gently this time.
“We are here,” Vali pointed to a spot farther west. North held in her sigh.
“If we were there, then we would be able to see the coastline. We’re in the middle of the Hercynian Forest.” Her slender finger remained firmly planted on the map. She would not move it, no matter how much he doubted her.
“If we are in the Hercynian Forest, then where are the unicorns?” Vali asked loudly.
North blinked a few times before her laughter alleviated the tension. “You think unicorns would grace us with their presence? Are you not the prince, soon to be king of this realm?”
Vali flopped down onto the makeshift chair and dropped his head into his hands. His shoulders shook, and for a moment, North worried that he had finally snapped under the weight of his grief. But the sound that spilled out of him was not a sob, but a breathy chuckle that became laughter, then turned almost hysterical. All semblance of fight left his body.
“Gods, North, this is a disaster. How can I lead my people when I can’t even get us out of this fucking forest?”
“I feel that way too. How can I become queen when I failed to protect my throne?”
