—King Aldric III of Catonia, Letters to My Queen
There was something different about Kailin tonight, and it wasn't just the energy.
She had always been a generous lover, attentive and responsive and surprisingly bold for someone who'd been a virgin when we'd met. But tonight she moved with confidence and authority, as if Morgateth's power had unlocked something in her that had always been there but never had enough fuel to ignite.
I loved watching her take charge. I loved the way her eyes darkened when she was in control, the way her breath quickened, the way she smiled like she held a secret that she was revealing just to me, one touch at a time.
She made quick work of what was left of my clothing, stripping the last of it away with a single-mindedness that wouldhave made me laugh if my mouth hadn't gone dry. Then she sat back and looked at me, and the open appreciation in her eyes did more for me than any touch could have.
"Better," she said.
"For you or for me?"
"Both." She bent and pressed her lips to the center of my chest, just over my heart, and began a slow descent that emptied my lungs.
I let her.
That was the part I hadn't expected to crave as much as I did. The surrender of it. I had been raised to command and trained to control every variable in a room, and yet here I was, flat on my back with my hands fisted in the sheets, letting Kailin set the pace and take what she wanted. There was a freedom in it I hadn't known I needed.
She explored me with the same new boldness she'd brought to everything tonight, as if Morgateth's strength had burned away the last of her inhibitions. Her hands mapped my ribs and my hips and the muscles of my stomach that jumped under her palms, and her mouth followed, unhurried, until I was the one struggling to hold still.
"Kailin." Her name came out rougher than I meant it to.
"Patience, Your Highness." She gave my own teasing back to me, and the wicked curve of her mouth told me she knew exactly what it was doing to me.
Then she rose over me and took me inside her, slow and deliberate, and whatever I had been about to say dissolved into nothing.
For a moment neither of us moved. She sat above me with her eyes closed, and her head tipped back, simply feeling the place where we joined.
Then she began to move.
I gripped her hips, not to guide her but to anchor myself, and to let her ride. She set a rhythm all her own, watching my face the whole time, reading every reaction, learning what undid me the way she'd once learned which herbs healed and which ones harmed. Each time I reached for more, she slowed and drew it out, clearly pleased with herself whenever a groan escaped me.
Kailin was glorious like this. Powerful. Unafraid. So far from the wary girl who had been terrified of heights and flinched at shadows on the road to Mount Hope.
She'd come so far.
But I also knew that she loved it when I took that control back, and I knew when she was ready for me to assert it.
As she paused to catch her breath, her hands braced against my chest and her golden hair falling around us like a curtain, I knew she was signaling that it was time.
I sat up, wrapped my arms around her waist, and rolled us both until she was beneath me, and I was looking down into those blue eyes that had undone me from the very first night at the Pilgrims' Lodge.
"My turn," I said.
The smile she gave me was equal parts challenge and surrender. "It's about time, Your Highness."
"Am I too late?" I started slowly, teasing her, knowing she would grow impatient in a moment and spur me on.
There was no need to rush anymore. The exhaustion that had turned every encounter into a race against her fading energy was gone. Tonight, with Morgateth's strength flooding through her, there was no urgency. No fear that she'd run out of energy before she could reach her climax. And most importantly, no more guilt about taking what I needed because she finally had enough to give.
She wrapped her arms around my back. "Your timing is as impeccable as always, my prince."
"Thank you." I kissed the hollow of her throat, feeling her pulse jump beneath my lips. I traced the line of her collarbone with my tongue, tasting salt and soap and Kailin's own unique sweetness.
Arching into me, she moved her hands to my scalp, her fingers threading through my still-damp hair and pulling gently the way she knew I liked.
"You're so beautiful," I murmured against her skin. "I don't tell you that often enough."
