Page 24 of Once Written in Gilded Blood

My attention shifts to Nikolai, who seems to be sleeping already, but I try to keep my thoughts vague around him. I’m not foolish enough to think about the events of tonight so close to him. But the vision taunts me from the furthest corner of my mind. Thank gods it’s not so hard to forget everything when Kalel is being so attentive.

My body relaxes in his grip, and he senses it immediately, letting his arms weigh more on me as he makes a small groaning sound into my neck. His teeth send ripples of pleasure through my entire body.

My lovely demon. He’s not a monster—he’s an apothecary, a knight, my husband, a soul. Whatever lies in his past is just that, the past.

He lets his hand move up my throat as he finishes drinking my blood and strokes his tongue across the wound. Then he tilts my chin toward his, and I meet those somber golden eyes I’ve grown to love so much.

“I thought I lost you when you fell from the cliffside, little godling,” he murmurs against my lips and presses his palm to my cheek. He sounds depressed, which isn’t the same as his normal serious demeanor.

I know something happened with Tessa outside. The three of them were arguing, not loud enough for me to hear what it was about, but I could hear the intensity of it. About what, though? The Gates of Mortem being open or me?

I have a feeling it’s the latter.

Kalel strokes his tongue over the bite as he finishes feeding and presses kisses to my skin.

Nikolai shifts up from the ground across the campfire and groans. “There’s no way I can sleep tonight unless I make sure Tessa gets to Devicit safely. I’ll catch up to her; you two leave in the morning,” he says without looking over at us.

An uneasy prickle moves along my spine.

Kalel doesn’t try to follow him. “We’ll be there just after dawn. Wait for me at the bridge after you speak with King Achill,” he says, looking over his shoulder at Nik.

I can’t see what expression he’s giving our friend, but it must be one he understands clearly because Nikolai nods and offers me a weak smile before exiting the cave. His horse whinnies as it takes off into the snowstorm.

Kalel is still wrapped around me, our limbs entwined. The fire seems warmer now that it’s just the two of us in the cave.

Not much of a relaxing trip together away from home, but we never actually had a honeymoon. This is the first time we’ve truly been isolated together away from everyone else. Even in his palace, there’s always a knight a hundred feet away at all times of the day and night.

“And then there were two,” he murmurs with a lick of humor tugging at his grin, pulling me up into his lap so that I’m straddling him.

Kalel’s scent is strong, mixing with the smoke from the fire, and it must fend off the last of the herbal potion I took this morning that keeps my heat at bay because an ache warms between my thighs. I wasn’t expecting us to camp out overnight, so I didn’t bring any extra bottles. Gods, help me.

He smells my scent and his eyes widen, flashing first with worry then with lust.

My core warms and my cheeks flush and burn as if I’ve had a sip of wine. My forehead is hot and my stomach twists painfully, making me wince and clutch my abdomen.

“Fuck, I didn’t even think about how feeding would affect your heat-repressant potion.” Kalel drags a hand over his mouth as if he’s trying to keep himself from biting into me again.

I press my chest to his, folding my arms around his neck and collapsing in his embrace. “I should’ve brought some just in case.” I barely get the words out through the emptiness that consumes me. I need him inside me now.

Kalel groans as my hips grind into him. He sets both hands on my ass and chuckles as he moves my hair out of the way so that my neck is bare to him.

“We can’t do it in here,” I whisper against his skin, staring at the shadows the fire casts onto the walls.

Kalel lifts me up with one hand just enough to pull his pants down a bit and to free his cock. I can feel the heat of it through my pants.

“Of course we can, little godling. You can sit right where you are, and I’ll do the rest,” he says confidently.

I want to object because anyone could walk right into the cave, but he’s already unbuttoning my pants and pulling them down. He has me stand for a moment to completely remove them, then brings me back onto his lap. Our skin touches, and another painful throb rushes through me.

It’s become impossible to ignore my heat, and my body has become thoroughly addicted to him. It craves his cock just as much as he does my gilded blood.

The cave is filled with our heady kisses, and we disregard anything that happened in the last few hours. The Gates of Mortem are open, and I received a terrible vision, but it’s as if we are both delusional enough to think that one short night of kisses and holding one another will make tomorrow go away.

And maybe, just for a few hours, it can.

Kalel rocks me in his lap, grinding my bare pussy over his hard dick in a tandem motion as we steal heated kisses from one another. “Fuck,” he whispers between breaths, driving his hands down on my hips harder and making me grunt on him unyieldingly. My wetness is spread all over him, and his cock slicks my center over and over as he pumps his hips up in rhythm.

He stops and glances at my lips, then meets my gaze.