Page 52 of Ruling the Green

“It probably feels full,” Vishen said. “You’ve been surviving on only things that grow around your lake. Can’t be too filling.”

“You’re going to want to slow down,” I told her as she grabbed for her bread again.

“Eh, let her overindulge. It’s a rite of passage.” Vishen drove his own bread through his soup.

A half an hour later, Serin was dragging her feet up to my quarters, desperate not to spill a drop of the soup she’d brought up for Nira.

“Can you get the door for me?” she whispered.

When I pushed it open, we found Nira at a table in her room, bent over some sort of beading project, attaching the small colorful orbs onto a piece of fabric.

“Get out,” she snarled at me.

“That’s the prince you’re talking to,” Vishen reminded her from behind me.

“And he doesn’t belong in my room. Neither do you. Get out. She can stay,” she added, looking at Serin.

“Ten minutes,” I told Serin. “I want to lock the room for the night with you inside it.”

“I’ll be right there,” she assured me.

“I’ll make sure she gets there safely,” Nira added.

I moved out into the hall, letting Vishen inspect the room.

“Tove is going to need to be reined in,” Vishen said when he was done.

“Yeah, I know. Right now, he’s useful, though. Keeping Cass and his insanity under wraps so everyone doesn’t try to move in at once.”

“We need some serious time tomorrow to work on a plan.”

“Meet me in my office at dawn. We can strategize how to handle the feast.”

Alone in my room, I went into the water closet, stripping out of my clothes and going into the shower, resigning myself to a cold shower, since the buckets had been sitting around for a while.

It was what I needed anyway.

Because any chance I got for my mind to wander, it went right back to my study, to her pressed against me, her soft moans filtering out, her fingers gripping me, her tight, wet walls closing around my finger…

“Fuck,” I sighed, reaching down to close my hand around my length. There was no way I could share a bed with her if I didn’t get some relief.

I let my mind wander back, sinking into the sounds and sensations, and coming so hard I had to slap a hand into the wall to keep myself upright.

I finished cleaning up, changed into sleep pants, then made my way out of the room to find Serin had not only returned but changed into another of my shirts.

Desire stirred at her long, exposed legs, the way she hadn’t closed the top few buttons, so the neckline gapped down between her breasts.

I could just go over, press my lips there, and—

No.

She glanced over at me, “I can barely keep my eyes open.”

“It’s all the food,” I said as I made my way to my side of the bed.

“Do all the fae in the realm get full like this?”

I sighed. “No. No, there’s a lot of famine around.”