Page 42

“Lie down,” he said, his voice like gravel. Pressing her backward, he released her breasts. His hands moved under both of her knees, and, lifting them, he tossed back her shift.

She tried to put it back down. “You can see all of me,” she said, the idea of it so unfamiliar.

“I would do more than see all of you,” Galien replied. “I would taste you, lass. Give you so much pleasure that a kiss would feel like nothing more than being tickled by the very tip of a feather.”

It took a moment for his words to penetrate. “Taste me,” she repeated. “Surely you do not mean. . .” She had no words to say it aloud.

“Precisely so.”

His knowing smile offered a promise. One she did not want to be denied.

This time, when he once again reached for the hem of her shift, Reina did not stop him. Slowly, the material tickled her stomach as it moved toward her waist. When his gaze dropped, Galien groaned. A sound so deep in his throat, Reina was sure she’d hear it echoing in her dreams that night.

And then, he bent down. Touched here. . .there! Unfurled her like a piece of silk, so slow and fluid were his movements. She gripped the edge of the bed when his mouth first made contact. Galien’s warm breath taunted her just as his tongue dipped inside. Reina would have jumped from the bed if not for his hands holding her hips steady.

He licked her then, swirling and teasing as she became accustomed to the feel of him. Galien’s head bobbed up and down as he moved, each time with more and more urgency. Suddenly his finger was inside her, and Reina could not breathe. She attempted to. Sucked in one breath after another. But as his tongue and fingers worked together to show Reina precisely what he’d meant by “thanking her,” she nearly laughed aloud at how much more quickly she’d have released the man had she known he could do this. Make her feel this.

“Gael.” Her buttocks squeezed as something inside her built. Reina realized she’d used the familiar name his cousin had, not meaning to, but that didn’t matter now. Nothing did save the erratic beating of her heart and that Galien continued. She cried out again, begging him for some measure of release.

And then it came. A flood of feathers, not just the tip. As he’d promised. Her core clenched even as he stopped, stood over her, and watched as Reina attempted to control the uncontrollable. She reached for him, and as she bid, he moved atop her. Kissing her once again, he pressed into her, Reina’s shift askew, her hips moving of their own accord.

She wanted more. Wanted to see him, to feel him as he’d touched her. But when Reina broke the kiss to tell him so, she stopped at his expression.

“Say it again,” he said.

Reina was sure she didn’t understand.

“My name. Say it.”

She’d said his name so many times before. Why should he. . . and then Reina remembered. “Gael. I said it without thinking. I. . .”

His eyes held hers. “None use that name but my family. And God help me, Reina, that is precisely how I would have you.”

26

“Galien!”

He’d been watching the stairwell, waiting for Reina to appear to break her fast, when the shriek from the front of the hall had every person present turning toward it. Anyone who lived at Brockburg was accustomed to his sister, but even by her standards, that was quite a scream.

She ran through the hall, to the dais, and up its stairs before he even had time to descend them. Tossing her arms around him, already crying, Oriana did not seem inclined to let go any time soon.

“Oriana, you’re choking him,” Rodric said. At ten and eight, their brother was eight years her junior, but their age difference did not diminish the bond the two of them shared.

“If she comes down,” he tried to say to Rodric and his parents, but Galien’s brother waved him off.

“We will tell her you were accosted by a crazed woman.”

Still crying, his sister clearly did not hear the dig. With her still attached to him, Galien attempted to move but could not. Disengaging her as best he could, he took his sister’s hand and led her through the back entrance of the hall, toward the solar. Before reaching it, they stopped when Oriana threw her arms around him again.

He did his best to soothe her, but in true Oriana fashion, she would not be soothed. He would have to wait for her to regain herself. In the meantime, he wiped away his own tears at the obvious pain he’d caused. Her shoulders rose and fell as his poor sister began to breathe normally again. When she pulled back, her face was streaked with tears.

She pulled a piece of cloth from the folds of her gown and used it to wipe her face. Replacing it, Oriana raised her chin.

And slapped him, hard, across the cheek.

It had been a long time since Galien had been stunned by his sister’s actions. This was no exception. Besides, he deserved it. At least, seeing his actions through her eyes and the promise he’d made to her before he left.

“Ori—”