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He spun around. I was only vaguely aware of the direction we were moving. He kicked the front door with his foot, and it flew open. Our mouths devoured each other as he carried me into the house. Flames were dying in the stone hearth as he pressed my back up to a nearby wall. It was still warm from a morning fire. He sandwiched me between the hard wall and his even harder body. I felt so small and vulnerable in his grasp, and yet, I felt entirely safe. Even more than safe. Revel had done everything in his power to protect me, and I was sure he’d risk everything to keep me safe. It was that sense of security that helped me get through each day of this crazy life I’d been born into.

I lowered my feet but kept my arms circled around his neck. My tiptoes barely grazed the floor. The dizziness had returned, but this time it had nothing to do with my middle ear. His kisses slowed, and his hazel eyes, glassy with erotic need, gazed at me as his mouth lightly caressed mine. His tongue ran lightly over my lips, and I could feel the sensation of it all the way down to my pussy. I sucked in a gasp and released a mewling sound, one I’d never heard myself make before, as his hand smoothed down over my breast. His thumb located my nipple beneath the soft fabric of the dress. He rubbed and pinched it lightly. Instinctively, I arched my entire body toward him. He groaned as my belly pressed against his erection.

“Whisper,” he growled against my mouth. “I can’t be without you. There’s no life for me without you. Every breath I take is for you.” He took hold of my wrist and pressed my hand against his chest. His heart thumped beneath my palm. “Every heartbeat is for you. Every fiber of my body”—his mouth turned up in a crooked smile—“it’s all for you. I will move the fucking Avion Mountains, cross the Blackforge Sea and tear down the damn Wilds for you. I will burn Troikana to the ground if it means not losing you.”

I brought my mouth hard against his again. I could not get enough of his mouth and his hands on me … I wanted all of him.

He pulled up the hem of my dress, exposing my skin to the cool air in the room. His callused fingertips ran along my naked skin, sending a shiver of pleasure through me that rocked me to my core.

“Revel.” His name came out quiet and gritty. “Please. I want to know what it’s like to be with you. I need you to show me what it’s like to be loved thoroughly, entirely.”

Before I could take another breath, the dress came off, leaving me in only the gossamer thin panties. I moved to cover myself shyly. I’d never stood naked in front of a man before. Revel shook his head. He took gentle hold of my hands and held them out.

“Raphael, my beautiful, incredible Whisper⁠—"

Revel swept me into his arms and carried me down a small hallway to his bedroom. The massive four-post bed was hand-carved from dark wood. The air in the room was cool, but heat poured off his body. He lowered me onto the bed and straightened. His heated gaze stroked my mostly naked body. My shyness had dissolved. I stretched my arms up above my head, and arched my naked breasts up. I wanted him to look at me, to devour me with his heavy-lidded gaze. I looked pointedly at him. “I’m feeling very underdressed.”

A smile tilted his lips. “Can’t have that, can we?” He reached back and lifted his shirt off. I bit my lip in awe. His chest muscles moved in tandem, and his arms bulged with strength. The jagged scar on his shoulder rippled as he reached up and raked his fingers through his hair. There were a variety of other, smaller scars all over his body, but they only made me want him more. I wanted to trace each one with my fingertip, kiss each old wound with my lips.

Revel climbed onto the bed and leaned down to pleasure me with a long hot trail of kisses. Delicious shivers ran through me as his warm mouth pressed against me. I reached up and pressed my palm against his face, and he closed his eyes and pressed it even closer. He kissed my breasts, teasing the nipples with his tongue and fingers.

Suddenly a low growl rolled up from his chest. He straightened and hopped off the bed. I practically cried out in disappointment. I was so used to our hot moments going abruptly cold, I was sure it had happened again, only this time I’d allowed myself to become even more vulnerable. But this time was different. The feverish look in his eyes told me he was not going anywhere. He reached for the tie on his breeches and loosened them. They slunk down low on his slim hips, exposing the dark hair that bisected his taut abdomen before disappearing beneath the breeches. He pushed them off his hips, and I sucked in a sharp breath and held it deep in my chest. I had few examples to compare him to, but he was massive in more than his build. It was slightly terrifying to see. He sensed my apprehension.

“My tiny Whisper, we don’t need to do anything. But you must know, you have to know, I’d never do anything to hurt you. We can go slow and easy.” He said the words softly against my ear. It sent a thrilling rush of heat through me.

My future was terribly in doubt, and I was wedged into an awful predicament, but I knew one thing for sure. I loved this man to distraction. I curled my hands around his neck. “I do not want to leave this life never having known what it was like to be with you, to feel you inside of me.” I pulled his mouth down over mine.

He groaned with frantic need as he lowered himself onto the bed next to me. His hands explored my body, big, capable fingers slipped between the wet crease of my pussy. I cried out in pleasure, and he’d done no more than touch me in my most intimate part. He knew exactly where and how to touch to bring me to the edge of a physical eruption that I knew would send me into another dimension.

I moved against the strokes of his fingers and felt myself getting closer to a point of no return. “I want you,” I said between labored breaths. “Please.”

The entire bed, possibly even the room moved as he lifted himself up and nestled himself between my thighs. The anticipation I felt was a mix of urgent need and nerves.

His mouth was gentle on mine now. He pressed his hand against my face and gazed down at me, his hazel eyes a misty green. His body moved closer, and I instinctively let my thighs fall apart. I wanted him closer. I wanted him deep inside of me, buried inside me.

Revel started slow. I could feel the tension in his body, feel the heat coming off him in waves. He was holding back, and it was taking all his control. There was a slight jolt of pain but then I found myself molding to his size, opening wide and deep for him. He filled me inch by inch, taking the air from my lungs with each movement. He took care not to crush me beneath him, but I pulled him closer. I wanted all of him.

My legs circled his waist. I cried out as he pushed deeper. He paused but I shook my head. “No, don’t stop.”

“Odin, fucking Odin, this is all I’ve ever needed. Raphael,” my name ushered out on his warm breath as he pushed fully inside of me. His hand swept beneath my ass, and he pushed me higher to meet his thrusts. They started slow and easy but became more intense with each movement of his hips. And then it returned, that cliff’s edge where turning back was not an option. “Raphael,” he moaned again, and hearing my name sent me into the abyss.

“Oh, Revel,” I cried. My fingers dug into his flesh as my body splintered into a million glittering pieces. The waves of pleasure came on like an endless tsunami.

His thrusts moved faster and harder. I winced slightly at the new raw pain between my legs, but it was a good pain, a pain that came with a jolt of something I couldn’t explain, something intense.

Revel closed his eyes and dropped his head back. He groaned in pleasure, and his body tensed tightly. We both floated in our own world of ecstasy and yet, at the same time, it seemed we’d become one person, one body, one soul.

Our heart rates and breathing slowed, and he dropped down next to me and pulled me into his arms. “Odin,” he muttered, “what the fuck have I done?”

I peered up at him. “I have no regrets. I can’t marry either of the princes. I can’t. I need to find a way out of all this. There’s only one man I’m fated to in my head and heart.”

He pulled me closer, and I snuggled into his body heat.

“How are you doing?” he asked, quietly.

“Good. Everything feels a little tender, but it’s a good tender.” I closed my eyes again. They popped back open. “Fudge and Twinkies … the bell.”

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