I scream, tearing my nails down his back. Aldrin rams into me again and again, harder each time, moving with impossible speed. Those footsteps approach again, so close they must be just outside the door.

“Where is the Lady Keira? How did we lose her?” a voice asks, and it sounds like they are standing right next to us.

Aldrin doesn’t miss a beat, pumping in and out of me so hard my body jumps, and a clay pot falls from the wall to crash to the ground. I let out a long moan as he fucks me hard, morefootsteps approaching and another person standing just outside the door.

“She was right here a moment ago. Search every room for her. I bet the Lord Protector will give us a decent bonus if we catch her doing the wrong thing,” another voice snickers.

“I want a fucking promotion,” the first guard snaps. “Or at least something I can use as blackmail against her.”

Aldrin grunts rhythmically like some sort of predator as he drives his massive cock into me, rough and hard enough for me to see stars. Deep enough to hit that spot. To light every inch of my being. More pots crash around us, and I moan and scream and whimper with every exhale. It is a wonder they cannot hear us.

The door handle shakes, and the thrill of near discovery almost has me climaxing. I tighten my legs around Aldrin while he hammers into me. A smirk grows on his face as those burning amber eyes soak up every second of my blissful expression.

“This door is locked. Do you have the key?” a voice says, inches from us. He bangs on the door, as though to indicate which one.

“Yeah, let me try it,” the other man says. “Do you think they are fucking in there?”

Both men laugh viciously. “That would ruin her image for the war. Good blackmail material.”

Aldrin gives me a wicked grin, then lifts my ass from the shelf.

I widen my eyes at him. “Oh gods, Aldrin, no!” Horror runs through me as he transfers my weight against the door, never pulling out of me.

“Yes,” he growls, pausing. “Tell me yes.”

“You dirty bastard,” I groan as keys jingle at the door and a strange thrill runs through me. “Okay. Fuck yes.”

Aldrin moves again, his hard cock slamming in and out of me, in and out, my entire body jolting with each impact. His wards hold, and the door somehow doesn’t move or make a sound.

I moan almost continually, and Aldrin makes a deep, throaty sound as keys continue to jingle in the keyhole next to us. As the guards on the other side try one after the other, muttering to each other as they do.They are completely oblivious to us.

The tension builds within me to an explosive point, and I cry out as my body seems to convulse and clamp and shudder around Aldrin’s cock.

He continues to slam into me while I climax, until I am limp around him, and it is his turn to lock up and groan with release. I feel him tremor within me, and then we are both still, panting and gripping onto each other, unable to move.

“My damned key doesn’t work,” one man says. Gods, it sounds and feels like he is speaking right in my ear.

“Don’t worry about it. I doubt she went into a locked supply cupboard anyway,” the other guard replies.“I’m fucking pissed we lost her. I have gambling debts up to my ears.”

Laughter bubbles out of me, and it tips Aldrin over the edge and into hysterics with me. It courses through me until I am crying with it. Aldrin’s chest heaves as the sound bursts from him, and somehow we both end up curled up on the ground in fits of mania around shattered pottery.

Aldrin composes himself first. “Fuck, that was good. I told you it would be.”

A huge smile splits my lips as I raise my eyebrows at him. “I can’t believe you threw me up against the door they were trying to open!”

“You enjoyed it. Though I do need to track those guards down and destroy them for wanting to blackmail you,” he says, eyes darkening. Heat enters his gaze all over again as it roamsover my naked body. “You know, we might not get another opportunity like this anytime soon. Maybe we should make the most of it?”

“Do you ever tire?” I say, throwing a wave of air across the ground to sweep up the shards of pottery, then crawling over his naked body, pressing his chest down with a hand so he lies beneath me.

“Of you? Never.”

Chapter 18

Keira

Irise with the sun, pulling on a frilly white blouse, a cream cotton corset trimmed in gold, and white skirts parted for riding. I glance at myself in the tall mirror I share with the other women, inspecting my armor. The mask of a priestess dedicating herself to her temple, not a wanton creature, leaving the king for a fae lover.

Armies stand for the facade I wear, but if they learned the truth? They would abandon me to my fate in a heartbeat.