Page 57 of Realm of Thieves

I reach up and separate where her armored tunic meets her leather breeches. She immediately sucks in her stomach and I’m aware of how hard I’m breathing, of how controlled every movement I make is.

My fingers press against her bare skin, so soft, radiating so much heat that I feel it go up my arm.

She lets out a gasp.

“Am I hurting you?” I ask her, my voice gruff and ragged.

“No,” she says. She sucks in her breath. “Just a little ticklish.”

I grin to myself and then slowly glide my hand down over her stomach, to where she had guided me before. Her skin is even softer here, the swell of her stomach like a place I could rest for days and catch my breath. I want nothing more than to have my hand go down even farther, find that spot between her legs and make her forget this pain ever existed. It wouldn’t heal her, but it would be more fun for the both of us.

But I’m not about to take advantage of a girl in pain.

I’m going to do what I can to rid her of it.

“Is this the spot?” I whisper into her ear.

“Yes,” she says, her breath hitching.

“You might feel a strange sensation,” I warn her. “Hopefully not too ticklish. Just something warm. So I’ve been told.”

Her response is a groan of pain.

I get to work.

I close my eyes and concentrate on whatever reserves I have inside me, someplace so deep down that I’m not even sure that it can come from my own body. Possibly another world. Maybe this one, where dragons are born.

Then I feel the warmth rising up from that place, flowing through my arms, my veins feeling as if they’re made of molten gold and sky lightning, and it leaves through my fingertips and the palm of my hand, passing into her.

She gasps, breathless, moving her stomach away from me at first, and then she moves it back so that my palm is flush against her skin. I keep my eyes closed, waiting for her pain to transfer back into me, anticipating the shock.

It comes with a bang, like someone has literally punched me in the gut.

I swallow a cry, not wanting her to think I’m suffering enough to stop, and grind my teeth together as the pain envelops me. It doesn’t last for long, but by the time it runs through my whole body, I’ve broken a sweat and my pulse is galloping against my neck.

“Oh gods,” she says through a soft gasp, and her head goes back against me. “It’s working.”

“Are you sure?” I ask, too afraid to get my hopes up.

“Yes,” she breathes out. “It’s leaving.”

The smile on my face might just break it in two. Hope feels impossible to keep at bay now.

“I don’t know if this will keep going after I stop,” I caution her. “It might just work right now while I’m touching you.”

“Then don’t stop. Keep touching me, Andor,” she says through a groan. “Please don’t stop.”

Well, fuck me. Now I’m both incredibly proud that I’ve been able to take her pain away and incredibly turned on.

She lets out another breathless whimper and then moves her ass back until it presses against my half-hard dick.

I bite back a moan but with my mouth at her ear, I don’t think there’s any hiding it.

She moves herself harder against me, practically writhing, her gyrations making me harder than rock and causing my palm to slip farther down, my fingertips brushing over the lace edge of her undergarments.

My breath catches in my throat, my hand paused, torn between doing what I want to do, what I think she wants me to do, and doing what we both agreed on.

I manage to stay the course, pressing my fingers against her skin to anchor myself.

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