Page 127 of Kingdom of Embers and Ruin

I want you.

She had altered her original agreement to say she wantedhim, releasing him from the last of his restraint, and had made him practically pounce on her. When she grasped his cock and began to work him, he stopped her because he wanted that moment to be about her. He would get his pleasure later when he knew she was sated.

When she came, he felt her bow off the ground with the force of her orgasm, her fire exploding out of her body, and all he wanted to do was absorb every shockwave he brought out in her as it tore him apart and built him back up into a new man.

But her burnout had been worse than she made it seem because as soon as she relaxed, her body rebelled against her. He panicked at first, unsure of what was happening, but he realized too late that she had reached her limit. Cradled in his arms, she seemed so small and fragile. A small part of him was reassured that they were right to be together because she had gone unconscious while he held her. Maude would not have passed out that way if she had not trusted him; she would have found a way to stay awake.

Herrick had carried her to her bed roll after getting her harem pants back onto her and then returned outside to take care of himself. He hadnot cared that he had not found his release with Maude but was more concerned that she had pushed herself that far. When he had woken, he planned to talk to her, but she was already gone.

“Are you going to talk about what happened yesterday?”

Herrick kept his face neutral.

“With the raiders?” Gunnar continued.

Herrick relaxed a bit and stood to chop more wood for the seats inside the longboat.

“Raiders found us, we fought, Maude obliterated them after she found out they were hired to bring her back to Logi, and then she burnt out,” he replied, focusing on the wood in front of him.

“Did she tell you that before or after your activities on the overlook? Herrick, what the Hel!”

The axe slipped from his grasp as he swung down onto the wood, causing it to fly between his legs and up toward Gunnar behind him. Vines shot out from the ground and stopped the projectile from getting any closer to his friend.

“Shit, I’m sorry, Gunnar.” Herrick turned to retrieve the weapon being tied down by Gunnar’s vines. “It won’t happen again.”

Gunnar nodded and kept sanding the side of the longboat. Working in companionable silence until the longboat was complete, Gunnar spoke again after they had stashed the vessel down by the shore and headed back to the temple.

“I don't think you should be angry with Maude about throwing you from the fight.”

“I’m not,” Herrick replied too quickly.

“Herrick, you’ve never been one to run from a fight, and being forced from one probably isn't sitting too well with you either,” Gunnar said,chuckling. “But you know she did it because she feels responsible for all the dangers that have befallen us since we found her.”

“But she isn't responsible for that, Helvig is,” he argued.

“Well, we know that, but Maude doesn't feel that way, I think.” Gunnar was thoughtful for a moment before he continued, “I think that she has spent most of her life sacrificing her happiness and wants for the good of the people she loves. That woman loves with her entire being. Maude knew you would keep fighting, so she chose to bring you out of the path of her destruction.”

“I would have helped her,” Herrick argued.

“Would you have?” Gunnar asked, stopping in his tracks. “You have lived your life by a strict set of rules, Herrick. Right and wrong have always come easy to you.”

Herrick stopped as his friend managed to be the only one to really figure out his struggle with Maude’s actions.

“You are angry with Maude because she made a choice you didn’t agree with and then kicked you out of the fight even if it saved your life,” Gunnar continued.

“That’s not—” Herrick began, but Gunnar cut him off.

“Itiswhat you were angry about,” he said, grabbing Herrick’s shoulder so he could pull him forward. “Don’t lie to me. Not when I know you better than you know yourself sometimes.”

Herrick gaped, the candor oozing from Gunnar’s words stopping his argument in its tracks.

“I don’t know how to deal with this,” Herrick said, his voice sounding small, like a child’s. “I have always lived my life by a set code, and then this woman explodes into my life, becomes a pain in my ass, makes me more excited to be alive than anything else ever has, and suddenly, I don’t knowwhich way is up. All I know is that I would die before I let anything harm her. I don't know what is happening to me.”

Gunnar eyed him, sensing the sincerity in his words before his features softened a bit. “Let it happen, Herrick. Let her steer you from what your path might have been if she had not come into your life. There are better things out there than dichotomies and rules.”

Gunnar turned and continued walking back toward the temple, leaving Herrick in the middle of the deserted street to ponder his friend's words.

A heavy sensation settled around Herrick, the same feeling that was twining around him and Maude when they had arrived in the temple surrounded by statues representing the gods. The back of Herrick’s neck prickled as if someone was standing right behind him.

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