Page 26 of The Beautiful Blade

Her lips were fire. No, not fire—something hotter, something that consumed and left no trace of the life I’d born for the time that we were apart. Charlotte kissed me with a hunger that matched the ache I’d carried for three years. Her hands tangled in my hair. Her body pressed so close to mine I could feel her heart pounding against my chest.

It felt like a dream—no, a waking nightmare that had finally shattered. The years of fighting, the endless bloodshed, the sleepless nights staring into the darkand wondering if she was sad—they all faded into nothing. All that mattered now was the reality of her in my arms, the taste of her kiss, the weight of her command, as if she owned me.

Because she did.

I’d been born for this—for her. To love her, to protect her, to keep her safe.

The thought of what she’d been through, the danger she’d willingly walked into, turned my blood to molten steel. My hands tightened around her waist as the realization broke through the haze of desire.

I broke the kiss, pressing my forehead to hers as I tried to steady my breathing. “Did you volunteer for the Games?”

“I ran away when we got to the summer castle. It was the first time in three years they left me unguarded, so I ran to find you.”

She aimed for my mouth again, but I needed to know more. "You ran to the Games?"

“I ran into warriors on the road. Kael Drakos, can you believe it? He's awful."

That was a fantasy I hadn't wanted to dispel for her. Drakos was a womanizing, cheating brute, like I'd always suspected. I'd had it confirmed in my short time in the Games with women running from his quarters, tears streaming down their faces and their clothes torn.

"He tried to take advantage of me."

"He what?"

"So I broke his arm. Then his henchmen knocked me out. When I woke up, I was here.”

Rage flared in my chest. I was going to kill him. First, I forced myself to take a deep breath, to focus on the fact that Charlotte was here, alive, and unbroken.

For now.

But she was in the Games. That made her anything but safe.

“We need to get you cleaned up.”

"I'd rather get dirty with you."

My cock had been asleep for three years. It sprang painfully to life with that. My ever-present need to care for her won the day. "Let me see to you first."

It was formed as a question, but I wasn't taking suggestions. I lifted her off the ground, scooping her into my arms.

Charlotte gasped. Her gaze went wide as she glanced at the floor, then at me. I'd never been strong enough to do this before. She was about to see that I was no longer that weak boy. I was all man, with some enhancements I'd personally engineered just for her.

I carried her to the bathing room that was the second room in these lodgings. That was one thing about the Games: if you survived, you were treated well. Lodgings and two meals a day both during theGames and the three years between tournaments. But that was only if you survived.

Charlotte and I had won today. But the game we played wasn't over. The Sun and Moon Gauntlet was a two-day event. There was still more fighting to do. I'd worry about tomorrow when it came.

The pipes groaned as I turned on one of the faucets. A steady stream of lukewarm water cascaded down into the basin below. Charlotte held still for me as I unfastened the stays on her dress. Her gaze never left mine, as though she was afraid I'd disappear from her sight if she looked away.

I felt the exact same. I warred between wanting to gaze at her, wanting to touch her, and wanting to hear her voice. I realized I could do all three.

"You're all right?" I asked as I tugged her arms free of the dirty garment, my fingers brushing the warm skin I uncovered.

"I missed you so much. I was aching for three years without you."

She spoke the words that were in my heart. She was everything—my light in the darkness, my reason for fighting, my reason for breathing. I would do whatever it took to keep her safe, even if it meant facing every nightmare this damned tournament could throw at us.

Her wings fluttered out as the dress slipped from her shoulders. I was more interested in them than herbared breasts. There was truth to men being hypnotized by a fairy's wings. In the capital, many fairies walked around with their wings out like it was nothing. That didn't mean they didn't get pestered in the streets.

I'd never once been tempted. Not when I had seen and touched and tasted the most perfect pair of wings on the planet.

---