Page 35 of The Royal Curse

“I brought the potion,” he gasped against my skin. “It’s—gods, Your Highness, it’s ready. You—your potion, fuck.”

Distantly, I knew I ought to care about that. The potion was ready. I’d been waiting for it, hadn’t I? Not waiting for Andreas.

This wasn’t right. We ought to have been sated.Iought to have been sated. My cursewassated. And yet the thought of pushing him away, of taking the potion and never touching him again, had my heart pounding and my mind swirling with something terrifyingly close to panic.

And it had nothing to do with my magic.

I wrapped my legs around his waist and tried desperately to align his cock with mine, to feel his length and his hardness and his heat. “Fuck,” he repeated, and kissed me again.

My trousers and drawers were in the way. So were his, but he could simply drop them to the floor. I couldn’t remove mine without letting him go. And I couldn’t bring myself to do it even for a second. It was such an overwhelming relief to have him here, to know that he hadn’t left me. Hadn’t abandoned me, or decided he never wanted to see me again.

So I funneled my magic again, reckless and past caring, and tore my clothes to shreds.

Andreas jerked back and froze, staring down between us at my suddenly bare lower body, at the drifting strands of what used to be my pants and undergarment, at my straining cock reaching up toward him as if begging to be touched.

Slowly, he lifted his head and looked back up at me. “You told me you wouldn’t need me again before the potion was ready.” I couldn’t read his tone at all. “Did you just use your magic to tear off your own pants? I ripped the last pair. How many do you have, anyway?”

Gods, I had, and I had no excuse for it. I swallowed hard and tightened my legs around him. Damn him, if he tried to get away I’d use my magic to tackle him to the ground.

“Yes? I mean, yes. I did. I’m not sure if I need you.” He frowned, and I hastened to add, “I’m not in pain! I don’t know if I strictly need anything. For my magic. But I feel—” I stopped, because I had no idea what I felt or why. The pit of my stomach had clenched tight, my balls and my hole ached, my breath wouldn’t quite catch and my skin didn’t feel right and I simplyneeded, nonspecifically and indefinably. This didn’t feel at all like my curse.

It felt like something more. Something I couldn’t possibly explain to Andreas even if I could put the words to it in my own mind.

Something that terrified me. Because if it wasn’t my curse…

“Maybe I do need you again,” I said haltingly, praying that he wouldn’t ask any more questions. “I feel so strange.”

He leaned in and kissed me, softly, tugging on my lower lip and then pulling back enough to bend his head and look into my eyes. “Seeing you use your magic is—I can’t describe it. And you should know, Your Highness. If you take your clothes off, with or without magic, I’m going to takeyou. Whether you need me or not. You’ve been warned.”

One of his hands slipped between my legs, teasing behind my balls and stroking me, and even though his skin was cold from being outside, heat spread under my skin everywhere he touched me. He reached for the bottle of oil he’d left on the nightstand with his other hand. Thank the gods the room was small and rather cramped. He didn’t need to do more than lean a little. I didn’t have to let him go.

“Now I know,” I said breathlessly, my belly twinging with something hot and almost painful and so wonderful my vision blurred. “But I suppose it’s too late this time.” I rolled my hips and crossed my ankles behind the small of his back and tugged him closer. “Now you’ll have to fuck me. I don’t have any choice.”

And thank the gods for that. If he made the decision for me, I didn’t need to think about why I couldn’t stop touching him.

He tugged the cork from the oil bottle with his teeth and spat it onto the floor, and if I hadn’t already destroyed my own trousers and spread my legs, I’d have done it at that moment.

“You don’t,” he confirmed, voice low and dark, his teeth flashing in a wicked grin. “Do you know why?”

He took his hand from between my legs and poured oil on it, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from those long, muscular fingers glistening and ready to open me up again. I knew they’d fit. I knew his cock would fit. That didn’t stop me from shivering in disbelief. How many times would he have to fill me before I grew used to it? I’d probably never find out.

“Your Highness?” he prompted me, and I snapped back up, eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

“Oh,” I managed. Did I know why… Oh. “Because you’re in charge of this expedition,” I said obediently.

“That’s right.” Andreas’s hand went between my legs again, his slick fingers pressing unerringly to the center of me, two of them pushing in suddenly enough to make me squirm and gasp, the stretch just this side of deliciously painful. “This expedition includes you,” he added. “In case you were wondering.”

He leaned down again and brushed his lips over mine.

“That really ought to be genuinely treasonous, except that my mother gives annoying orders,” I whispered, and he laughed into my mouth as he kissed me.

Even my insistent magic faded away to background music, the faintest thrumming melody beneath the soaring harmony of Andreas’s hot mouth, his fingers exploring me, his big body between my legs and in my arms, with the rhythm of his movements guiding both of us. I stroked down over his shoulders, wishing I could feel the muscles of his chest through the chain mail shirt he wore beneath his tunic.

Drowning in his kiss, I didn’t even notice him getting his own trousers open or positioning himself until the thick head of his cock nudged against my slick hole.

“Hold on to me,” he said, and barely gave me time to wrap my hands around his biceps before he sheathed himself in one hard thrust up and in.

I clung to him, too stretched and full, transfixed, gasping like a landed fish. Andreas leaned back to look at me, but he didn’t move below the waist. He simply—stayed inside me, thick and hard, letting me feel the length of him all the way from my ass to somewhere below my ribs.

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