Page 185 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
That was why my head felt so weightless. I hadn’t thought to reach out to her before, but now all I felt was a void where her side of our connection once lived.
I gripped the edge of the vanity and dropped my head forward. Taking another breath, I started to undress. Beside me, Teddy did the same, and when I noticed the bandage wrapped around her ankle, I dropped to my knees.
“I forgot. I’m sorry, I forgot.”
I kissed her knee and slid my hand down to her ankle, where I unwrapped the bandage. Her ankle was swollen and lined with black and purple bruises. I hissed, hating myself for forgetting about her, for letting her walk around, making food and serving others when she must’ve been in pain.
I leaned my head against her knee while I healed her foot. Her fingers sank into my hair, her nails scraping my scalp gently only to then thread her fingers through the long tendrils of my hair. She did it again, and it felt so good, pleasure rumbled deep in my chest.
Finished, I held her foot and moved it in different directions. The swelling had gone down, and the worst of the bruises were gone.
When I peered up at her, I asked, “How does it feel?”
She moved her foot and placed it on the cold tile floor, carefully putting weight on it.
“A little tender but overall, good,” she said.
She reached around me to open the shower door and turn on the water. It didn’t take long for steam to rise over the shower’s wall.
I let her guide me into the shower, and when she pointed at the seat ledge inside the shower, I sat. With the showerhead in her hand, she stepped in front of me. I clasped both hands on either side of her waist, where my thumbs whispered over her warm skin.
The drain filled with dirt and whatever blood was left from the magic someone had used to clean us earlier. Itrembled at the sight of it. Then Teddy’s hands dug into my scalp as she lathered shampoo into my hair, and all I felt was her. All I saw, smelled, and sensed was her. I rested the side of my head against her right breast and wrapped my arms around her.
I let her love me, take care of me. Let her cast out the darkness of that day.
Teddy was my once-in-a-lifetime love. She was my dream come true, my hope for the future. The one I wanted to turn to when life got hard. The one I wanted to share my joys and excitement with. She was my quiet calm and my brightest light.
As a prince to my realm, I’d never been a commoner, but still, I was nothing or no one special. But I loved Teddy with every part of who I was, and what was more, she loved me back, which made me feel like I’d done something significant. Like I was someone significant.
I leaned back so she could rinse out my hair, that she then lathered with more shampoo.
I slid my hand down her side and goosebumps lifted everywhere I touched. This time, when I leaned into her, it was to cup her breast. She took her time rinsing out my hair, running her fingers through the tendrils. When she finished, I circled my tongue around her pebbled nipple, and pleasure rumbled in me when she dug her fingers harder against my scalp. I nipped and tugged her nipple while I used my other hand to cup her other breast. She arched against me.
“Elias,” she sighed out.
I trailed a finger over the inside of her thigh and made my way up to her folds, where I plunged two fingers inside her. She rocked against my hand as I pumped my fingers harder, then she tugged hard on my hair and pushed my head back.
Her teethdug into my throat, making heat flood my veins. I pumped my fingers more ruthlessly, enjoying the way her teeth drove deeper. When her tongue trailed over my skin to lap up my blood, I couldn’t stop my hips from thrusting. I drew her back, my lips crashing against her, as I took in the taste of my blood that still sat on her tongue. Her scent filled me, intoxicating me with her.
She cried out when I withdrew my fingers to grip her ass. With one swift movement, I stood and scooped her up in my arms. The warm water fell on us while I pushed her back against the shower wall. I pressed a kiss to her cheek, her hair, her ear. When I kissed her neck, she tilted her head to the side in invitation. My tongue flicked where her heart pulsed, and as I slid inside her, I bit down on her neck.
She hissed out my name, the scent of her arousal filling me.
This time, when I kissed her, it wasn’t gentle, but a claiming. She was mine. My heart, my soul, my everything. And I was hers.
There was no end to me that did not begin with her.
My tongue stroked hers, wild and demanding. I kissed her fervently, swallowing her moans as if they were my own.
On top of me, she rolled her hips against me as I thrust deep inside her. She grasped my shoulders, my arms, my neck, where her nails clawed into my flesh.
We moved together as one, our magic twining inside us brighter and stronger. I pushed inside her again and again. Harder, deeper, my release getting closer. When she tightened around my cock, I plunged my teeth into her neck again. Her blood swam on my tongue as she shouted my name and came apart in my arms. My release followed hers, my bodytrembling as she pulsed around my cock and spread my pleasure until my knees almost buckled.
I held her to me, my face against her neck as she stroked my hair and back. Chest to chest, her skin against mine as the water continued to fall on us. Her breaths heaved in and out in rhythm with my own while our hearts beat one against the other.
“I love you,” I breathed against her neck. “I love you.”
“Always,” she promised.
