Page 42 of Faeling
“Why did you hide from me?” he asked, tone gone low and serious.
There were so many answers to that. None of which she wanted to tell him. So she didn’t. Ravenna stood there silently, biting down on the inside of her cheek.
When he realized she didn’t mean to answer, his expression hardened, his eyes going flinty. Although his fingers were warm at her cheek, his touch nevertheless turned cold.
“What will I do?” he asked as his thumb stroked her cheek. “I will find a way to keep a wife and a mate, I suppose. Kings are supposed to be selfish, are they not?”
Ravenna’s insides curdled, and she moved her head away from his touch. “Don’t be cruel.”
“I’m being practical, as any king should be. You as my mate will satisfy my beast. Hrothgar’s daughter will fulfill the unification.” He said it so flippantly, as if it made so much sense, that she knew he meant to rile her. She’d hurt him with her nonanswer, and now he sought to hurt her in return.
It worked.
Not only did her eyes sting, but pressure gathered between them. Shehatedthe tears that threatened, almost as much as she hated that sardonic expression he wore.
“That wouldn’t be fair. To your mateoryour wife.” It made her sick to even think about.
“The gods aren’t fair, and neither are politics.” He laid his hand on her shoulder, and it was big enough to span both her shoulder and up the side of her neck. He kept her still as he leaned down into her space to say, “I will have my unification,skala. But I won’t give you up.”
Ravenna sneered in his face. “Do you expect a wife in your bed and a mate at your feet?”
He chuckled humorlessly. “I’d much rather have you both in my bed.”
Without thought or care, her palmcrackedacross his face in a vicious slap. “Howdare you?” she growled, that jealous, feral part of her roaring in her ears.
“I will dare,” he growled right back, “becauseyou’re mine.”
Her magic snapped around his wrists, holding him in place as she rose onto her toes to grab his chin in her claws. “Fae do not shareazai,and I will not share you.”
“Then claim me,” he dared her, “don’t hide away.”
She didn’t know if he leaned down or she pushed up, but in the next moment their mouths crashed together in a fiery, angry kiss. His tusks pressed into her cheeks as his lips hungrily moved against hers. She met every nip, every pass of his tongue, twining hers with his as he plundered her mouth.
When he bent to pick her up, she jumped into his waiting arms, coiling her limbs around him.Mine. You’re mine.Digging her nails into his glorious mane, she held on as he surged forward, taking them somewhere—she didn’t care.
All she felt and saw and tasted washim. She drank him down in great greedy gulps and went back for more, body aching to be closer to him even though she was wrapped around him. It still wasn’t close enough, how would she ever be close enough, and her body and soul and magic cried out for more.
Her back hit the soft give of his bed, and then he was above her, claiming her mouth again as his hands delved through the voluminous fabric of her linen robe. She scored him with her fangs, urging him faster, closer, her hands almost frantic as theymapped every inch of his glorious chest. Nails scraping down his pectoral, she caught his flat, dark green nipple between two fingers and pinched.
A hiss puffed against her lips, and the purr in his chest ratcheted higher, nearly shaking them both in its violence.
Ravenna gasped when his scorching palm found the bare skin of her thigh. There was no teasing or hesitation, it ran up her flank to trace her hipbone before pushing between her legs. She let them fall open, murmuring enthusiastic nonsense against his tusks as his fingers skated through her slick.
He ran two fingers up the seam of her cunt, finding her clitoris with the aim of a skilled hunter. He caught it beneath his calloused thumb, beginning a merciless rhythm of circles that had her seeing starbursts.
Digging her nails into his shoulders, Ravenna’s hips began to buck.
“So slick for me,” he rumbled, his voice the one she so loved, the one of intimate evenings and sweet wine and soft fire glow. “You need this.”
Ravenna could only moan, clutching at him as he hurtled her toward oblivion.
Her magic pooled around them, a warm ethereal caress. She felt how he shuddered as it ran gentle touches along his back. She claimed his front with her hands and lips, tasting the salt of his skin on her tongue as he nuzzled the crown of her head.
Pleasure so sudden and overwhelming it was nearly painful punched through her when he slid one long finger inside her. She wept and gushed for him, soaking his hand, and he purred in encouragement, easing deeper and deeper inside.
“You’re tight,” he breathed against her cheek. “So tight. But with a little practice, you’ll take my cock, won’t you?”
Ravenna could only thrash her head back and forth on the bed as he found a spot inside her that made every muscle in her abdomen contract.
