Page 92 of Golden Queen
I cried out his name so loudly that he covered my mouth with his fiery hand to stifle the sound. He grinned with obvious satisfaction as he replaced his hand with his lips.
His kiss, the taste of his fiery lips heightened the waves of pleasure coursing through me until I was shuddering again, climaxing again at the same time I felt him tense. He growled my name against my lips as his body shook with its own release.
Afterwards, I lay on my back with him on his side, playing with his golden fire and tracing it over my skin. The liquid sunshine coursed through me, laying to rest all the day's turmoil, and making me feel a peace I couldn’t possibly have deserved.
"What is this fire?" I asked, lifting his hand and watching the way the flames played around his fingers. "It's not like the other."
"No...it's something else."
"What?" I asked, eyeing him speculatively.
"I don't know. No one does. The masters at the Citadel in Darkwatch and the Tyrion in Orin, where I went to school as a child, have never seen anything like it. Nor can they explain how I came to have the darkness, except to say they are like competing forces—light and dark, day and night. It's not elemental like the other magic in my blood."
"Is that why it scares some people—because it's unknown or unfamiliar?"
"Maybe partially," he offered. "But it was more an issue of control. I found it very difficult to manage it growing up. I would sometimes wake from a childish nightmare and have the entire fortress shaking—and if you know anything about Dragon's Reach, you can understand why that would be a problem."
I did understand. Dragon's Reach spanned the entire valley, supported by pillars marching across the land from mountain peak to mountain peak.
"Is that why you don't sleep very much?" I asked, remembering the way his hands had burned as he dreamed beside me.
He didn't answer for a long moment. "That's when the habit began, I suppose. But these days, I have much better control." He paused, his mouth curving up. "When I don't have an actual goddess in my bed, that is," he added with an almost boyish grin.
"So...control was never a problem when you were...with other women?" I asked, feeling suddenly embarrassed to have formulated the question that had been bouncing around my mind.
He chuckled. "No, Sera darling, that is a distinctlyyouphenomenon."
That stoked that same primal female satisfaction in me, and I couldn't stop the grin that spread across my face.
"You really like that," he said, wonderingly. "You're blushing!"
"You're blushing," I accused, though he was not, and I could feel the heat in my cheeks.
"You wicked, cruel thing," he bemoaned in a mock tone of reproach. "You love driving me mad."
I did. It was perhaps my favorite thing in the world.
When we were covered by the soft blankets and he pulled me into his arms, I heard his breathing even out, and I thought he'd fallen asleep.
But he surprised me by whispering against my cheek. "I can always sleep when you are with me."
I didn't realize I was crying until the tear rolled hot down my cheek.
Sixteen
Morning brought the first cold day of the autumn season and a reluctant return to my chambers.
When I found myself still barred from the rest of the castle, though, I grew listless and sullen. I only wanted to be back with him. I thought I might willingly run away and never see Windemere again if he only asked me to do it.
I could not seem to get warm even as the fire burned high in the hearth. Tatana complained that the room had grown stifling, but I could not seem to shake the incessant chill.
Servants came in and out all day to bring more wood, and each one left with instructions to tell my uncle that I needed to speak with him. Each time they returned it was with news that he had given no word for me in reply.
Io had people in the city looking for answers about who had hurt me, so he asked me to wait until he sent word that it was safe for me to venture out of the castle. By late afternoon, though, I was on the point of leaving to find him no matter how dangerous it might be to do so.
A knock sounded on the door just as I rose from my chair to go get dressed. When I opened it, a solemn-faced house maid informed me that I was wanted in the council chambers.
All ten eldermen besides my cousin were in attendance when I reached the room.
