Page 145 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
“The next war?” Aldrin’s eyebrows shoot up. “I haven’t recovered fromthiswar.”
Dante slaps his back as he walks away. “There is always another war.” He stops and bows to me before passing. “Queen Keira. All the best. I hope one day you find my face less punchable.” He joins Leonardo and his entourage before I have a chance to reply, and they disappear in a torrent of darkness.
There is very suddenly nothing left for either myself or Aldrin to do. Basil whispers in Aldrin’s ear, and I catch the tail end of it, about our royal chambers being cleaned out and ready for sleep.
Nothing in this moment is more intoxicating than the thought of stripping the armor and clothing from Aldrin and losing myself in the comfort and pleasure of his body, combining our flesh and souls in every way possible.
We waste no time in charging toward our private rooms. When I stumble, Aldrin sweeps me off my feet and carries me in his arms. I am finally where I belong. When he reaches the gold-inlaid double doors, he doesn’t even shift my weight to open them. Instead, his magic bleeds out of him and into the doors, finding the threads of the Wisteria of Mythanar and having it swing them open for us, like some kind of homecoming welcome.
Aldrin lets out a sigh of relief as the tension melts from his muscles. His steps falter in the foyer surrounded by marble tile and thick columns. His rooms look exactly as they did the first time he brought me to the palace. It is home.
“There was a part of me that never thought we would be here again. But in this moment, the truth has finally crashed down on me.” His eyes are ablaze as he glances at me. “We actually did it, Keira.”
I loop my arms around his neck and place the gentlest kiss on his lips. “We did it. We won the throne, but there is so much work still left to do to save our court and people. I don’t even know where to start.”
Aldrin moves with determination. “How about with a bath?”
He strides through the bedroom and into the bathing chamber beyond, still carrying me. The bath he speaks of is a small square pool depressed into the ground in the center of the room. Steam rolls off the water and rose petals float across the surface. Basil anticipated our needs exactly.
Aldrin places my feet on the ground ever so gently, like he is afraid I might still break, even after all the battles we have been through. I run a hand across the stubble of his cheek. “I need more than a bath.”
A slow smile grows on his lips. “Well, I am obliged to serve my queen.”
We slowly peel off each other’s armor, tossing it around us without a care for where it falls. I unbuckle Aldrin’s shoulder guards while his deft fingers unlace the sides of my chest and back plates. Items fall around us, until I am pulling his sweat-and-blood-soaked tunic over his head to reveal slabs of tanned muscle.
A curling sensation tightens in my stomach, then travels lower, making my core heat and pulse with need. I run my fingers over the shallow cuts and slices across his body, wishing I had the magic to heal them.
Aldrin tilts up my chin, kissing me passionately for a heartbeat, then another, his tongue rasping against mine, and then he pulls away, making me regret the loss of him. He pulls my tight-fitting tunic over my head, followed by the band that kept my breasts in place during the fighting.
My boobs spill out, pink nipples peaked and creamy skin scattered with freckles. He lets out a groan that I feel tothe depths of my soul, his need traveling across the bond and intensifying my own desire. He falls to his knees, hands exploring all the bare flesh of my chest and stomach, the rough warm skin scraping over me and leaving shivers in its wake.
I gasp when his fingers reach the beltline of my leather pants. He runs them right down the center of me, making my core light up and tighten. He teases me through my clothing, rubbing until my legs shake and the friction becomes almost too much, then he strips my pants from me. I shiver as the cool air wraps around me, evaporating the sweat from my skin.
“Get into the water.” Aldrin’s voice is low. “Don’t make me wait any longer.”
He holds my hips as I turn, sighing as he stares at my ass while I take the steps down into the water. Carnal desire floods him, creating a burn within his hard cock that has it pulsing. I feel it distantly, like it is a phantom limb that is not quite attached to my body, but gods, I want it buried deep within me. Combined with the rush of hot water around my bruised and tired flesh, I am primed and ready for him.
I sink into the soapy water that reaches my shoulders and plunge my head below the surface. Contentment fills me as the filth dissolves from my skin and hair. I stay down there for as long as I can hold my breath. Aldrin’s body displaces the water as he crashes into it, probably skipping the steps altogether. Anticipation curls within me.
Large hands curl under my shoulders, then I am being dragged above the surface, my slippery, naked body running up the length of his. All those hard planes press against me, rubbing over my sensitive nipples, and that skin-on-skin contact sends me into ecstasy.
Water still falls from my hair and down my face when he captures my lips with his. The kiss is brutal, desperate, like we are both drowning and this is the only way to get air. Our mouthscrush together again and again. Our tongues swipe in a fast-paced dance and our teeth find each other’s lips.
Aldrin runs a bar of soap across my back, through my hair and over my legs. He pulls back only slightly to rub the suds over my breasts and belly, taking extra care despite his frantic need.
His hands are all over me.
I pry the soap from him and press it across his chest, reveling in the defined ridges of his pectorals and abdominal muscles. As I clean the blood from his thickly muscular arms, his hand slips down my belly, dipping lower and lower until it is between my legs, playing almost lazily with my clit.
I throw back my head and let out a long, low moan as pleasure bursts within me. I almost drop the soap. He lets out a low chuckle, one that is all too self-satisfied, then slides two fingers inside me, curling them deep.
Two can play at that game.
I hurriedly finish cleaning his body, then lather my hand with a generous layer of soap and wrap it around his cock, pumping the length of it. The suds allow my hand to slip and slide over his length. His breathing shortens to pants as his muscles ripple and tighten. I cannot tell where my pleasure ends and his starts, the sensations of both our bodies coiling together in my mind.
“Fuck, Keira,” he growls, still moving his fingers in and out of me, still swirling his thumb over my clit until I fear I will combust. “I’m not going to last much longer like this.”
Aldrin leads me backward and crushes me up against the wall of the bath. He grips my hips almost painfully and lifts them to meet his. I grab his cock and line it up with my entrance. He thrusts it inside me in a single smooth motion, stretching me and filling me up right to the hilt. My body clenches down around him as bliss ripples through me and I try to move my hips, but he holds me in place with that death grip.
