“Damn,” he breathes against my lips, his powerful body shuddering, his eyes closing, “fuck, Maab help me, I cannot…” He shifts and we both groan. “You feel so damn delicious.”

I can’t even speak. He feels… big and hard and perfect, a little too large, keeping me on the edge between pain and immense pleasure. Every time he shifts, my body burns hotter. Lifting my legs, I wrap them around him and he presses deeper into me, slamming his hands on either side of me. He’s blinking dazed eyes down at me, black hair tumbling on his forehead, over his shoulders, curling at his temples, those elegant ears giving him a prettiness set off by the squareness of his jaw, the powerful built of his body.

“Ash…” He thrusts into me, his muscular ass cheeks contracting under my heels, and his low moan echoes mine. “You’re here… You’re here…”

“I’m with you,” I whisper, looping my arms around his strong neck, “take me, I’ve been yours from the start, oh yes…”

He rocks into me, his jaw clenched, his whole body trembling, muscles locked tightly. He gazes down at me as if he still can’t believe we’re here, together, and I’d cry if I wasn’t hovering on the edge of yet another release, a release so powerful it might annihilate me.

I can’t get enough of him and he seems to have the same need for me.

I’m close, so close, my core clenching as his thick cock pounds into me, his breaths coming in short gasps—when he rears back, powerful muscles bunching in his stomach, his legs, sitting back and hauling me with him.

Too startled to react, I only hold on, my arms tight around his neck, then groan as his cock slips deeper, hitting me in a spot that makes me see stars. I start to come as he closes his mouth over one of my nipples and I scream his name, my entire body clenching like a fist around him, pleasure exploding inside me, breaking me into a shower of sparks.

I float for an endless moment, suspended in relief and peace.

He drags the flat of his tongue over my nipple and I shudder, another wave of pleasure smashing into me.

“Talen…” I moan. His cock feels huge inside of me, still rock hard, still hot like fire. He is still thrusting, shallow, quick thrusts.

“Ash,” he manages, strangled.

“The part of the riddle,” I pant, “where it spoke of a woman who loves you and yet doesn’t? Well, that didn’t happen. Because I loved you from the start, I know that now. Does it matter?”

“My love,” he gasps¸ his body going rigid, his cock twitching inside of me, “oh, my Goddess… I fucking love you.”

He crushes me to his body, his face buried against my breasts as he comes apart. It’s violent, as if he is letting go completely for the first time ever, gasping and shaking, spilling fire inside of me, his shoulders heaving, his strong frame trembling. The room seems to tremble, too. Lights flicker around us.

“Talen.” Once it’s over and he’s quieted, I pull back to cup his beloved face. I wipe his cheeks with my fingertips. “Talen…”

He gazes at me with eyes red-rimmed and full of wonder.

I kiss the last of the wetness off his cheeks, then kiss his mouth. I kiss him until he hardens again inside of me, until he groans and thrusts into me. The intensity still hasn’t left him and he deepens the kiss, his tongue stroking the roof of my mouth, my tongue, his hands all over me, over my breasts, over my sides, then between us, where we’re joined, flicking against my nub, making me gasp and writhe.

Then he slowly lies back on the mattress, keeping me on top of him so that I ride him with slow rotations of my hips, finding a new rhythm, a new pleasure. He grins brilliantly up at me when I brace my hands on his hard chest, then grimaces and moans when I clench around his cock.

“Ash…” My name is like a plea and a prayer on his lips.

I rock on top of him, taking my pleasure, and it shocks me into shouting when it rolls over me. Better still, he’s looking at me as I come and the moment the orgasm hits me, he falls after me, shaking and thrusting up, his broad chest lifting under my hands as he spills deep inside of me.

Later, we are both lying on the bed, his arms around me, sweat drying on our skin, and I tell him, “When you brought me here, I wanted to flee, to be free. But then I fell for you and I realized you were the one who set me free, and then… then I realized that being free didn’t matter to me if I couldn’t be with you.”

He kisses the top of my head. “What you said earlier… It may not change anything about the riddle, but to me… It means everything to me. You mean everything to me, Ash.”

“Love…”

“You’ve been my queen from the start. Princess or servant, it never mattered. I saw you and knew you were the only one for me.”

“And you’re my king.” I snuggle against him, smile against his bare chest. “You mean the world to me. Any world. Now and always.”