Page 36 of Of Kings and Thieves

This time, our lovemaking was less frantic than the last, and yet more intense. He began slowly, with momentum that was just enough to keep me on the edge but not enough to let me tip over. I wriggled beneath him, seeking my release, wanting all of him. But he growled, used one hand to hold my hip to the ground, and continued the slow torture.

My climax was building to the point where I was going to shatter around him, and there would be nothing left of me in the morning except pieces that they would have to bury right here in this glade.

“I love you,” he said, and then he released my hips and began encouraging me to move with him.

“Harder,” I whispered, my voice barely finding its way past my ragged breathing.

He obliged, and just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore, my entire body spasmed. I wanted to scream, and must have made some noise because Col clamped a hand over my mouth.

And I was undone. My body shattered, and I wrapped my legs around him, trying to get him farther inside me, to feel as much of him as I could. He grunted, swearing as he stilled above me, his cock twitching inside me as he came. My body was still wracked with pleasure, and I encouraged him to keep going. Still hard, he did, and in another moment, I shattered again around him, this time clamping my own hand over my mouth.

When I was finally done shuddering, I laughed from behind my hand. Col was quietly laughing, his face buried in my neck, planting kisses there. We savored the moment, and I finally felt exhaustion move in after the day’s journey and the night’s pleasures.

“Samara,” Col said abruptly, raising up on one elbow to look at me. “Be my queen.”

“Sorry?” I said, the post-sex haze making me think I’d heard something I hadn’t.

“Be my queen,” he said intensely. “Because I will return to Iron Deep, and it is my time to sit on my father’s throne. I want you by my side, as my queen, as my lover, as my partner in everything.”

I swallowed back the tears forming in my eyes. “Why me?”

“Why you?” Col asked incredulously. “It couldn’t be anybody else but you, my little siren.”

I loved when he called me his “little siren” with such affection. As if it wasn’t a curse, after all.

He put his hand over my heart. “I’ve known for some time now that my life without you has been dull and boring.” He smiled. “And that you brought life into it, into me, and humor, and honor.”

I shook my head, wiping a tear on his shoulder. “I’m not honorable. I’m a thief. I’ve stolen to feed my family, many times. And I abandoned them.”

Col wiped away the tears. “You didn’t. You were trying to protect them. Any of us would have done the same. Taking care of others is one of the most honorable and selfless things you can do. You are honorable, and you are the most precious thing to me. I want you by my side.”

I swallowed again, but the lump in my throat wouldn’t let anything move past it. Say yes, YES, you idiot! No, he’s not for you, and you’re not for him. He’ll realize that one day.

“I want to give you an answer now,” I finally choked out. “But I… can’t. Once we survive this, anything will be within reach. Once you survive this. Until then…”

I half-thought Col would be offended, but I should have known he wouldn’t. He only nodded and planted a kiss on my lips. “Then I suppose that’s all the more reason for us to survive.”

CHAPTER NINE

We woke the next morning, cold. The snow had stopped, but the wind howled through the glade like a ghost. I snuggled next to Col for warmth, but it didn’t last. We moved on at first light, and when I mounted Sprite, I caught Magnus smirking at me.

My ears and face grew hot with embarrassment.

“I’m pretty tired this morning,” he said with a giant yawn. “There were some strange noises right after I went to bed, and they kept me up way past my bedtime.”

It was true. Col and I had slept, then awoken and made love two more times in the night. I couldn’t get enough of him, and later kept forgetting that others were around.

And it was worth every sore spot this morning.

At least, I thought it was until I sat in the saddle and Sprite began moving.

As we left camp, Magnus kept smirking, turning back to ask me questions about how I’d slept, and if I knew if Col had got any sleep. “There was a strange yowl before dawn,” he said, laughing outright now. “And I wondered if mating wolves had found us and would be descending on us for breakfast.”

“Enough, Magnus.” Col growled the command, sending a pleasant thrill all the way down to my sore lady parts.

Ahead of me, Magnus’s shoulders shook with mirth, but he stopped teasing us. I glanced back at Col, my bottom lip between my teeth to stop what I was sure would be a goofy grin. But he had the same look on his face that I imagined was on mine, and I suddenly didn’t care that my face was hot from Magnus’s comments.

Killian didn’t say anything, and other than a glance backward to glare at Magnus, he remained thankfully silent on the subject. But I didn’t deceive myself into thinking he hadn’t heard us, too. Col and I had tried to be quiet, but there were times when it had been impossible.

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