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His hand’s exploration of her body slowed at her waist, where her harem pants sat. Slipping one finger beneath the waistband, Herrick began slowly teasing the burning skin there.

Before he delved any further beneath the fabric, his hand skated over her hip and onto her ass. He squeezed, and Maude bucked her hips up toward him as she cursed.

“And another thousand ways to punish you for your mouth.”

Herrick’s lips crushed into hers, his tongue thoroughly tasting every corner of her mouth. She was distracted by his invasion of her mouth to realize he had begun to strip the harem pants from her skin. She must have stiffened when the air touched her newly exposed skin because Herrick froze in place. He lifted himself off her so he could look into her eyes.

Where lust had been clouding his eyes before, only heartbreaking concern lay there now.

“Tell me you want this, Maude, or I’ll stop,” he panted.

Maude’s breathing matched his, their actions getting away from them before they could really think about what they were doing. If they kept going, they would be breaking the treaty. If they kept going, there would be no going back to how it was before.

She would have let him into her heart and her body. There would be no removing him from this point on. They both stood on the precipice of a potentially catastrophic affair that could launch their kingdoms back into war.

Maude couldn’t find it in herself to care.

“Yes,” she whispered. “I want this.”

Herrick only stared into her eyes, trying to sense any deception. Maude allowed all her doubts and self-hatred to slip to the side, so her answer shone in her eyes for Herrick to see.

“I want you,” she amended, the last of her barriers beginning to crumble.

“Thank the fucking gods,” Herrick said, the last bit of his control disintegrating at her words.

Vines shot out from the ground and wrapped themselves around her wrists, allowing Herrick to use both hands now to remove her pants. Naked except for the band on her chest, Herrick drank in the sight of her panting for him. His fingers traced the runes inked into her ribs that extended down over her hip and onto her thigh.

The rune for every element ofgalderhad been tattooed onto her hip with the correlating element surrounding it: water, earth, wind, fire, light, and shadow. Surprise had washed through Maude when she had first realized the wooden runes on Herrick’s necklace were of each of the elements, just like her tattoo.

Herrick’s touch was almost reverent as he traced the symbols for fire and air. He lowered his mouth to place a gentle kiss on each of the symbols, nipping her skin when he reached the rune for fire. Before her heart could shatter from the gentleness of his act, he grasped each of her knees and exposed her.

“Beautiful,” he breathed, placing a kiss below her belly button.

She whimpered, helpless in her restraints.

“Burn for me,minn eldr,” Herrick whispered, his golden eyes locked onto hers as his mouth hovered over the spot she wanted him the most.

His cool breath tickled her heat, the sensation almost making her eyes roll to the back of her head. Maude opened her mouth to snap at him to get on with it, but he lowered his mouth, bringing his tongue to her very center, swirling around the tight bundle of nerves there.

She fractured at the touch of his mouth on her, all words emptying from her mind as she became all sensation. Herrick tasted her with a desperation she had never seen before like he was a starving man who stumbled upon a buffet.

Pressure built up in her core with every swipe of his tongue as his hands pressed down on her thighs, opening her up more for him. Just whenMaude thought she would be lost in the overwhelming sensation of him, Herrick slid one of his fingers into her opening, growling at the damp heat that welcomed him. Maude bucked and moaned at the new intrusion. Slowly, he pumped his finger inside of her, sucking her clit and forcing another moan from her lips.

Maude pulled against her restraints, feeling her release hovering over her, when Herrick lifted his mouth from her for a moment.

“Not a lot of argument coming from you right now,minn eldr,” Herrick teased, still pumping his finger into her.

Breathing became more difficult for her with every movement. She panted, every nerve ending in her body working in overdrive. Herrick skated his nose over the inside of her thighs, licking the skin there and causing her to shudder with every swipe of his tongue when it was only teasing where she wanted him most.

“Herrick,” she panted, her hips twitching up to him. “Don't stop.”

Maude looked down at Herrick, his dark hair spilling over her thighs like a black halo as he worshiped her. The sight of that alone could have made her climax, but she was stubborn in all things, even sex.

“So pushy,” Herrick said, smiling against her skin.

When he pulled his finger out of her this time, he added a second on the next pump, and then a third. Maude groaned, the pleasure of his fingers stretching her to the brink of discomfort, pushing her further toward her undoing.

“And so wet for me.” He ran his tongue up her center, eliciting a moan from her lips again as he brought her to the edge once more.