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‘If you need privacy, if you need to be alone, I can leave.’ Wilder spoke the words tenderly, but Thea shook her head.

‘Just…’ But she didn’t know what she meant to say, or what she needed, only that she didn’t want him to go.

Wilder seemed to understand. He nodded, and slowly, his hands went to the hem of her shirt. ‘May I?’

Thea dipped her head wordlessly, lifting her arms for him.

In the soft glow of the torchlight, Wilder undressed her, peeling the battle-worn, blood-soaked fabric from her skin and gently tugging her towards the warm water on the coals. Still clad in his own filthy armour, he tore strips from the linen on their cot and dipped them into the water, foaming a bar of soap as she stood naked before him.

Pressing a soft kiss to her lips, he washed the grime from her face first, his touch so careful, so reverent, rinsing the cloth each time. The soap smelt of him, of rosewood and leather, of home.

Thea reached for him, but her Warsword clasped her hands in his.

‘I should have done this after our first battle together,’ he told her. ‘Allow me the honour now. Please.’

Emotion caught in Thea’s throat. She didn’t trust herself to speak, so she simply nodded, her tears nearly falling at the sight of Wilder’s gratitude.

He washed her by the fire, gently scrubbing the dirt from her arms and legs, from her hands and fingernails. He dragged the warm cloth down her neck, where filth had gathered at the base of her throat where her armour stopped. As he worked, water trickled down her body, between her breasts, between her legs, stirring a pulse of conflicted desire within.

Her nipples hardened as he followed the curve of her breasts with a fresh cloth of soap, the suds sliding down her curves. His touch lit a fire across her skin, her body responding in kind.

Looking up, she noted how his gaze darkened as his ministrations dipped lower and her arousal became obvious. She didn’t hide the change in her breathing, nor the parting of her legs beneath her.

A smile tugged at Wilder’s lips. ‘I meant to take care of you.’

‘There are many ways you can do that,’ Thea replied, her voice already sultry with need.

A rough laugh escaped Wilder. ‘That’s true enough, Princess. Then, by all means, you can help me with this.’

He gestured to his own armour, and this time he let Thea help unbuckle it and remove the pieces from his body. They fell away one by one, revealing the battle-made body beneath, desire pooling between Thea’s legs at the sight. He looked like a god of war, a masterpiece of violence and power. The blood and dirt only heightened his fierceness, only accentuated the rippling muscles and unforgiving lines of his impressive frame.

His cock jutted out from between his muscular thighs, hard and ready for her. Thea’s body went molten as she imagined it sheathed inside her, filling her inch by inch.

Exhaling shakily, she reached for a clean piece of cloth and tended to Wilder as he had her. They washed one another, albeit with less patience than Wilder had started with, and when they were as clean as they could be without submerging themselves in a tub, Thea dragged Wilder to the cot in the corner.

There, they lay facing one another, almost nose to nose, Thea draping her leg over Wilder and pulling him close. A quiet gasp escaped her as she felt the silken heat of his hard cock press against her core. The pressure alone set her on fire, and she shifted her hips so that the length of him slid over her clit, her arousal slick between her legs.

‘Is this bad?’ she asked, bringing his hand to her breast and squeezing hard, her clit pulsing with desire as he rolled her nipple beneath his thumb. ‘Are we bad people for wanting this when there are so many who didn’t make it? So many in pain —’

‘We’ve had a version of this conversation once before, Thea,’ he said, pinching her nipple until she bucked beneath him. ‘We can’t do anything for anyone else right now. It’s part of war – the waiting, the searching for something good in the in-between. It’s why fighting and fucking go hand in hand.’

With a cant of his hips, his cock nudged her entrance, teasing her, and she bit back a moan of anticipation.

‘So if you want this,’ he said, sliding in an inch, ‘then take it. It’s yours.’

Thea grabbed his backside and wrenched him closer, his cock filling her to the hilt in a single slide that had her opening herself to him with complete abandon. She cried out loudly, forgetting that there was nothing soundproof about the canvas around them.

Wilder rocked against her, thrusting deep inside her and holding her close. She closed her eyes, head tipping back as the intoxicating feel of him took over her senses.

‘Eyes on me, Thea,’ he commanded. ‘I need to watch you come apart. I need to see it.’

Her eyes flew open, and she didn’t close them again. Instead, she stared into the liquid-silver depths of his gaze, watching it darken as his own desire took hold.

‘Don’t let go,’ she whimpered as his thrusts became more vigorous, as he hit that spot inside that made her see stars.

‘Never.’

He fucked her hard and slow, holding her so close that she didn’t know where she ended and Wilder began. She moved with him, swallowing his carnal noises with her kisses, sinking her teeth into his lower lip before starting the kiss anew.