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“I can’t,” I breathed, arching into him as he sent a curl of pleasure licking through me again. It felt good, but not enough for me to shatter once more.

“Yes you can,” he breathed against me, moving his hand to circle the sensitive flesh between my legs as he moved.

“Gods,” I cried out, not sure if I was cursing or praying. Probably both.

“Just one more, Elara,” he ground out, teeth scraping against the pulse in my neck. ”Then I’ll let you rest.”

I cried out again as one hand caressed my backside and the other teased my flesh, all while he pounded relentlessly into me, seeking one final release. The tension built until it was almost pain, and I cried out in ecstasy as I came, magic pouring out of me and wrapping us in bands of light and shadow. Carnon groaned, capturing my cry with his mouth, and bringing me down from the high with firm kisses and gentle strokes.

“Put the magic away, Elara,” Carnon rumbled in my ear, forcing me to pull the demon magic back in, for it was that which had escaped. I gasped, feeling the magic snap back into place. He chuckled. “Good.”

Everything felt very damp and somewhat sticky, but I didn’t protest as he curled me against him, my back to his chest.

“That was different,” I breathed. “I lost control of the magic for a moment there.”

Carnon chuckled, pulling the blankets over us as I shuddered in the wake of our joining. He pressed a tender kiss to my shoulder, smoothing back the hair from my face as I felt sleep start to come over me.

“You are a constant surprise and delight,” he murmured, pressing kisses to my neck and shoulder as I begin to drift off, the feel of his arm around my waist a warm band of comfort.

“And I hope you forgive me for what comes next.”

Chapter 24

I awoke what must have been several hours later feeling sticky and a little sore, but strangely reluctant to move. Carnon wasn’t in the bed next to me, but I was cocooned in a warm pile of blankets and still feeling rather boneless.

I thought I had imagined him saying more to me after telling me I was a delight, but everything from the last few hours felt a little fuzzy as I struggled to wake.

With a groan, I pushed myself from the bed, feeling rather hungry and uncomfortable, and cursing Carnon for so thoroughly ravishing me that I hadn’t been able to clean up. The evidence of what we had done was still between my legs, and I hobbled to the bathing chamber, soaking a washcloth in warm water from another pipe in the wall and running it over me, sighing in relief. I should probably bathe, but I wasn’t sure how to work the pipes on the bath, so I cleaned up with the cloth as best as I could, and dressed in the discarded clothes I had been wearing earlier.

There were food smells wafting from downstairs, and I was pleased to find the door had been left unlocked for me. Carnon must trust these demons completely. Did all humans and demons have such relationships in the Darklands? Such intermingling was frowned upon in the Witchlands, but four days in this land had taught me that I understood very little about the demons or their magic and culture.

As I descended the stairs, I heard a male voice arguing with Carnon’s and sounding angry. It had the same soft, lilting quality, and I stopped to listen, holding my breath so I wouldn’t be heard.

“A witch?” the voice said. “Are you out of your fucking mind, Carnon?”

“I am perfectly in my right mind, Herne, and you know it,” Carnon’s voice replied, somewhat stiffly for being such good friends with whoever this male was. “You would be wise to remember your place.”

“I know my place,” the voice, Herne, replied, growling slightly. “It seems to be you who has forgotten it.”

“Carnon doesn’t have a say in what the Goddess dictates,” came a quieter voice I recognized as Cerridwen’s. “Does she know?”

“Not yet,” Carnon replied, sounding weary. I heard the sound of a chair scraping against the floor and imagined that he had sat down. “But I have to tell her soon.”

“Or you can send her back where she came from and be done with it,” Herne growled angrily. “For all you know, she could have been sent to lure you out. To find your weaknesses.”

“She wasn’t,” Carnon said irritably, “and since she’s currently listening on the stairs,” he said this last part in a much louder voice, clearly to jolt me out of my eavesdropping, “I will ask you to drop it for now.”

I bit my lip and made my way down the stairs, worried that I was going to be in trouble over what I had heard. None of it surprised me, except maybe the part about me being a trap. I didn’t understand that. But I knew Carnon had been keeping secrets, so the fact that he had to tell me something soon wasn’t a surprise.

“What is it you need to tell me?” I asked, entering the kitchen and deciding not to even bother pretending I hadn’t been listening. Carnon smiled, somewhat tiredly, and Cerridwen made herself busy with bowls and pots as the stranger, who I assumed was Herne, glowered at me.

“Elara,” Carnon said, standing and pulling me in for a kiss. I was a little surprised he was being so blatant in front of his friends, but I supposed that maybe casual attachments were common in this kingdom. “This is Herne, who is far less scary than he looks,” he continued, gesturing to the great bear of a man who leaned against the table. He looked human, but something about his humanness was off, as if he resented wearing a glamour and had made it uncomfortable to look upon him on purpose.

“I am pleased to meet you,” I said, attempting to wrestle my hand from Carnon’s grip to shake the huge man’s. Carnon lifted my hand to kiss it instead, making Herne’s scowl grow even more fierce.

“You’ll have to forgive my mate,” Cerridwen said, poking Herne in the arm to force him to move from his perch by the table. “He has no manners.”

“No, I understand,” I said, smiling at her faintly. “We are imposing.”