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She panted for breath; her mouth stained by my blood as she licked it clean. I dropped my hand between her thighs, touching the most intimate part of her, and she jolted against my touch. She was already wet, already aching as she pressed against my hand. Seeking more contact, more pressure, more everything.

“Take what you need,” I told her, sliding my fingers down to press into her entrance. The heel of my palm ground against her clit as she moved her hips, grinding against my hand and using the movement to fuck herself with my fingers.

She whimpered as her thighs tightened around my touch, trapping my hand between them in a grip I couldn’t have extricated myself from if I’d wanted to. She came, her pussy clamping down on my fingers as she took them deep.

I gave her a moment to come back to life, to find her energy once more after the force of her orgasm. Then I reached above my head, grasping her by the iron chains and removing them from the edge of the tub. I pushed them around to her front, helping her to her knees in front of me until we draped those chains over the edge of the basin on the other end.

The position left her ass in the air, her position on her knees putting it just above the surface of the water. I got to my knees behind her, slapping my palm down on the fleshy part of her ass and watching it bounce.

She turned her head to gasp at me, a glare on her face. It disappeared the moment I drove my cock inside her. Her pussy still quivered around me as I pushed in, stretching her with the first thrust. She couldn’t take all of me, not right away, not until I worked her open slowly.

“Caldris,” she whimpered, turning her head forward. She hung it, laying her forehead against the edge of the basin with her elbows braced against it beside her head.

I watched my cock disappear inside of her, thrusting slowly until I managed to bury myself within her. “This is going to be hard and fast, my star. You’d better hold on tight,” I grumbled, fucking her so harshly that her knees slipped along the base of the bath.

She shifted, pressing her knees into the edge and forcing me to lower myself until she practically sat on my thighs. Wrapping a hand around her hip, I touched the space wheremy cock disappeared into her pussy, wrapping my fingers around my length and reveling in the feeling of us joined.

This was where I would spend the rest of my eternity if given the chance. Fuck the world and what it needed.

This was my home.

I fucked into her in sharp, shallow movements until her body started to move with mine. She bounced on my thighs, meeting me thrust for thrust in a frenzied need to claim what was ours. If I only had one night with her before she was taken from me once again, I would fuck her until she could still feel me the next morning.

This was only the beginning.

Water sloshed out the edges of the bath, splashing against the floor and leaving us with less warmth around us as we moved in harmony. I drove into her, chasing my orgasm as she whimpered with the approach of her own.

My fingers abandoned the place where we joined, drifting up to circle her clit.

Once.

Twice.

She came on the third stroke, her head tossing back and wet hair sending a spray of water cascading toward the ceiling. Her head struck my shoulder, giving me the perfect grip as I raised my hand and wrapped it around the front of her throat.

“Good girl,” I murmured, squeezing her throat as her pussy squeezed my cock.

She tore my orgasm from me, forcing me to shutter my eyes as I fought the urge to roar out my release and continued to take her even as I filled her with my cum.

We sat there for a long time, catching our breath while I softened inside of her. I didn’t need to be hard to enjoy the haven of her body.

The peace she offered transcended sex, giving me a few moments where it didn’t feel like the fate of the world rested upon me and now my mate.

The one who seemed gifted with the threads of fate themselves.

11

Estrella

Mab sat upon her throne. A large crowd of her supporters gathered throughout the room as Malachi and a female guard ushered Caldris and me into the vast space. The members of Mab’s court lingered at the edges of her dais, observing her as she waited for us to approach.

It felt like walking to my death. Like walking to what I knew would be an endless, miserable torment for me. A chair lurked off to the side, set there as if it had been forgotten until it would serve a purpose.

The Fae who had leered at me, the one who had spit upon me, stood closest to it, running his hands over the surface like it was something to be worshiped. A messenger darted past us as we made our way up the center of the room, hurrying to Mab’s side. She grimaced at his lack of tact, ushering him forward when he hesitated just at the top of the steps. He leaned forward to whisper something that I couldn’t hear as I placed my foot on the bottom step and lifted the hem of my dress as gracefully as I could manage.

Court life was not something that would ever appeal to me, too like the life Lord Byron had tried to force upon me. I couldn’t breathe through the parallels in the lives I hadn’t wanted, feeling plagued by the reality of my fate.

I wanted a quiet life with Caldris at my side and the ability to come and go as I pleased. We’d have just enough land to call home without entrapping us. I wanted to see Alfheimr,to know what made each of the Faerie Courts unique. I didn’t know if that future included children. I could be entirely content to just have the love we shared. But none of it seemed possible. Even outside of our imprisonment with Mab, Caldris had titles and responsibilities to his people.