Page 34 of A Blade of Blood and Shadow (The Ravaged Kingdom #1)

“I don’t understand,” I said quietly. “How would barring me from entering the Quartz Palace prevent you from taking the throne?”

“I’m not . . . entirely sure,” Kaden conceded, the words coming out slightly strangled. “I’m just speculating. For all I know, Caladwyn might have made the bargain simply to ensure he would not be beheaded by my half-huntress ally on the eve of his coronation.”

“Then why not just tell me? ”

It wasn’t as though Kaden’s lineage was a secret, judging by the looks the other fae had given him.

He was silent for a moment. Then he said, “Caladwyn has always enjoyed lauding his own royal status over me, the dead queen’s bastard.

” He let out a bitter laugh. “With Alfrigg alive and hunting for a bride to give him an heir, it’s unlikely I would ever .

. .” He trailed off. “That’s if any of us will ever be able to return. ”

My chest tightened at the naked grief in his voice. His mother, the queen, was dead, and he would probably never see his homeland again.

“I’m sorry about your mother,” I said quietly. “And, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry I made the bargain with your cousin.”

He shook his head, staring down at our hands. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I should have told you who Caladwyn was. The fact that I didn’t has nothing to do with you and everything to do with me.” Kaden’s throat bobbed as he swallowed.

His golden skin seemed to glow in the firelight, which threw long shadows under his dark lashes. A few locks of raven hair had fallen down over his face, and I had the nearly overwhelming urge to brush them to the side.

“You are not a means to an end, Lyra. Not to me.” Kaden’s voice was slightly hoarse, and his thumb made a gentle stroke along the back of my hand. “It might have started out that way, but . . .”

Those stormy gray eyes traveled up to meet mine, and I went utterly still as his free hand came up to cup the side of my face.

His touch was so tender, so unexpected, that I think I stopped breathing .

Then his thumb brushed the swell of my bottom lip, and something between us seemed to snap. I moved toward him at the precise moment that Kaden threaded his fingers through my hair and crushed his lips against mine.

They were hot and soft and everything I had imagined. He tasted like mint and fire and . . . something else. Something that was just him.

Though his touch had been gentle, his kiss was not. It was scorching. Hungry. Desperate, as he devoured me in a clash of tongue and teeth.

My breaths turned into gasps as I met him inch for inch, the two of us locked in a battle to take what we so desperately needed — what I’d wanted since he’d kissed me at Caladwyn’s party.

That night-and-leather scent engulfed me as Kaden gripped my waist, pulling me closer. My nerves sparked and burned at the contact, and a throbbing ache erupted deep in my core.

Every look, every touch ignited like kindling on a fire. I speared my fingers through his silken black hair, and a low growl rumbled through him.

Delight coursed through me as he nipped my bottom lip, and I found myself wondering what other sounds I could pull from that gorgeous mouth. I tugged lightly on the strands of his hair, and he deepened the kiss to the point that I saw stars.

More. I wanted more .

As if he’d heard my silent demand, Kaden hauled me into his lap. My knees hit the bed on either side of him so that I was straddling his hips. And when his tongue slipped out to caress my bottom lip, I opened for him completely.

My insides turned to warm liquid as his hands traveled down my waist, along the curve of my hips, and around the backs of my legs. Gripping my thighs, he tugged me closer until my breasts were smashed against his hard chest.

Another scorching wave of heat erupted at my center as I felt his hardness through my leathers. Unable to stop myself, I ground against him, and his hands came around to cup my ass.

“ Fuck , Lyra.” Kaden growled the words into my mouth, digging his fingers into my flesh and pressing me closer until there was nothing between us.

And yet it still wasn’t enough.

I needed to feel his skin on mine — needed to brand my own desire into his flesh.

Hands shaking, I fumbled with the buttons of his leather jacket and peeled it down his arms. Kaden wriggled out of it and tossed it onto the bed behind him as I made quick work of his T-shirt.

Tanned golden skin gleamed in the firelight, and I felt Kaden’s eyes on me as I took in every glorious inch.

I couldn’t stop myself from gawking at him — or from running my fingers along the sharp line of his collarbones, where wispy black lines of intricate tattoos licked at the protruding bone.

Kaden was a god made flesh, and that ache inside me intensified as my eyes traveled along his broad chest and swept over his bare shoulders.

The angry puncture marks from the Vikkarni’s bite had already healed, leaving only faint pinkish divots behind from where those fangs had sunk into the muscle.

His chest was a riot of swirling, moving black ink — rough waves and clouds that converged to form a snarling face straining from the mist. The lines were so intricate, the agonized expression on the face so realistic, that I could have stared at the tattoo for hours.

Bobbing on the surface of the tumultuous sea, buffeted by the waves, was a shield. A crest, I realized. It was hard to make out the details of the shield through the thrashing spray, but I caught a glimpse of a single dagger wrapped in flowering vines.

Slowly, my gaze wandered from the ever-changing artwork inked along his midsection, down the corded muscles of his arms to the perfect lines of his abdominals, which clenched beneath my light touch.

My cheeks heated. I hadn’t been conscious of touching him — or aware that my fingers had followed the exact path my eyes had taken. And yet my need for him overrode my embarrassment as I flicked my gaze up to meet his.

Wild, unchecked desire swirled in those fathomless gray eyes. Kaden remained absolutely still as I touched him, watching intently to see what I would do next.

He inhaled sharply when I brushed my lips against his, kissing him slow and deep.

Kaden held me lightly as I guided him back onto the bed, and when I pressed the softest part of me against the hardest part of him, he hissed as though the contact pained him.

Pulling back, I kissed a trail along the sharp line of his jaw, down his neck, and across the broad panes of his chest. Maybe it made me stupidly reckless — Kaden was still dark fae — but I wanted to touch him. Taste him. Feel him everywhere.

I wanted to impale myself on his cock and hear the sorts of noises he made when he found his release inside of me .

Muscles rippled beneath my touch as my mouth wandered lower into the divot of his abs. Kaden’s erection strained against the seam of his pants, but when my fingers hooked along the inside of his waistband, he gently tilted my chin up to look at him.

“ Lyra .” My name was both an oath and a plea.

When I finally met his gaze, I found a storm raging in his eyes. “If you go any lower with that wicked mouth of yours, I’m going to be inside you in about two seconds flat.”

“Is that a problem?” I asked, my voice coming out high-pitched and breathless.

Kaden’s lips twisted into a smirk that sent heat surging between my legs. “Only because I want to taste you first. I want to spread you out on this bed and spend the next three days making you come. That isn’t going to happen if you get those pretty lips around my cock.”

My cheeks flamed at his words, and a roaring need barreled through me.

“We don’t have three days,” I said, thinking of Imogen and how I still had to figure out that cipher.

“Then I guess I’d better get going,” he growled, eyes flashing with a promise that made my stomach tighten.

And then his hands were on me again, working my tank top up over my midsection. I grabbed the hem, feeling impatient, and ripped it over my head. I moaned as Kaden palmed my breast through the thin fabric of my bra, but then I felt the kiss of his magic. And then air.

I sucked in a startled gasp. The rest of my clothes were gone. I was straddling him naked — my pants and underthings magicked away.

Kaden’s eyes flared with desire as he took in every inch of me. I shivered as his gaze traveled from my neck down to my peaked breasts before coming to rest on the apex of my thighs.

There was a part of me that didn’t like exposing so much skin. It felt like showing weakness. But the feral look in Kaden’s eyes burned away my unease.

“Fucking perfect,” he growled, drinking in the sight of me with a starved expression that turned my core to molten liquid.

Reaching up to cup my cheek, he pressed a chaste kiss to my lips as his other hand stroked down my back, fingers tracing the bumps of my scars. I shivered at the light contact, little bolts of electricity shooting down my spine.

Kaden drew back with a soft shudder, his brows knitted with something like pain. I could see indecision warring in his eyes, as if part of him wanted to call this whole thing off.

A trickle of nervousness went through me at that look. Did he want me the way I wanted him, or had this connection between us all been in my head?

But just as soon as the worry edged into my mind, his expression hardened into one of resolve.

An impatient snarl ripped from Kaden’s throat, and he hauled me against his chest. The tips of my breasts met his warm golden skin, sending a riot of tingles all the way to my core.

An aching heat pooled between my thighs, and I gasped as Kaden’s strong hands came around to cup my ass. He groaned as I rocked against him, sighing as I felt his hardness press into my sensitive flesh.

Then we were moving.

One second, I was draped over him, straddling his hips. The next, I was on my back, cradled in the silken sheets .