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“Don’t.” His grip tightens possessively. “Don’t think about tomorrow. Think about this. Think about us. This is what you fight for.”

The command in his voice sends lightning straight through my core. “Kieran?—”

“Say it.” His hands slide down to grip my waist, thumbs stroking over the thorn patterns glowing beneath silk. Where he touches, ice meets fire, creating steam that fills the air with the scent of winter forests and wild magic. “I need to hear you say it.”

“I’m yours.” The words tear from my throat like a confession. “God help me, I’m yours.”

His smile turns absolutely feral. “Good girl.”

The praise hits me like a physical blow, making my knees buckle. He catches me easily, one arm wrapping around my waist while the other tangles in my damp hair.

“I’m going to worship every inch of you,” he murmurs against my ear, voice dropping to something dark and velvet-rough. “I’m going to taste you until you scream my name. I’m going to make you come so hard you forget your own name, let alone tomorrow’s trials.”

Molten silver floods my veins at his words, magic responding to the promise in his voice. The thorn patterns beneath my skin pulse brighter, reaching toward him like they recognize their match.

“But first,” he continues, stepping back just enough to meet my gaze, “I’m going to enjoy watching you fall apart for me.”

His hands find the hem of his shirt where it skims my thighs, fingers tracing along silk that’s suddenly too much barrier between us. “This needs to go.”

“Take it off me,” I breathe, surprising myself with my boldness.

Those winter-pale eyes flare with hunger. “Careful what you ask for, troublesome thing. I might actually do it.”

“I’m counting on it.”

The silk slides over my head and hits the floor with a whisper.

Kieran goes absolutely still, his gaze tracking every line and curve of my naked body with an intensity that makes my skin burn. The thorn patterns spiral across my skin in delicate fractals, glowing brighter under his attention like they’re responding to his desire.

“Exquisite,” he breathes, voice rough with awe. “You’re absolutely exquisite.”

His hands rise to cup my breasts, thumbs brushing across peaked nipples that make me arch into his touch. Ice meets heated skin, creating a temperature contrast that sends lightning straight to my core.

“So responsive,” he murmurs, rolling one nipple between his fingers until I whimper. “I wonder what other sounds I can draw from you.”

“Find out,” I gasp, hands fisting in his shirt.

“Demanding little thing.” But his smile holds approval as he lifts me effortlessly, carrying me to his bed like I weigh nothing at all. “I like it when you tell me what you want.”

He sets me down gently, then steps back to strip off his own clothes with efficient movements. Air catches in my throat as each piece of fabric falls away, revealing pale skin marked with dark tattoos that pulse with their own inner light.

The Spear of Truth’s housing tattoo spirals across his chest—intricate patterns that seem to move in the firelight. But it’s the hunger in those winter-pale eyes that steals my breath completely.

“Like what you see?” he asks, though his smirk suggests he already knows the answer.

“You know I do.” I let my gaze travel the length of his body, taking in lean muscle and sharp angles and the impressive evidence of his arousal. “Come here.”

“So eager.” But he joins me on the bed, settling beside me. “What would you like me to do to you, troublesome thing?”

The question sends fire spiraling through me. “Everything. I want you to do everything to me.”

His laugh is dark velvet wrapped around steel. “Everything is a very broad category. I’ll need you to be more specific.”

“Touch me.” The words come out breathless, desperate. “Make me forget about tomorrow. Make me forget about everything except you.”

“Where?” His fingertips ghost along my collarbone, not quite touching. “Here?”

I shake my head, pulse hammering.

His hand moves lower, hovering just above my breast. “Here?”

“Lower,” I breathe.

“Here?” He traces the air just above my nipple, close enough that I can feel the cold radiating from his skin.

“Kieran, please?—”

“Please what? Use your words, troublesome thing. Tell me exactly what you want.”

The demand in his voice makes something deep in my chest purr with satisfaction. “Touch me. Put your hands on me. I need to feel you.”

“Much better.”

His palm finally contacts my skin, frost-touched fingers spreading across my heated breast. The temperature contrast sends shockwaves through my system, making me arch against him with a cry.

“By the old gods, you’re so warm,” he groans, thumb brushing across my nipple in slow circles. “Like touching liquid flame.”

Where his skin meets mine, frost patterns bloom in delicate spirals, beautiful and strange and somehow right. The thorn patterns beneath my skin respond, glowing brighter as our magic recognizes each other.

“More,” I gasp, hands reaching for him.

“Greedy.” But his mouth follows the path of his hands, pressing open-mouthed kisses to my throat, my collarbone, the sensitive space between my breasts that makes me writhe beneath him.

When his lips close around my nipple, the sensation is so intense I nearly come off the bed. Frost-cold mouth on burning skin, his tongue swirling in patterns that make rational thought impossible.

“Kieran,” I moan, hands fisting in his dark hair.

“I love the way you say my name,” he murmurs against my skin, teeth grazing my nipple just hard enough to make me cry out. “Say it again.”

“Kieran, please?—”

“Please what?” His hand slides down my stomach, fingertips tracing thorn patterns until he reaches the ache between my thighs. “This?”

He cups me with his palm, not moving, just holding me while I writhe against his hand.

“Yes,” I gasp. “God, yes.”

“You’re already so wet for me,” he says with satisfaction, one finger sliding through my folds without entering. “So exquisite.”

“I need?—”

“I know what you need.” His finger circles my clit with maddening precision, building pressure without giving me enough to find release. “But I want to hear you beg for it first.”

“Kieran—”

“Beg, troublesome thing. Let me hear how much you want this.”

Pride wars with need, but need wins decisively. “Please. Please touch me properly. I need you inside me. I need?—”

He slides two fingers into me without warning, making me cry out at the sudden fullness. “Like this?”

“Yes,” I sob, hips bucking against his hand.

“You feel incredible,” he groans, pumping his fingers slowly while his thumb works my clit. “So tight and wet and divine. I could do this for hours.”

The thought of him touching me for hours makes my vision blur with want. Magic crackles between us, frost and thorns creating patterns of light across our joined skin.

“I want to taste you,” he says, those pale eyes holding mine as his fingers work me closer to the edge. “I want to put my mouth on you and make you come on my tongue. Would you like that?”

“Yes,” I breathe, beyond shame now. “God, yes.”

He withdraws his fingers, making me whimper at the loss. But before I can protest, he’s moving down my body, pressing kisses to every inch of skin he can reach.

“Spread your legs for me,” he commands, voice rough with hunger. “Let me see all of you.”

I comply without hesitation, opening myself to his burning gaze. He settles between my thighs, frost-cold breath ghosting across heated flesh.

“Beautiful,” he murmurs, fingers tracing through my folds with reverent precision. “Absolutely divine.”

When his mouth finally makes contact, lightning fractures behind my eyelids. Frost-cold tongue on burning flesh, licking and sucking with ruthless skill that makes my back arch off the bed.

“Kieran,” I moan, hands fisting in his hair.

He hums approval against me, the vibration sending shockwaves through my system. His tongue finds every sensitive spot, exploiting it ruthlessly.

When he slides two fingers inside me while his mouth works my clit, the combination is devastating. Pleasure builds in waves, each one higher than the last, until I’m writhing beneath him completely out of control.

“That’s it,” he murmurs against me. “Let go for me. Let me watch you fall apart.”

The orgasm hits like lightning, pleasure so intense my spine bows off the bed completely. I hear myself screaming his name, feel my magic exploding outward in spirals of blue-green light that make the room’s crystal fixtures sing in harmony.

But he doesn’t stop. His mouth stays on me, working me through the aftershocks and building toward something even more intense.

“Too much,” I gasp, trying to pull away.

“Not nearly enough.” His hands grip my hips, holding me in place while his tongue continues its relentless assault. “I told you I was going to make you forget your own name. We’re not done yet.”

The second orgasm builds faster than the first, pleasure so intense it borders on pain. When it crashes over me, I feel something fundamental shift in my chest—like chains breaking, like power finally recognizing itself.

This time when I come back to awareness, Kieran is hovering over me, winter-pale eyes dark with hunger and something deeper.

“How do you feel?” he asks, voice rough with unspent desire.

“Like I might actually survive tomorrow,” I whisper, surprised by the truth of it.

His smile turns sharp and possessive. “Good. Because I have no intention of letting you go anywhere.”

“What about you?” I reach between us, wrapping my hand around his length. He’s hard and perfect in my palm. “What do you need?”

His breath hisses out between his teeth. “You. Just you.”

“Then take me.”

He positions himself at my entrance, the head of his cock sliding through my wetness. “Are you certain? After this?—”

“After this, nothing changes except that we’ll both know what we’re fighting for.” I pull him down for a kiss, tasting myself on his lips. “I want this. I want you.”