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thirteen

ARIA

He could probably see my legs shaking, because I saw the heat in his eyes the moment he realized what his magic was doing to me.

I made a come here gesture, and he crossed the room in a few massive steps.

Rayna was getting everyone out, but I barely heard her.

“I’m in control,” Triton said, his gaze still hot as it moved over my body.

“I know. Your sister is the one who thinks otherwise.”

“They made my castle unsafe and insulted my mate. Any male would be this furious.”

“I don’t think they see you as a male at all, Triton. I think they just see you as the king who solves their problems and acts as their therapist. Do you ever ask them for anything in exchange for dealing with their shit?”

“Of course not.”

“Maybe it’s time to start.”

The doors clicked shut behind us, and Triton pulled me into his arms, holding me tightly to his chest.

“You’re not a fucking womb, Aria.”

“I’m aware.”

“I gave my people everything I had, and I didn’t even get a fucking vote about whether or not I wanted a mate,” he snarled into my mind.

“Now they insult the woman they basically commanded me to marry.”

“I heard.”

His grip on me tightened even further.

“They don’t care that you’re the queen. I don’t think it even crossed their minds when they decided our fate.”

“No, but I think you started remedying that when you threatened their lives.”

He barked out a humorless laugh.

“They should hope so.”

I couldn’t stop my hips from rocking just a little.

The remaining shreds of my sanity had to be gone, but I didn’t have the energy to care.

“Your magic is really strong,” I whispered.

“Can you maybe just ease it up a little before I orgasm on my feet without you even touching me?”

His chest rumbled, and he moved me to the side just enough to shove my skirt up my thighs and sink three fingers inside me.

I gasped out a curse as he dragged his thumb over my clit, sending me straight into a climax.

My body clenched around him, and he kept working me.

Between his touch and his magic, I was utterly consumed.

My hold on my own power was long gone, so I gripped his length through the fabric that covered him as he kept working my clit.

“Keep touching me like that and I’ll have you pinned to this wall while you ride my cock in a fucking heartbeat,” he growled into my hair, pressing harder against my clit.

I dragged my hand over his length emphatically, telling him exactly what I wanted.

In the blink of an eye, my silk-covered tits were against the wall while Triton slammed into me, filling me completely.

His slick fingers pressed against my clit, seeming to have no intention of stopping.

I gasped out another couple of curses, my back arched as my cheek pressed against the gritty sandstone wall.

Men in skirts.

Totally awesome.

Now I understood.

Triton let out a rough, sexy laugh as he gave me a minute to adjust to his size.

“I fucking love being in your head.”

“It’s not mutual. I barely hear from you.”

“I block you from my thoughts.”

He pulled out and thrusted inside me, making everything spin as I edged on another orgasm.

“Asshole,” I breathed.

“You want to be in my head?”

“Obviously.”

“Doesn’t seem obvious.” He pulled out and filled me again, and I gasped another curse.

“Fuck, Triton.”

“That feel good?”

“Incredible.”

He dragged his fingers over my clit, and I cried out as I climaxed hard.

He drove into me again and again, and I heard his snarl as he lost control with me.

“Holy shit,” I panted, closing my eyes against the wall.

“No one should be that good at this. How many women did you fuck before you became king?”

“We’re not talking about our pasts. And we’re not even close to being done, Sweetheart.” He worked my clit roughly, and my hips jerked and rocked.

“But you already…”

“I’m not human.” He drove into me again, slower than before.

My back arched and my toes curled.

“How many times can you get off?”

“Twice without a mate. Three times with the bond.”

“Damn,” I moaned, as he filled me almost torturously slow.

He nipped my throat, then sucked lightly on the sensitive skin.

“I’ve never had my mouth on a woman before you. You taste fucking delicious. I’ve been thinking about the way your clit felt on my tongue all day.”

“Is that why you—blocked me out of your head?” The pause was to catch my breath as I nearly writhed against him.

Whatever he was doing to me was unreal.

Unreal, unnatural, and otherworldly.

I hoped he’d never stop.

“I didn’t think you wanted a direct path to my mind.”

“You didn’t ask.”

“Did you want it?”

I groaned, arching hard as he took me even slower.

“I don’t know. I didn’t know. Just doesn’t seem fair if you’re in my head and I’m not in yours.”

“Sweetheart, every thought I’ve had since I found you has been about you.”

“ Abducted me, you mean.”

“Found.” He dragged out the word, emphasizing it with a thrust inside me.

“Stole. Mated. Claimed. Married. Abducted.”

The slow, repetitive motion put me painfully close to the edge, but Triton seemed to know just when to pull back so I didn’t go over it entirely.

“Whatever you want to call it, I’ve been yours ever since.” He sucked lightly on my throat again.

Ridiculously, I hoped he’d leave a hickey so everyone could see that he wanted me.

His hands skimmed up my body, and he didn’t pause at all when he slid my top over my head.

And my skirt, after it.

“What would you have voted?” I asked.

“Doesn’t matter. It’s done.”

My chest tightened.

“Matters to—me.” My breath caught as he tilted my hips a little, changing the angle just slightly.

My body was sore and tired.

It was late at night.

I shouldn’t have even been interested in sex at that point, but the king was turning me into an addict.

He filled me slowly.

I froze completely, taking a staggered gasp in as he hit the perfect spot.

His chest rumbled.

“There it is. You ready to come for me again, mate?”

The whimper that escaped me as he pulled out, dragging so incredibly slowly over that spot, was ridiculous.

But also, entirely out of my control.

“Put your hands in my hair,” he commanded.

I reached back, and he released my hip long enough to help me find the strands.

When my fingers dug in, he growled in a way that made goosebumps break out on my arms.

“Don’t be afraid to hurt me. I want to see you lose control entirely.”

Triton grabbed my hip again, readjusting my position before he finally drove in one more time at the same pace as before.

My back curved like a fucking rainbow as my head tilted back, the pleasure tearing through me so hard that I screamed as I writhed.

Yanking Triton’s hair, I held on through the intense climax.

The pleasure was consuming in a way it had never been.

The king was consuming in a way nothing had ever been.

He lost control with me again, and I only noticed because he throbbed through his release, dragging my own pleasure out longer.

I was sweating and panting when I recovered from the climax.

My legs were shaking a little.

The rest of me was, too.

“Holy shit,” I whispered, my face against the wall and my fingers still locked in Triton’s hair.

I was pretty sure I’d pulled at least a few strands out when I lost control, but I was going to blame him for that.

“How do you feel?”

“Like I’m going to pass out.”

He chuckled roughly.

“Good.” Triton stroked my hips as he slid out of me slowly.

It was ridiculous how much I missed the feel of him when he did.

“Done? I thought you said three,” I mumbled, looking over my shoulder at him.

He leaned in long enough to brush his lips against mine for a quick kiss.

“I did. I’m going to take the last one in our bed. You traded a kiss for the chance to sleep with me, remember?”

“Vaguely.”

His lips curved slightly.

The man looked far more relaxed than he had earlier, though his eyes were still hot and his erection was still huge.

I watched without moving as he fixed his clothes and grabbed mine off the ground.

When he helped me into them gently, my throat swelled.

I was starting to feel emotions about the king, whether I wanted to or not.

“This doesn’t mean I’m on board with the breeding thing,” I warned.

He snorted.

“Sweetheart, I don’t give a fuck about breeding right now.”

“ Right now implies that you will eventually.”

He eased me away from the wall and turned me around so we faced each other, then cupped my cheeks.

“Immortality is really fucking long. There’s a pretty high chance that you’ll eventually decide you want a baby, even if it’s three hundred years from now. Everyone does. It’s a natural part of life. The fact that you’re here and mine is what I care about first and foremost.”

I wasn’t sure I believed him completely, but the words did settle me a little.

“Alright.”

He picked me up gently, holding me like a princess as he carried me down the hall.

“Like a queen, actually,” he murmured.

“Either open your mind to me or get out of my head,” I grumbled back.

He chuckled, and I let out a soft breath as I felt his mind open to me.

“That better, Sweetheart?”

“Yeah. Don’t block me out again.”

“I won’t.” I felt the promise as much as I heard it.

“She’s too light,” he thought, as he carried me down the hallway.

“You should fix that with chocolate,” I said aloud.

He grinned.

“I can handle that.”

“She’s perfect,” he thought.

My lips remained curved in a small smile as we walked through the hallway, his loudest thoughts filtering in gently.

He was relieved he’d be done dealing with Greta and Platt soon.

He loved the feel of my body against his.

He was going to have to prove to his people that I was their queen, not just his breeder.

He wanted to lick our combined release off the insides of my thighs, where he could see the slickness.

I dozed a little with the flow of his thoughts as a quiet companion.

I was tired enough that my own mind was nearly silent, but his was the opposite.

He seemed…

energized.

Excited, almost.

And that made me feel good.

When we reached his room in the castle, we found Rayna and Wesson waiting outside.

Rayna looked wary.

“People aren’t happy about you deciding that Aria will be their queen, Triton.”

He opened the door and stepped inside.

“They’re the ones who brought it to a vote. She’s my mate—she comes before them now, in every way.”

“You can’t just make that decision, Triton. The merrae are used to being their ruler’s sole focus.”

“Who, exactly, is suggesting that I haven’t given this kingdom enough of myself?” Triton asked, his voice lowering and his eyes narrowing.

The man was furious.

His thoughts gave it away much more than his expression did.

“People are talking,” Rayna explained, lifting her hands.

“I?—”

“If they want to gossip, let them. If they genuinely have a problem with the centuries I dedicated to them while abstaining from any kind of pleasure for myself, they can speak to me on their own and we can work out a way for them to sacrifice as much as I have before their next complaint.”

Rayna sighed.

“Goodnight. Spread the word that the next person who insults my queen will be the first merrae I’ve ever killed,” Triton bit out, closing the door before his sister could say anything else.

Wordlessly, he strode across the room and dove through the pool.

He altered the water tunnel with his magic, and deposited us both in the library, completely dry.

The slickness of our releases was still on the insides of my thighs, so he must’ve left it there on purpose.

“I did.” His voice was still low as he took me to our bed and did exactly what he’d promised.

He licked me until I was clean, then pinned me to the mattress and fucked me again, getting me off much faster this time.

After we were done, he tucked me into bed on my side and got comfortable behind me.

My bare body was cradled against his, and it felt ridiculously good.

As I dozed off, I mumbled, “What would you have voted, if they let you have a say?”

Triton gave me a soft chuckle.

His lips brushed my ear.

“I wasn’t going to leave it up to a vote. I rigged the outcome instead.”

My eyes widened, and I blinked in sleepy surprise.

“You can do that?”

“I’m the king, Sweetheart. I can do anything I want.” His teeth caught my earlobe, tugging lightly on the single piercing there before he released it.

“How?”

He dragged his tongue slowly over the line of hoops that made up the crown on my ear.

“I heard someone bring up the possibility of me helping repopulate as a joke one afternoon. After a little thinking, I realized I had an opportunity to change my fate. I brought up what I’d heard to the most vocal traditionalist, knowing he would spread it wildly while speaking cruelties against the turned humans. It went to a vote less than two days later, and the warriors voted against the traditionalists, just like I expected.”

“Wow. You are totally a politician.”

He chuckled.

“In this situation, I suppose the label applies.”

“Why did you want a mate so badly?”

“I was entirely alone. Books were the one thing that kept me sane. When the possibility of having a partner arose for the first time in my life, I wasn’t going to let it pass by.” He kissed my forehead again, and I started to doze off.

“This life may not be what you expected, but I will do everything I possibly can to make you happier than you’ve ever dreamed. That is a vow.”

I fell asleep feeling something I hadn’t in a long time.

Wanted .