Page 37 of Courting the Fae Captain (Romancing the Realms #4)
I flung an arm up, but he was lightning fast as he grabbed the edge of my mask and ripped it from my face.
I gasped at the speed and force of his hand, as his eyes widened in what seemed like recognition.
“You…” It was an accusation as much as a threat.
Who was this male, and what the hells had I ever done to him?
He raised his hand, pulling it back to strike when a shadow reached out and halted it mid-air.
“I believe the lady made it clear she doesn’t wish to be touched,” Raithe said, deadly quiet.
The alcove darkened, the room growing colder with each second. The sheer power that rippled from Raithe was like a maelstrom—impossible to escape and promising certain death. I welcomed it with a smile as I backed away toward him.
“And who the fuck are you to stand in my way?” the male snapped.
Raithe removed his mask slowly, calmly, and turned eyes like black velvet onto the noble.
The surface of his eyes rippled as his power seemed to become him.
The male swore, then raised his hands. “Captain. Forgive me, I didn’t realise?—”
“That you were breaking the rules?” Raithe raised a brow. “Or that you were touching something that doesn’t belong to you?”
The male gritted his teeth, then lowered his head in a mockery of a proper bow. “I meant no harm.”
“Oh, but you did. Grievous harm, I believe. But I quite like her face the way it is.” One second, both males were standing; the next, Raithe had the guy pinned to the couch with a weapon at his throat.
“I also quite like the idea of sticking my blade down your throat and making you choke on it.” He stepped back, and just as quickly as it had appeared, the blade slid home in its sheath.
“Alas, I’m not as impulsive as you. Even though I don’t like people touching what’s mine. And make no mistake, she is mine .”
“It won’t happen again,” the male said as he rubbed a hand over his throat. The skin had been nicked, and a small drop of blood trailed down the sensitive flesh.
“See that it doesn’t with any females here, or next time we meet, the outcome will be much, much worse for you. But before I go, I’d like to mark the face of an abuser.”
Raithe’s shadows surged, plucking the mask straight off the male’s face. I stiffened as recognition struck. Staring back at me, not Raithe, with eyes as cold as ice and hair of the whitest blond in all the court was my father’s very own Bloodhound, Declan James.
“Are you okay?” Raithe asked once we were back in his rooms. After finding Jaren and asking him to escort Sherai back to her rooms, Raithe had all but whisked me away in a veil of shadows as we’d left the party.
Only the Pentad’s Lion had intervened, demanding to know where he was taking me.
Raithe wore the lark mask instead of his usual kraken mask, so the Lion thought he was just another noble.
Raithe used that to his advantage and said he’d paid handsomely for the night alone with one of the females, discreetly, of course.
The Lion was all too willing to allow it, making a side comment about still making up his mind about which he wanted to indulge.
I wanted to be sick, or claw his mask off, or both.
But Raithe held me tight, and we were soon on our way undeterred.
It was only once we were in the privacy of Raithe’s quarters that I realised I was shaking. His room was warm and surprisingly comforting, yet still, I couldn’t stop shaking. “Do you know who that was?” I breathed.
“I know,” Raithe said darkly. “I’ve heard many stories of the Bloodhound, even while at sea. He does not scare me.”
“He should.” I rested my back against the door.
“Before my father had me brought here in chains, I tried to escape. On the way out, I saw something I wasn’t meant to see.
Something he tried to kill me for and likely still wants to.
His wife is from a very powerful bloodline, from a highly regarded family.
So, when I saw Declan with his mistress …
If she found out about his affair, if her family knew?—”
“It doesn’t matter,” Raithe said from his position perched on the side of the bed. “None of it matters. He cannot hurt you. I will not allow it.”
My heart tightened, like someone had pulled all the strings taut. “You can’t promise that. The Rite is dangerous by nature. You can’t protect me from all harm.”
“Aeris,” he said softly as he rose.
“Don’t,” I said with a shake of my head as I looked at him. “I don’t need promises right now. I just need to feel something other than fear and anxiety. Everywhere I turn, something else appears to remind me that I’m not safe, I’m not free. I want…”
“Say it,” he purred. He had his eyes intensely fixed on me, waiting, yielding. “Say it and it’s yours, little lark.”
“I…” He took one step, then another from the bed, his eyes darkening as he took me in, as they seemed to undress the near-naked state I was already in. My voice came out barely a whisper, “I want you.”
“You have me, Aeris. You always did.” He crossed the room in seconds, taking my face between his hands and consuming my entire being with a kiss.
He pressed me against the door, his touch like fire, burning me as he held me firmly in his grasp.
I melted into the embrace as he consumed my every breath.
Then those hands shifted down my neck, tilting my head to the side where he planted heavy kisses in the sensitive curves.
The smell of leather and rum washed over me, and I sucked it in until I was heady with the scent of him.
His kisses trailed down my chest, his hands snaking over the thin fabric of my gown to settle firmly on my hips.
I shrugged the gown down my shoulders and unhooked the front clasp of my strapless bra, letting it drop to the floor. He eyed me hungrily, his gaze turning molten as he brushed my hair over one shoulder.
“Beautiful,” he said, his tone filled with awe. “You are so beautiful.”
His hands shifted my gown over my skin, used it to caress and explored me, gliding up my sides and front.
He removed his palms from my skin, then gently caressed my nipples over the fabric, which scratched against my flesh, sending little waves of pleasure down to my core.
I could feel my wetness soaking into my underwear, even as one of his hands resumed wandering until it brushed over the thong and pushed it to the side with his thumb.
I gasped as his fingers slid down and replaced the space the thong had been covering.
My gasp turned into a moan as he toyed with that flimsy strap once again and snapped it clean off my body.
“While this is sexy,” he said, his voice deepening into a low growl as he grabbed the gown, “I’d much prefer you wear something I give you. Better yet?” He eased it down my body, kissing my collarbones as he went. “I’d much rather you wore nothing at all.”
His fingers returned to their place between my legs, sliding home and eliciting another gasp of pleasure from me.
He increased their tempo as his fingers slid in and out of me, then circled the tender bud until I thought I might combust. I whimpered, enraptured by the entirety of him as my spine pressed harder against the door which thudded with every stroke and pulse.
“Raithe,” I whispered, his name like a prayer on my lips.
“Yes, little lark?”
A soft sigh escaped me as my walls began to mirror the rhythm of his fingers, contracting and building, my blood heating in response. “Make me sing.”
“With pleasure.” He lifted me, planting his hands on my ass as he carried me over to the bed, where he placed me gently and spread my legs wide. Then he fell to his knees and worshipped me with his tongue until I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think.
“Oh gods,” I cried, my spine arching as I pushed against his face, wanting more, more, more.
He devoured me, so focused on his feast that he didn’t notice my shadows that settled over the room like a fog.
My legs began to shake, and then I was climaxing.
My entire body released in a long breath of mumbled pleas and curses.
There was only him. In this fucked-up world of Rites and dark power and cruel and wicked things, there was only him.
When he was done, he moved me gently so I was lying on my back and looking up at the stars through a glass window directly above the bed.
I could have been floating up there with them, lost in a world without end.
It was perhaps the first time I’d given myself so freely to someone, completely unguarded.
And, honestly, the first time I’d ever wanted to.
“Raithe,” I said, his name slow and lazy as a comfortable, heavy weight settled deep into my limbs. I wanted to explore him; to give him the pleasure he so easily wrought from me, but I was slipping away. Slipping to a safe place I hadn’t known I’d yearned for.
“Sleep,” he said as he placed a kiss first to my forehead, then another to my lips. “I am here.”
Yes. He was here, and I thought for a moment I might like it to stay that way.