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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

WREN

T he door to his chambers swung open and Wren’s breath whooshed out of him as Neah walked in, cheeks flushed and hair tied back into a long braid that fell over one shoulder.

Without a word, he ran to her. His arms closed around the narrow set of her shoulders and when she wheezed he realised he was squeezing her too tightly. “Thank the Goddess,” he muttered. “You’re okay?”

It had been three days since their meal with Neah’s parents and Zennon and, for the most part, they’d spent the time together.

He hadn’t realised how nice it would be to return to his rooms and find Neah waiting every evening, his bed had become theirs and the space felt too empty now when it was only him in them.

Today, he’d had a meeting to attend with a handful of Lords who were concerned about their land boundaries and Neah had declined the invitation to join him.

Instead, she was supposed to be meeting Zennon in the town nearby.

He got the impression Zennon didn’t get out much, so it had been a nice idea.

It was sunny but not too hot outside, Sonnet was joining them, and he thought it would be good for his mate to spend some time away from him for the day, even if it was under the watchful gaze of the guards he’d sent to the tavern ahead of time.

“Of course I’m okay,” she said breathlessly, pulling back to look up into his eyes and then cupping his jaw with one hand as she read whatever distress lingered on his face. “What’s wrong?”

“There was another attack.” How they’d known Neah was going to be there, Wren couldn’t say. “In the town, at the tavern. I sent guards there to keep an eye on things?—”

“Wren,” she protested and he shrugged.

“They were told you’d requested a private booth, so they took their seats and waited for you.”

“Yes.” Neah nodded and then narrowed her eyes. “Because I was trying to be cautious.”

“So was I,” he pointed out and she rolled her eyes but looked worried when he stepped back and began pacing. “Drinks were delivered. One of my men indulged. The other survived.”

Her eyes flew wide. “Poison?”

“I just don’t understand,” he growled, pushing a hand through his hair as his legs ate up the space between the sides of the room. “How did they know your plans to be there? Why are they doing this? Going after you and Zennon rather than me?”

A cool hand took his and Neah squeezed gently. “The important thing is that we’re okay and we will find whoever is responsible for all of this and they will pay.” The words and her tone were grim, but the strength of her conviction unwound a small amount of his tension.

He held himself perfectly still, eyes running over her face as he tried to reassure himself that they’d failed again. Neah was here. She was safe. She was alive . But he couldn’t help the niggling thought that next time they might succeed. “Tell me what happened to change your plans.”

“I got a note from Zennon asking to reschedule. A guard delivered it. I assume Sonnet received one too. And then I got changed and headed to the captain’s personal training room.”

“That’s where you’ve been this whole time?”

A slight smile curved her lips. “Yes. It’s wise to keep up with my training, given all the assassins trying to kill me.” When he didn’t laugh, she winced. “Too soon?”

“Yes,” he said, the word hoarse. “We haven’t spoken about it yet, because I promised the choice of whether to cement the bond with the bonding ceremony would be yours. But I don’t know if I can do this, Neah. Not if it means you’ll be hurt—or killed.”

For the first time since she’d walked in, Neah’s jaw clenched and he knew she was pissed. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying…” Wren sighed and paced over to the armchairs surrounding the table by the balcony doors.

What was he saying? “I’m saying you’re more important than the crown, or the kingdom.

I would choose you over my sanity, over my soul, and only a small part of that is because you’re my mate.

” His voice broke and Wren looked away, unable to meet her eyes as he scrubbed a hand over his face.

“So you should go, leave while you still can. Before you or Zennon or anybody else gets hurt.”

There was silence in the wake of his words and he exhaled shakily, sensing she was still standing there by the door, and he wondered if this was it, if she would leave him now.

He couldn’t bring himself to regret it, not if it meant she would be safe.

They hadn’t formally accepted their bond yet, she could still go on without him, love again—he nearly growled at the thought but managed to hold it in.

She was his. But if that meant her death, well, that was not the fate he’d choose for her.

“Do you want me?” The words were soft, vulnerable and a challenge all at the same time as Wren heard her take a step closer.

“Yes,” he choked. “Desperately.”

“Your crown, the kingdom?—”

“Mean nothing without you.” Silence fell once more and it occurred to him that the words might be too bold, too much too soon. “If you don’t want me, if this is only a duty to you, then I want you to go. Now. Forget about me and live your life and be happy.”

Wren didn’t even hear her footsteps, just the touch of her hand on his, pulling his palm away from his face.

Golden eyes stared into his very soul, gentle and fiery all at once. “I want you. I choose you . I can handle assassins and poisonings, and whatever else they try to keep us apart. But leaving now isn’t an option. I need you. I choose you .”

The words were his undoing.

Material creaked as he shifted his weight, knees hitting the floor as he slid from the chair to kneel at her feet. He’d told himself before that nobody but the Goddess should see the king kneel, but that was before he’d met Neah. Before he knew what it meant to truly worship.

Her eyes burned brighter and she licked her lips as his hands smoothed the outside of her legs, feeling her heat beneath the silky fabric that clung to her legs.

“Use me,” he rasped. “Own me. I’m yours, heart, body, soul.”

Neah’s breath caught and he swallowed hard when her hands slid into his hair and tugged lightly, pulling his head back. “I’ve never had a king on his knees for me before. Let’s hope you don’t disappoint,” she taunted and his laugh was a low, dark rumble that made her heart beat quicker.

His hands coasted down her sides, thumbs hooking into the material so he could slowly peel it off and feel her bare skin, soft under his palms.

A scrap of dark lace was all that covered her and he leaned forward, tonguing the material lightly before clasping it with his teeth and ripping it away.

Neah shivered as his breath touched her skin and then gasped when he leaned in and inhaled, kissing with light suction across the smooth skin between her pussy and her thighs.

Goddess, he could drown in her, wanted to feast on her wet heat until he was covered in her scent and everyone knew she’d marked him as hers .

Wren reached behind her, smoothing his hands up the back of her legs and cupping her posterior, squeezing and kneading the plump cheeks there before letting a hand trail back to her front and stroking over her pussy lips with a delicate, barely-there touch.

Her light moan made him grin as he repeated the motion with a fraction more pressure, parting her folds around the hard bud of her clit that throbbed under his touch.

“I thought I told you,” he murmured, leaning in to give a teasing lick to her clit, “to use me?”

As if the reminder was what she’d been waiting for, Neah unleashed herself.

The hand in his hair became firmer and when he looked up at her, waiting for instructions, her eyes glowed.

She stepped closer, her legs widening until one stood on either side of his shoulders, and when she looked down her body at him, Wren felt his cock twitch in response.

“Be a good little toy,” she rasped, the breathless tone of her voice making it even harder to hold back. “Let me soak your face, my king.”

His nod was eager and she smirked as he reached for her, raising himself up slightly so his mouth could close around her bud and suck so intently that Neah’s spine arched. He wanted to laugh. She didn’t know what she was asking for. She wanted to soak his face? He was just fine with that.

His tongue swept out, pressing into her entrance shallowly as it curled up, lapping at the cream of her while she whimpered.

He retreated, blowing cold air over her sensitive flesh to make her writhe and then resuming his ministrations, mouth on her clit, tongue flicking the bud with just his tip, and his fingers slicking themselves against the wetness pooling at her entrance.

His first thrust felt like sin, the heat of her pussy enveloping his two fingers as they pressed into her and sank in deep.

Wren twisted, crooking them against her inner walls and feeling them flutter in response before he pulled them out and repeated the process, pace growing quicker as he lavished the apex of her pussy with attention, feeling it grow stiffer the more he stroked it with his tongue.

Her hips moved against his mouth, pressing down frantically for more friction, more sensation, but Wren resisted, instead keeping up his torturous pace on her clit and fucking her with his fingers.

Then, when it seemed like she’d settled into the sensations, he switched things up and pressed his tongue into her entrance alongside his fingers.

She let out a high pitched, breathy moan that shot straight to his cock and Wren wasn’t sure he could hold back any longer. He pulled away slightly to look up at her, enjoying the deep pink of her cheeks and the way her head thrashed as she climbed closer to orgasm.

“Are you ready, caritas ?”

“For what?” she whined and he chuckled.

“To soak my face.”

Her eyes flew open as he dove back down, withdrawing his fingers from her pussy and replacing them with his tongue.

His fingers were slick with her arousal and he pressed them to her clit, slipping it between the pads of his fingers and squeezing it in short bursts that made her cry out. Close. She was so close.

This time, when he pressed on her clit, he feasted on her pussy, his tongue plunging into her and pulsing against the inner wall he knew would set her off.

His fingers worked her as Neah cried out, legs trembling on either side of him as he felt her first orgasm shake against his tongue. But he wasn’t done yet.

Her hand tightened in his hair, as if she planned to pull him away, so he distracted her with his other hand, slipping it down between her legs to coat the digits in her come and then trailing back around to spread her cheeks and push in one finger.

The cry of surprise that left her made him grin as she grew wetter against his mouth. So she liked that? Interesting . He filed the tidbit away for later and sucked her pussy into his mouth in the same thrusting motion he used on her arse.

“Wren, Wren,” she begged. “I can’t—Not again?—”

He ignored her protests and lightly spanked her clit, pleased when she moaned loudly.

So he did it again, and again, until her breaths came in short pants.

Only then did he press down on her clit and stroke while his tongue fucked her until she let out a keening wail and moisture exploded from her, hitting his face, soaking his mouth and wringing out the last of her willpower as she sagged against him.

Wren pressed a soft kiss to her thigh as his hand stroked up and down her leg, comforting rather than taunting.

When her breathing settled, Neah stood up from her slump and then swayed. “Did I just?—?”

“Yep.” He couldn’t help the smug sound of his voice, but she must have been too dazed to tease him about it. Wren didn’t care, he’d made her squirt—for the first time, it seemed like—so yes, he was going to be damn well smug about it.

“Maybe I should be targeted more often,” she mumbled and waved off his frown with a giggle. “I think you melted my brain.”

“Anytime,” he said, smirking, and winced when stood up and his knees ached. “Though, maybe next time you ride my face we can use the bed? Save my knees the agony.”

Her laughter was sweet as it echoed through the chambers and he followed her with his eyes as she walked to the doorway that led to their bedroom. “Well? Are you coming?”