Page 37 of Crown of the Dunes (The Ballan Desert #2)

I stopped, a hand coming to rest on the dirk in my belt as I listened. The sound came again from the edge of the balcony, this time accompanied by a soft grunt. I spun around, quiet as I could manage and eased the blade from my sash.

A moment later, a dark silhouette crested the carved railing around the terrace. I whipped my arm forward, letting my blade fly at the intruder as the figure hauled himself over the edge. With inhuman reflexes, he tilted his head to the side, the blade whizzing past one ear by bare millimeters.

I stared into surprised silver eyes for a long moment before the clatter of my knife on the terrace the level below broke the silence.

Looking into his eyes was like taking a long drink of water after days of thirst, and my heart tugged me forward like a willful colt on a lead rope. Still, I stood my ground, reminding myself of the reality of our situation.

I was a queen, and he was my prisoner.

“Not the greeting I was hoping for,” Erix said as his boots touched down on the stone floor of the balcony.

I let out a long breath through pursed lips. Some of the tension in my muscles abated, but the fizzling in my veins remained as I stared at him.

“I thought you were another monster or an assassin,” I admitted, tucking my hands into my sash.

He cocked his head at me. “Who says I’m not?”

“You surrendered to me just a few days ago when you could have killed me. That would make you a poor assassin,” I pointed out.

“But I could still be a monster,” he argued. He stalked a few steps closer to me, and my heart leaped into my throat .

“That is what you want people to think.” My voice was breathy as he stopped just feet away from me.

I leaned forward, the wildness in my heart drawn to the lethal power that danced beneath his skin—the one person who had looked at the danger in me and found beauty.

His own lethality was magnificent. My magic roared to life at his proximity, just as it had when he first touched me at my oasis so long ago.

I could hardly think straight with the force of it.

I closed my eyes, desperately trying to center myself.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“It seems that nobody is inclined to try to lock me up again right now,” Erix admitted. His shoulders drew up. “I wasn’t ready to volunteer to go back to my cell quite yet.”

I opened my eyes, finding his metallic gaze bright in the dusk. “Good. I think you’ve earned Kelvadan’s trust today, at least for one night. Although that still doesn’t answer why you chose to scale the balcony instead of using the door.”

He hesitated, biting his lips in consideration. “I didn’t want to be seen coming here. I don’t exactly have a role here but… I wanted to see you. Needed to.”

I took one step closer to him, drawn in by his confession. “What do you want your role to be?” I raised my hand to his chest, letting it rest on his gray tunic right above where his dark leather tabards crossed.

“I’ve given up every role I’ve been given. Prince, Viper, Lord… most of them to be closer to you. Whatever place you see fit to give me, I’ll take it and be glad.” His hands drifted to my waist, his touch feather light as his fingers wrapped around my ribs.

“And if I want you at my side, even if it would destroy the delicate peace we’ve won?” I asked, tilting my face up toward his.

His breath ghosted across my face as he responded, warm and gentle as the desert breeze. “Then I would find a way to be beside you.”

It was all the persuasion I needed as I leaned up to press my lips against his.

Salt and sandalwood filled my senses as his hands at my waist tightened, dragging me to him.

I went willingly, pressing myself into the firm, muscular planes of his chest, so hard that he staggered back a few steps.

He pulled me with him until his back hit the balcony railing behind him.

My fingers clawed at his shirt, pushing his tabards off his shoulders, and pulling his tunic free of his sash.

He broke the kiss for just a moment to tear it over his head.

One of his hands drifted across my shoulder blades to the back of my neck, using it to tip my head back and expose my throat to his lips and teeth.

“You’re supposed to be my prisoner,” I gasped as he dipped his tongue into the hollow of my throat. “Even if no cell can truly hold you.”

“And I am. Nobody has to know. Just let me have this moment. Let me go back to my cell with the taste of your skin on my tongue.” His voice was a growl, and the vibrations of it against my skin sent shivers down my spine.

Before I could gasp out another response, he hoisted me into his arms, switching our position so that my back pressed against the railing at the edge of the balcony.

One of Erix’s hands slipped the draped emerald cloth off my shoulder, while the other gathered my hair and pushed it aside so his lips could explore the hollow behind my ear.

“Outside of this room, you can be the queen your people need, and I can be the fallen lord at your mercy.” He alternated the words with hot, open-mouth kisses against my skin that made me arch into him. A familiar, hard length pressed against my stomach, and he grunted as I rubbed against it.

“Here though, we can pretend,” he continued, letting my wrap fall to the ground and sliding his fingers under the edge of my shirt to brush the underside of my breasts. “We can look out over the desert and pretend it’s just us in the wilds, like it was before.”

The idea was hypnotic—the memory of the two of us exploring each other’s bodies under the stars making molten desire drip down my spine.

I braced one hand on the railing behind me and let the other reach up to tangle in his curls. My head fell onto his shoulder as his fingers drifted up to tease my nipples and a whine escaped my lips.

“Make me forget,” I demanded, rubbing against him once more. “Make me forget about the war and the monsters and the famine. Make it so the only thing I can remember is that I belong to you. ”

A groan rumbled in his chest at the same moment his teeth bit into the side of my neck.

I gasped at the way it pinned me in place as he untied my shirt and cast it aside.

The rapidly cooling evening air hit my skin, a stark contrast to the fire building under my skin, stoked higher by Erix’s fingers reaching for the ties of my pants.

I wiggled my hips to help him push them down, desperate for his touch. As they slipped down my legs and pooled around my ankles, he invaded my space, pinning me against the railing as one hand skated painfully slowly across the skin between my hip bones.

An impatient huff escaped me as I squirmed, trying to urge him on. A warm puff of air caressed the bare side of my scalp as he chuckled into the top of my head.

“Just as demanding as I remembered.”

“You like it,” I shot back, the hunger and satisfaction I felt pouring down the tether between us telling me I was right.

“Of course,” he admitted as his fingers dipped into the curls between my legs. “The desert is not an easy mistress, and neither are you. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Finally, his fingers reached my most sensitive point, gently rolling over it and making my knees threaten to buckle.

I propped myself on the railing behind me and grabbed his forearm hard enough that my nails bit into his skin.

Anything to keep myself from flying apart into a million pieces as he rubbed slow, torturous circles.

“Erix,” I groaned, my tone half frustrated, half begging.

“Anything,” he responded to my unspoken plea.

His hand disappeared from between my legs, and I almost whimpered at the loss before he fell to his knees.

His hands were gentle but firm on my inner thighs as he spread them apart.

My fingers curled desperately around the railing as he lowered his head.

His hungry groan almost drowned out my own gasp as he tasted me.

My toes curled and my head fell back as he dragged his tongue through my folds in a long, luxurious stroke.

Even as my legs spasmed, he held me in place, keeping my thighs open and feasting like a man starved.

Fire built under my skin, and I keened as he sucked at my flesh before surprising me with a bite to my inner thigh.

While I was still distracted by the sharp sting of his teeth, followed by a soothing swipe of his tongue, he dragged two of his fingers through my wetness before easing them inside me.

His lips returned to my sex, and I bucked against him at the onslaught of sensations.

He growled his pleasure, and the satisfaction that pulsed through the bond between us sent me hurtling toward the edge.

The tension in my body, drawn immeasurably tight after months apart, finally snapped. My legs clamped around his head, and a breathless groan escaped my lips, but he did not relent until I could do nothing but whimper at the sparks of sensation still dancing over my skin.

Finally, he stood, keeping an arm around me and easily turning me around so my back was to his front in my pliant and boneless state.

I felt him reach between us for the ties of his own pants. Once they were untied, he used the same hand to press gently between my shoulder blades, bending me over.

“Grab the railing,” he rumbled into my ear.

I didn’t hesitate to do as he asked, my knees trembling so forcefully that they might give out without something to hold on to.

Finally, the head of his cock dragged across my soaked center.

I almost sobbed at the sensation of lightning dancing across my skin and climbing up my spine.

I arched, opening myself up to him and silently begging.

He didn’t need any further persuasion.