Page 70 of Crown of the Dunes (The Ballan Desert #2)

Chapter twenty-eight

Erix

S he had been drugged.

I felt incredibly thoughtless for not having seen it immediately—the way she had stumbled into the prince’s arms when she normally moved with the dangerous grace of a caracal, and the glazed-over look in her eyes when I had touched her.

I leaned in and took a deep breath, to which she responded by brushing her nose against my cheek, as if seeking out my mouth. The nutty smell of laka clung to her, undercut by a sugary floral scent.

A groan escaped me as I pulled back, recognizing the nectar of the anza flower. It was harvested from succulents during the rainy season and was used by some in the clans for recreational purposes.

Many had thought it useful in promoting fertility, but I had always suspected that was due to its other effects. Anza nectar was a potent aphrodisiac, and from the way Keera clung to me, she had been given a heavy dose.

“Sands,” I swore, as I gathered her into my arms. A squeak escaped her, and she nuzzled into my neck in a way that made my already hard cock throb.

“I’m going to take you to your room.” I stopped at the corner of the darkened corridor we had hidden in, looking both ways to check that the main hallway was empty. Seeing nobody, I quickly strode deeper toward the long stairs that spiraled up through the bowels of the palace.

“Who gave you the laka ?” I asked Keera as I climbed up the stairs, keeping her cradled in my arms.

She hummed, running her nose up and down the tendon of my neck in a supremely distracting manner. “Warrick. He told me that marrying Calix would make an enemy of Doran.”

A growl rumbled deep in my chest. I had already had my suspicions of the copper-haired general.

Perhaps he had hoped to ruin the engagement by giving Keera liquid encouragement to do something rash—and I had tumbled headfirst into his trap.

If Keera and I had been caught in that hallway, it could have destroyed the alliance with Viltov that fed the people of Kelvadan.

The dark knot of power within me shivered with rage.

I was falling to the same failures as my ancestor, and still all I could think of was the way that Keera twisted and turned in my arms, as if trying to burrow under my skin.

Finally, I reached the door to her room near the top of the tower.

I shouldered through it before kicking it closed behind me.

Striding to Keera’s bed in the center of the room, I pushed aside the gauzy gold curtains and laid her in the center of it.

After nestling her on the pillows, I made to pull away, but her fingers tightened around the front of my tunic, keeping me close.

“Keera,” I insisted. “I can’t.”

But the way she twisted and rubbed her legs together called to me inexorably.

I screwed my eyes shut, trying to convince myself to pull away.

Keera’s hand landed on my cheek, gentle and painfully tender.

My eyes snapped open. She stared at me determinedly, and though her hair clung to her forehead and neck with sweat, her eyes were clearer.

“You promised you would not abandon me again. Stay.”

And just like that, I was doomed. I let her pull me down and press her lips to mine.

A groan escaped me, and she swallowed it down as her lips parted sweetly.

It had been weeks since I had been with her like this, and every inch of me ached for her touch.

My tongue darted into her mouth, tasting the mix of laka and anza nectar that lingered there .

My head spun, and she bucked her hips, grinding against the hardness already tenting my pants. She broke the kiss with a gasp, twisting and writhing beneath me.

“Erix, I need… please .” Her words became a babbled plea.

I ground my teeth, trying to keep my weight off her and grip onto my quickly slipping sense of control.

“Keera, you aren’t in your right mind,” I murmured, my voice husky.

“But I am,” she murmured. “When Calix was touching me, it felt nice, but I still didn’t desire him. Then you grabbed me, and I knew you were the one I wanted… I’ve always wanted you.”

At the mention of Calix, a wave of possessiveness washed over me, and I leaned in to kiss her, trying to lick all traces of his name from her mouth. I only pulled back again when she was gasping and whining.

“You know what Warrick gave me,” she panted. “Would it make me like this if I didn’t already want you?”

I swallowed thickly, and her gaze darted to the way that my throat bobbed. Anza nectar wasn’t like liquor—every touch would feel like fire, sensations amplified to a dizzying height, but she knew what she was saying.

And the desert knew I was weak.

I pinned her down, devouring her sigh of satisfaction.

It quickly turned into a moan as my hands slipped under her top.

I walked my fingers up her ribs until I reached the underside of her breasts.

Then I broke our kiss for just a moment to tear it off over her head and give my wandering hands more room to explore.

Her shirt discarded, I sat back on my heels, admiring the way she lay bare for me from the waist up. Her nipples hardened to points under my gaze, begging me to touch them, and I obliged. Covering one breast with my hand, I took the other into my mouth.

Her hands flew to my hair, tangling in my curls, and I responded by sucking harder. She whimpered, and I couldn’t help smiling into her skin. Once her breasts were red and glistening from my attention, I pulled back to admire my handiwork .

She tried to follow me up, but I kept her in place with a hand on her sternum.

“Absolutely beautiful,” I said. “And mine. ”

The word burned as I said it. I knew it wasn’t true, but for right now, I could pretend.

“Erix,” she breathed. “I need you inside of me.”

An inhuman sound escaped me, and my fingers slipped beneath the waistband of her skirt.

I knew Neven had made it, and I had almost cursed him for how much I had wanted to rip it off her all night as I sulked out of sight at the edges of the party.

The silk was attached to the waistband in long panels that parted and swayed as she moved, showing long expanses of her golden skin.

Now, I slid it down her legs, and she wiggled to help me. Once she was bare, I wrapped an arm around her waist and flipped her over. Instantly she raised her hips toward me, and my mouth went dry.

“That’s right,” I rumbled, barely recognizing my own voice. “Show me that all of this is mine. Mine to claim. Mine to fill.”

I trailed a hand down her spine, and she arched further, showing me how her sex glistened with wetness that spilled down the back of her thighs.

Losing all semblance of control, I ripped my tunic off over my head, before tearing my pants down my legs.

I kicked them off clumsily, my boots falling to the floor with loud thunks.

Then I lined up my cock at her sopping entrance. Keera tried to push herself back onto me—to impale herself on my already throbbing length—but I pressed her into the mattress with a hand beneath her shoulder blades.

The pleased whine she let out, partially muffled in the pillows, told me she didn’t mind.

“Mine,” I repeated as I slid inside her.

She was all that existed in the world, hot and pulsing and perfect around me as everything turned in my head into a roar of pleasure. I pulled out, only to snap my hips forward again, forcing a sob from Keera as her breath rushed from her .

One of her hands scrabbled back to find my hip and her nails scratched into it as she pulled me to her. She turned her head sideways on the pillow so I could see the side of her face as it twisted in pleasure.

“Yours,” she admitted.

The magic inside me, so often pacing like a caged animal, purred at her words. “The noises you make for me, the way you’re so wet for me, the way you come apart on my cock,” I gasped, punctuating every statement with a savage thrust. “I will never get enough of it.”

Even as one hand kept her chest pinned to the bed, and she arched her back exquisitely for me, the hand that held her hip drifted to the cleft of her ass.

I couldn’t help myself, letting my thumb trace the pucker of her asshole.

Her eyes flew open and an obscene noise tore from her lips.

I wanted her to make it again, so I repeated the motion, pressing inside just slightly.

“Maybe I’ll make this hole mine too,” I said.

Keera began to quiver and shake. I had tried to ignore the tether at the base of my skull for weeks—tried to deny the way it had pulled me to Keera, fearing exactly this—that I couldn’t handle the idea of somebody else having her in any capacity. Even if it was just political.

Now that bond was thrown open, and I could feel the mind-numbing pleasure bubbling up in Keera’s body and spilling over into mine. It was nearly frightening in its intensity, and Keera tensed, fighting the way her muscles twitched and spasmed outside of her control as the sensations peaked.

My own jaw clenched, a throbbing beginning at the base of my spine and crawling up my back. I leaned over her, wrapping my arm around her waist and plastering her to me.

“It’s okay,” I gritted out, speaking the words into her shoulder blade as I slammed into her even harder. “I’ve got you.”

Her cry was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard as it split the night air.

Then it was drowned out by my own roar and the pounding of our synchronized heartbeats as my own release hit me with the force of an avalanche.

I didn’t stop thrusting as I spilled inside her, pushing my release in as deep as I could.

I wished I could bury myself within her completely and never leave.

Finally, Keera collapsed onto her stomach beneath me, and I followed her down, blanketing her body in mine. A sheen of sweat dampened her skin and made us tacky as it began to dry in the cooling evening air.