Page 92

Gods, Herrick could die of his need for this woman.

When Maude had disappeared below deck with Dahlia, he knew she was going to train using her water galder .

He wanted to give her some space to work freely as she was not one to fail with an audience.

But as the sun arced over them and dipped toward the horizon, they grew closer to when they'd beach the ship before sneaking into Veter.

There was no way to know what they were walking into in his kingdom, so Herrick decided to act on his need for her while he still had the luxury of doing so.

Slowly, he traced the tip of his nose down the side of her exposed neck, pressing his lips to the bared skin of her shoulder as his fingers pulled the edge of her tunic up over her head, tracing the curve of her waist and hip.

Maude's breathing staggered a bit as she reacted to his touch, the sight almost as stunning as she was.

Unable to fully remove the tunic she wore, he let the rest of it hang over her shoulders, further restricting her arms. She gave him a breathy moan as he gently grasped her nipple, the tight bud sensitive as she sucked in her breath and arched into him.

Kicking off her boots to the corner, he unlaced the ties of her leather pants, pulling them down over her muscled thighs until she could step out of them.

Unable to avoid tasting her already, he traced his tongue down her exposed legs, her skin breaking out into goosebumps where he carved a path up to the apex of her thighs.

Her breathing increased in pace as he got close to her center. When his fingers dipped into her soaked core, a rumble sounded from his chest at how ready she was for him already. He swirled his fingers around her clit once, twice, before withdrawing again .

Maude groaned loudly, her head arching backward as she tried to adjust her position so his fingers would return to where she wanted him most. He chuckled against her skin, the sound dark as sin in the shadowy sleeping quarters below deck.

"Herrick," she breathed, her jasmine and cedar scent swirling around him as she tried to get him to resume worshipping her. "Please."

The quiet desperation in her breathy voice was his undoing.

The hand that had been trailing up Maude's thigh found its way back to where she was dripping for him while his other hand moved up the front of her body until it was wrapped around her throat.

Completely at his mercy, Maude shuddered slightly before becoming pliant in his grasp.

Herrick didn't think he could become more aroused than he already was, but when Maude submitted to him like this, his blood raced like the dangerous rivers that protected Veter.

If he weren't careful, he would drown in her.

It was too bad he stopped caring long ago.

Herrick tilted her jaw up until her head was flush against the wooden beam as his fingers swirled around the bundle of nerves that he knew would make Maude's thighs clench around his hands.

At the same time that he lowered his mouth to inhale Maude's next breath, he plunged two fingers into her heated core.

She moaned into his mouth, a sound he happily and eagerly swallowed as her hips rocked against his hand.

"That's it, minn eldr ," he whispered raggedly against her mouth. "Ride my hand the way you ride my cock. Take your pleasure from me."

Maude groaned again, her eyes fluttering open enough that Herrick could see her eyes beginning to roll to the back of her head.

He smiled savagely against her skin, his teeth finding the soft skin at the base of her jaw as his hand tightened slightly around her throat.

She stiffened for a moment but quickly relaxed as he placed another soft, reassuring kiss by her ear.

"Trust me," he said softly as he withdrew his hand from her core to unlace the front of his trousers until his length was freed.

Maude whimpered slightly at the loss of his touch, but the sound was quickly cut off as he nudged the head of his cock to her entrance. Eagerly, she wrapped her legs around his waist as he pushed her back against the beam to better support her weight as her hands remained tied above her.

Herrick slowly slid into Maude's heat, the fiery muscles of her core tightening around him as he pulsed in inch by inch.

This is Valhalla , he thought as his breath thinned in his lungs. When she is wrapped around me like this, tight and needy.

It was taking every ounce of his control to stop himself from fucking her like an animal. He wanted her to enjoy what he had planned for her, to feel all she could feel under his careful ministrations.

When he was finally fully seated inside of her, Herrick brought his fingers to her clit again. As he withdrew his cock, he swirled around the bud once, forcing Maude's hips to buck in response. He did it again when he pushed back into her, rougher this time.

With each stroke of his fingers, Herrick moved within Maude while his other hand still wrapped around her throat tightened a bit more on the sides of her neck where he could feel her heated blood bounding under his touch.

Too soon, he could feel his release gathering at the base of his spine, his balls tightening painfully.

He would not come until she did, and with what Herrick had planned for her, it would need to happen soon before Maude's willingness to remain submitted to him ran out.

"Trust me," he repeated roughly as he continued to slam into Maude, his fingers working her as he continued to gently close off her airway. "Let go, minn eldr . Come for me."

The muscles in Maude's center began to tighten rhythmically as he worked her clit— driving her over the edge. Just before she toppled over into her orgasm, Herrick closed off her airway just enough that he knew Maude's senses would be heightened to absorb this new level of rapture as she climaxed.

Wanting to finish with her, Herrick slammed into her just hard enough that he could feel Maude spiraling into her orgasm. Only then did he release her throat, his hand moving to her breast as he pinched her nipple between his fingers .

Maude inhaled deeply as her orgasm rocked through her.

Her legs tightened around his waist almost painfully as she rode through her orgasm.

It was enough for Herrick to reach his climax.

Release barreled through him, his teeth sinking into the soft space between Maude's neck and shoulder as he pushed his hips into Maude's slick heat once more, his seed spilling into her with such force that it started to slip between them and drip down her thighs.

He could feel his eyes roll backward as he came, pulling him from his waking mind until his only registered thought was that Maude had tilted her head forward to look at him, her green eyes radiant in the darkness.

It struck him stupid to see the sated lust in her eyes and know that it was because of him.

Something primal rose in his chest, the possessiveness striking him so suddenly that all he could do was withdraw from Maude long enough to drop to his knees in front of her.

From between her thighs, Herrick could see the evidence of their coupling still dripping down her bronze skin.

Quickly, he became more animal than man as he took in the sight of Maude breathing heavily, her predatory gaze matching his as she towered over him, her thighs spread like a personal feast just for him.

Before his cum could drip onto the floor from Maude's skin, Herrick ducked and ran his tongue up her thighs, catching the ropes of his seed and bringing it back toward her cunt. He could taste himself on his tongue as it mixed with Maude's pleasure; it was intoxicating.

Thanking the gods for Dahlia's preparedness when he was brought to Nida, Herrick had already been taking the tonic ingested to prevent pregnancy.

It had been brewed in anticipation of their reunion, the healer had explained to him when she had given him enough of a supply to last him and Maude months.

As much as the idea of starting a family with Maude tickled him, war and turmoil ran rampant in their world, and it was not the time for a child to be added to the equation. They were fighting for the future peace all families could thrive under.

In the haze of his need for her, Herrick could hear the small, shocked gasp that Maude released when he first dipped to catch his own pleasure with his tongue, but it was quickly transformed into a moan as she relaxed and relished in the punishing swipes of his tongue on her center .

It wasn't long before Maude was writhing against him, his tongue bringing her to the brink of climax.

She arched off the beam as he pulled another orgasm free.

His blood burned within him, his skin alive with the taste of her on his tongue.

As she stood limp against the beam, her body slicked with sweat and her heart pounding in her chest, Herrick slowly made his way back up her body until his mouth closed over hers.

With half a thought, he snapped his fingers, and the vines holding her hands released her. Within moments, her fingers were wrapped in his hair.

"We'll be in Veter soon," he whispered against her mouth before trailing kisses down the side of her neck.

"Then we should use this time wisely," Maude replied, a smile in her voice.

Picking her up by her thighs that she, in turn, wrapped around his hips again, Herrick carried them to the small captain's quarters before shutting them in with his foot.

"I couldn't agree more," he said as he brushed his lips across her cheekbone before capturing her mouth with his again.

As he leaned her against the closed door, memorizing the shape of her lips as they molded with his, Herrick felt the vines he'd tied around the door to the lower deck being strained through his connection with the earth galder . Someone was trying to enter the lower deck and interrupt them.

Not yet , he thought to himself. It's too soon .