Page 31

“Skye, I need you to take this seriously right now.”

“I am,” he said. “In the last day, I’ve considered walking your stubborn, well-toned ass back into the time loop at least a dozen times.”

She turned and punched his bicep. He went on.

“My point— No , shut up and listen,” he said when she opened her mouth. “My point is that even when I hate you, I still want you around.”

“That’s because you’re a masochist.”

“And you’re my favorite punishment.”

Taly hesitated, not sure if she should hit him for that. She was still trying to decide when he kept going.

“Do you remember what I told you the summer I was introduced at the Dawn Court? When you got it into your head that I was going to be attending all these fancy parties, and meeting all these fancy people, and I was going to forget all about you?”

Taly picked at a loose thread on the blanket, winding it around her finger until it cut off circulation. “You said to stay out of your room.”

“After that.”

She sighed, finding the memory. When he’d hugged her tight on the front steps of Harbor Manor before getting into a carriage that would take him away for the next two months. At the time, it had seemed like an eternity. “You said to me, ‘Don’t worry. We’re permanent.’”

His fingers found a stray lock of hair, tucking it carefully behind her ear. Grazing the pointed Fey tip and making her shiver. “It’s as true now as it was then.”

“As much as I appreciate the sentiment, Em, you can’t just declare that everything will be okay.”

“I’m a prince. It’s my job to declare things.”

She did hit him for that.

He grabbed her fist, reeled her in, and held her there in the cage of his arms.

“It might not work out. You’re right about that.” His breath warmed her ear. “But consider this—we might hate each other sometimes, sure. But that doesn’t mean we won’t be together. You can still love a thing you hate, and there’s not a moment that I don’t love you, Tink. So, no—I’m not worried.”

Silence between them. His arms loosened enough for her to turn to face him.

“I don’t want to mess this up,” she said.

“I don’t, either.”

“And that’s why I think…” she began softly, then faltered.

She wasn’t even sure if she wanted it, but there was a gnawing feeling inside—a sense that she needed it.

Because when everything else in her life was shifting and uncertain, he couldn’t be.

“I think I would feel better if we took sex off the table…”

Her voice trailed, waiting for a reaction. He gave her nothing.

“Just for now,” she added hastily. “Until—”

Leaning in, he kissed her, whispering onto her lips, “You don’t have to explain it to me.”

“You’re not mad?”

“Why would I be mad ?”

“I don’t know. I just… figured you might be.” She glanced away. “You’ve done this before. I haven’t.”

His arms didn’t loosen. If anything, they pulled her in tighter.

He dipped his head, touching his brow to her temple.

“To be clear,” he said, breath warm against her cheek, “I want you, you violent little idiot. I’ve imagined a million different ways to have you, and I am, to put it lightly, impatient to get started.

” His voice was a low rumble against her ear.

She shivered. “But if it makes you feel more comfortable to have that boundary, why would I argue? I want to get this right, too.”

Taly pulled back just enough to meet his eyes. The air between them stretched taut—breathless, waiting.

Skye said a lot of wrong things. But occasionally, he got something exactly right.

She kissed him. And for once, there was no hesitation—no fear of what came next.

That soft press of her lips turned into another, then another, each one lifting something heavy she hadn’t realized she was carrying.

Skye breathed deeply into the kiss, holding her tighter as she went to her knees to get a better angle. “I’m available for advice any time,” he said between increasingly frantic kisses. “Just want to put that out there…”

She pressed him back down to the bed. He slid a hand around her waist to steady them, grinning up at her like it was his birthday and Yulemas rolled into one.

Suddenly, everything that had felt so scary and overwhelming a moment ago felt natural. Safe.

Who knew that validating her feelings, assuaging her fears, and taking any expectations off the table would be so… hot ?

Taly sat up straighter. In the place where all that doubt had been, she felt something new—a rush of confidence that steadied her hands as they reached for the hem of her sweater and slowly peeled it over her head.

No, she wasn’t naked underneath. That was how the courtesans at the Dawn Court would’ve done it, all boldness and allure. But she’d lost her nerve waiting for Skye to come to bed.

She’d pictured it once—their first night back. Waiting for him in her favorite red lace. Normally, she didn’t wear things that needed babysitting, but this set barely existed. Nothing to fuss with, nothing to fix.

Silk shorts were her first concession. Her ass had started feeling a little too breezy.

Then her nipples caught the chill, and suddenly the lace didn’t feel bold—it felt like she’d forgotten to get dressed. So, she found his sweater. It was still his. That sort of counted as seduction. At least, that’s how she justified putting on the closest thing she could find to a tent.

Beneath her, Skye went utterly still. She wasn’t sure if he was even breathing.

His eyes locked on hers, then drifted lower—over the red lace, sheer and clinging, and the heavy weight of her breasts beneath it.

He looked stunned. Wrecked. Like he’d dreamed this and never thought he’d be allowed to have it.

She liked it, being looked at that way. She arched her back, curious—biting back a grin when something close to pain flashed across his face.

“I’m going to hate myself,” Skye said roughly, squeezing his eyes shut like he needed to think and couldn’t. “You’re kind of sending me mixed signals right now. What happened to ‘no sex’? I know I didn’t imagine that.”

She leaned forward to brush her nose against his neck. Through the lace, her nipples grazed bare skin, and she reveled in the unparalleled wickedness of that slight touch. He smelled good—in a way she’d never noticed as a human. Like sandalwood and suede and cedar…

Her tongue darted out, needing to know if he tasted as good as he smelled.

He did.

“Taly,” he warned, voice catching.

“Just because I’m not ready to cross the finish line doesn’t mean I want to stop moving toward it.” She licked a line up the column of his throat to get more of that taste, ending at his mouth where she whispered, “I’ve imagined you fucking me too.”

She felt the shift in him immediately—the sudden tension in his muscles, the sharp inhale that never fully released.

The next thing she knew, she was on her back. His weight settled over her. Hands braced on either side of her head, caging her in.

Green eyes bored down, fierce with want. His voice was a low, silken rasp that sent a shiver down her spine. “Exactly what have you been imagining, Taly?”

“I, uh…” Her courage slipped.

“Fuck you how, exactly?” he murmured, hips flexing just enough to make her suck in a breath. “With my hands? My mouth? My cock?”

She was too warm. Every part of her. Her skin burned, heat licking down her throat, sinking lower, deeper.

She saw it now—the friend she’d laughed with, fought with, leaned on, finally blended with the man the world whispered about. The notorious court flirt who left a trail of women every season.

And now, both were looking at her like she was next.

“Answer the question, Tink.”

She looked away, barely managing a soft, hesitant nod.

“To which?”

“Um… all– a-all three.”

His smile was slow and wicked. “Sounds like you’ve been thinking about me a lot.”

“I had a year in the time loop,” she snapped back. Only after it was out of her mouth did she realize that wasn’t the grand defense she’d intended—more an… admission.

Skye hummed, a deep, pleased, purely masculine sound.

“I see.” His fingers circled her nipple over the lace.

A featherlight touch, but Taly swore she could feel it everywhere.

“Well, you can’t have my cock—your rules, not mine.

And I don’t trust myself enough to give you my mouth—if I taste you, I’m going to want more. ”

Those fingers slid down her belly, past the waistband of her shorts. She was halfway through letting out a sigh of disappointment when they slipped beneath the fabric of the leg where it gaped.

“We’ll start with the basics,” he said softly, eyes holding hers.

Taly wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting the first time a man touched her. Her fantasies had been all broad strokes, vague notions of pleasure. So, she was taken by surprise—completely overwhelmed by the heat of his hands. She’d never anticipated how his own body would tense in reaction to hers.

Vulnerable. Exposed. But there was also excitement and anticipation as his fingers stroked over the damp red lace barely covering her center.

Up.

Then down.

Then he pushed aside the lace, hissing at the wetness he found waiting for him, spreading it around.

“Someone’s eager.” He was breathless. One finger pressed into her. “ Fuck .”

Taly let out a little whine. She could feel every scrape of roughness, every contour of bone as he pulled out to the tip.

One finger became two. She winced at the sudden fullness, and he went back to one.

“Sorry,” he said, exhaling hard. “I forgot. We need to limber you up first.”

She was utterly enveloped, his body above her and the bed beneath, her legs spread as that finger moved in and out. The sounds that came out of her were unplanned—little pants, squeals, and groans punctuated occasionally by a longer moan as his aether sparked.

This time, when he added a second finger, it wasn’t pain that had her gasping.

It was absolute ecstasy at the overwhelming fullness.

“See, Tink. I’ve got you.” His voice dipped lower. “I’ve always got you.”

Sweat slicked her skin as her head tipped back. She clung to him, fingers twisting in his hair, panting against his neck. She was nearing that peak—already reaching for it.

Then another spark of aether, right where she needed it. Her body arched, a bowstring pulled taut, every nerve singing with white fire. He followed her through to the end of it, pumping until she finally grabbed his hand to stop.

His fingers crooked inside her one last time, drawing out one last whimper before they withdrew.

Her breath came in quick, uneven pulls, her limbs boneless against the sheets. Above her, Skye watched, dark-eyed and utterly transfixed.

Something pulsed between them—a current she couldn’t name but felt humming along her skin, inside her chest, threading through the space between them.

Her mind was spinning, dizzy with want. She wanted to kiss him, to drag her hands over him, to learn him by breath and feel and sound.

She wanted to know what he looked like undone. She wanted to be the reason.

“Yes,” he whispered, low and rough.

She hadn’t spoken. She was sure of it. But the way he’d said it, like he’d heard her anyway…

He held himself above her. His back arched just enough to give her a view between their bodies. He pitched an impressive tent beneath black silk sleep pants, so thick, so hard that the broad crown had breached his waistband.

“Please.” He bit out the word. “I mean, I’m fine if you don’t, but… Shards, Tink, please.”

Taly wondered if any of those ladies at court had ever made the heir of Ghislain beg.

She reached for him, stopped. Swallowed. Then let her fingers skim across the head. They came away damp. Curious, she touched one to her tongue. The taste was salty. Strange. Not bad. Mostly, she liked the way his breath caught like she’d set fire to his lungs.

He didn’t speak—just looked at her like she’d done something irreversible. That look made her brave. Made her want to see what else she could do to him.

Every muscle in his body went taut as she finally mustered the courage to slip her hand beneath his waistband, wrapping her fingers around the long, hard—

A knock sounded from the front door of the attic apartment.

Taly snatched her hand away on instinct, like a nervous rabbit, easily spooked.

“Ignore it,” Skye said tightly.

It took every ounce of will he possessed to hold himself above her, to give her the time she needed to work up to another attempt. He loved and loathed these moments in equal measure—watching as curiosity slowly won out over hesitation.

She didn’t go quite so bold this time. Instead, she skimmed her palm over the front of his pants.

He groaned, hips jerking into the touch before he could stop himself.

A flush crept up her cheeks, but she kept going, her fingers mapping the shape of him through the fabric.

There was hesitation in it. A tremble. Like she was afraid of doing it wrong—and he had to bite back a groan, because there was no wrong. Not with her.

Then she stilled. Just for a second. He felt her fingers at his waistband, attempting another timid slide underneath—

There it was again. Someone knocking.

Then it was someone pounding.

“Who do you think it is?” Taly asked.

Someone with a death wish.

With a snarl, Skye pulled himself off the mate he’d been moments away from losing himself in and rose from the bed. He turned back to give a delightfully half-naked Taly a brief kiss.

“Don’t move,” he commanded. “Not a muscle. Understand?”

He didn’t wait for her to nod before stalking out of the room, grabbing a pillow from the couch in the common room, and holding it over the tent in his pants as he flung open the door.

Kato was on the other side, both fists still raised. His brother’s eyes immediately dropped to the pillow, widening in wicked delight. “Am I interrupting something?” He sniffed the air, no doubt smelling sweat and arousal. “Yes, I am.”

Skye’s teeth flashed, but he reined in his temper. “What do you want?”

The asshole just laughed and shrugged. “You know… I don’t even remember. To stop you from getting laid, apparently.”

Skye pounded a fist on the doorframe to keep from punching his brother’s face.

“This is delightful,” Kato said, always glad to insert himself where he wasn’t wanted. “And—oh.” He held a hand up to his ear, listening. “I believe the damsel you were about to ravish has now fallen asleep.”

From the other room, Skye heard her breath steady. Her heartbeat slowed. Indeed, she was… asleep.

It wasn’t surprising. Taly had already been exhausted, and if dragging her over that edge was what it finally took, he was glad to be of service.

Still… damn it.

Damn. It.

“I could give you some tips to keep her awake next time,” Kato said, laughing.

“Get out of here,” Skye snapped.

Kato pressed his hands together and bowed. “Thank you for this.” He turned to go. “Wait, I just remembered. Can I borrow a—”

Skye slammed the door in his face.