Page 34

“You’re shivering.”

Anderic’s observation yanked me from the depths of my memories.

I glanced down and noticed my arms were indeed covered in goosebumps, my body trembling slightly.

Strange—I hadn’t felt cold at all. The fire was throwing plenty of heat against my skin, yet the chill seemed to come from somewhere deeper, somewhere the flames couldn’t reach.

“Wait,” he said, rising to his feet in one fluid motion.

The fire highlighted the contours of his bare chest as he moved across the cave, retrieving something from the rock where we’d laid our clothes. He returned with his cape, the leather already dry to the touch.

“It’s leather, so it dried quickly,” he explained, draping it around my shoulders. His fingers brushed against my skin, leaving trails of warmth in their wake. “Better?”

I didn’t respond but pulled the cape tighter around me, inhaling deeply. His scent clung to the leather—sandalwood, steel, and something uniquely Anderic that reminded me of sunlight on warm stone. It should have been comforting. In some ways, it was.

But I continued to shiver.

“Are you still cold?” he asked, settling beside me again. The firelight caught in his golden curls, casting him in an otherworldly glow. “Come here.”

Without waiting for my permission, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me against his side.

The heat of his bare skin seeped through my thin slip, but the tremors wouldn’t stop.

They weren’t from the cold—they were the echoes of screams I’d never uttered, the ghosts of a future I was desperately trying to erase.

“I just…” I began, then faltered. What could I possibly say? Sorry, I’m shaking because the place you’re going to is where I was murdered in another lifetime? “I’m just realizing how badly it could have ended… out there.”

His arm tightened around me. “Well, you should be glad that you have me then.”

I lifted my eyes to his, a caustic remark on my tongue—but the words died there.

The firelight cast dancing shadows across his face, softening the sharp angles while highlighting the intensity in his blue eyes.

I’d spent so long thinking of him as the Golden Prince that I’d forgotten how steel-like his gaze could be.

“Glad to have you?” I managed finally. “I think the jury’s still out on that one, Your Highness.”

His lips quirked up. “After I saved your life twice today? Most would consider that deserving of gratitude.”

“Most haven’t been kidnapped by their savior,” I retorted, though my voice lacked its usual edge. I was too aware of his arm around me, of how easily he could feel each tremble that passed through my body.

“Rescued,” he corrected. “And you’re still shivering.”

Before I could protest, Anderic moved with that preternatural speed of his. In one fluid motion, he lifted me up and pulled me onto his lap so I was straddling him. My thin slip rode up my thighs, and I gasped at the sudden change in position, my hands instinctively bracing against his bare chest.

“What are you—” I began, but the words caught in my throat as I found myself staring directly into his eyes, close enough to count each golden eyelash.

“You’re still cold,” he said simply, his voice dropping to a timbre that sent a different kind of shiver through me. “And I’ve been told I’m like a furnace.”

As if on cue, I became acutely aware of the heat radiating from his body.

It seeped into me where our bodies touched—my inner thighs against his, my palms against his chest, his hands at my waist. The chill that had gripped me began to melt away, replaced by a warmth that had nothing to do with body temperature.

“Better?” he murmured, and I realized I’d stopped shivering.

“Yes,” I admitted, embarrassed by the breathlessness in my voice.

His eyes moved over my face, lingering on my lips before returning to meet my gaze. “Beautiful,” he whispered, almost to himself.

I wanted to say something cutting, something to break the tension that was building between us. But then his hand moved to cup my cheek, his thumb tracing my lower lip, and my clever retorts abandoned me.

“I’ve wanted to do this since I saw you at the ball tonight,” he confessed, his voice low. “In that midnight blue dress…” Then his lips were on mine.

The kiss was gentle at first, exploratory—but there was something different about the way he kissed me this time.

His hands lingered longer at my waist before sliding around to the small of my back, pulling me flush against him.

His lips weren’t just warm with searing adoration; there was something deeper, more urgent beneath them.

Something hungrier.

Something I felt blaze through my veins like wildfire. I should have pushed him away. I should have remembered every reason why this was a terrible idea. But instead, I melted into him, my fingers tangling in his golden curls, as if I’d been waiting for this moment longer than I dared admit.

When his mouth moved to my neck, trailing hot kisses down to my collarbone, a moan escaped me. The sound seemed to ignite something in him. His hands slid to my hips, grinding me against him, and I felt his hardness pressing against me through the thin fabric of his pants.

“You feel what you do to me?” Anderic growled against my skin, his breath hot against my trembling flesh. The words vibrated through me, making my entire body thrum with anticipation. “From the first moment, Ilyana. Mine.”

Mine. That’s what I told him at the ball in front of everyone.

That word - mine - should have made me furious, should have made me tear my nails across his perfect skin in defiance. Instead, it sparked something deep within me, a primal response that made me arch into him, desperate for more.

His lips brushed slowly beneath my ear, right over the rapid flutter of my pulse.

I shivered as he trailed soft, deliberate kisses down the column of my throat, pausing at the hollow where breath caught and heat pooled.

He continued lower, reverent and unhurried, tracing a path along my collarbone and down to the edge of my neckline.

His mouth moved lower, lips and tongue finding my taut nipple through the damp silk of my slip.

The fabric clung to my skin as he nipped and sucked, each flick of his tongue sending jolts of pleasure straight to my core.

My breath hitched. His other hand came up to palm the opposite one, squeezing gently, almost possessively, the heat of his touch searing through the fabric.

“Anderic,” I gasped, my hands gripping his shoulders so tightly I was sure I’d leave marks. The way he looked at me, like I was the only thing in the world that mattered, was almost as intoxicating as the sensations coursing through my body.

With a practiced ease, he tugged the fabric down, exposing my breasts to the flickering firelight. His gaze raked over my exposed skin, and for a moment, he simply stared, his chest rising and falling with each ragged breath.

“Perfect,” he whispered, the word filled with a reverence that made my stomach flutter.

And then his mouth was on me again, wet and hot and perfect, and every coherent thought fled from my mind.

I rocked against him instinctively, the pressure between my legs becoming unbearable, and was rewarded with a groan that vibrated against my skin.

Emboldened, I slid my hand between us, palming his hardness through his pants.

I ran my hand over him, reveling in the discovery of his body.

His hardness surprised me, a solid presence beneath the soft fabric, yet the texture was unexpectedly smooth, like velvet under my fingertips, feeling him respond with a low, guttural grunt.

I traced the length, my touch growing bolder, and when I reached the tip, I applied a gentle squeeze.

He hissed in pleasure, his hips jerking into my touch before he caught my wrist in a firm grip. “Not yet, Princess,” he said, his voice rough but with an undertone of iron resolve. “Not here, not like this.”

Before I could protest, he shifted, his body moving with that supernatural grace that always left me awestruck.

In an instant, I was on my back, the makeshift bedding beneath me, his glorious weight pressing me down.

His body covered mine as his lips crashed into mine, the kiss a mix of possession and worship that left me breathless.

His hands slid up my thighs, leaving trails of fire along my skin.

My breath hitched as his fingers found the edge of my slip, teasing under the hem.

I should have stopped him. I should have remembered all the reasons this was impossible—that he was the prince of a kingdom I’d once helped destroy and that I was a woman with secrets that could shatter everything between us.

But his touch burned away my resistance like morning mist under the summer sun.

“Tell me to stop,” he whispered against my neck, his voice a rough caress. “Tell me, and I will.”

I opened my mouth, but no words came. Instead, a soft moan escaped as his palm flattened against my inner thigh, so close to where I ached for him.

“I thought so,” he murmured, and I could feel his smile against my skin.

His hand moved higher, and I gasped as he finally— finally —cupped me between my legs. His touch was confident and practiced as he glided his finger through my wet folds, exploring my most intimate places with devastating precision.

“So eager…” He breathed, his voice thick with desire.

Any retort I might have had dissolved into incoherence when his finger found my clit, circling it with just enough pressure to make my hips buck against his hand. The cave around us seemed to recede, the firelight dimming to nothing compared to the fire he was stoking inside me.

“Anderic,” I gasped, not recognizing my own voice—breathy and desperate.