Page 51 of Fate’s Sweetest Curse (Mirrors of Fate #2)

Perfect Alchemy

Hattie

N oble guided me back against the pillows and climbed over me, settling between my thighs with a few inches of space between our bodies, his cock heavy on my hip. “Alright?”

Instead of answering, I trailed my fingers down his hard abdominals, following the V of muscle leading to his erection.

I took him in my hand, stroking up and down.

In response to my touch, Noble’s forehead dropped to my shoulder, and he groaned into my neck.

Just the feel of his soft skin and rigid desire had my body flooding with pleasure all over again.

No more waiting. I angled him toward my entrance, sliding him over my wetness.

With another groan, he calmly closed a fist around my wrist, halting my progress.

A disgruntled sound escaped me.

“Not yet,” he said, a bit of mischief in his eyes.

Reluctantly, I released my hold. With one palm still planted on the mattress, caging me in, he reached down and took himself in his other hand. He brought the tip of his cock to my wetness again, sliding against me, but not in . Teasing my body with his.

The sensation was excruciating. Spectacular.

I wanted it to last forever. I wanted him to put me out of my misery .

I rolled my hips impatiently. “ Noble .”

“Shhh.” He dipped in, just an inch, then back out. “I feel like I’ve waited my whole life for this,” he whispered. “Let me savor you.”

He repeated the motion, in a little, then out again. Each time, he went a little deeper, stretching me with a delicious sting, but withholding what I wanted most: all of him.

I lifted my head, watching the almost joining of our bodies with rapt attention.

“It’s so good,” he rasped, sliding deeper, then back out.

I was beginning to sweat. So was he; it shimmered on the broad expanse of his chest, catching in the chiseled lines of muscle. The high points of his cheekbones took on a russet hue as he continued his exquisite torment.

“I want you,” I pleaded. “ Please , Noble.”

Green eyes snapped to mine. “You know I can’t hear you plead like that and not give it to you.”

“Thank the Fates.”

He jerked his hips forward, seating himself all the way in.

A blaze of sunlight streaked across my vision, and I moaned with relief.

Noble silenced it with a messy kiss, thrusting into me with slow, torturous strokes.

I scraped my nails over his back again, and he growled into the crook of my neck, picking up his pace.

I hooked my legs around his waist, matching his rhythm.

We were raw, unbidden. Free .

With another scorching kiss, Noble put some space between our chests, dragging a palm across my breasts, my belly. His thumb found my clit again, spinning perfect alchemy.

“Yes,” I mumbled, arching against the pillows.

“Yes,” he agreed, snapping his hips in a steady rhythm.

All at once, my pleasure built and spilled—a vessel overflowing. I cried out, shaking, clenching, grinding against him .

“You’re so fucking flushed.” His voice was gravely. “Do you always blush when you come?”

Without answer, I reached for him, kissing him with tongue and bumping teeth.

He lowered himself to his elbow, chest scraping against mine as he moved.

His rhythm changed, becoming frantic and uneven.

He cupped my cheek, smoothed my hair, his keen eyes going uncharacteristically distant.

Knowing he was close, I scratched my nails over his shoulders and back.

A groan tore out of him as he found his own release, pulsing heat inside me.

Our movements slowed, then stilled. His body became heavy on top of mine, a delicious weight.

He dropped his forehead to my shoulder, breathing quickly, chest quaking with—

—was he laughing?

Happy . He was happy , I realized. So was I. Still clinging to him, I let out a bemused chuckle of my own.

“That was…intense,” I said.

He kissed me on the lips in a series of slow, soft presses. “Unreal.”

When he pulled back to look at me again, I saw familiar green eyes framed with smile lines.

Wavy hair ruffled from my touch. Dark stubble that I now knew felt so good scraping my inner thighs.

A chest I’d seen in stolen glances on a distant riverbank, now slicked with sweat from the exertion of loving me.

A jaw I’d always wanted to trace—one I traced now, unhesitating.

In the sum of all these details, I saw Noble: childhood best friend, object of all my yearning. Here , nestled between my legs. Still inside me.

He was looking at me with the same sense of history I felt, the same passionate devotion.

“What are you thinking?” I asked.

His mouth twisted into a coy, boyish smile. “Let’s clean you up.”

He planted a kiss on my temple, then pulled away, leaving the bed. After quickly cleaning himself, he returned to me with a fresh damp rag and wiped away the remnants of our sex with devout attention.

Then he rearranged me under the covers, piling the pillows against the headboard, and guiding me to recline against the cushioning.

Once I was cozy, he left again to retrieve…something. With my limbs this relaxed, I wasn’t really paying attention. I stared unfocused at the crossbeams of the ceiling. My body felt luxuriously spent . Like all the threads of my being had been unraveled and woven back together into something new.

I nestled deeper into the bed, pulling the quilt up over my chest.

Noble returned with a jar and two spoons and settled beside me against the headboard.

I curled against his solid body, tucking myself under his arm and snuggling close.

Everywhere we touched, I felt warm and tingly, my nerve endings still sparking with his contact.

I drew tiny circles on his chest while he opened the jar, distracted by his nearness and the almost-painful come-down of so much pleasure.

I stilled when he handed me a spoon. “What’s this?”

Noble held out the jar so I could see.

Inside were the glistening half-moons of sliced, spiced, sugared peaches. Nostalgia spread through my chest like dye into fabric, coloring me with shades of happy yellow and wistful periwinkle.

A surprised laugh burst out of me. “Where did you find these?”

A soft, encouraging smile. “Try one.”

I sat up a little taller, using Noble’s chest as a pillow, and dipped a spoon into the syrupy orange treat, scooping out a peach. It tasted like sunshine, warm summer evenings, a balmy breeze ruffling my hair.

After that first dessert in the kitchens, Raina, Noble, and I had been scolded for improper behavior.

Two nights later, Noble had shown up below my bedroom window with a mischievous grin and more peaches; we hadn’t told Raina, but Noble and I continued the tradition, rendezvousing on countless nights over the years to eat peaches on my balcony.

I could almost hear our laughter now, the way the wisteria trellis under my window groaned as he climbed up to deliver our dessert.

Now that I knew how he felt about me, I saw the memory—and my nickname—from an entirely new angle: not the rule-breaking, lighthearted fun of youth, but an excuse for a young man to make a young lady smile. To spend time together.

Back then, those shared, stolen moments were all either of us had—but they were everything.

“I haven’t eaten these in years,” I said, already scooping out a second.

Noble tried his own, humming with satisfaction at the taste. A dribble of juice slid down his chin, and I twisted around, stretching up to lick it off.

He laughed, kissed me.

“You taste like peaches and sex,” I commented. “I think it’s my new favorite flavor.”

“You’re my favorite flavor.”

The image of his head between my legs sent a jolt of awareness through me.

“You’re blushing again…or maybe still .”

“Just thinking about all the ways we should make up for lost time.”

“I have a few ideas, myself.”

I ate another peach, my tastebuds flooded with sweetness. “I must know where you found these. I’m going to need a crate.”

His chuckle rocked us both. “The night we kissed, I wandered the streets a while afterward. I found them at a little shop just off the Walk, on Petunia Street. Couldn’t help myself. Since then, I think I’ve gone through eight jars.”

“Will you take me there?”

The question hung for a moment, then Noble answered softly. “Sure. ”

We ate in silence for a while, our spoons clacking against the glass until the only remaining evidence of our treat were the pale orange streaks in the bottom of the jar.

When we were done, Noble set the dishes aside and we resettled under the covers, him on his back, me draped halfway on top of him.

I couldn’t get enough of all that smooth warm skin against mine, no barriers.

“We should come up with new rules,” Noble said after a while, “to keep your secret safe. Us, in public. It’s still too risky.”

He was stroking my hair, lulling me toward the edge of sleep. It was late. The sky outside his window was already purpling at the edges with the coming dawn.

“No rules right now,” I murmured against his chest, smoothing my hand across the firm plane of his oblique. “Let me bask.”

He brushed a curl from my forehead. “We should keep this a secret from the other researchers, too. I hate to sneak around, but—”

I lifted my head. “According to Oderin, sneaking around is exciting.”

“You talked to him about me?”

“Not with names,” I said. “He asked about my love life, and I told him in vague terms about wanting someone forbidden. He swooned over the notion.”

“ Forbidden does sound rather…” Noble hummed low.

I stretched against him, sleepiness warring with my lust. Staring up at him with my chin resting on his chest, I tried to maintain the thread of conversation. “I think Oderin figured it out when you showed up to sparring practice.”

Noble seemed amused by that; he must not’ve been too concerned about Oderin making assumptions about us. I wondered how long Noble had been acquainted with the Farkept siblings. Knowing that Idris trusted them, too, was an added comfort.

“What else did he say?” Noble asked.

“He suggested I slip you a love potion. I told him that was unethical. ”

A laugh. “Wouldn’t have worked, anyway.”

I frowned. The only time a love potion didn’t work was when there was no love there at all, or…when love was already present, making the potion moot.

I met his eyes. “It wouldn’t?”

He gave me an easy smile. “Nope,” he said, bending down to kiss me.

My forehead creased. “What kind of declaration is that?”

“You want a declaration?” He poked my nose playfully.

I assumed an air of annoyance. “Would be nice.”

“What exactly would you like to hear?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” I pretended to consider the question. “Something about how I’m everything you always wanted.”

“Did I not express that in the gardens?”

Just the thought of what he’d said in the gardens made my head swim. “I suppose,” I said, still feigning discontentment. “But that was so long ago, and—”

Noble rolled me onto my back, swiveled to his side, and propped himself up on one elbow so that he hovered over me.

He cupped my cheek in his big, capable hand, green eyes finding mine in the dark.

“Hattie, you are everything I’ve ever wanted.

You are the sun toward which everything inside me grows. ”

He was being playful, lighthearted, but to hear those words from him—words I’d dreamed about, yearned for, doubted I’d ever hear out loud—made my throat squeeze. I turned my head, eyes pricking with tears. A shaky sigh slipped out of me.

“Keep going,” I managed.

He turned my face toward him, his expression sincere. “Hattie.” A soft smile. “I love you. I have always loved you. I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you, and I have not stopped loving you since. I am so sorry I denied you that truth for so long. ”

A tear slid down my face, past my ear, and landed on the pillow. The next one was caught by Noble’s thumb.

“Do you love me?” he prompted.

Emotion blurred my vision, but I still saw it: the uncertainty that carved a line between his brows, the fear that made his nostrils flare. You still love me , he’d taunted me in Waldron over a year ago, yet now he seemed…unsure?

“You know I do,” I said.

A frown pulled at his lovely mouth. “Even now? Even considering…?” His gaze fell to his bandage.

Oh .

I swiveled, facing him in the dark. “Noble, I’ve loved you for fifteen years. I’m certainly not going to stop now.”

The green in his eyes shimmered. “I can’t guarantee that I won’t turn someday—that I won’t… hurt you.”

“Noble…” I protested.

“I have dreams sometimes. Nightmares .” He stared at the door across the room, his gaze distant. “You’re in them, and I’m half-turned…stalking you.”

I tried not to stiffen. “Me?”

“Always you.”

“Do you think it’s because you want me?”

He seemed surprised by that question. “I’m not sure.”

“Do you harm me in your nightmares?”

“No,” he said thickly. “I always stop myself and wake up before…” He swallowed. “The nightmares increase in frequency when I haven’t taken Hylder.”

I breathed deeply, nodded. “I’m still not afraid.”

“Hattie, if I turn, I won’t be able to control—”

“I’m not going to let that happen,” I said firmly, touching his cheek .

“How?”

“I’m the Hylder Queen, remember?”

That made him laugh, though it was weak and doubtful.

“You, me, Phina, the research team—we’re going to solve it,” I said.

“How are you so sure?”

“Because I only just got you,” I said, shimmying closer. “Not even the Fates could stand between us now.”