Page 47 of King Foretold (Realm of Four Kingdoms #2)

Then he drops featherlight kisses on my eyelids, across my cheekbones, then finally the corners of my lips. When I try to deepen the kiss, he dips his head and slides down my body, trailing kisses on my neck, my collarbone, then my breasts.

My nipples pebble when his lips draw tantalizingly close to them.

When he finally sucks one into his mouth, hard enough for his cheeks to cave, liquid warmth gushes from my core.

After showering equal attention on my other breast, he moves lower, planting open-mouthed kisses down my stomach.

I squirm, impatient to have him inside me.

“Shhh.” His breath tickles the inside of my thigh. “I want to taste you. Let me?”

When he raises half-hooded eyes to me, I manage a fitful nod.

He slips his hands down my legs and wraps his hands around my calves, pushing them up until my knees are bent and my feet are flat on the ground.

When he settles his head between my legs, I give in to the temptation and open wide for him.

With a dark, delicious laugh, he rewards me with a long sweeping lick from my entrance to my clit.

I cry out as my hips shoot off the ground.

“Stay still,” he whispers, pushing me back down. He pulls me open with his thumbs, and I swerve my hips. “Don’t move.”

Then he proceeds to lick me so thoroughly that I feel like an ice cream cone melting in the summer heat.

He doesn’t miss a drop, swirling his tongue to savor me.

He scrapes his teeth lightly over my clit, and I turn into a quivering mess.

But I want to please him, so I hold myself as still as I can.

When he sucks me into his mouth, I can’t help but whimper, long and plaintively.

“Ethan, please.” I don’t care if I’m begging because I’m dying a little. “Please.”

“Since you asked so nicely.” He buries a finger inside me and groans. “You’re soaking wet.”

“All for you. Only for you.” My head thrashes from side to side.

Ethan surges up, and suddenly his lips are on mine, my taste still clinging to his tongue.

I bury my hands in his hair and kiss him back like my life depends on it.

And maybe it does. I wrap my legs around his waist, pulling him closer.

But he holds himself back, then slides the head of his cock between my slick folds, and I buck against him with a carnal moan. I’m too far gone to be self-conscious.

“Gods, look at you.” He rises up on his arms and stares down my body. “You’re made to be worshipped.”

“Ethan.” I run my hands over the straining muscles of his shoulders and skate them up the sides of his neck until I’m cupping his face. “I want you inside me. Please.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he says in a broken rasp. “Tell me if it’s too much.”

“Don’t worry.” I raise my head to kiss him sweetly. “I won’t break.”

Holding my eyes, he positions himself at my entrance, then pushes in, inch by inch, rocking his hips slowly.

A muscle jumps in his jaw and a shaky breath hisses past his teeth as he fights for control.

He fills and stretches me, and I want more.

I want all of him. I wrap my legs around his hips and yank him toward me as I arch my back off the ground.

Caught off guard, Ethan plunges into me to the hilt and groans at the same time a sharp gasp escapes from me.

“Fuck.” He nearly pulls all the way out, but I stop him with my legs. His eyes are frantic as they jump over my face. “Did I hurt you? Are you okay?”

“Hush.” I’m winded from the flash of pain but also by the surprising feel of him inside me.

I breathe, letting my body quiet and adjust. Beneath it all, desire pulses in me and instinct takes over.

I wrap my legs tighter around his hips and clench my muscles around him.

His eyelashes flutter against his cheeks. “Ethan, I want you.”

“Are you sure?” He brushes my hair off my forehead with a trembling hand, and I nod.

He blows out a breath and pushes back in so slowly that I want to scream.

But when he’s all the way inside—when I feel him deeper than I could’ve imagined, his girth stretching me—I appreciate the care he took.

We stare at each other, taking each other in, and match the tempo of our breathing.

I’ve never been connected to anyone this way before, and tears prickle my eyes.

I’m his. The desolate loneliness in the darkest corner of my heart dissipates. At last.

“You okay?” he asks tenderly.

“Yes.” I experimentally pivot my hips, and he jerks inside me. “Oh.”

“Oh?” A wry smile quirks his lips. “Is that a good oh ?”

“It’s a very good oh .” I swerve my hips again. “Are you going to start moving, or do you expect me to do all the work?”

With a sound between a groan and a laugh, Ethan finally moves, and I want to shout Hallelujah .

His tempo is excruciatingly slow and measured, but that feverish ache builds in my stomach again, shooting down to my core.

I drag my nails down his back and sink my fingers into his ass.

His rhythm falters with a moan, and he pounds into me as though he can’t stop himself.

I feel a thrill of triumph, laced with power, run through me. I did that to him.

I’ve always been an intuitive creature. I should trust my instincts. I lift my head and suck gently on his shoulder, loving the salty taste of his skin, then I sink my teeth in. A guttural growl rumbles through him, and his hips jerk helplessly against me, thrusting deeper and faster.

“Ethan,” I breathe into his ear. I can’t help nibbling on his lobe before continuing, “Let go. Take me like you want to.”

“I ...” A vein pulses in his forehead. “I want to make you feel good.”

“I feel good. So good.” I swivel my hips in a circle, and his lips pull back from his teeth. “But you can make me feel better. Take me harder. Faster.”

“Gods, Sunny.” Ethan groans as his control shatters.

He lifts my arms above my head and pins them against the ground with one hand. Then he plants his other hand next to my shoulder and raises his torso until his back arches. And he moves .

Ethan slams into me, withdraws to the tip, then slams into me again.

I scream, the sound catching in my throat every time he drives into me.

My staccato cries bounce off the walls of the cave in an erotic echo, and I’m beyond turned on.

I scream louder, and he pumps in and out harder and faster.

His pace is relentless, but he shows no signs of tiring.

“Oh my gods.” I strain against his hold on my wrists, my body writhing. The ache expands and rises until the pressure concentrates into my center. “Oh my gods .”

He releases my wrists, and I immediately cling on to his shoulders.

Sweat beads on his forehead and slides down the sides of his face, dripping off his nose and down his chin like tears.

I’m close to tears, my pleasure as sharp as pain.

Just when I think I can’t take it anymore, he inserts his hand between our slick, rocking bodies, and unerringly presses his thumb against my clit.

“Ethan,” I cry, splintering into a thousand pieces.

His rhythm breaks down at last. Planting his hand on the ground, he pounds into me, drawing out my cries.

The muscles in his neck cord and strain, and I clench around him again and again.

With a final thrust that pushes me up the dirt ground, he shouts his release, his body going taut.

Then his arms give out, and he collapses on top of me.

His weight makes it difficult for me to breathe, but I decide breathing is not essential. Ethan on top of me, pressing into me. Ethan heavy inside me, connected to me. Those things are essential. They’re what I need to live.

My heart stops as I finally see the truth. I need Ethan to live. He is essential to my very existence. By refusing his love—by denying my love—I’ve been suffocating the life out of myself. Have I prevented him from truly living as well?

How could I have been so foolish? Why did I hide my love from him, worried about a prophecy—worried about a future—we may never live to see?

One of us might die today. Both of us might die.

Am I willing to risk him dying without knowing that I love him?

That I love him more than anything ...

more than life itself? A choked sob escapes past my lips.

“Shit.” Ethan jerks his head up, his eyes still half-hooded. But when his gaze focuses enough to see me beneath him, he damn near throws his body off mine, collapsing on the ground beside me. “I’m sorry. I was crushing you.”

I shake my head, tears pouring out the corners of my eyes.

I want to tell him that I love being crushed by him.

That I already miss the feel of him inside me.

That I love him with all my battered heart.

I want to tell him I can’t believe he loves me back.

It feels like the most wonderful miracle, and I’m afraid it’s all a dream. Another sob tears out of me.

“Oh gods. Are you okay? What’s wrong?” He raises himself on his forearm and reaches out a hand to wipe away my tears. “What can I do? Sunny, please don’t cry.”

“Ethan . . .” I sob.

“Yes, baby. What is it?” His voice breaks. “Tell me what to do.”

“I love you.” Then I wail, falling apart and not caring. “I love you so much.”

Ethan’s lips part on a rush of breath, and his face becomes a blank mask, so completely devoid of expression that he looks lifeless.

He slowly backs away and rises to his feet.

I sit up and tug his outer robe free from under me to hold it against my breasts.

I heave sharp, stuttering breaths, trying to stem the tide of tears.

He picks up his discarded pants and pulls them on, one leg at a time.

I watch his quiet and careful movements, not knowing what to think.

No, I don’t let myself think. I hold myself still and wait.

He straightens to his full height, but his eyes are unfocused, and he stares at the wall of the cave like he’s confused why there are no answers written on it.

When he stays that way for endless minutes, I can’t hold my fear at bay any longer.

“Ethan?” I sound small and scared, like a lost child.

His eyelids flutter, then he glances down at me.

At first, I’m not sure he even recognizes me, then he sucks in a gasping breath like he’s surfacing from an airless place.

When his eyes finally focus on me, it takes all my strength not to look away from the intensity of his gaze.

I see relief and fear, joy and sorrow, greed and reverence.

Above all, I see love, pure and endless.

“Thank the fucking gods.” His voice breaks. “But if you love me ... Why, Sunny?”

“Because the prophecy says—” I begin.

“I will never hurt you,” he interjects.

“I know you don’t want to hurt me.” I clutch the robe tighter against my chest and take a halting breath. “But we don’t know what lies ahead.”

Ethan’s lips press into a hard, straight line.

“If you have to kill me ...” I hold up a hand when he opens his mouth to protest. “If you have to kill me, I thought it would hurt you less if you didn’t know I loved you too.”

“If I kill you”—crouching down in front of me, he takes his robe from my hands and wraps it tenderly around me—“there would be no me left to hurt.”

“Ethan.” I gasp, my eyes widening with horror. “D ... don’t you dare ...”

“I won’t forsake all those who sacrificed their lives for me,” he says grimly. “But don’t you see? I would be dead inside. Without you, there is no me.”

What can I say to that? I understand too well what he means. It would be the same for me. I’m done trying to figure out how to make him hurt less. If the prophecy comes true, nothing can do that. I can only offer him the truth now , before our destiny catches up with us.

“I love you.” I hold his gaze and whisper, “Now and forever. From this life to the next.”

Fresh tears slide down my cheeks, and he jumps into action. He sits cross-legged on the ground and pulls me onto his lap. Tucking my head under his chin, he rocks us back and forth without saying a word.

His calm strength seeps into me, and my tears finally quiet. But I let him hold me awhile longer because I know he needs it as much as I do. This is our moment—the moment we became us . We are whole and complete, together at last. Nothing has ever been more right than us.

Is this what it feels like to accept your destiny? It’s like all the puzzle pieces are falling into place, smooth and easy. None of it is forced. Everything fits perfectly. And I see the whole picture with crystal clarity. I tilt my head to meet his eyes and cup his beloved face.

“I love you, Ethan.”

“I love you, Sunny.”

No matter what happens, I am his, and he is mine. It is a fundamental truth, written in stone. Our love is eternal. Nothing can ever change that.