Page 25 of Prince of Blaze and Embers (Emberveil Empire #1)

“And here I am.” My gaze tore away from his, unable to look at his mean glower, but trying with all my might not to just stare into his handsome features, his perfectly muscled chest and cut abs under the soaked shirt.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do with you, Ash?”

I knew exactly what I wanted him to do with me. I wanted him to wrap me up in his powerful arms, pull me in tight, and kiss me with the ferocity he carried in him. But that would never happen again, I knew…

He turned to look at the scorch marks in the forest behind him. At the sight of the magic I’d used, he forced his eyes closed with an angry snort from his nostrils.

“How did you learn to do that? And don’t lie to me.

” The way he spoke to me made me feel as if he had some hidden insight into me, like the invisible string that connected us from our cores was being plucked like a lute string.

I worried if I lied to him the string would snap from the tension, and whatever connection we had would be severed forever.

But I couldn’t tell him the truth. At least… I couldn’t tell him the whole truth.

“I need to practice. And I can’t do it cooped up in that room. How do you expect me to learn to use my magic if you won’t let me try it? Shit. You hardly even talk to me. Do you know how it works? Were you ever going to help me figure out how to use it?”

He didn’t respond but stood like a statue in the growing storm.

A chill ran up my spine from the deluge, but if we were going to fight, then I’d let the furnace inside of my rage.

“I didn’t think so. All of this talk of trying to figure out how to get me to survive your stepmother, and you never even thought to guide me.

You just go off with Hunter on your ‘save the magical slave’ adventures, leaving me to worry, stress, and have no insight into how I might be able to use this magic to fucking help! ”

“You’re infuriating,” he said after a pause.

He strode forward a step with his finger aimed my way.

“It’s not all about you. There are so many factors at play here.

Yes, you have the Gilded Radiance, and you’re the Gold-Marked, but just me keeping you here and not taking you to the capital has serious implications on not only me, but all of Allovan.

If you knew the whole picture, then you wouldn’t be acting this way. ”

“Then fucking show me the whole picture!” I took a terrifying step toward him, out of the creek, leaving the tip of my nose inches from his finger. “I can help. I’m not just an armor-polishing, sandy slave. I’m more. I can help, but you’ve got to talk to me.”

His finger dropped, and it felt as if all the minuscule courage poured out of me as he took another step in. I smelled my own hot breath reflect off his enormous chest. I had to tilt my head up to look at him.

Cade moved to speak, but the words caught in his throat, unable to escape his perfect lips. He either didn’t know what to say, or my ability to drive men into mad fury intercepted his words.

“Say something!” My fists balled at my sides as the rain streaked down my face, dripping down my neck.

“God,” he breathed. “You drive me wild.” His tone softened, striking me like his fingers were gliding along the string that bound us together. “The things I want to do to you…”

My balled fists instantly relaxed to my fingers cocking out in shock. My gritting teeth turned to my bottom jaw dropping in awe, finding no words.

He took the final step, closing the gap between us, and my heart sank down to my heels.

His powerful, muscle-clad arm with streaks of tight veins slid around my side and wrapped around my back.

The prince pulled me to him, our chests pressed together, with my breasts against him, showing out the top of my shirt.

His gaze drifted down, and a moan slipped through his lips.

“God Ash, I want you. I’ve wanted you for so long now.”

His free hand rose and brushed my wet hair back behind my ear. Every single hair on my body grew erect instantly at his touch.

“You do?” I knew I wanted him. I wanted him and whatever he’d give me, but I wanted to hear him say it again. My core begged for him to say it again.

“I want you, Ash.” His arm around me pulled me in tighter, his head cocked, his lips devilishly close to mine .

“Then take me,” I whispered as lightning crashed again. “I want you.”

The rain increased, landing in sharp, warm droplets as he pressed his lips against mine, kissing me deeply.

His lips parted and his tongue slid into mine, exploring each other in the same way I dreamed of.

His wetness touched mine, and my arms wrapped around him, feeling the sharp definition of the ripped muscles in his back.

We kissed in the rain of the Faewood for what felt like a blissful eternity.

But as soon as his hands gripped the bottom of my shirt, rising it up over my shoulders as our lips parted, my core dripped with excitement.

He took my shirt off, laying it on a fallen tree to our side, then he took his off.

My heart beat like a deep drum in my chest. I felt like I was in a fever dream but never wanted to wake.

His wet shirt slid up his rock-hard body before hiding his face, and when he yanked it over, his wet black hair flung down, spattering on his chest. I squeezed my thighs together to attempt to control the overpowering urge to leap up onto him, wrapping my legs around him.

Instead, he kissed me again, then his lips left mine and his soft lips hovered past my cheek onto my ear, nibbling at my earlobe.

Goose pimples stiffened all the way down my body as he kissed and sucked on my neck afterward.

A moan left my lips, closing my eyes with my face aimed up at the rain.

I felt his hand rise up from my hip, up my rib cage, and then cupping my breast. The moan turned to a deep groan of raw pleasure as his mouth drifted down to my nipple; his wet tongue circling it , kissing and sucking gently on it.

“Cade…” I gasped, steam vapors coiled up from his hot shoulders.

He lifted his head as I opened my eyes again, staring at the most handsome, breathtaking man I’d ever seen in all my life.

“Yes?” He gave no smile, but the wild animal inside, the hunter, glared at me as if he wanted to take me as his trophy .

“Show me how much you want me.” The power I felt from those words from a simple slave girl from a nowhere town, saying them to such a powerful lord, made me feel like a princess in my own right.

“Because I want you. I want all of you.” A deep heat welled inside me, almost burning my insides from a growing passion I’d never experienced before.

A wry smile hit the side of his mouth, and he put his hand around my back, drifting to my ass, squeezing it in his huge hand, pulling me into his thigh.

And there it was, unmistakable against my stomach, under his tightening pants; he was hard, shoved tight into the side of his pant leg.

His other hand went below my belly button and undid the buttons that held my pants up.

My breath caught, and my hand went to his abs, feeling the definition between each muscle.

His fingers loosened my pants, and as their waistband dropped a couple of inches, his hand slid under my panties.

I couldn’t breathe; the anticipation was killing me, and I wanted him to touch me.

I wanted him to touch me deep. My legs separated slightly with a smooth sidestep, and his strong fingers went into my pants and touched my clit.

Wet and smooth, his fingers rubbed around it gently as the guttural moan poured from my mouth.

He kissed me deeply, forcing the moan inside.

Hot breath escaped my nostrils as he played with me, pleasuring me in a way that cascaded down my entire body to my toes.

“God, I want you,” he breathed after pulling away. “I want you, Ash.”

“How much do you want me?”

“I want you more than anything.”

“Then take me,” I moaned as the pleasure of his fingers overcame me.

I took him by the wrist and shoved his hand down further under my pants as I separated my legs further.

His fingertips played with me, before separating me, sliding in, and an intense shiver ran up my whole body.

He kissed me again, and then without warning, his hand pulled away, causing me to gasp.

But he put both strong arms behind me and lifted me up with both hands on my ass.

I wrapped my legs around his huge core instinctively.

He lifted me as if I weighed nothing. He turned and set my butt onto the fallen tree.

“Take your pants off.” his words were commanding, as if I were one of his soldiers.

The rain couldn’t cool my heat. I was the hottest I’d ever been in my life, and I thought I saw steam coming from us, but I was just so absolutely lost in his majesty that I sat back on the tree on my elbows, gazing up at the mountain of a man as he undid his belt buckle; his cock forming a huge crease in his pants.

I slid my pants down my legs, but with a grunt, he grabbed them and pulled them down.

They slipped past my scabbed ankles and he tossed them to the ground.

My bare legs scratched against the tree bark under me, but I couldn’t give two shits.

Leaning forward, I pushed his hands back from undoing his belt, and I grabbed the reins.

I snapped his belt from the belt loops like a whip, tossing it away.

As I undid his pants, I gazed up at him, slick from rain on his chiseled body.

He stared back as his chest heaved. His pants slid down and I was left staring at it.

Thick, and as big as my forearm, I slowly wrapped my fingers around it.

His raw power was intoxicating. As I stroked it slowly, my fingers barely able to wrap around it, he groaned like an animal, and for the first time, I felt like the hunter.

My hand slid from the head of his cock down to the base, and as I did so, it grew even bigger, with a thick throb and another groan from his lips.

All the shit he’d put me through the last couple of days was brushed so far out of my mind that all I could think about was the gushing bliss of having him naked before me, and as I lay back, spreading my bare thighs, exposing myself to him, he leaned over me, and I raked my fingernails down his chest, dusted with dark hair.

It was more than lust growing. I felt a connection, a bond building between us. I didn’t know if it was real or just a figment of the deep passion that was like a new drug. But I never wanted anything as much as I wanted him in that moment. And I wanted it to last forever.

He moaned as he touched me, sliding his fingers along my lips down there, and just as he pressed the huge tip of his cock to me, he paused.

“Ash, I’ve never felt these feelings for anyone like I have for you.”

I pushed my fingers hard into his lips. “Stop talking, and take me.”

He drove himself into me, and sliding in as wet as I was, I screamed. It was a scream of so much pleasure it flirted with pain. He was so massive that all my core erupted into a shaking exhilaration.

“God, I want you. You’re so beautiful.” His voice was soft, but with a growl behind it.

“You feel unbelievable,” I moaned, wrapping my hands over his shoulders and digging my nails into my back, pulling him into me.

His cock slid in further, and I gasped. The heat from him being inside me was so intense my instinct was to pull away.

I thought I was going to combust into flames right then and there.

A wince caught the side of his eye.

Steam flooded my vision.

“Take me,” I moaned. Pulling his face to me, I kissed him deeply, sliding our tongues against one another’s.

My body shook from overwhelming pleasure as he pushed himself into me deeper and deeper.

I bit his lip from the intensity. I’d never felt anything so good in my life, and I couldn’t bear it.

For a moment, I thought I was back in the forge, heat exuding from every inch of the place.

He started to thrust, and his cock sliding against my walls drove me into near insanity.

Cade held onto the tree on both sides of me, his strong arms with rivers of veins as he rocked inside me.

My legs spread as he thrust into me, grunting like an animal, beads of sweat dripping from his brow, evaporating into steam on my breasts.

An irk of pain fell from his mouth.

“Cade…” I moaned.

He had his way with me on top of the fallen tree, him gripping it while my head fell back onto it. The overwhelming sensation of all of him in me overpowered the creeping pain that grew. Sweat poured down my brow, and a dryness caught my mouth, which I licked to wet.

“Ash?” He cocked an eyebrow and winced again as he continued to fuck me.

“Don’t stop,” I begged.

“Ash…”

My hands grabbed his sides and pulled him into me as he pulled away. “I’m close…” I moaned as a scream caught in my throat from the intense feeling crawling all over my skin.

“Ash, you’re catching…”

I didn’t hear his words. “Don’t stop, don’t stop.”

He grabbed my hands forcefully and pulled them off his wet body.

As he pulled himself out of me, a deep confusion tore through me. I was so close, and he was as hard as nails.

I rose up, glaring at him, and his eyes peeled wide at me. He was staring at my body, and as I looked down, still distraught from frustration and near anger, fear overtook all those sensations.

My stomach and legs had flames covering them. I looked at Cade, who looked as pale as a ghost. His tan skin whitened to an ash gray, and his face looked gaunt.

My hands hurried to put out the flames as steam poured off my skin. My mouth and throat went as dry as dirt, and I gasped for breath.

“Ash…” Cade groaned as he buckled to his knees before me .

“Cade!” I leaped down to my feet from the tree, naked as the day I was born, but all strength had left the muscles in my body. I fell onto my side, weak, frail, and as vulnerable as a babe.

My head fogged with darkness, swirling to overtake me. The last words I heard before the blackness consumed me were, “Ash… you’re… an Aquafae? You didn’t tell me… I didn’t…”

And then there was nothing… only darkness.