Page 97 of Reign of Stars and Fire

I fought a grin when the blood lord frowned, clearly uninterested in giving us time to be alone. What I knew of Gorm, he would take the assault so near his court as a personal slight and would want to strategize how to attack sooner than later.

Still, no one argued. Gorm offered to clear out the hot springs should Ari wish to wash after sleeping so long. One by one the others filtered from the room. Once the door closed, once silence built between us, my heart raced in a near panic.

Ari stretched an arm over his body. “I plan to take our dear Gorm up on his offer. My skin itches terribly.”

When he took hold of my hand, I studied the connection for a mighty pause.

“What is it?” Ari tilted my chin up with one knuckle.

“I missed you,” I whispered. “I had a frozen heart for turns, but nothing has felt so empty as this time without you.”

Ari pulled me to his chest, his lips hovered over mine. “Sweet words, my beautiful menace. Odd, but I recall many times when I’d sail to Etta as ambassador and be gone for longer stretches than this. I think you rather enjoyed it when I left.”

“You were different then,” I said. “Barely tolerable.”

“I’ve never been barely tolerable.” Ari smiled through a nervous laugh. When a tear fell onto my cheek, he swiped it away. “Do you recall everything?”

Heat soaked my cheeks. “You meanmomentstogether?”

His brows pinched. “I’m struggling to remember everything that went on. I know I was not alone, of course, and I—” Ari’s lips curved in the corner, “I do think I recall a few things with my wife I would not mind repeating.”

“It is a good thing you want to wash then,” I said, a hot wave rushed through my blood. “There are very few clothes, after all.”

Chapter30

The Raven Queen

Gorm madegood on his promise to have the hot springs clear. Not a glimmer of another soul existed anywhere near the trees or the water. Torch lanterns offered ghostly light that slid around Ari’s carved muscles on his shoulders as he dipped a hand in a steaming waterfall near one of the rocky caves.

He splashed some water on his face and sighed. A sigh that was meant for satisfaction, but one that had my thighs clenching.

“Be careful what wicked sounds come from your throat, husband.”

Ari peered over his shoulder. “Why is that, wife?”

I stepped in front of him, my pulse racing. Ari watched with dark desire when I gripped his wrist. I wore a simple woolen dress, and his jaw ticked when I slowly tugged at the skirt until my bare thighs were revealed.

My stomach clenched, my core throbbed, as I guided his hand up my inner thigh. He hummed his approval when his fingers slid across the wet heat of my entrance.

“Do you understand what I’m telling you, Ari?”

I jolted and went onto my toes when Ari thrust two fingers to the second knuckles inside. His arm circled my waist, his breath heated my lips when he spoke. “I understand completely, sweet menace.”

Ari kissed me, ravenously. Nights of starving for this man combusted. I rocked over the fingers speared into me, writhed as they curled and flicked and teased. I dug my fingernails deep into his hair, gripping the roots, and kept his mouth crushed to mine.

The way teeth clacked and tongues slid dangerously between them, it was only a matter of time before blood was drawn. A thought of such wild, primal need sent a rush of heat to my center, no doubt, Ari’s hand would be soaked.

The way he battled to draw out every drop of pleasure, I didn’t think he minded. In fact, he only seemed to increase each pump, until every breath I drew in was half a gasp, half a sob. I pushed my hips into his, the thick strain of his length rubbed between us.

Ari’s face contorted in a furrow of pleasure. “Damn the hells, do that again.”

I unbuckled his belt and hooked my fingers on the trousers he’d slept in, pulling them down to his knees. With one hand, I lifted my skirt higher, and still with his fingers inside me, I arched against the hardened tip.

Ari freed a rattle of breath. He pulled back to meet my eyes, a fierce gleam in his gaze. In the next breath, he had my back pinned to a damp rock wall. Splashes of warm water slicked over our bodies from the waterfall above.

Ari added his thumb to the apex between my thighs. I shuddered in his hold. My head fell back, and Ari licked the rivulets of water off my bared throat.

“I need your mouth screaming my name soon, sweet menace. I need you to come apart, because I can’t wait to feel you around me much longer.”