Page 34 of Straw and Gold (A Realm of Revelry #2)

Killian

Morella slept through the night.

Her breathing came deep and peaceful, even after all she’d been through.

I knew because I was there for all of it—awake and waiting.

Waiting for a Goddess who did not come.

When morning broke, still, I waited.

I did not take rest because I could not lose her.

When she stirred, stretching and moaning in a contented sigh, I kissed her softly, needing more from her—reassuring myself that dawn had come and she was safe.

As I moved in her again, filling her with all of me, praising her in soft whispers, I felt the first prickle of hope enter the blood in my veins. As she cursed in the filthiest of words, begging for more, harder, faster, I gave it all.

I’d keep giving it all because it was over for me.

Whatever happened in six weeks, it was out of my hands and into hers.

I gave her everything she begged for, taking her hand and kissing the tips of her fingers.

My fate couldn’t have landed in the hands of a more perfect wife.

And in whatever time we had left together, I’d make sure she knew it.

“ Willow to seed,

How does the earth sing,

When silver moon’s a changin’?

How does the sky,

Whisper so nigh,

When silver moon’s a changin’? ”

My eyes drifted as my wife sang softly in the western tower, spinning her straw into gold. I jerked my head up, catching her warm smile as she continued her song. The wheel spun in a blur as thread wound over her third spool.

I wouldn’t wait for her at the bottom of the stairs any longer. Indeed, I had followed her around all morning, never letting her out of my sight. She allowed it, though I had the feeling she wouldn’t give into my fears for long.

Her humming continued and I closed my eyes just for a moment as I leaned against the door to the room. The world buzzed and my bones ached from a full day without rest.

I’d made love to my wife twice in that time and as memories of filling her roamed through my thoughts, I was able to stay awake, my blood heating again for what I’d deprived myself of for so long.

“ Moh Dhóches .” The sound of her sweet voice brought me back to the present. She had silently found her way to me and stood on the tips of her toes, almost reaching my mouth with hers.

Like a moth to flame, I leaned in, taking her lips to mine, pulling her up to rid the distance between us.

Had I a future, this would be it. There, in a tower room, with morning winter sun pouring through the window in a dim haze while my wife pressed her body to mine, her hands wandering low down my chest.

She left my lips, sliding her mouth to my neck, leaving trails of kisses over the hollow of my throat. My chest rumbled with an unbidden sound and she snickered. “I’ve fulfilled my end of the bargain for the day, husband. What of yours?”

“You wish me to kiss you goodnight?”

Her hand found the band of my pants and her fingers slipped inside. “I wish you to kiss me until it is night and I can’t take anymore.”

I hissed in a breath as her hand found me, hard and aching for her again.

“ Fuich mi ,” I murmured, setting my head back against the door as she continued her strokes.

“Furich mi?” she asked. “What is that?”

“It’s your lesson for today, Goldling.” I pulled her closer, backing us into the door where I shifted us through, landing out of her oak dressing screen and straight onto her bed—to hell with walking across the room. We didn’t have time for it.

I kissed her hard, pulling up the skirts of her dress, finding her wet and ready to take me. I groaned into her mouth and mumbled on her lips, “It means ‘fuck me’ and it’s all I want to hear for the next hour.”

“The next hour ?” she cried, gasping when I yanked down her dress and took her nipple into my mouth. “Surely you don’t have enough energy for that.”

I hummed, moving lower, pulling down the rest of her gown as I went until my face was between her legs. I looked up at her as I licked my way across her clit.

“Your lesson, Goldling,” I mumbled, filling my mouth with her in the next breath.

“Tha mi a iardh ot furich mi.”

I want you to fuck me.

“Tha mi a iradh ot goal mi.”

I want you to love me.

“Tha mi a iradh or caal còre riam nar leadh a uile oiche.”

I want you to sleep with me in our bed every night.

“ Orson a còrrdb de ar beha.”

For the rest of our lives.

I was plunging into her a moment later, pulling her body to sit up with mine because she didn’t get to say that if I wasn’t inside her, dragging that breathless whimper from her chest as my dick hit just right.

“Nìrr mi ubh, Moh Dhóches,” I breathed into her skin, lifting her and slamming her back down with no more gentle patience.

I will, my fate.

“ Furich mi ! Furich mi !” she cried, grinding her hips in time with my thrusts.

I would. Goddess, I would every day and night until my very last, I would.