Page 129 of The Ever King

“I will never get my fill of you either, Serpent,” I said, voice hoarse.

Erik tossed his pants aside, and came back to the bed, his body hovering over the top of me.

I brought his head down and kissed him for all the turns I’d thought of my serpent beneath the waves; I kissed him for the turns I wanted to spend in the safety of his embrace. Every divot, every scar earned my attention. A soft caress as I memorized the body of my captor, of the man who’d stolen his way into my heart.

Erik roamed one hand between my thighs. Gaze on me, he slid one finger inside my core. “Gods, you’re so ready for me, aren’t you, love?”

Any reply dried up on my tongue. My hips bucked through the slickness pooling between us. He pumped his hand slowly at first, then with each heartbeat added more friction.

“Erik.” I moaned and bit the edge of his bottom lip.

“Blood, love. No blood.”

By the hells, I almost didn’t care. His hand, his lips, all of it had me writhing as ruthless shocks of heat pooled in my stomach. “Don’t . . . don’t stop.”

Erik added a second finger. I let my knees fall to the sides and shuddered when he reached a new depth, stretching me gently. He curled his fingers. His lips kissed my throat.

I whimpered, desperate for release. “Erik, oh gods . . .”

“Say you’re mine, Songbird,” he growled against my neck. “Say it.”

“Yours. I’m yours.”

His fingers quickened in pace and pressure until I could not conjure a clear thought. I dug my fingernails into his skin as I stiffened, reveling in the delirious wave of heat dancing through my blood. My head fell back, baring my throat, and I let out a rough, quivering gasp as Erik’s touch slowed enough to bring me back from the beautiful haze.

When I opened my eyes, the king was gazing at me with a tenderness strong enough to knot emotion in the back of my throat.

He settled his hips between my thighs, gripped his length, and aligned it with my center. When he paused, I hooked my legs around his waist and held his face in my hands. “Don’t you dare ask if I’m sure.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he whispered. “You’ll take me slow, but you’ll take all of me.”

There was something indescribably safe and beautiful about the way Erik looked at me. His hands held my legs, gently positioning me in a way that was comfortable. He kneaded my skin, caressed over the flutter of my pulse, and held his gaze steady as he pushed inside, just the tip.

I touched the bottom curve of Erik’s lip. He was not without sharp edges, but to my soul I knew Erik Bloodsinger was a light in my darkness. He was the beautiful monster I would always want. I’d always love.

Truth be told, I’d been falling for the Ever King since I saw his sunset eyes in the dim light of that barred cell.

We both watched as Erik slowly slid deeper inside me. He paused and kissed me tenderly when I winced from a bite of pain. I drew in a few slow breaths and relaxed. Erik dropped his forehead, breathing heavily, and held my gaze as he went deeper.

My fingernails dug into his hips. Pain was there, but it dulled once he filled every part of me. When he was seated inside to the hilt, Erik paused. For a dozen heartbeats we were still, lips parted, swallowing each other’s breath.

Erik threaded one hand with mine, the other he kept pressed on the bed, holding his body up just enough he didn’t bury me into the mattress. He kissed the swell of my breast again, his tongue swirling around the peak as he started to move.

The burn of an ember ignited between my legs. A slow, steady warmth unfurled like spilled, liquid fire. Each slow thrust rolled against the sensitive bundle of nerves until my body was alight in heat and pressure.

I gripped his hair, gasping. His eyes closed as a soft moan slid from his throat from the mounting pleasure.

“You feel so good wrapped around me,” Erik gritted out between thrusts. “You were made for me, Livia.”

I rolled my hips, unable to stop reaching for more, like I wanted Erik to crack me in half. He set a rhythm that had me writhing and whimpering. Not too fierce that I’d be in constant pain, but not too slow that I didn’t feel every plunge of his hips.

Heat gathered between our bodies, sweat dripped off his cheek onto my chest. I breathed all of it in, the sweet hint of leather and sea in his hair, the mosswood soap on his skin, the lingering blood from healing Alek.

There were answers I still needed. To understand him, nothing more. Whatever darkness remained to discover, I wanted it all. I wanted to greedily take it.

I locked my ankles around Erik’s back. The red in his eyes flared. His breaths shifted into jagged pants. Tension flooded my insides, drawing me back to the torturous edge I’d never cease craving after this moment.

Erik’s thrusts grew deeper and more frantic. Coiled pressure melted into silky pleasure. From my head to my drenched core. When it burst, I sobbed his name as my body clenched around his. He held me steady, his face buried against my neck. Pants and curses fired off his tongue as he drove deeper through the beautiful anguish of my release until he found his own.