Page 67 of The Heart of Nym (The Twisted Roots Duology #1)

She finally looked up at him, taking in each curve and line of his face—from his swollen lips to his hooded eyes, he was the image of desire.

Sinful. “I don’t,” her head fell back, baring her throat to him for just a moment as she tried to stave off her moan long enough to speak.

“I don’t want you to stop. Don’t stop, please.

Just fuck me already.” They'd gone too far already.

And while there were a thousand reasons why they should not go further, none of them were louder than the deep-seeded want that weeded its way through her body.

Not just a want for his body or to have him closer, but a want for his mind. His truth. His essence.

Aziel swore under his breath, using every bit of restraint in his body to keep himself from doing just that.

“Let me make myself clear,” He spoke through gritted teeth, crooking his fingers against that spot inside of her that had her thighs quaking around his forearm, her hand gripping his wrist. “I will give myself to you.” Another curl of his fingers.

Another shuddered gasp. “Every inch of my body will be yours soon enough, but I am not going to fuck you.”

“Please, just fuck me–”

“Moonflower, I don’t want to fuck you.” Her stomach hollowed with the rejection, but the coiling sensation low in her belly made it hard for her to formulate any coherent response.

Aziel quickened his pace, driving his fingers into her over and over again, his thumb still circling the bundle of nerves just above her wet heat. “I want to make you mine.”

The amendment was all she needed to hear for her body to explode with blinding pleasure, her nails scraping along the skin of his forearm as she arched and writhed through her climax.

He whispered his approval onto the skin of her neck, words that sounded more like rumbling thunder than anything else.

Nymiria could feel his cock straining against her leg, his hips rocking forward with each push of his fingers.

Still high from the euphoria of her own release, she turned to him.

His fingers slid from her entrance, hooded eyes watching as she pressed her hands to his chest and pushed him into the mattress.

A twinge of fear splintered through her passion, weighing at her stomach as she reached for the button of his trousers.

"I don't want you to forget me." She whispered, already cursing herself the moment the words left her mouth.

But it was her truth. The moment they first laid eyes on one another, she'd found him with another woman—one that she never saw him interact with again.

Even poor Siobhan at the inn… he didn't seem too upset about her dying. He hardly even batted an eye.

Aziel pushed himself into the palm of her hand as it moved over the front of his pants, hissing through bared teeth when his eyes connected with hers.

"Forgetting you would be impossible. This is not just sex, Nymiria.

" He grunted, lips parting when she slipped her hand under the fabric of his trousers.

"Then what is it?" She hummed. "Can you tell me why I'm the only woman you've ever kissed?" Her fingers brushed over the silken skin at the base of his shaft, that familiar heat gathering between her legs again when his hands gripped the sheets.

"I'm going to kill Trio." Aziel's words were panted, hips raising and his brow furrowing as he watched her finally pull his cock from the flap of his pants.

He didn't know what reaction he expected from her when she finally saw it, but by the marveled look she wore and the small gasp that escaped her lips when her thumb moved over the bars pierced through the delicate underside of his shaft, he could only assume that it meant nothing bad.

Nymiria licked her lips as her fingers moved from the piercings to the glistening head of his cock. Her eyes flickered up to meet his, brow raised in question. "Does it hurt?" She whispered.

Aziel shook his head, whimpering when her thumb brushed over the slit. "Trust me, love, it aches."

Her curiosity was aimed towards the piercings, but his answer was encouragement enough to keep her going.

She couldn't conceal the smug grin that took over her face as she brought her hand to her lips and spit into her palm.

There was no reason for her to release a moan when her hand finally moved over him, slicking the skin from base to tip, but the noises that came from the back of his throat made it feel as if his hands were on her again, rousing an entirely unique pleasure she'd never felt before.

She pumped him slowly, watching and learning which pace he enjoyed the most. Upon seeing his body tremble when she quickened her pace, Nymiria's stomach flipped, her arousal quickly turning to an incessant pounding between her thighs as she watched her hand work his cock.

Every curse, every breathy whisper of her name made the doubt fall away.

"Back to the first question." She swallowed, slowing her hand just enough to gain his attention. "Why am I the only woman you've ever kissed?"

Aziel swore under his breath, scarred fingers thrusting into his hair and gripping it tightly. "Because," he grunted. "you are you."

"I'm me?"

"Yes." He growled. "Fuck—I can't think straight."

She couldn't understand why he'd never kissed another woman, but the simple fact that it was just her that made him want to kiss her… it was enough. "Can I tell you a secret?" She asked.

Aziel was a whimpering mess. Her hand was moving too slow.

With anyone else, he would have batted their hand away and finished himself without a second thought.

But this was different. He did not want to miss a single touch that came from those hands.

It did not matter how slow or how painful, he never wanted her to stop touching him.

He nodded to her question, his eyes opening to see her looking right at his shaft as her hand put pressure at the tip.

"I've never had anyone in my mouth." Her confession was low—not so much a confession, but a promise that had him wanting to bend her over the mattress and give himself to her completely. He didn't think he could wait any longer. Fuck the consequences.

Before he could even form the words to respond, Nymiria was already lowering her mouth to the head of his cock.

She'd seen it enough in the courtesan wing and in brothels to know what to do, but she wasn't sure of her own skill.

It didn't seem to matter, either, because the moment she took him into her mouth completely, Aziel was cursing and gripping the roots of her hair in sheer desperation.

The tingling in her scalp was a new sensation she never expected to enjoy, but the more she took of him, the tighter his grip became, and the stronger the aching between her legs became.

She felt each vein against her tongue, each ridge where his piercings were—committing the shape and size of him to her memory.

Fingers curling around the base, she began to move faster, taking more and more of him into her mouth until he reached the back of her throat.

He let out a rumble of pleasure, nails scraping along her scalp and smoothing fallen strands away from her face.

She could tell that he was getting close by the way his hips began to sputter, thrusting up to meet every bob of her head. His grip on her hair tightened, twisting the unruly strands into a rope at the base of her neck.

He watched.

Brow furrowed and lips parted, he watched her take him. Every inch of him.

Even though she wished to continue, Aziel was already pulling her off of him, a resounding pop spreading through the room as he did.

His own hand fisted his length, each muscle in his body straining against the pressure of his release.

He kept her face close, her lips hovering just over the tip.

Finally, he let out a shuddered gasp, his body going lax as he emptied himself onto her mouth, her name like a prayer upon his lips with each slow pump of his hand.

Nymiria moved to wipe his release from her lips, but his hands were already tugging her up the hard plains of his body, pressing her to him as his lips covered her own. He kissed her slowly, with deep languid strokes of his tongue, coating the inside of her mouth with the salty tang of his release.

When she was too breathless and too lost in his lips to care for much else, he was pulling away from her, still doing his best to breathe evenly.

"You are the only woman I have kissed because you are the only one I have ever felt here, moonflower.

" He took her hand and guided it to the place where his heart thundered in his chest. "Even when I believed that I hated you, I could feel you here.

Every second of every day. I could feel you. "

There was no use in him explaining what he meant.

From the moment he entered the kingdom, she could feel his presence.

Not just in the air around them, but in her heart.

She could look at him and understand what he felt, could see the truth in his eyes.

She felt every single word before he even said them.

It was an undeniable connection, one that was not easily explained by attraction. It was so much more than that.

Of course, he drove her insane and she was never quite sure what to think about their dynamic.

Hell, he'd nearly thrown himself from the balcony to get away.

And while he said it was for a good reason, it made no sense that he would be here now—that his circumstances had changed this quickly.

Unless he just simply did not care anymore.

"What are your intentions with me, Aziel?" She was still breathless, still lost in the delicate circles his fingers made on the sharp curve of her hip bone.

His gaze shifted from his fingers, back to her face.

It was the most peaceful emotion she'd seen on him since she met him, even the small smile he wore was not quite as sinister as it was before.

"I need more time." He said, finally, but the words did not soothe her confused mind.

It only made her stomach sink with fear and disappointment.

"More time?" She pulled away slowly, already feeling around for something to cover herself with. Aziel was moving as well, releasing a frustrated sigh as she slipped off of the bed.

"I can assure you that whatever you may be thinking is not what I am implying." He tried.

Nymiria only rolled her eyes, snatching her shift from where it'd been discarded on the floor. "I'm not daft, Aziel. If you say that you need more time, then I will give it to you."

"What are your intentions with me, then?" Aziel retorted, adjusting himself back into his breeches. "What is it that you want out of this?"

What did she want?

Nymiria pulled the shift over her head, blinking as the question moved through her mind repeatedly. "I'm not sure." She shrugged. "But perhaps, I thought that—"

"That we could be together?" Aziel hummed. "At this point in both of our lives, you know that is not possible. There's still much to do."

She whirled on him, eyes as sharp as daggers as she looked at him and all of his frustrating beauty.

His moods and feelings seemed to change with the tides, ever changing, and varying in wickedness.

"I don't want to be just another girl that you bend over a billiards table in the game room.

" She hissed, jabbing her finger between two inky branches on the center of his chest. "That's what I am thinking. "

"She was laid across the table, not bent over it."

Releasing an exasperated scream into the room, Nymiria turned on her heel and headed for the door.

She didn't know where Trio would be, but she knew that he liked to be close.

She needed to get the hell out of that palace.

Away from him—away from all of the confusing thoughts and emotions that were currently holding her captive.

"Forgive me." Fingers closed around her wrist, and Aziel gently tugged her to a stop. "I shouldn't have said that. I'm still learning."

"What—how to talk to people?" She yanked her arm free from his grasp. "I didn't need the dirty details. Not when I'm expressing to you something that is bothering me."

Aziel grumbled something under his breath, his hand moving to his hair and tugging at it out of frustration. "Well, I was not aware of that. I've never…" He sighed, eyes closing as he tossed his head back. He was uncomfortable. Good. "I've never cared about these things before."

"What things?"

He straightened his posture, eyes opening and peering at her with an air of hopelessness. "People. Women. You. Usually, I just fuck and flee."

Nymiria scoffed and turned again, stomping through the dining room until she reached the door that led to the hall. Aziel was right on her heels, but she didn't dare give him the satisfaction of seeing her emotions. Not when she wasn't even quite sure what to make of them, herself.

"Sometimes I just wonder if you become angry just to be angry at something, Nymiria.

Because if you were listening to me, you'd have understood that I was trying to tell you that I care for you.

" That brought her to a stop. She could hear that Aziel was breathing heavily behind her, as if he was feeling the same fear and confusion that she did.

"You aren't just some woman that I would bend over anything.

You aren't someone that I will empty myself into and never speak to again. You… you mean something to me."

"You're just saying that." She sighed.

He shook his head, hand curling into a fist as he watched her fold her arms over her chest. "I'm not. But I do need time, Nymiria. And I need you to trust me."

She stared at the door, her fingers digging into her biceps in a desperate attempt to keep her grounded.

She knew that them being together would ruin many plans and put many people at risk.

She knew that her own pathetic little heart was still too scared of love to even begin to welcome it again.

Sometimes. Other times she believed that love was what she craved the most in the world.

Nymiria knew all of these things. And knowing that she meant something to him… good gods, the way she looked at him would never be the same again.

What a disaster that would be.

Being in her mind was tiring. Being herself was tiring. Aziel was right—she did get angry just to be angry, but it was not for the reason he believed. It was her only defense. It was all she had left that could help guard her heart.

"I'm ready to go back." She muttered.