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Chapter Fourteen

The greatest weapon one can forge is the strength to love. Love renders all other enchantments harmless. It mutes the songs of morgens and breathes fire into the chest so that one can fight on against trolls and basilisks.

—Anon., Tales from the Twilight Court

K ate bathed in the moonlight-drenched world that held the aroma of jasmine, night-blooming flowers, and music that was half dream. She twined her arms around Roan’s neck and kissed him.

My twilight lover, my secret dream. She learned the shape of his lips and memorized the taste of him.

There was something so exquisite about feeling the heat of his body pressed to hers while they were bound together as music filled the air.

It felt as if anything was possible. She no longer had that sense of anxiety deep in her chest. She was relaxed and at ease for the first time in as long as she could remember.

Funny, she couldn’t even recall why the labyrinth had been so frightening or why she’d even been there.

She remembered arguing with Roan, getting upset.

But of course, this was a strange new world she was in, and he’d taken her without asking.

But it all seemed so silly now. She could have been right here, in Roan’s arms, where she belonged, where she felt cherished.

That urgent sense of having to leave was just. .. gone.

I don’t have to leave, she realized. Nothing is holding me back. Nothing.

She couldn’t remember why she’d wanted to leave Roan or this beautiful place. She felt blissfully free in a way she couldn’t explain.

“Come with me,” Roan said as he led her back through the ballroom.

Kate was aware of hundreds of eyes upon her, but she couldn’t look away from Roan.

The music followed them even as they left the ballroom.

Roan stopped before a door and opened it.

It was his bedchamber, the room where this strange and exciting adventure had begun.

She recognized the beautiful bed with its magic headboard that showed slowly moving figures in the white wood.

Everything was like a dream, yet it felt more real than anything she’d ever experienced.

Colors were brighter, sounds clearer. Even the fabric of her dress and the whisper of her sleeves became an adventure for the senses.

Roan closed the door behind them and came toward her, tenderly cupping her face.

God, he was so tall, and yet she liked the height difference.

She felt delicate and feminine in a way she’d never felt before.

“You make a beautiful Fae, Kate, but I will always prefer you as you truly are.” He kissed her forehead, and a strange sensation moved over her skin.

She glanced at the tall mirror close by and saw that her lovely wings were gone and she recognized her face once again.

She was just Kate Winslow again. Human. Mortal.

She looked to Roan, his blue eyes bright and clear as he stared into her soul. He brushed his thumbs tenderly over her cheeks. He could have anyone he wanted. How was it possible that he truly wanted her ? Yet, she could see something deeper than desire filled his gaze.

“Would you show me your wings?” she asked.

Roan arched a brow. “My wings?”

Kate nodded. He looked dangerous and yet so handsome.

Unlike the other Fae in the ballroom, who wore the tailored waistcoats and frock coats of nobles, Roan looked like a pirate with his raw, muscular beauty barely concealed by a half-open shirt, fitted trousers, and black boots.

She touched the silver of his hair, letting it slide between her fingertips as she searched his face.

“Please let me see them,” she asked again.

Roan stepped away from her, his hands dropping from her face as he tugged the billowy shirt from his trousers and pulled it over his head.

He tossed the garment to the floor and stood bare-chested before her.

He slowly faced away from her, and with a shimmer of bending light, two wings appeared from his back.

They were partially translucent like Eudora’s, but rather than carrying a hint of seafoam green they were the palest blue and silver with draping tails.

Kate gasped at their sheer stunning beauty. “Can... can I touch them?” Please say yes.

Roan looked over his shoulder at her, a small smile curving his lips. “Yes, little one, you can.”

She approached with a hesitant hand and touched the closest wing. The texture of the blue surface was soft to the touch, and she drew a circle with her fingertip around the white circular spots that made him resemble a luna moth. Roan closed his eyes.

Kate held her breath as she explored his wings a moment longer. Then he turned to face her, catching her by the waist.

“Stay in this dream with me, Kate.”

“I...” She was supposed to say no, that she couldn’t stay with him. But for the life of her, she couldn’t remember why .

“Stay here with me, where you are free.” His mouth closed in, until it was only inches from hers. “Kiss me, Kate.”

His words were made of a midnight magic that held her in place, until all she could do was kiss him. Something bittersweet tugged at her heart as she claimed his mouth. Kissing him was something she could do for the rest of her life.

Make me forget... Take me away from here... Those words had brought her to this world. They seemed like a lifetime ago. Why had she said them? She couldn’t remember.

The old Kate was gone. That girl was nothing more than a dream that vanished like mist at midday.

“Take me to bed, Roan,” she pleaded.

Roan swept her into his arms and carried her to his bed, setting her upon the edge of it. Then he leaned in and captured her lips, stoking the embers of her desire into an inferno.

Roan brushed his thumbs along her cheekbones, tangled his tongue with hers, and rubbed his hard cock against her soft belly through the fabric of her dress.

As if tuned to her senses, he caressed her face with that singular tenderness only he was capable of.

He drew her in, teased her mouth, and set her body afire with desire hot enough to scorch her.

Kate ached for all he had to offer her, for all the pleasure he could give her.

Why had she ever resisted him? She remembered those first few hours after meeting him, that night when he’d been naked in that bathing pool when she’d seen every inch of his rock-hard body.

She hadn’t been afraid of him then, but she had been afraid of what it would mean to say yes to him, to surrender.

Now she knew just how good it could feel to trust herself, to let herself experience passion with him.

Still holding her head in both hands, Roan now abandoned her lips and moved to her chin, then her earlobe.

He trailed kisses down her neck. With each tiny bite or sinful graze of his teeth on her skin, Kate sank deeper into a haze of wicked pleasure.

She held on to his broad shoulders as her knees trembled.

If she’d still been standing, she would have buckled in his hold, her desire was so potent.

She scooted closer to him on the bed, loving that it placed her hips at an equal height to his.

With a growl of sensual hunger, he grasped her bottom and jerked her to him, urging her to wrap her legs around him as he thrust his hips forward. When they locked eyes, his reflected the inferno now raging inside her. With a smug smile, Roan glanced down between their bodies.

“You’re overdressed,” he said, licking the shell of her ear.

“Then do something about it.” Kate wanted to be bold with him, to entice him to take what he wanted and give her what she wanted too.

Roan slid her off the bed so she was once more standing on her feet, then twirled her in his arms so that he was standing behind her.

His cock pressed against her lower back through the fabric of their clothes.

He was so tall, dwarfing her in size, yet that somehow made things hotter between them.

Roan had the power to do anything he wanted to her, but rather than force her, he seduced her sweetly, wickedly.

Goosebumps covered her skin as his large hand settled upon her lower belly, covering it with his elegant fingers as he clenched the fabric of her gown. Then those fingers slid to the slit in the bodice of her gown, sliding underneath the fabric to cup one of her breasts, tugging at her nipples.

“Oh God...” She dropped her head backward against his chest, savoring the rush of sensations that flooded her sex.

He chuckled darkly. “I believe my name is Roan... my darling Kate.” He rolled her nipples between his fingertips until she moaned his name.

His free hand pooled the fabric of her dress against one hip, lifting it up to bare her leg.

Then that hand slid between her legs, cupping her mound before exploring it with long, questing fingers.

He parted her slick folds and sank one inside of her.

She arched into his hand, rubbing herself against him, desperate for more than just gentle penetration.

He leaned down behind her. “Who makes you wet, little one?”

“You... only you,” she promised him, still urging her hips against his hand. He continued to play with her, fucking her with two fingers now, until she was almost embarrassed at the way her wetness was coating his hand and her inner thighs.

He sucked a spot under her earlobe and whispered, “Your heart’s beating fast as a pixie’s.” His groin rocked against her backside again. “And you’re gripping my fingers, craving my cock, aren’t you?”

She bit her lip to stifle an answer. Shame burned her cheeks.

“Tell me, Kate. Do you want me?”

“Yes, oh please, yes, I want you!” Her words came out in an achy groan as her body vibrated wherever he touched or even mentioned. Why was he torturing her like this? He could just bend her over the bed and take her, but he was teasing her until she wanted to weep with her need to come.