Page 69 of The Nymph Prince

A light pressure moved across my stomach, and the touch was searing. I sucked in a breath, feeling as though my lungs were collapsing from the smoke. Smoke that’d been in my dream.

“Alek?” the sweetest voice I’d ever heard said. “Calm down, sweetheart. It was only a dream.”

I darted a panicked gaze throughout the room and stopped when it settled on him.

Lorcan’s green eyes faintly glowed in the dim light and his beautiful face was close to mine. As his comforting scent of the sea and roses filled my senses, I released a quiet sob and pulled him against me.

He said nothing as I cried. He only wrapped his arms around me and smoothed his hand up and down my spine.

I was weak. I knew I was. But I had no strength in me in that moment. Not with the images of Lorcan’s dead body still lingering in my mind’s eye. It was only a dream. It had to be.

Minutes passed, maybe longer, before I finally pulled myself together and wiped at my tear-stained cheeks. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t,” he said, caressing a hand along my jaw. “You aren’t the only one whose dreams brought him grief.”

“What did you dream?” I whispered, desperately needing the distraction.

“I saw Avalontis,” he answered. “Only it wasn’t the Avalontis I know. The clear blue water above us was murky and there was an unsettling silence hanging over the kingdom. I was standing on the steps of the palace and saw no one. Heard no one. No one selling trinkets or goods in the market and I heard not the laughter of children playing in the square. And then I saw them.”

“Them?”

Lorcan released a shaky breath. “The bodies.” He buried his face in the crease of my neck. “They floated on the other side of the barrier, their blood clouding the water. Men, women, children…all dead.”

Both of our dreams had brought death and destruction. I believed not in coincidences. We’d seen those things for a reason. I just didn’t know what that reason was. Had it been a warning, so that we might change the disturbing images?

“I awoke in a cold sweat, only to find you whimpering in your sleep,” Lorcan continued, nuzzling more against me. I slid my arm tighter around his waist. “I feel darkness creeping in, Alek, and I know not how to stop it.”

That made two of us.

Yet, holding him in my arms made me feel that maybe the darkness wouldn’t be the final victor. He gave me hope.

“I must stop it,” he whispered. “There must be a way to avoid war.”

“You won’t find the answer right now, nymph.” I glided my hand down his arm. “Close your eyes and calm your mind.”

My own mind, though, was far from calm.

“I cannot sleep,” Lorcan said.

I gently turned his face and kissed him. It was the only way I could think of to take away the grief crashing down on both of our chests.

Soft like the silk sheets we were tangled in, his lips eagerly met mine. Once. Twice. His hands tangled in my dark hair, which had grown longer during my time in Avalontis, and I, in turn, entwined mine in his.

Though desire spread down my spine and gathered in my groin, my actions were not derived from it. No, it was love that had me clinging onto Lorcan, kissing his soft lips and becoming lost to his touch. And while I hadn’t been able to tell him as such yet, I hoped he felt the truth in our kiss.

“I need you,” he whispered against my panting mouth.

I needed him, too.

Needed to be closer to him, both in body and soul. Needed to feel his breaths feathering across my chest as I seated myself inside him.

“You need only ask, prince.”

Unbeknownst as to why, I liked calling him prince in our intimate moments. He might not have been the prince of my people, but he was the one of my heart. Which ushered even more loyalty.

Green eyes sparkled in a dim glow. “Then make love to me.”

“Aye, sweet prince.”