Page 18 of The Shadow Fae Rhapsody (Elven Fantasy Romance #3)

Chapter 17 Rhianelle

S venn is taking his sweet time to hold me. I fake a roll, moving slowly into his arms. It doesn’t take long for him to wrap his arm around me. His scent and his presence envelope me and the world feels right once again.

“You are divine, Nel.”

I feel a gentle brush on my lips and my heart leaps. I love it when he murmurs sweet things to my ear when he thinks I’m asleep. I need his comfort right now, more than ever.

“Are you awake?” Svenn asks me.

He fists my hair, wrenching me from him. The movement surprises me a little until I feel his lips tracing a path on my skin. I ignore the question and snuggle back into his warmth. His fingers trail from my neck to the valley of my breasts, leaving shivers skating in their wake. I nearly gasp when he shoves his calloused hand underneath my nightgown, cupping my breast. He rolls his thumb over the peak and heat ignites between my thighs, coursing through my body and hardening my nipples. I do my best to suppress a rising whimper. But it’s impossible.

Gods save me, please.

It feels so good… I am perfectly happy and content until I feel him pulling away.

Wait… he’s leaving? But he just got here.

No, no, no. Please stay.

I don’t mean to reach out and grab him. But before I know it, my hands wrap around him as tightly and as hard as they can, trying to will him to hug me back.

Don’t go.

Svenn fulfils my wish, hugging me so tightly until I can barely breathe. He turns my body around, spooning me so he can hold me better.

This is sweet.

His ravaging hand makes a swift return to my breast, the other trailing up my inner thigh. My lips part with a tiny moan at the sudden invasion. I take it back. This is not sweet at all. It’s beyond terrifying. A brush of his thumb against my core has my body shaking and my breathing turns ragged. I’m even more scared because I can’t see a single thing he’s doing to me. He draws me closer to his body and buries his face in my neck.

“You feel so good, Nel,” he murmurs, his hot breath tickling against my skin sending goosebumps everywhere. He kisses the shell of my ear, before taking the tip into his mouth. The first stroke of his tongue against the sensitive part startles a cry out of me.

Heavens above. Not the ear, please.

There are no stifling the soft gasps that escape my throat when his expert hands and tongue are teasing me relentlessly. I’m trapped in this sweet torment. A prison of my own making. I can feel his aching hardness pressed against my tailbone. I must be insane because I can’t help but grind myself against him.

Svenn grunts, his body straining.

I almost smile and I do it again. I’m having my fun when he suddenly stops moving.

“How long are you going to pretend to sleep, Nel?” His hoarse voice pierces the air.

My heart makes a home in my throat but I swallow it.

He found out?

I force my eyes open slowly.

I find Svenn staring at me, his eyes ablaze with some dark emotion. It scares me enough to peel myself from him.

I inhale a deep, calming breath as I look at him. His face holds an impassive expression I can’t quite read. After a suspended moment, I realize I’ve been silent for far too long. “When did you find out?”

“The night you were attacked by the sewer rats,” he answers easily.

From the very beginning then. I curse my brain for being stupid.

I slide off the bed from embarrassment and carry myself to the table. My trembling hand fumbles for the wine bottle beside my battle pieces.

Svenn’s hand snatches my wrist in a firm grip before I can pour myself a cup. “I can get you something better. Wait for me.”

I smile at the offer. I love it when he dotes on me.

“Wait, don’t go.” I push him against the table. He perches on it and I almost reach his height. I narrow my eyes at him. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“Why didn’t you?” he counters. “I did plenty of things that would deserve a slap or two.”

More like ten or twenty slaps. I remain silent for a beat too long. Svenn keeps staring at me, his eyes demanding the truth.

“I like being hugged by you.”

I mentally punch myself the moment I say it. Svenn is an immortal vampire. I’ve had glimpses of the things he did in the bedroom, outside of it with other women in his past existence. Most of the scenes are wild and unhinged.

And here I am asking for a cuddle.

“Your bond is telling you things again?” he says with understanding eyes.

“No. The bond is content.” I shake my head. “I just want you.”

I bury my head in my hands. My stupid heart always picks the wrong timing. But I suddenly find myself enveloped in his arms.

“In case it still isn’t obvious to you, I want you too,” he whispers to my ear and to my soul. The words have me feeling weak in the knees.

I lift my head to look at him. “Say it again.”

He cups my face with one hand, his eyes intense on my face. “Remember this well, wife. I want you.”

I think I might cry.

“I like that,” I say, nuzzling my head to his chest. “I like it when you call me wife.”

He laughs at that, the deep sound reverberating through his chest. “I want you, Nel. It’s not because of some bond. If it were up to that thing, I would have fucked you on this table right now. It’s all it ever wants to do.”

I bite my lip to stifle down my giggle. I lean my head into him, breathing in his familiar scent.

“Make no mistake, though, I do want to fuck you,” he whispers against my ear.

My laughter breaks free.

Blaire said the worshippers of Astraea and Arawynn have to learn sixty-six chapters on the art of seduction. I don’t want him to think less of me because I’m inexperienced, but I don’t want to deceive him either.

Since lying to ‘Dream Svenn’ didn’t work out so great for me, I’ve decided on complete honesty this time. “You should know I’m not very skilled in bed like the Maidens of Arawynn.”

A pure predatory gleam enters his crimson eyes. “I don’t want to fuck some temple maiden. I want to fuck you.”

My cheeks scorch at the declaration. His gaze falls to my lips and I glimpse the same hungry lust I’m feeling reflected in his eyes.

I pull him down and crush my mouth against his. My fingers tangle into his hair and I kiss Svenn with all the urgency I’ve held back until now. He closes his eyes and leans down, pressing himself against me. I nip his lower lip as I deepen the kiss, letting him know how much I want this, how much I want him. Svenn makes a sound devastating close to a growl, sending a delicious tingle racing down my back, straight to my core.

The universe implodes at our kiss. Maybe just my universe. I lose myself in the way he strokes his tongue against mine. I forget about the battle tomorrow; I forget I saw my uncle taking Asterdust, I forget the Aeonians’ secret plot, I forget everything but the wonderful taste of this man kissing me. There is only me and him.

I break the kiss, breathless and utterly consumed. “I want you, Svenn. I want you,” I whisper to his lips.

Those words must have had magic in them because he kisses me harder. The man devours me and I can’t quite stifle a whimper. We’re deep in enemy territory and yet I feel completely at home, pressed up against him.

I’m hardly able to believe it. That I can be happy. That I can have this with Svenn. Despite everything, the horrors that await me tomorrow, I have him.

Svenn is my mate.

I pull away from his mouth to tell him. The words are at the tip of my tongue. But a frisson of fear goes through me when I try.

There is a slight draw in his thick brows. “Rhianelle, what’s wrong?”

Each time he says my name feels like a gentle caress on my skin. I gather my courage to look into his eyes, but I’m still terrified to say it out loud. I hide my head in the crook of his neck and fiddle with a battle piece on the table.

He touches my hand with a surprising gentleness. “Are you nervous for tomorrow?”

I shake my head, but I think he detects my restlessness.

“It’ll be all right, sweetheart,” he promises.

Svenn gives me another soul wrenching kiss that sends butterflies straight to my stomach. It doesn’t matter how many times we do this, I’ll always want more.

He takes my face in his hand, pressing his brows against mine. This gesture is far more intimate than our kisses.

I stare at him for a little longer. “Svenn?”

It feels like I’m rushing this, but I can’t keep this secret to myself anymore.

No more self-doubt, no more hesitation.

“You’re my mate!”