Page 51 of The Starlit Ring (The Chronicles of Liridin #1)

“I’d hoped you’d developed some common sense in the interim,” I grumbled, wiping tears from my eyes.

I was rewarded with a smirk. “Here,” said Marius, steering me toward one of the armchairs. “Let’s sit down.”

I fell into the armchair with the grace of a maiden mid-faint.

Marius knelt beside me, looking for all intents and purposes like he might be posing for a portrait.

But when he gazed up at me, his icy eyes soft and gentle, I was reminded that this moment was between us, and only us, nosy sorceresses be damned.

“Do you want to stop?” said Marius. “We—we do not have to do this. If I’ve ever made you feel like you couldn’t say no, then please understand that wasn’t my intent. I only want to do this if you do. I will not retaliate, or punish you, at any point should you change your mind. ”

The pain in his gaze pierced me through like the tip of a spear. I did not want to stop. I also didn’t want to hurt anyone, least of all Ria.

But ending our newfound relationship right now would hurt me, and it would certainly hurt Marius.

Agony rippled through me, and I sobbed into my hands. “No,” I said. “No, I don’t.”

A hand touched my knee. “Neither do I. But I think perhaps some discussions are in order before we carry on.”

I peered at him between my fingers and had to avert my gaze. I’d wounded him with my tears. I could already sense his change of heart, his hesitation. I’d been assessed and found lacking. “It’s alright if you change your mind,” I mumbled.

A quiet laugh. “I’m not quite sure you heard me,” he said. “I just told you I didn’t want to stop.”

“Yes, I know,” I whined. “But?—”

“Have I ever kept my opinion from you?”

I frowned. “Probably.”

He frowned too, as if he’d just realized that his phrasing was poor.

“Alright, well, I’ve never kept anything of import from you.

You’re quite right, I haven’t actually subjected you to every opinion that has ever crossed my mind.

Because if I had, you would’ve known my feelings toward you a long time ago. ”

Curiosity piqued, I said, “How long?”

A faint blush colored his cheeks. “Months,” he said. “Since before the bear, if I’m perfectly honest.”

Oh . I’d thought him a phenomenal idiot back then. (A part of me was convinced that he still might be.) “Truly? So long?”

His hand found mine. “Easily. I was impressed by your entrance, if I’m perfectly honest. And my curiosity could not be quenched.” He swallowed, Adam’s apple bobbing. “At the time, I wondered why a maid would feel so compelled to follow her employer. It makes sense now. ”

I nodded. My tears were tacky on my face, and I wiped them away.

“Then I spotted you and your crystal in the woods, and I-I told myself that I panicked when the bear arrived because I needed to earn favor with my betrothed, but really, I desperately did not want to see you harmed.” He scowled down at the ground.

“Seeing you for the first time felt like a brush with fate, and I was unnerved. Even before I recognized you as the girl from—admittedly—my dullest visions.” The corners of his lips turned into a weak smile.

A twist of reverence and guilt. For all that I wanted to melt beneath his words, I could not return the sentiment. “I thought you were foul,” I mumbled, ashamed. “Beautiful and foul and I couldn’t look away.”

“I hope part of your opinion has changed,” he said, eyes crinkling as his lips raised into a ghost of a smile.

“It has,” I acknowledged. “I think you’re beautiful and ridiculous now.”

He threw his head back and laughed throatily. “I can’t say I’ve ever aspired to be anything else.” His face shined with roguish delight. “Truly, I’m flattered.”

“You could do better,” I said, tugging gently on his hands, drawing him closer. “You could have Valeria.”

“I’m not sure if you’ve noticed,” said Prince Marius softly, his face inches from mine. “But I don’t want anyone but you.”

I kissed him then, sweet and gentle. He cupped my face in his hands, drew back to gaze at me so serenely that I had to look away, a blush rising on my face.

I pulled the pin from my hair, inhaled sharply, and waited for Marius to react.

“Oh,” he said, glancing from the pin to my hair, and back again. “More surprises, I see.” His voice softened. “It’s red.”

Afraid to speak, I nodded.

“I like it,” he murmured, stepping forward to kiss me again, his slender fingers tangling in my hair, caressing the strands like they were made of gold, like he couldn’t get enough of them.

I spoke between kisses. “You never Saw it before? My hair, I mean.”

Marius grinned against my lips. “That’s what threw me off course, initially. I knew your face. Without the hair, you were harder to recognize.”

“That was the point,” I said, sighing against him. “Not to be noticed.”

“A tragedy,” Marius hummed. “But a necessity. I understand.”

We ended up on the floor of the study, this time still fully dressed. My blouse was open, skirts rucked up around my waist. His pants were halfway down his legs. My knickers were the only piece of clothing to disappear, once again tossed by the wayside.

At this rate, I’d have no underwear left. A part of me suspected that was the point, but I was too absorbed in the moment to do any chastising.

Grinning wickedly, Marius climbed over me.

My hand fumbled along his thigh, then stroked his cock up and down.

For the briefest moment, his eyes slid shut.

I couldn’t help the self-satisfied smirk that painted my lips.

Then he caught my eye, and his mouth lowered to my breast, tongue flicking over my nipple.

I gasped, and he closed his lips, sucking and swirling.

Eyes closed, I tried to keep stroking him, but quickly lost the rhythm when his free hand sneaked between my thighs and slipped into the folds hidden there.

Clever fingers found my most sensitive place with ease, circled experimentally.

I let out a gasp, and his gaze flickered to meet mine.

“Don’t stop,” I pleaded, and he didn’t. The pads of his fingers danced a pattern around the bundle of nerves between my thighs.

He trailed kisses from one breast to the other, lavishing my chest with attention, moving to the most delicate area of my neck—open-mouthed, careful not to leave a bruise.

I shuddered through an orgasm, stroking him clumsily, determined to keep him fully hard if nothing else. He groaned against my throat. The reverberation nearly sent my eyes rolling back in my head.

When I was at last drained and sated, he drew back, kissed me fully on the mouth with such devotion that I began to tremble. How was it possible to feel so wonderful in his embrace, safe and whole?

Would he become bored? Should I insist on something else?

But I was boneless and scraped raw, and when he shifted his hips, I parted my legs, grasped at my skirts. He could tell me if he wanted to do things differently. Right now, I wanted nothing more than this slow pace, this gentle discovery.

When he entered me, it was with a hiss of breath. My hips rose to meet his and he paused when I gave a choked-off moan. His thrusts were slow, measured. I grabbed his shoulders, and pulled him toward me until our lips met.

“My lady,” he said, looking down at me with such fondness that I felt I might cry. “My beautiful lady.”

“Marius,” I mumbled, dragging my nails over his pectoral, just catching the edge of his nipple. “I-I?—”

But I couldn’t say the things I wanted to say. What could I tell him that he didn’t already know? He was beautiful, strong, witty, kind—and staring at me with affection and lust in a way that made my throat ache, my most intimate parts throb.

I was nearly certain that I loved him. That I would break if we were parted.

I wanted nothing more than to be his in every way that mattered.

I’d wear his cursed ring if it bound me to him, if it meant it was his embrace I could dissolve into at the end of the day.

If his lips could claim mine, and I could share his bed, his goblet, his room full of twinkling stars.

In the future, I’d ride his cock, or demand he take me from behind. Find ways to make our encounters less intimate. But right now, I desperately wanted the fantasy, so I kissed him and rolled my hips, devouring his every gasp and benediction.

Heat and ecstasy built in my abdomen, and I clutched Marius harder, insisting that he must go faster. He was only too happy to oblige me, pulling back with a mischievous grin, and driving back into me as if he intended to fuck me straight through the floor.

Under other circumstances, it might have hurt, but I only tightened my legs and matched his rhythm. It would be remiss to call our pace violent, but it was certainly enthusiastic and unguarded, and he very quickly pounded me into a climax that left me boneless and exhausted.

And while I shuddered and moaned through the aftershocks, he chased his pleasure, and came with an open-mouthed gasp, head thrown back, sweat glistening on his bared throat. The sight of his ecstasy made me want to start all over again. There was no way a single round could possibly satiate me.

But our time together was limited, and my visits to the Star Room held a purpose outside of intimacy.

Marius pulled free and tucked himself back into his pants.

With a great thud and an exaggerated groan, he laid beside me, languid.

My face pressed into his shoulder, breathing in the scent of him.

I traced lazy patterns on his chest, and his hand found mine, pulled it close to his heart, and rested there.

The thump of his heart was slow, steady, strangely reassuring.

I could’ve fallen asleep there, relaxed and reassured by his solid warmth, but eventually he winced, squeezed my hand, and said, “We, um, probably should work tonight.”

I sat up. “Fine,” I grumbled, replacing my hairpin, and fumbling for the buttons on my blouse.

“You haven’t changed your buttons,” he said, watching my hands.

“No,” I sighed. “I’ve been rather busy lately.”

“What are they for, again?”

I pointed to the top button. “Anxiety.” My fingers moved to the fifth button. “This one is a smoke bomb.”

“Very handy, yes,” said Marius with an approving nod. “Highly necessary. ”

I rolled my eyes. “And this one is to force open stubborn locks,” I finished, gesturing to the final button.

“ Any stubborn lock,” he repeated. An eyebrow quirked. “Have you tested it?”

Oh no. I probably shouldn’t have admitted that. He surely suspected that my reasons for creating it were nefarious, untoward.

“No,” I admitted nervously.

“Would you like to?”

“Oh,” I said, nearly sagging in relief. He hadn’t accused me of robbing the palace. Good . “Certainly.”

“Excellent, because I’ve a particularly pesky lock, and the court magicians have no interest in assisting me with quite literally any of my problems.” He leapt to his feet, and offered me a hand.

I took it, and started to follow him out the door, then realized I had no idea where my knickers were.

Certainly not anywhere they ought to be.

But it was too late. He was already halfway down the passage, and I could only just keep up with him. “Marius!” I hissed as the door slammed behind me, plunging us into darkness. “Slow down!”

Oh,” he said, and his footsteps stopped. “Of course. I’m sorry.”

I crashed into his back, and he steadied me, sturdy hands catching me by the waist. Even in the pitch blackness, he somehow knew exactly where I was. “No pebbles today?”

I shook my head, then remembered he couldn’t see me. “I forgot to grab one.”

“No matter,” he said. “I ought to have come prepared. I’m afraid I’ve gotten rather lazy. Or spoiled, perhaps.” His hand found mine, and our fingers interlaced.

“Spoiled,” I teased, and bumped against him with my shoulder.

“Fine, fine, I agree.”