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Hawthorne

The gods were angry with the fae. They decreed that, in punishment for their magical crimes, mates would be trapped on opposite sides of the world. Those fated for a mate bond would feel its absence their entire lives, not understanding the persistent ache they feel deep in the core of their magic.

The Legends of the Fae, Volume II

“Laurel,” I sob, holding her to me as tightly as I can. Her body molds to mine, head nestled perfectly under my chin. She relaxes into me, and I stroke her back in a gentle caress, whispering her name like it’s the lifeline that will tether her to this realm.

“What—how are you here?” she asks, almost dreamily.

“It’s a long story, and we have some things we’ll have to deal with when we’re back. But we can worry about that later.” I’m so relieved that I found her, that I saved her, that I nearly collapse over her body. I pull her closer, my lips grazing across her forehead gently. It’s the wrong move. She jerks away from me, and I nearly weep.

“Thorne,” she croaks.

I interrupt. “Laurel, please listen to me.” I grab her hand, trying to anchor her here and prevent her from leaving again.

“I can’t,” she says, tears gathering in her eyes. But she doesn’t release my hand. I grab her other hand, a silent promise that I won’t let her go this time. Staring into her captivating green eyes, I squeeze her soft skin.

“Silene and I have spent every minute of our engagement the last year trying to get out of it,” I rush out before she can get away. “If you believe nothing else I tell you, believe that. What I told you before was the truth. And I can assure you that Silene has no interest in being Queen. But you don’t have to take my word. Speak with Silene. She will tell you the same.” She tries to protest again, but I rush onward, determined to get this out before she can object again. “My father—aethers, Laurel, I know. I know. My father is the vilest male to ever live. I hate him with the same intensity that you do. You think that us being mates makes you vulnerable to him, and it might, but it also makes you stronger. We’re mates. We’re the two most powerful fae alive, and together, we have so much more magic than him. Don’t you think there has to be a reason for a bond like this to emerge in the world after all this time?”

Her eyes glimmer with the tiniest spark of hope. It’s the same window I’ve seen open so many times before it slams shut again, but now it’s cracked, and that gives me the confidence to continue. My body shakes, knowing I need to tell her how I feel. It scares me, being this open and vulnerable. But if anyone in all the Four Kingdoms deserves this, it’s her.

“I find you to be the most alluring female I’ve ever encountered. My mind doesn’t wander to you, because you’re always in it. I feel it when you walk in the room, sense you when you aren’t near. The mating bond is hard to believe, but so is the fact that I didn’t guess what we were to one another right away. You’re in my dreams every night, and every morning I fight to stay asleep to keep you with me for just another moment. For the longest time, I tried to deny what I felt for you. Tried to convince myself that I wasn’t seeking you out at every opportunity. My whole being orbits around you, and it has since the moment I met you. Please believe me, witchling.” As always, her expression is unreadable. I pull her hands to my chest, stroking gently over her thumbs. “Say something, please. Let me into that unreachable mind.” The words are a plea.

“But—you and Silene. I’ve seen her come out of your bedroom,” she finally says.

I furrow my brow in confusion. “My bedroom?”

She nods. “The primary bedroom in the apartment. The large one. With gold everywhere.”

I burst out laughing, then reach up to wipe a tear from her face. I brush back her hair, then hold her face in my hands. “Laurel, witchling, all this time, did you think she and I were sleeping together, even though I told you there was nothing there?” Another nod, her eyes wide. “I let Silene choose her bedroom when we arrived. Fionn too. Silene being Silene, she picked the biggest one, which is well and good because I loathe the color gold. I ended up in the green one. It—it reminds me of you.” Her eyes search my face for any sign of deceit. I hold her gaze, letting the vulnerable truth show in my eyes.

“You flirt with Aria. Aethers, I’ve seen you flirt with Carex. You flirt with practically everyone, ” she says, another challenge, her voice a whip. My stomach sinks. She’s right. It’s the only way I know how to keep up appearances, to make people underestimate me. It’s how I’ve stayed alive being more powerful than my father.

Shame and guilt lacing my words, I respond. “I know. But I don’t—it means nothing to me, Laurel. It’s a fucked-up habit I learned to make my father think I’m not a threat. Or, it started that way. Now—I don’t know. But it’s always been different with you.” She again searches me, her lingering gaze flaying me open.

“Your father—” She chokes the final word, and the same force that’s driven me since the day we met takes over. I pull her back to my chest and rub her back.

“You have no idea how much I wish you didn’t have to be mated to The Golden King’s son. I wish we were just Laurel and Thorne, two ordinary fae who found each other and get to live out their happily ever after. I would trade all my magic for you to have that dream, because it’s what you deserve. I don’t know what it means, and I don’t know what my father will do with the information, but we’ll figure it out together. We’re friends , like you said. Allies. Mates .”

“You don’t want to be mated to me,” she whispers, voice shaking. And here I think is the real truth of why she ran from me. She believes she’s what my father has painted her to be. “I’m the Witch Queen. Terrifyingly powerful. A monster. And don’t say I’m not. You don’t know what I’ve done, what I’m capable of.” She shudders, trying to pull away. I let go of her middle so I can look at her face but place my hands on her hips to keep her close, tracing circles across the soft flesh.

“There’s no part of you that scares me,” I whisper, the words an oath now and for the future. “I think—I think we’re mated because we’re both terrifyingly powerful, as you put it. We’re made for each other.” I bring her closer to me, our knees touching.

She closes her eyes and breathes deeply. When they open, her pupils have dilated, inky black orbs staring back at me. She brings her face closer to mine, breathing quickly with flared nostrils. She’s all primal fae now, and I don’t dare move. She gently brushes a single finger across my cheeks, my lips. I stay still, afraid I’ll spook her if I shift even an inch. Her hand lands on my chest.

“This is confusing,” she whispers, and I bark out a laugh.

“Immensely confusing. But I’d like to figure it out together.”

She nods. Body trembling, she stands, taking my hand in hers. “Follow me.”

“To the ends of the world,” I murmur. She blushes, and I squeeze her hand tightly. I follow her through another passage, this one leading east. We descend deeply, though I keep a soft glow of light around us. The air grows thick with humidity, and the temperature warms. We emerge in a smaller cavern than before, with lower ceilings and moss growing thickly. She leads me along the edge of the space, hand firmly in mine. When we stop, she turns to me with her lips pulled into a mischievous smile, then looks out to the middle of the cavern. When I illuminate the space, I see deep pools of water, steam rising from them in curling tendrils.

“The hot water in the palace comes from deep in these caves. There are several hot springs buried in this mountain. This one doesn’t feed into the palace pipes. It’s a well-kept secret for the royal family of Thayaria,” she explains. Without warning, she pulls her tunic over her head, and my mind shuts off entirely. Her full breasts are wrapped in a thin, lacy, bandeau, nipples peeking through the fabric. Milky white skin curves down from her breasts, her soft stomach breathing gently in and out. My gaze tracks to where her leggings meet her skin on her waist, then down the swell of her thighs and hips. A growl tears out of my chest, and it makes Laurel’s eyes heat. “Easy, princeling. That mating bond’s got you feral,” she teases. Eyes locked on mine, she pulls down her leggings, exposing her thick thighs and rounded ass, more of that tantalizing lace covering her. But I don’t mind, completely satisfied with the view I’m getting. My mouth goes dry, and her verdant green eyes sparkle with mirth. She knows what she’s doing. When she pulls her long auburn hair out of its braid, my knees go weak.

Laurel turns, giving me a full view of her backside, before gingerly stepping into the water. She walks down the stairs carved into the rock, and all I can do is stare as her hips sway. When she’s fully submerged, she turns her head to look over her shoulder at me. “Aren’t you coming?” Then she dives, disappearing into the steamy black water.

I undress quicker than I ever have, ripping my tunic and trousers off my body, only leaving my tight undergarments on. I splash into the water, and she swims away from me.

“You do remember that I’m from a kingdom known for its oceans and beaches, right?” I ask, swimming after her quickly. Just when I think I’ve caught her, she aersteps across the pool, giggling. I growl. “And that I’m also a water channeler?” She squeals as I bring her to me on a quick current. She crashes into me, and I wrap my arms around her waist, letting the water carry us to the shallow edge of the pool. I press her up against the wall, my body humming with the feel of her. Skin to skin, there’s nothing but a small length of fabric between us. I bring my lips to her ear. “You can’t run from me, witchling.” My voice is seductive and demanding.

When she shivers, I tighten my grip on her, and she lets out an exhale that’s part sigh and part moan, the ends of her long hair floating around her, and her body glowing from the soft light hovering above us. I bring my lips close to hers, an inch away, then cup her ass. She wraps her legs around me, and my twitching cock fully hardens. She smirks, but I bury my face into her neck, breathing in her seductive scent.

“Laurel,” I sigh. She’s a goddess, and I will willingly worship her. My hands knead her ass in soothing circular motions. Her head drops back, and she arches her pelvis into me. I groan low in my throat. I want her so badly . But I know I have to go slow, have to let her be in control, or she’ll run again.

Her head lifts and her eyes meet mine, and there’s a new kind of heat in them I’ve never seen. “Kiss me,” she demands, breathy and pleading, squeezing her hips closer to mine. That’s all the encouragement I need.

I crash my lips onto hers, demanding and punishing. She returns in equal force, tongue sweeping my mouth and hands scratching down my back. I grind my hips into hers, the friction laying kindling to my passion. Her hot center brushes against me through her lacy underwear, and I close my eyes in concentration to keep from taking her right here, right now. She moans, and it ignites me. With another crushing kiss, I bite her lip, and it makes her growl low in her throat, though she doesn’t break the kiss. The noise sparks the embers of my magical core until it’s a blazing flame.

We’re both desperate now, hands moving furiously over one another, exploring. I angle her so that I can deepen the kiss, and she moans again. Sucking her tongue as I pull back from her lips, I lick up the column of her throat, making her shiver. One hand finds her breast, and I cup it in my hand through the bandeau, ready to rip the flimsy piece of fabric off her body. My exhale comes out like a feverish sigh as I squeeze her breasts like I have in my dreams every night since I met her in that revealing black dress.

“Thorne,” she moans my name, and it undoes me. I sweep one hand under her knees, the other behind her shoulders, and carefully cradle her close to my body. I walk her up the steps and out of the water before setting her down on the ground. I’m going to take her, right here, on the hard rock floor of the cavern. She sits there, body dripping water off her curvy figure, and stares at me with pure lust in her eyes. Male satisfaction courses through me, and I can’t wait to make her moan my name again, can’t wait to have her undone in my arms. That need to break her icy exterior takes on a whole new meaning when she’s sitting there practically naked. I want her screaming in pleasure, letting go of her control because of the way I make her feel. I kiss her again, this time slow and sensual, but when I pull back, her expression is guarded once more, uncertainty written clearly across her features.

“Thorne, I—we don’t know—we don’t know anything about the mating bond. What might happen if we…” she trails off.

“What might happen if I fuck you?” I finish for her. She swallows, then nods, uncertainty in her gaze. “Are you saying you want to wait?” I ask.

“I am,” she says, resolutely.