Page 49 of Waves (Tangled Crowns #6)

His chuckle rumbled against my breasts as he stroked a hand down my bare spine.

"I don't think so. You've already given me the best one of all.

" His expression softened and his tone grew reverent as he added, "Your heart.

" His admiration welled up and mingled with my wonder at his honesty and there was a solid minute in which our mutual veneration filled those aching hollows within.

Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer.

I reached my capacity for wonderment and soul-gazing.

If I looked into his eyes single moment longer, I worried I'd collapse in upon myself from the intensity.

And so, I locked the seam of my mouth against the seam of his and transformed our gazes into kisses, our thoughts into action, our admiration back to lust.

I peppered him with brutal kisses and bites, trying desperately to shed the crackling feeling beneath my skin that made me want to cry and sing at the same time.

Quickly catching on, his hands groped and kneaded, the roughness somehow bleeding off those ferocious emotions and making them something easier to handle.

I let him stretch me back along the mattress, my wings splayed wide as I sank into the soft bed as his gaze raked over my skin so intensely he might as well have left marks.

Then his hands and mouth traversed where his eyes had branded me.

Soft fingers traced down my bare collarbone, palms slid over the sides of my breasts, lifting them lightly and stopping my breath before he went further.

Slow and patient, he flipped the momentum we'd just had on its head.

..turning all that wild hunger into seething anticipation instead.

His mouth skimmed in random patterns over my chest making my pulse spike before his lips even closed around a nipple.

Once the warm heat of his tongue lapped at me, my toes automatically curled—the pleasure instantaneous.

As I arched up into him, one of his hands dove beneath the satin skirt I wore, hiking it up around my thighs.

His lips tightened on my nipple, increasing the pressure and causing sensation to spiral down my spine just as his other hand pressed against my thigh so that I'd splay my legs open for him.

Panting, my pulse cycling faster than a carriage wheel, I dragged my fingernails along the back of his neck, annoyed when his shirt got in my way.

My fingers sought out his buttons as his sought to press mine.

Dragging and teasing, he soon made me forget my task as his fingers dipped into my wetness and then spread my arousal along my seam. My breath began to smash into my ribs the way a ship crashed through each cresting wave, pushing against a force infinitely bigger and more powerful than itself.

Stavros pressed his length against my thigh, his own breathing stuttering as he continued to kiss and lave my breasts and then circle my clit with those talented hands. His hips rocked against me as pleasure wove through us both, binding us tighter, braiding us together.

Ecstasy was just there, just beyond the tips of my fingers and if I just reached...

Stavros stopped, leaving me panting and moaning. Pouting.

"Why?" That was the only word I could get out. But the way he frantically ripped away his clothing provided my answer.

When he leaned back down over me and we were skin to skin, a feral sense of claiming seemed to rage through my chest—a feeling that must have originated from him but wrapped me up in animalistic self-satisfaction.

Along with that came a pressing sense of urgency.

A need so intense that my fingers curled into the mattress and clutched at the sheets because I was afraid I'd claw him bloody.

His hand reached up and stroked his length and I watched him with tunnel vision, unable to think or focus on anything else. Each stroke sent a flutter of pleasure up my spine but seemed to stoke that primal fire. Some urge to move, dominate, claim.

I couldn't help it any longer, my hands lashed out and grabbed his base, guiding him to my entrance, my hips smashing up into his pelvis in a painful but incredibly satisfying thrust. And then everything blurred.

There was movement and sensation, the sound of our movements, but every part of my existence had turned inward as our emotions tangled.

Voracious predator and delighted prey, both racing to the same end.

His hands wrapped under my ass, digging in as he increased our pace.

Instinctively, my wings lifted, curling around us and forming a shimmering cocoon as he pistoned in and out of me, dragging soft moans with each stroke.

My heels dug into his ass and his entire body tensed as a pressure flooded us both until a cascade carried us away and we tumbled into bliss.

Pure, heady, adoration wiped away all thought as we clutched at each other, suspended in that moment, in that sensation, until our limbs couldn't handle it anymore and he collapsed down on top of me.

Both of us were limp and breathless, all the evil temporarily wrung out of us and replaced by delicate tranquility.

I sighed and tapped Stavros on the shoulder once I became aware that my compressed lungs couldn't expand.

He rolled off of me, careful not to land on one of my wings.

And then, with more energy than my lifeless bones could have managed, he propped himself up on a golden elbow and grinned down at me.

"I think I did all the work for that gift. I want a redo."

I narrowed my eyes at the manipulative bastard.

But I gave him a redo ten minutes later.

And then again in the morning.

"Avia!" My sister snapped her ringed fingers in front of my face. "Earth to Avia!"

"Sorry," I focused my gaze back on her from where I'd been staring out at the Kelp Forest in the distance, staring but not seeing it.

"Well, it's obvious what you gave Stavros," she said with a lilting superiority.

Normally, I would have considered arguing with her, but there was absolutely no chance I wanted her to dive into this topic. "Oh look, a clownfish." I pointed lamely at a small fish trying to hide in one of the coral arches.

"Alright, I won't torture you more about it, but it looks as though everything here is working out just...swimmingly."

I had to turn and give her a scolding look for the pun, but she was gleeful, almost giddy, before her expression softened.

She turned to me then, her gown looking so heavy and formal and even odd, now that I'd adapted the ways of the sea and only donned a glimmering skirt and a necklace of gold coins each day.

With a smile that almost looked sad, my sister said, "I'm so incredibly proud of you, Squawk. "

I pointed a finger at her for the nickname, but it was the only scolding I gave because suddenly my throat clogged, and my eyes shimmered with emotions. "Stop that."

"Start doing a terrible job and I'll stop. In fact, I'll come down here and take over." She lightened the mood before we ended up bawling.

After we walked a little further, she sighed.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I hate to ask this, but I do need to take back Lizza. We have a few goings on up above and need a solid castle mage." She scrunched her face a bit before leaning toward me and whispering conspiratorially, "I'm not sure I'm entirely thrilled about that, to be honest."

"Her potions are the things of nightmares," I agreed.

"I think her sense of taste was the first thing that died," Avia concluded with an unladylike snort that made me laugh.

"Excellent theory. Probably true."

"I did have a question. Connor and Ryan were telling me that Raj was seen down here.

.. " Bloss trailed off, concern coloring her tone, and somehow I knew that this topic was the exact reason she'd wanted to go for our stroll.

She'd eased into it smartly, much better at playing politics now than she ever had been before.

It seemed her husbands were a good influence on her, a fact I didn't appreciate right now as I was the target of her investigation.

"Raj has been here, yes. But don't worry, he's gone now. And he won't be back," I murmured, patting her arm in reassurance.

"I thought that after I fought him. But he somehow showed up down here..." Worry knit her brows together and her anxiety was palpable.

"I promise. Between my magic and this ring, Raj is taken care of," I held up my hand so she could see the band.

Her hazel eyes widened and she gaped at me for a solid minute before she said, "Well then. Alright."

I waited a moment for her elder sister badgering to begin, but she simply turned and walked on, leaving me behind. "That's really it? All you're going to ask?"

She shrugged. "You've got things well in hand. You found that ring I dropped ages ago, and I know just how well that thing works. So, if you say everything is good, I believe you."

It was almost harder for me to accept her acceptance of my coming of age than it was for me to accept Raj in the first place. It jumbled my brain, shook up the puzzle pieces that I thought had already fitted together and made me start again.

But...that was life, wasn't it?

Ever changing.

Nothing etched in stone.

Not even my know-it-all sister's lectures lasted forever, it seemed.

Reflecting on that, we went around another bend in the path in silence, content in one another's company, in this undefined equity. I considered teasing her about it, but for the moment I was too appreciative to poke fun.

And then, though I'd all but forgotten the original reason I'd wanted to show my sister the sculpture garden, Ugo and Paavo came into sight and reminded me. The orange-haired mer gave me a solemn nod and a salute to let me know that all preparations were in order.

"Bloss, I have something to show you," I stated, moving forward and taking my sister's hand to guide her.

Then I took a sharp right, and we doubled back along the path, weaving this way and that until we came to the only sculpture in the entire garden that was finished.

The first sculpture I'd ever commissioned.

There, set out in pale blue stone, were Bloss and her kings, weapons raised, fierce expressions on their faces.

My sister's jaw dropped as she studied it and I turned to her.

"Okeanos has many heroes. But without you, all the future heroes of this kingdom would not exist. You freed the people of the sea from a great tyrant.

And we'll forever tell the story of Queen Bloss to our children.

To our children's children." My hand went over my heart in a pledge.

"We're forever in your debt, Bloss of Evaness, for your march beneath the sea. "

"Sard your formality, you dummy," my sister choked out as she yanked me into a hug.

And then she sobbed all over me.