Page 23 of Wings of Cruelty and Flame (Heir of Wyvara #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

AMEIRAH

H is kiss was like an explosion through all my senses, waking up the parts of me that had become leaden and hollowed by grief. He was here, alive, kissing me, and my soul flooded with relief like a dam had burst. My body sang wherever we aligned, his hands roaming across my body, touching every place he could.

“Ameirah,” he exhaled against my lips, pulling me tighter into him, his kisses becoming feverish, deeper, desperate. I tasted rain and lightning and earthy spices on his tongue. Whatever he tasted on mine made him groan and kiss me harder, every stroke of his tongue frantic like he couldn’t consume me fast enough. “Tell me you don’t still hate me.”

“I don’t,” I gasped against his lips and it wasn’t a lie.

“Hold me tighter, fiercer, please.”

I pressed my fingers into his shoulders, sure I would leave bruises even with the leather between us, and sank my other hand into his hair, gripping ruthlessly as our kiss turned even needier. The scent of him invaded my senses with rainwater, leather, and sweat, just a hint of amber and oud.

“Tomorrow,” he groaned against my mouth, his hands finding my ass, dragging me closer, “I want us to fly to Wyfell and get our marriage marks. I can’t wait the extra hours to fly home, I need you to bear my mark as soon as possible.”

The possessive part of me purred at the thought of Varidian inked with the marriage mark. Every marking was different, decided by the magic in the ink of the mark-scribe. What would ours be? A typical heart, a coin or chain for a mutually-beneficial arrangement, or something more unique?

“I’d mark you here and now, but I don’t have the ink and I’m no scribe,” he went on, lips caressing their way down my jaw to my neck.

“Tomorrow can’t come soon enough,” I replied, my eyes fluttering shut when his kisses scorched my sensitive throat, his hands squeezing my ass until a shock of sensation went through my clit. “Varidian, don’t deny me like on our wedding night.”

“I won't,” he replied, pained. “I can’t. I need you so much I can’t breathe, Ameirah.”

The smirking, seductor was gone and in his place was a desperate, gasping man who couldn’t get me close enough.

“I’ll be gentle,” he rasped, drawing back to meet my eyes, his hands stroking up and down my back. “I won’t make it hurt for you.”

“I don’t care.” It was the truth. I’d had to make peace with the fact he was never coming back, but here he was, kissing me, clinging to me like he’d been every bit as afraid to die as I’d been to lose him. “Make it hurt or make it good or both. I just need to feel you. I really—I thought the storm had killed you, Varidian.”

His eyes squeezed shut, wrinkles of torment cast across his face. “And I matter enough that you’d mourn me?”

“It would have broken my heart. It did break my heart when I thought you were gone. All those years we were supposed to have together stolen, all that future ripped away.”

His eyes opened, the blue of his irises writhing with shadows of emotion. They were strange like mine, those eyes. Not amber or gold or brown or black. Blue like the sky, like the ocean. “You told me not to die.”

My brow furrowed, my hands feathering up his back, not caring that his leathers were still slick. Caring a little that he still wore them when we should have both been naked.

“Before Mak and I left the ground. You told me not to die, and I made a promise. I wasn’t about to break it.” Cool knuckles brushed my jaw, my cheek. “A promise given to my wife is more binding than law. I’d fight any villain, endure any battle, fly through a thousand storms, to keep my word to you.”

His words hit my soul like an embrace, and more of the pain of grieving him soothed. I tipped my head forward, my forehead coming to rest against his, our bodies aligned everywhere. The frenzy of need paused for a moment, like the ebb of the ocean, and I breathed him in, letting myself relax, accepting that he was really here, whole.

“Keep speaking like that and I’m in grave danger,” I murmured, fingertips playing with the damp hair at the back of his neck.

“Oh? And what sort of danger could I cause with words?”

“The danger of falling in love with you.”

His hands flexed on my back, his face tipped up to meet mine, and then we were kissing again, the knife-edge of desire softened for a moment. Our lips traded gentle touches, kisses lingering, breaths shared.

“You’re not the only one in danger, dearling.” He caught one of my hands, removed my stained glove, and pressed a kiss to my palm. “You took care of my wyvern, unprompted and unasked. I’m starting to suspect your heart is every bit as beautiful as your face, and if that’s true, loving you is inevitable. I’m in serious danger.”

My chest warmed, a weight I wasn’t aware I was carrying sliding from my shoulders until I breathed easier. Every time he touched my bare hands, it was both a shock and a delight. “I only did what anyone would do. I worried about Mak while you were both gone.”

He groaned. “Stop. I’m in grave danger.”

“Because I have a kind heart?”

“Kindness is sexy,” he agreed, kissing me again, slow and slick and deep, only stopping when my head spun and I gasped for air. “And you’re the first woman Mak’s taken a liking to.”

My head stopped spinning in a second, like magic. I narrowed my eyes. Slowly, I asked, “How many women have there been before me?”

“Why?” Varidian’s smile was too smug for my liking. “Are you going to hunt them down and murder them for laying hands on me?”

“They laid hands on you?”

Varidian groaned. “Fuck, I love it when you’re possessive of me.” He pulled me close again and kissed me hard, cool hands sliding under the hem of my dress, sending goosebumps up my body when he squeezed my bare thighs. “But you don’t need to be. I’m loyal to my dangerous wife.”

His words were a balm, but deep down I still wanted to threaten everyone else, with graphic intensity, until they were terrified to be near him. Varidian’s grin grew, his hands bolder as they slid up my thighs, squeezing, stroking. If he teased and denied me what I really needed, I was going to kill him. To prevent such outcomes, I grabbed the hem of my cotton dress and pulled it over my head, baring myself to his stare.

Varidian groaned, his eyes a shade darker as they devoured the sight of me, drawn to my breasts, my thighs, and the V between them that barely hid my pussy. There was only leather between his cock and me now, and nothing at all between my body and his hands. They slid up my thighs to my waist, possessive in their firm grip, then skimmed my ribs, teasing the outside of my breasts with a barely-there touch.

“Fuck, Ameirah,” he whispered. “You’re even more beautiful than I remembered.”

Pleased heat flooded me. “You thought about my body?”

“Many, many times. It kept me warm when the storm wanted to freeze me. But you’re much more glorious than I ever pictured.” His lips found my shoulder first, my skin tingling under their heat and pressure. “I—when did you get this bruise, dearling?”

His voice had been low and smoky but now it turned as soft as feathers. I’d forgotten about the bruises and scars. Days away from Strava, from my father and Xiu and my brothers, had been a dream, a whirlwind of kindness and care and sweet words. Now, I came back to reality like someone had thrown a bucket of ice water over me.

“My legion didn’t do this,” Varidian said, steel entering his voice, like he knew they wouldn’t have but he was ready to break their noses if I told him otherwise.

“No, they’re a week old. Weeks, even.”

A low, growling breath expelled from my husband, like a wyvern about to charge. His hands remained as soft as water on my skin but pure murder chased across his brown face. Now that he was looking at me, seeing more than just my shape, my curves, my breasts, I watched him follow the path of scars.

The bruises were sparse, only a few leftover from Beni’s temper tantrum earlier in the week, but I carried scars on my arms, my legs, my stomach, my back, even on my toes where a cane had broken skin after so many lashes that I’d lost count. Emir and Nezar had held me down for that and not let go even when I screamed and begged. They wouldn’t give mercy to a killer, and especially not one who murdered their baby sister.

“Who?”

One word, spoken so deep and furious that it was barely audible.

There was murder in that voice. There was wyvernfyre and the sharp edge of swords and the merciless tips of talons in that voice.

Varidian’s eyes flashed, his chest expanding with a rough breath. “Who did this to you, Ameirah?”

“My brothers,” I sighed. “Some are from my father.”

He bared sharp canines. “They’re dead.”

“I killed Shazia,” I reminded him, fighting a flinch at her name, at the forever-sharp memories. “I killed my little sister. You can’t blame them for being angry.” I understood their anger; I shared it.

“I can blame them for doing this to my wife,” Varidian disagreed in a growl. “I’ll fucking end them.”

I feathered my fingers through his hair, my heart so full it might burst. “That would be nice.”

Varidian’s arms encircled me, pulling me flush to his chest, his lips scattering heat and affection over my neck and shoulder. “No one will touch you again. I’ll eviscerate anyone who even tries, and I’ll teach you how to do the same.”

“Aliah’s been teaching me knife skills,” I murmured. “I can already stab someone in the gut.” I could have done that before, but now I knew how to make it agonising rather than painful. I knew how to make it fatal, where to cut, how to angle the blade, and when to twist it.

“Good.” He kissed my temple. “I want you as dangerous as a person can possibly be. Your enemies will die screaming. I promise you this. They’ll die at my hand or yours or in Mak’s teeth.”

Heat pulsed both through my heart and between my legs. I smiled, my lips curving slowly. “If kindness turns you on, threats of bloodshed do the same for me.”

Varidian exhaled slowly, trying to banish his blinding rage. “My bloodthirsty wife,” he said lovingly, peering at my face.

“Your bloodthirsty wife wants you inside her now.”

He groaned, his eyes squeezing shut. “That filthy mouth. I almost forgot.”

I drew back enough to reach for the fastenings of his jacket, but he caught my hands, brushing a kiss to my knuckles. “I don’t need to remove my clothes to make your eyes roll back, dearling.”

My breath caught. “And what if I want to see all of you?”

His smirk was quick, carved deep into his cheek. “Greedy girl. You saw all of me last time.”

“And I liked what I saw.” I tried to extricate my hands but he wouldn’t budge. “Show me again.”

He laughed, low and deep enough to make me hot and cold at once. I squirmed under him.

“Is that what you really want to see, menace?” He reached between us and unfastened his leather trousers, grabbing the thick length of his cock. “Or is this what you want to see?”

I shouldn’t have stared. But he’d hypnotised me. I swallowed a sudden rush of saliva, wishing the room was brighter so I could fully appreciate his cock as he ran his hand up and down its length once, twice.

A hot pulse beat inside me. I ran my fingers over his jaw, the rasp of his two-day beard making my skin hum. It was a sensation similar to the swoop in my belly whenever he smiled at me or the quickening of my heart when we flew on Makrukh’s back. Exhilarating. Addictive.

I stole another kiss and covered his hand with mine, his cock radiating heat.

“Move your hand,” I said between rough kisses, that thrilled swirl in my belly again when he deepened the kiss with a low growling breath, his hand sliding out from under mine. Sharp teeth nicked my bottom lip, only heightening my need.

His cock was softer than I expected, as tactile as silk. I liked that. I liked the choked groan that came from Varidian when I stroked him even more, my thumb exploring the ridge that ran from tip to base, tightening my grip to coax another groan from him. I’d read enough books ladened with sex to know the basics, but with the way Varidian grunted and moaned, I felt like a master.

“Fuck, menace,” he exhaled against my lips, his eyes dark, eyelids heavy. “Squeeze me right there.” I was rewarded with a louder, deeper groan and his head falling against the back of the chair. His cock jumped in my hand, as if the pleasure I gave him was so intense it couldn’t remain still, and a sense of power filled me.

I loved the way his mouth parted, loved the sounds of pleasure and need that filled my ears, the way a vein stood out on his throat as it arched when I stroked harder, faster, experimenting with pace. I’d find the pressure and speed to ruin him; by the way he was panting I was already close to that discovery, and a dark possessiveness filled me.

“I love you like this,” I confessed.

“At your mercy?” he gasped.

“Yes.”

He sank his teeth into his bottom lip, eyes falling shut. His hands tightened on my waist, tension winding tighter throughout every part of him.

“Dearling,” he breathed, his eyes still heavy-lidded when he caught my hand. “If you keep going, I’ll come too quickly.”

My smile deepened.

“You’re absolutely wicked,” he groaned, tightening his hold on my hand as he leaned closer for a deep, all-consuming kiss. My belly tightened, every suck, every teasing nip making the fiery need in me mount until I thought steam must be rising from my skin. “I need to touch you, Ameirah. Widen your legs around me, fuck that’s my good girl.”

My hips jolted, a catch in my breath at the same time I became fluid and lax above him. Varidian’s clever eyes missed nothing; now he was the one smiling wickedly.

“As much as I’d delight in reminding you what my tongue is capable of,” he said in a low, husky voice that made me throb, “I can’t stand to wait that long. I’m a selfish bastard, and I need to be inside you now.”

“Yes,” I agreed, breathier than expected. “Stop stalling. Anyone would think you were afraid.”

He laughed, the sound a caress on my skin. “Of you? Always, menace.”

People had been scared of me for most of my life, but hearing Varidian say that didn’t strike me with the same vulnerability. He wasn’t afraid I would kill him. He didn’t fear my power. He didn’t even fear I’d stab him with the dagger still strapped to my thigh. His fear was sensual and playful and for some wild reason it gave me butterflies.

Or maybe that was because he skimmed a knuckle along the sensitive skin of my inner thigh, following the path of stretch marks I’d disliked since they appeared on my body a few years ago. With the way he touched me, the way his eyes devoured the sight of me like he was starving for every glimpse, I didn’t dislike them anymore. Anything that made Varidian look at me like that must have been a gift from god.

My whole body jumped when he traced fingertips over my pussy, a touch as light as feathers at first before he stroked with more confidence, setting my whole body ablaze. My hands landed on his shoulder, pressing deep. I wanted to grasp his cock again, but I wanted him inside me even more, so I forced myself to resist temptation even when it jolted between us, begging for attention, weeping at the tip.

“So wet for me already,” he said, sounding tortured.

I gasped when his slow exploration found the throbbing nerves at my apex. When his fingers circled, my eyes fluttered shut. “Of course I’m wet. Your kisses drive me to madness. I shouldn’t have told you that, your ego is already enormous.”

But Varidian deserved an ego of that size; his fingers worked magic, casting pleasure with every swirl and stroke. I groaned at a deep pulse of sensation that shot through me. My hand snapped down, finding his cock, needing him in my hand, needing him inside me. I squeezed the way he liked and stroked slowly, wanting him to feel as good as he made me feel.

“I’d joke that it’s not the only thing that’s enormous but my cock is in your hand and we can both see that is untrue.” His words were panting, breathless.

“This isn’t enormous…?”

“A little bigger than average, dearling,” he laughed.

My eyes flew wide. Was he serious? His cock was so long I didn’t know where it was going to fit inside me and so thick I struggled to close my fingers around it. “Fuck, how did the women in my books not die?”

His laughter warmed me from the inside out, and my temperature spiked as his lips found the edge of my jaw then kissed lower, shocking me with the wet slide of his tongue over my pulse.

“Have you been with anyone before me?” he asked against the rapid beat in my throat. “I won’t judge you if you have.”

I shook my head, my face as hot as the rest of me. “There’s been no one. Just my own fingers.”

He groaned. “You ruin me with words like that. I want to watch you play, but I’ll die if the hands touching you aren’t mine.”

“Dramatic,” I teased him, then gasped when his thumb rolled my clit, a finger teasing my entrance.

“You’re stalling again,” I complained as he only stroked me instead of sliding inside.

“Forgive me for wanting to go slow and avoid hurting you.”

“No,” I huffed. “I won’t forgive you.”

His laugh hit my skin like a kiss, raising goosebumps. “So impatient and needy.”

I squeezed his cock with brutal pressure.

His teeth skimmed my throat, his breathing choppy. “Ameirah,” he warned.

“Hmm?” I brushed my thumb in a circle around the head of his cock, quickly learning he loved that.

“Damn me,” he hissed, granting my wish with the slow glide of his finger inside me. It felt stranger than I expected, like an invasion, unexpected and unfamiliar. But then his thumb circled my clit and I clenched around his finger, and it felt so good to be filled, even by a finger. I got the sense I would be a little out of my depth but I wanted his cock inside me. I wanted him as close as I could get him.

“Okay, beautiful?”

I nodded, my breath hitching when he adjusted the angle of his thumb. I was so wet his finger slid in and out easily, stroking places I hadn’t found while touching myself. He grasped my chin between his forefinger and thumb, bringing my eyes level with his.

“Okay—yes or no, Ameirah.”

“Yes,” I exhaled, surging forward for a kiss when he stretched me around a second finger, moving them in a way that brushed the inner spot that always made me come. I sank my teeth into his bottom lip, groaning.

“Such pretty noises you make for me.” He quickened the pace of his fingers until my head dropped on his shoulder and I struggled for air. My hand stilled on his cock, my whole body wracked with tension, with promise.

“Varidian,” I gasped, my hand finding his bicep, fingernails biting into leather. “Varidian.”

“That’s it, chant my name, dearling. I’m obsessed with the sound of it on your tongue.”

Heat squeezed, pleasure coiled, and I sank my teeth into Varidian’s shoulder as I came so hard, I saw stars. It was a release of grief and stress and fear, a reminder that he was home. It wrung me out until I slumped against him with a deep breath, my whole body relaxed.

“If you even think about denying me your cock,” I threatened lazily, “I’ll use the knife at my thigh and stab you somewhere delicate.”

“I’d enjoy that a little too much,” he laughed, fingers trailing over the straps that held the weapon to my thigh. “And don’t worry, menace, I’ll never deny you a thing again. I learned my lesson in the storm, when I wished I hadn’t wasted a single moment with you.”

“I’m glad you’ve seen the error of your ways.”

His laugh was softer this time. “What was it you told me to do? Keep my mouth shut and fuck you?”

“It was good advice,” I murmured, my eyelids heavy over my eyes. “You should take it.”

When his hands settled on my hips, adjusting me over him, a shock went through my body like a bolt of lightning. It startled my heavy eyes wide and shuddered through my body, waking me up so I felt every touch like fireworks across my skin as Varidian lined the tip of his cock with my entrance. I was dripping all over him, I realised, and my face heated but Varidian didn’t look disgusted. He looked hungry and a little feral.

“Ready for me, dearling?”

“Yes.”

When he filled me, it was nothing like that first finger. There was something more satisfying about this, something primal about having his cock inside me. That dark, possessive feeling returned, swelling behind my breastbone. I wanted to keep him forever. I’d kill anyone who tried to take him from me. Even storms would pay if they tried to steal him again.

Varidian didn’t have any filthy words or breathless exultations this time. He just kissed me, gasping and deep and pleading. The slide of leather beneath my thighs only added sensation and a layer of thrill that I was naked while he was fully clothed. What flesh I had access to I scratched and grasped and kissed, each thrust making me a little animalistic.

He started slowly, bouncing me on him with the gentle press of hands on my hips, but within minutes all sense of composure had left my husband until he gripped me fiercely, one hand on my ass as our hips slapped together over and over.

“Menace, dearling, fuck,” he exclaimed, his body like a bowstring under me. I lavished kisses on his throat, delighted to find they made him as weak as they did me. His head fell back, a low groan leaving him, and our bodies came together faster, harder, his hands controlling my pace.

His breathing turned choppy, and it was so sexy to hear him come apart, to feel him trembling and taut under me, to feel desperation in the clutch of his hands, that I tightened around him. I adjusted my angle, searching for that spot that made me shatter, and my eyes nearly rolled back when Varidian brought a thumb to my clit, touching me with a desperation and roughness that matched his expression.

“Please,” he said, husky and raw. “I need you to come with me, Ameirah.”

The sound of my name in that roughened voice made me throb harder, the stimulation to my clit sending little bolts of pleasure through me. I rolled my hips faster, chasing my release, my whole body alight. I just needed—something. I dropped my forehead to his shoulder as I rode him, desperation mounting until I wanted to scream. I was so close. So, so close.

His face turned, lips tracing the line of my throat with rough presses. When I drove my ass down so hard ripples went through my skin at the impact, Varidian let out a fae growl and bit the arched line of my throat. My eyes rolled back. I came so hard my whole body quivered.

“Ameirah,” he gasped, arms locking around me. “Ameirah.” He choked on a curse, lips and tongue fastened to the place he’d bitten me, and his cock went wild inside me, wringing more waves of pleasure from me. His hands left shocks on my skin, lips left marks on my throat, and it took me a long, long time to catch my breath and come down.

His arms softened around me, his hardness mellowed to gentle care as he expelled a long sigh and snuggled me close.

“I should get caught in storms more often,” he murmured.

I smacked his arm. “Don’t even joke about that.”

“If I get a homecoming like this every time, I’m deadly serious.”

I scowled, but he couldn’t see because my face was still mashed to his shoulder. I didn’t plan on moving any time soon.

“Tomorrow,” he said, his voice hushed and intimate. “I’m marking you so the whole world knows you’re mine.”

“Mm.” I rested my cheek on his shoulder, the connection a balm to my bruised soul. “So possessive.”

He stroked my hair down my back. “Don’t think I don’t see the same possession in your eyes when you look at me.”

I had no defence against that.

“Let’s go to bed,” he murmured, brushing a kiss over my temple. “I can’t get close enough to you in this chair. I need to wrap myself up in you.”

A smile pulled at my lips. “You’ll have to carry me, because I’m not budging.”

“I’m content to carry you everywhere for the rest of our lives,” he said with a glimmer of that mad obsession I saw on our wedding night. My smile grew as he secured his hands under my ass and stood, still inside me. Every step he took jolted his cock until my muscles fluttered around him, coating him in slick arousal.

“This room,” I said when he walked down the hall, my head rested on his shoulder, the fortress still hushed around us.

“I do have my own room, you know,” he said, closing the door behind us with a nudge of his hip.

“Feel free to go find it,” I replied, knowing he wouldn’t. “This is my room now. I like the view too much to give it up.” Mostly because I’d sat in the window for hours watching the skies for him and Mak.

“Are you saying you like the view of the grounds more than the view of your handsome husband?” He sounded affronted. I snorted—at least until he laid me down on the bed and covered my body with his, heat bleeding into me again. The weight of him over me was sinful, was everything.

“We can sleep later,” I suggested.

His grin was little more than a flash of teeth in the moonlight. “My thoughts exactly, dearling.”

When he withdrew for a deep thrust, we both gasped.