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“I don’t want to rest.”
“Una—” I pulled her into my arms and hugged her close, breathing in her lovely scent.
I couldn’t tell her how afraid I was that she’d never wake, that I’d allowed her to come near to deathly harm.
She pulled me down to the bed. I gave in and spread out beside her, holding her to me, kissing the crown of her head.
“It’s all right,” she said soothingly, brushing her small hand along my back.
I huffed out a laugh. “Only you, Una.” I kissed the crown of her pretty head again, inhaling that drugging scent that was all her own. “Only you would try to soothe me after you were the one injured.”
“I’m not injured. I felt pain at first. But now, I feel wonderful.”
She lifted up on top of my body, propping herself up on hands she’d placed on my shoulders, and stared down at me. She was wearing a winter nightgown, but it still revealed her beautiful figure beneath. The feyfire I’d lit in a brazier, wanting my own flame to give her warmth instead of the blue-coal, gilded her in golden light, limning the slender slope of her neck and perfectly carved face in such heartbreaking beauty that I lost my breath. My heart leaped at the sight of her, thinking of that old tale of Näkt and Lumera.
“What are you thinking right now?” she asked, her hair sliding over her shoulder to drape across my chest. Her nightgown slipped off one shoulder, revealing my bite mark.
“I was thinking of the old demon myth about the god Näkt and Zarrah and Lumera.”
Her pretty brow pursed into a frown. “The one where Näkt betrayed Zarrah and slept with Lumera?”
My hands roamed to her hips, loving the feel of her warm flesh beneath my fingertips, ensuring me she was truly all right.
“No,” I answered. “The one where Näkt refused the advances of Lumera. I was looking at you and wondering how in the world he had the willpower to deny her.” I stroked a clawed hand through her tousled hair.
She laughed, dragging my attention back to her face. She sat up on my abdomen, her palms on my chest. “That is not how the story goes. Näkt seduced Lumera when his mate Zarrah had gone to seek a blessing for her unborn child. He fell so in love with Lumera that he kept her in the meadow bed he onceshared with Zarrah. Then Zarrah returned and died of a broken heart, scattering her body into the night sky. In his shame, Näkt followed her there, betraying Lumera and leaving her broken-hearted as well.”
I grinned, roaming my hands from her hips to her ribcage, then back down to rest on her hips. “Our story is different. It was Lumera who was in the wrong. Not Näkt.”
“Of course not.” She rolled her eyes, and I had the sudden urge to kiss her. But I felt the need to be extraordinarily gentle with her after her ordeal with Grindolvek.
She added softly, “It would never be the man’s fault that he slept with two women, betrayed his mate, then betrayed his new lover and lost both of them.”
I laughed, wondering whose version was more accurate. Likely, somewhere in between.
“But you know, our story ends there,” she said, brow pursing like she was puzzled. “At Zarrah’s death and the birth of her daughter, Mizrah. We have no tales of her.” Her curiosity shone on her face. “Will you tell me the next part? Why your people revere Mizrah so much that her name has become a title for the king’s…” When she paused, excitement pulsed in my blood as I wondered if she’d come to the same conclusion I recently had. Then she licked her lips and added, “The king’s companion.”
“Mizrah was the child Zarrah bore right before her death.”
She slid down to sit on my thighs, listening, her gaze on me while she toyed with the lacings of my trousers.
Frowning, I continued. “Mizrah fled into the mountains to find solace in the night, to mourn the loss of her parents alone.”
“Then what happened?” she asked, no longer toying but actually unlacing my trousers.
“Una,” I warned. “You need to rest.”
“And I told you,” she said, reaching into the open fall of my pants and wrapping her slender fingers around my cock. “I’m not tired.”
I grunted, unable to keep from rocking up into her gentle stroke.
I splayed my hands at the top of her thighs. “We shouldn’t do this right now,” I said, even while I slid my palms higher up her thighs, hiking the hem of her gown higher.
“What happened next?” she asked, stroking my cock which was blocking my view of her cunt.
“Vix heard Mizrah’s cries and he found her alone in the mountains.”
Though I could only see the seductive stroke of her hand around my girth, I slid one hand higher up her thigh. Finding her slickness with my thumb, I spread it in a soft circle around her clitoris.
