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“Not this again,” she grumbled. “Goll!I wasn’t leaving.”
I scoffed, not dignifying that with an answer.
“You can put me down. I won’t run.”
“Fucking right, you won’t. Not ever again.” I was going to make sure of it.
She beat on my back with her fists. It only made me harder. “I wasn’t leaving you, you imbecile.”
“Right.” I retraced our steps back to the path with increasing speed. “You crept secretly out of the palace without your guard because you wanted to simply walk in the woods all alone with your handmaiden.”
“I was going to Dragul Falls.”
“Why?” I snapped, rounding a tree that put us on a wider game trail. We were almost back to the eastern path where I’d found her.
She didn’t answer. Her silence made me angrier than her hot words. I stopped at a thick-trunked esher tree and flipped her upright, setting her on her feet. She staggered back, her palms bracing on the wide trunk. I crowded her close, sinking both fists into her unbearably soft hair, cradling her skull with my knuckles.
Pressing my body fully against hers, I tilted up her face so that I could see those beautiful eyes, wide and accusing. “Do youthink you can so easily break your vows to me?” I hissed, my mouth close to hers. “Did you think I’d simply let you go?”
Her hands came off the trunk and wrapped around my forearms, her rounded nails digging into the thick fabric of my winter shirt.
“I was seeking something I did once when I was fifteen. I didn’t find it before I was taken into Näkt Mir’s dungeon and tortured near to death,” she spat angrily. “I thought I could find it now that I was within my rights to be in this territory.”
I couldn’t process what it was that she sought so many years ago and still sought, my mind spinning with other questions.
“Why didn’t you simply come to me? Ask me? I would’ve taken you.”
Now it was her turn to scoff, a slender brow arching with mockery. “When might I have spoken to you? I haven’t seen you inweeks.” She was furious, her face burning with rage. At me.
“You got what you wanted,” she said more softly, hurt rather than anger lilting her words. “Then you disappeared. I suppose it is the way of all men. Or is it only kings who use their women then cast them aside? Have you found someone new already, my liege?”
The mockery was back in her voice, but it was mixed with sharp, sorrowful pain. I flinched. I had done that. I had caused that look of bitter sadness.
My fists tightened in her hair, cradling the base of her skull. “I have done nothing every day but wish for you to be in my presence. I wanted to summon you day and night, then I would force myself not to,” I grated out through clenched teeth. “Do you want to know why?”
She said nothing, her dark lashes growing wet as she blinked quickly, emotion welling in her eyes.
“Because I was afraid of what I’d do to you if I got you alone again. I know how badly you despise me for forcing you into thisunion. And I saw the pain and grief on your face when I fucked you. But Vix save me,” I growled, holding her ethereal gaze, “none of that matters when you’re near me. All I want to do is bury myself deep and get lost in the oblivion of your body. When you’re near, I care about nothing but wanting that soul-shaking sensation again of being so deep inside you. This craving is pure madness,” I whispered against her lips and closed my eyes.
She said not a word, letting me brush my lips against hers and that sliver of a taste sped my pulse. I nipped her bottom lip with my fang. She gasped, opening her mouth. I took advantage and slanted mine against hers, sinking into her sweetness.
I groaned at the heady sensation of kissing her again. She didn’t protest so I went deeper, stroking my tongue inside. She whimpered and tilted her head back farther, letting me taste her sweetness. I ground my hard cock at the juncture of her thighs, causing her to make that little moan in the back of her throat.
Did she want this, too? Impossible.
I drank in the pleasure of her silken mouth, fighting the desire to strip her here and take her on the forest floor. Gods, she was divine.
Then the sound of pounding hooves nearby snapped me from my trance. She stared, her expression unreadable as I eased back. Slowly, I unclenched my fists from her hair then gripped her wrist and tugged her to follow. Thankfully, she did not fight me.
We came out onto the path right as the Culled were surrounding Hava, who hadn’t moved since we’d left. Drak lifted his head when he sensed me. I didn’t speak to Soryn or Keffa as I rounded to Drak’s side and lifted Una by the waist.
“Climb up,” I ordered, but she was already pulling herself up by the loops in the leather strap that wrapped his girth. I climbed up after her and slid behind where she straddled the saddle.
“Drak,” I barked.
He turned from the circle of horses and took a few steps along the trail then lifted off into the air. We rose above the snaking river and Dragul Falls before turning back toward Näkt Mir.
As dark clouds billowed closer, my attention snagged on a streak of lightning between us and the palace. I was calculating if we would make it before the rain caught us. It would be an ice storm, no doubt, pouring out of the north. Then something else caught my attention and held it hard—the distinct scent of feminine arousal.
