Page 158 of To Fight and To Fold

And Thea could provide.

She added a third digit and Aaryn came before she could adjust to the added intrusion. Her cunt quivered around her fingers, sucking her in. Thea worked her through it despite the bruising grip of her walls, allowing herself to find pleasure in her ecstasy.

Aaryn cried out, head rolling on the pillow, hair a tangled mess. Her hand held Thea's horn so tightly she feared it would snap off, and that thought was so darkly arousing that Thea rocked into the knot of blankets beneath her and came too.

It crashed into her like a brutal wind current, knocking her into a free fall, head light and core heavy as she eased off of Aaryn to mouth at her thigh.

Thea withdrew her fingers and admired the glisten, slipping them into her mouth to lick them clean before she'd even considered how ravenous it made her look.

Aaryn's hand fell from her horn to cup around the back of her neck and pull her up. Thea collapsed against her and their sweat-slick skin slid together rather sweetly as Aaryn threaded a hand in her hair and crushed their lips together.

Her tongue slid into Thea's mouth as if she was chasing the taste of herself, and Thea groaned into the kiss. When they finally parted, Thea lowered her forehead to Aaryn's shoulder.

Once they'd cleaned up, they lay naked in the bed, blankets strewn around and over them as they cooled down, breaths even and slow. Comfortable.

"Well, that was lovely," Aaryn laughed.

"You were lovelier," Thea added, and stroked a hand through Aaryn's hair.

"It took us far too long to get to this point. Imagine if we'd been… in the castle!" A crack of a giggle exploded from her.

"Starspark wasn't a very good wingman," Thea teased, and humor bubbled in her too.

"Wingman!" Aaryn said, and rolled to her back, cackling heartily. It brought a smile to Thea's lips. "Because he's a dragon—Thea," she laughed, and Thea found herself chuckling too. Aaryn had one of those laughs, the contagious ones, her joy bright and all-consuming.

Her chest bounced with her giggles and Thea was but a simple woman in love. Her gaze traced all of Aaryn, counting the bruises of her possession.

It took her a moment to realize Aaryn had stopped laughing and was staring at her, hair tossed across the pillow. "What are you staring at?" she asked.

Thea shrugged, a lazy lift of her shoulders. She couldn't answer because the weight of the words she wanted to say made her tongue heavy.

Aaryn rolled to her side and propped one hand beneath her head, the other landing in the blankets. She walked her fingers across the distance between them and tapped Thea's hip.

“You,” Aaryn said bravely. Braver than Thea was, certainly.

Unless Thea changed that. Unless she gave voice to the emotions that were now impossible to ignore. The ones that had been rooting ever since she'd first heard about Evergale's newest Tethered.

Who Thea had tricked into liking her, by planning every encounter just so she could get closer. She’d gotten too close, that was the problem. That’s why Thea wanted to confess and run away on the back of Starspark together.

Only, the together part hadn’t happened.

And she was still correcting her mistakes.

"I love you," Thea blurted, and Aaryn's grin slipped.

No, not slipped. It slid into something smoother, something warmer.

Thea traversed the distance between them, like scaling a mountain even though it was just a few blankets.

She laid a hand on Aaryn's cheek, stroked a thumb across the apple of her cheekbone. Thea wished she had something else poetic to say, but she'd never been that type before anyway, why start now?

Aaryn's eyes flickered over her face, and Thea's heart pounded in her chest.

"I love you too," Aaryn said, and Thea's chest expanded with both the breath of relief she drew in and the force of emotion that swelled in response.

"You sound so confident," Thea said, a smile crawling across her lips.

"I like saying what's on my mind. It's new for me," Aaryn said, dappled in caramel as the lantern light flickered over her.