Page 123 of Spring Guardians & Songbirds

Her eyes lifted to mine and she bit her lower lip to suppress the cry of her climax. She swallowed, breathing hard and ragged, her body still shivering. Fucking pretty.

When her soft body went slack, her head lolled back, resting on the wall and she stared at me through a hooded gaze, her cheeks flushed and her lush mouth a rosy pink. I’d never gazed upon a single thing more bewitching and heart achingly beautiful. This woman. This woman that I loved.

“Were these your favourite trousers?” she asked, wiggling her hips a little.

“They are now,” I said, kissing both of her pink cheeks.

I was painfully hard and from how close we were pressed together she could probably feel it, too.

Snow’s eyes dropped down and she dragged her lip between her teeth. Her gentle fingers played with the seam of my trousers, poking inside just a little but enough to have me curse all heavens and seven hells. When she looked up, her eyes were all glassy and shy. “Let me touch you?”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

A knock rasped on the door and a small voice called out, “Dinner is being served, Your Majesties.”

I plucked away a strand of wet hair matted to her forehead. “Hungry?”

Her eyes dropped to my mouth. “Yes.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. When she cracked a little smile, my heart tripled in size. She never smiled for me anymore. Gave them to everyone else, but not me, not anymore. And that had been the worst she’d done to me ever since she’d found out who I was. “For food.”

Her hand was still on my torso, trailing gentle touches over my skin. “That too,” she said, still breathless.

I kissed her forehead and willed every muscle on my body to pull back. “I’ll only be a minute. Get dressed.”

She grabbed onto my sleeve like a cat. “But—”

I shook my head and kissed the tip of her nose. “One hunger at a time.”

Quickly, I bathed. Thankfully, the cold water numbed my whole body. Resisting the urge to touch her was one thing, resisting the urge to touch myself while thinking of her was quite the difficult other.

Snow was already donning the Solaryan clothes Cora had sent to us. Her long hair had dampened the thin fabric and it had turned almost see through. If that didn’t make blood shoot south all over again.

She stood and unravelled something in her hand. “Sit. I’ll patch you up.”

“I’ll do it.”

“I’m quicker,” she said, pushing me to a stool and coming from behind me to wrap a thin bandage all around my torso and over my shoulder. I could get used to this, being looked after. She did that concentrated face where her tongue poked at the side of her mouth just a little, her brows bunching as she concentrated to get it to wrap around me precisely. “You’re healing terribly,” she said, tracing a gentle finger down the dent between my muscle and I had to grab her wrist to stop her before I lost it. When she rolled her eyes up at me and noted my expression, her lips pulled up. “Maybe I can ask Cora to have a look at you. She is supposed to be the mother of healers and the best healer in this realm.”

“It will heal, my love. No need for that.”

“Done,” she said, tying a small bow.

Dinner was being served on an open veranda overlooking the blue roofed city. The sun still gleamed on the horizon, though mildly and a burnt orange. It stood behind Magnus’s shoulders, giving him a halo that possibly boosted his confidence more than it should because I couldn’t look at the man without squinting. And each time I squinted, Snow snorted.

“Your Majesty,” Snow called, bringing Cora to attention. “Might I ask for a favour.”

The Sun Queen nodded. “Please, call me Cora.”

Snow rested a hand on my arm—every move of hers became intentional when she noticed Cora’s reaction to them. How much more trusting she became to us. Snow’s game of pretend was winning their trust. “We went to aid Hanai when my father got the sceptre piece and the same beast you saw here injured Henr—…my husband. Injured, my husband.”

I had to bite down on my smile. The way she said it through gritted teeth almost made me laugh.

The Sun Queen gave her a smile. “You would like for me to heal him?”

Snow nodded.

“I will have a look early tomorrow before I head to our infirmary for my shift.”