Page 65 of Season Warriors & Wolves

“That’s right.” He pulled my leg over his shoulder and bent down again, kissing and pounding against me with all he had. “Your husband.”

I came too soon and too violently, the release sending a shudder that racked my entire body, pulses of heat spreading and burning into the most exquisite type of pain I’d ever experienced.

He didn’t stop, dragging out what little bit of strength I had left out of my spent body. He let out a painful groan, his hips jerking against mine and I felt his come fill my insides. His mouth was on my neck, my cheek, my eyes, my brow. He smacked big, wet kisses all over me until I was writhing and giggling from the tickles. “I missed you so much, my sweet sin.”

I pushed the soft brown waves from his eyes that all of a sudden had turned dark and haunted again. “And I missed you, my darling.”

We’d just gotten out of the bath and I was combing my wet hair, sitting on the vanity, when he returned from my dressing chamber, holding a bunch of white shirts in his hand. “This is where all my shirts have gone?”

About that. “They smell like you. When Penelope would wash them, the scent would be gone so I would get another. I did try rubbing them with the others, but it wouldn’t work.” Pulling onto my drawer, I got the handkerchief Mal had given me before our wedding. “Driada and Mal gave me a bunch of them, too. They don’t smell like you, but they were made by you. Little you, actually.”

He took the small square of fabric, running his thumb over the embroidery for a moment. “Since when you were collecting them?”

I took the handkerchief and folded it between the rest of my Kilian shrine. “The night before our wedding.”

“Which wedding?” he asked, sliding a hand to the back of my neck.

“The first.”

He kissed me, his hand pulling the towel wrapped around me down. “First you take my heart, my soul, my surname. Become my sun, my stars, my moon, my skies, my everything. But taking my shirts is taking it too far,” he said, nudging my nose with his. “Why do you sit in front of it if you will not look at it?”

I glanced behind me at the mirror. “Force of habit, I suppose.”

“What is it that you still see in there?”

“Me.”

His fingers were soft on my face. “Why would that be so horrible to look at?”

“If you could only see what I see, Kil.”

“I see you. I’ve seen all of you. I want to keep seeing all of you for the rest of my lives.”

“I’ve beguiled you. That night in the snow. It worked.”

That made him smile. “With your wicked murderous wiles, might I add.”

“I told you.”

His laugh faded a little. “Don’t be afraid,” he murmured as if he didn’t want the wind to know that I could be afraid. “He did not manage to make you what he wanted to make you.”

“He did. You’ve not seen what I planned to do, what I still want to do, what I’ve done, the mess I’ve left in Isjord. How much worse I planned and wanted to do.” How much worse I still want to do. My rage might have grown numb, but not my desire for ruin.

“That is his fault. Your only fault is that you’re stubborn. But this stubbornness kept you alive, so I don’t give a fuck about what that bastard forced you to commit.”

“Hells, you cannot be saved.”

He chuckled, pushing the stool behind me away and backing me to the vanity desk before spinning me round so my back was to his chest and I was facing the mirror. Though it was mildly dark and my heart was still warm from his words, the shadows were relentless and thick in my reflection.

There was no saving me either.

“Open your eyes,” he ordered, the tips of his fingers gently tugging my underwear down and parting my legs with his knee.

Instead of looking straight ahead, I watched the reflection of his hands work over my body, tracing the line of my curves, dipping between my thighs to pet the sensitive insides and then back up to cup my breasts. A moan slipped free when he pinched my nipples and lowered his mouth to suck on my neck. “Don’t close them. I want you to watch—watch how fucking beautiful you are. You’ve got to keep them open, love, to see how exquisite you look when you take me.” He kissed my ear. “When you come.” His lips were barely touching my skin, teasing and taunting me until my breath hitched from frustration. “Fuck, when you look so needy for me.” His fingers slid over my core and he brought one to his mouth and sucked. “Perfect.”

My eyes followed his hands at all times, playing with my body, teasing my skin, deceiving and taunting my most sensitive parts which he denied his touch. I didn’t say anything—I was entirely too fascinated seeing my body react to him. In a trance, I looked up, staring directly into my eyes.

There was me, but there was him, too. Starlight poured out of his silver eyes that met mine in the reflection, lust dripping like liquid thunder when they lowered down my body that had flushed with want—desperate want. “Hold on to the table, love, and bring your hips to me.”