Page 76 of Fated to the Wicked King

“I haven’t had any since I left my clock tower,” I mused, before shrugging. “Then again, I suppose I haven’t been sleeping much.”

“And I haven’t taken off this ring since we left the castle. It hasn’t been safe.” He lifted the ring off his finger by a hair’s breadth.

I flinched at the momentary onslaught of burgeoning warmth inside me—which abruptly stopped when he slid the ring back on.

“Wait.” I caught his arm.

He jerked back to resist.

My soft gaze met his. “I’m curious.”

He stopped short, almost as if my words had unlocked something in him. After a moment’s thought, his hand slackened, in resignation, in permission.

A shiver of anticipation shot through me. Carefully watching his face, I gingerly slid the ring off his finger again and was instantly awash with feeling.

Bright. Warm. Lovely.

A wonderful sensation broke through me all at once, like a thousand carefully sealed floodgates had finally given way, unleashing a torrent of buried tender affection in one unstoppable surge. It crashed through me like a devastating flood. It swept past every defense he had ever built, pouring from him like a breached dam, fierce and overwhelming.

Those blue eyes glittered in the dim light.

This was what he was afraid to show me. What he was afraid to show everyone.

He still loves me.

He still loves me.

Part of me wanted to recoil from the terrifying intensity of it, while another part—a deeper, quieter part I had been trying desperately to ignore—answered it with a surge of joy so fierce it hurt, because it echoed feelings I had never stopped carrying myself.

I slid my hand up to tug on his neck, to bring him closer.

He gave a sharp intake of breath.

I paused, the fog of desire breaking enough to let a semblance of reason through. We’d just said it. We couldn’t really be together. He was the King of Wünder. I had to go home to my world. Whatever was between us could only ever be as fleeting as the moment. It would be worse to taste of the forbidden only to have it taken away later.

But his mouth was inches away, his breath sweet against mine. He was so solid, broad, and warm. My chest rose and fell with ragged breaths. I nearly trembled with sheer hunger. Heat flushed right through me when I noticed he was trembling too. We both wanted this. We both needed this.

I tilted my chin up to press my lips against his⁠—

Fire surged inside me as every single nerve in my body sparked in an instant. My eyes fluttered closed as searing hot lightning crackled through my veins at the feel of him, an exhilarating, overwhelming pleasure I’d been so badly starved for.

And I wasn’t the only one.

With a desperate groan, his hand cupped the back of my head, fingers digging into my hair, as he took my mouth—owned it. His tongue pushed between my lips to deepen our kiss right away, and ecstasy exploded inside me.

This.

This was what I had been missing.

This was what I hadn’t been able to feel for months.

Granted, the king had already touched me in significantly more brazen ways in the last few days. But it felt nowhere near anything like this.

I was bursting with completion, with belonging.

It felt like coming home.

Dizzy with his scent, his commanding presence, and his overflowing desire, I could barely keep myself upright.