Hymn of Breath and Bone (The Whispering Sea Duet #2)

Chapter 15

Caspian laughed, kissing me once more before sliding home so slowly I nearly combusted right there.

“Fuck Marina,” he growled, pulling out after only a shallow, testing thrust. “I may have lied. This won’t last very long at all.”

This time I laughed, tightening my legs around his hips as I tried to get him to move deeper. The nails of my free hand clawed at his back as his grip tightened on my pinned wrist in response. “You won’t break me, Cas.”

“You might break me,” he groaned, thrusting a little deeper this time before retreating.

“Please,” I moaned, breath hitching as he moved so slowly back into me.

The word was his final undoing as he thrust all the way home, the pinch of pain at the fullness of him inside me wiped away by the sheer pleasure of feeling him consume me. A sudden gust of wind blew out the candles, leaving us in silvery darkness.

“Fuck,” he gasped, his golden eyes meeting mine in the semi-dark. “Fuck, you feel…”

“Like home,” I breathed, gripping tighter as if we could stay like this forever.

“So good,” he agreed, pulling out slightly before thrusting home again in a move that had me arching into him as the sea crashed against the windows. The ship rocked slightly, its pitch and roll matching the movement of Caspian’s hips as he lost his grip on his magic. “Fuck, Urchin.”

“I wish you would,” I gasped, aching for him to move faster. I felt my own magic unspooling as whatever power that bound us solidified into something almost tangible, a golden thread between us that spun with the wind and dove with the sea.

Caspian chuckled, rewarding me with a slightly sharper thrust as the ship rolled in echo. “As you wish.”

Caspian moved, each thrust of his hips followed by a roll as he pressed into me, trying to give me all the pleasure he could as he took his own. I let myself go, digging my nails into his back to spur him onward as he nipped at my throat.

“Yes,” I moaned, trying to encourage him with every part of me. “More.”

“You’ll be the death of me, Urchin,” he growled, kissing me and rolling us across the bed as the ship lurched. I landed atop him, still joined with him as he gripped my hips with almost bruising strength. “Your turn.”

I rolled my hips experimentally, trying to flex the muscles of my inner walls as I rocked against him. “Like this?”

“Fuck,” Caspian groaned, arching into me as I moved. “Yes. Anything.”

I laughed, bracing my hand on his chest as I bobbed and rolled, the movements inelegant and unpracticed as I tried to find what felt best. Caspian didn’t seem to mind, his chest heaving as he watched me ride him with predatory focus.

After a few minutes, he sat up, spearing into me with so much pressure I yelped a little. “Like this, Urchin,” he murmured, guiding my hips in a steady rhythm as he gripped my backside with one hand and the back of my neck with the other. “Just like this.”

“Seas,” I breathed, feeling little bolts of pleasure shoot up my spine from where we were joined. A flash of lightning outside lit the room, Caspian’s eyes wide and hungry as he watched me coming undone. “Is that the storm? It caught up to us?”

“No Urchin,” he laughed, rolling us gently so he was in control again, his pace quickening as he lost the battle for restraint. “That’s us.”

I cried out as he filled me, each thrust bringing me slightly closer to that glimmering, shivering edge.

“You first, Marina,” he growled, sliding two fingers between us to tease me where I needed more friction. “I want to follow you this first time.”

“Caspian,” I moaned, my breath coming in gasps as I gripped him with one hand and teased my nipple with the other.

“I’m waiting, Urchin,” he repeated, bending his head to suck on my earlobe and sending sparks shivering down my neck. “Come for me.”

As if on his command, the wave of ecstasy crested in me, and I cried out as the sea rose in a wave to batter the windows. Caspian groaned into my neck, another flash of lightning illuminating the sky. Wind rattled the windows as his own release spooled out of him.

He pumped into me, the last waves of delicious heat leaving us at the same moment as we unraveled together.

The building storm outside suddenly died.

I felt it then—the bond shimmering between us, new and precious and golden, where pleasure had been moments before. I tugged gently on it, feeling Caspian on the other side as if he had always been there.

“Well hello,” he murmured, tugging back on the bond as he flopped onto the bed. I felt the tug deep in my core as he pulled me atop him.

“Hello,” I whispered back, shivering as his fingers traced over my spine and our eyes met.

“That was…”

“Very.”

“Are you—”

“I’m perfect,” I whispered, tracing the scars on his chest with the hand not pinned to his body. “You?”

“More than perfect,” he replied, pressing a tender kiss to my lips. “I finally feel complete. Like something was missing and I didn’t realize it.”

I nodded, unable to find any better words to describe the new, gilded thing between us.

Caspian idly pulled feathers and shells from my hair where they were now hopelessly tangled. “I love you. So fucking much it feels like I might explode with it.”

“Something exploded,” I teased, earning a pinch to my bottom and a chuckle. I moved so I was resting fully on his chest, my chin propped on my arms as I looked into his eyes. He traced the curves of my face, his fingers gentle and exploring. “I love you too.”

He kissed me briefly before settling back on the pillow and weaving his fingers into my hair to loosen the braids. “I feel like I perhaps didn’t do justice to my promises,” he said, his smirk telling me he wasn’t actually concerned. “I believe there are parts of you yet unmapped.”

“You’ll have to do a more thorough job next time then,” I replied, pressing a kiss to the largest scar, the result of his challenge to his father.

“I shall indeed,” he agreed, his hands doing a fairly comprehensive job of mapping my curves as we lay there. “Regrets?”

“No,” I insisted, shaking my head and frowning at him. “Were you worried?”

“No,” he assured me, his fingers scratching my scalp gently as he toyed with my hair. “I’m a catch.”

I laughed, intending to smack him with a pillow when he caught me in an embrace and kissed me deeply, turning us so he was above me and cradling me in his arms.

“Next time will be slower,” he murmured, brushing his nose against mine as I felt him harden against me again. Holy gods, this mating bond was no joke. “I plan to savor every inch of you, Marina.”

“You cannot possibly be ready again so soon,” I chided, laughing as he pressed insistently against me in a way that assured me he most definitely was.

“I hope now that the first time is over, we won’t create a storm with our lovemaking,” he mused, trailing playful kisses down my shoulder and arm. “Or we’re going to have an extremely seasick and ineffective crew on this voyage.”

“Did our magic do that?” I asked. I had been too distracted by all the pleasure to really notice the storm outside. I knew that mates often experienced an increase in their magic when they joined, but I hadn’t realized it would be quite that powerful.

“Hmm?” Caspian asked, not bothering to interrupt his exploration south down the length of my body.

“The storm,” I insisted as I tried to tug him back up by the hair. “Caspian I couldn’t possibly—oh!”

I didn’t get my answer about the storm.

It was atrociously early when I was awakened by the sun streaming through the open windows. We were sailing north, but the glare from the east was bright enough to cast everything in orange light as Caspian groaned and threw a wing over us.

“That will teach me to close the drapes,” he groaned, pressing his face into my neck in a scratchy kiss.

“Good morning,” I murmured, eyes adjusting to the light which was only slightly dimmed by Caspian’s feathers. “Seas, everything hurts.”

The ache between my thighs was of the delicious sort—one of satisfaction and fulfillment. But Caspian’s lovemaking had been vigorous and enthusiastic throughout the night, and I’d had a thorough workout with only a few hours of sleep.

Caspian chuckled, looking entirely too satisfied as he brushed his nose against mine. “Did I keep my promises?”

“Yes,” I murmured, brushing his lips with mine as his hands and mouth woke me up with gentle kisses and caresses. “I think I need a day to recover though.”

“You’ll be fine in a few hours,” he rumbled, making me laugh as he grinned up at me. “Stamina, Urchin. We’ll work on it.”

He rolled from the bed completely bare and strode unashamedly to the bathing chamber. I stretched out, feeling warm and sore and far too boneless to get up yet.

Caspian returned a minute later, rousing me from the doze I had slipped into without him.

“Medicine first, Urchin,” he commanded, pouring the contents of two of the vials Mira had prescribed for me into a glass and handing it to me. The contents were green and viscous and unpleasant looking, but it tasted faintly of mint.

“You remembered my medicine?”

“Of course.” He stoppered the vials and placed them on the small ledge next to the bed. “We should have enough to last until we get back to the cliffs, but you need to tell me if you’re having a hard day so I don’t destroy you in training.”

I kissed him before he could say more, so moved by this seemingly inconsequential gesture that I didn’t think words would do it justice. The only thing I had really asked Vitulus or my father for when they had agreed to my mating was the ability to fight. To learn to defend myself. My illness had been a barrier and a reason for them to say no.

But Caspian expected we’d train regardless of my lungs and assumed I would know how much I could handle.

The gesture of trust, so freely given by him, was one I ought to have demanded from my own family.

“Not that I’m protesting,” Caspian murmured, pushing me back into the pillows as he prowled over me. “But what was that for?”

“Nothing,” I replied a little breathlessly. It had nothing to do with my lungs. “And everything.”

Caspian gave me a searching look, and I reassured him with another kiss. “When do we resume training?”

“Well I rather hoped we could lay in bed all day and make love whenever the mood struck,” Caspian said wistfully, eyeing me like I was about to ruin all his fun. “But today, if you insist on being industrious.”

“Hmm,” I mused, pretending to think my options over. “You’d have to be very convincing.”

“I’m a persuasive person.” My stomach chose this moment to rumble loudly, and Caspian laughed. “Breakfast first?” He kissed me lightly before rolling off the bed and pulling on trousers.

“Shame,” I teased, feeling warmth rush into me at the look of molten heat he threw over his shoulder and arched wing. “I was enjoying the view.”

I rolled out of the bed after him, pleased to find that someone—likely Zephyr—had made sure I had changes of clothes in the drawer under the bed. I warred with myself for a moment over a loose gown for easy removal, or trousers and bodice for maneuverability and training. The bodice won out.

“The true shame is the loss of my view,” Caspian rumbled, moving to stand behind me. He had donned his boots and pauldrons and sword, but it wasn’t the weapon I felt pressed against my backside as he bent to kiss my neck.

“Seas, you’re a distraction,” I hissed, struggling to untangle the laces of the bodice and trying not to think about his perfect body.

“Let me.” Caspian took the bodice from me as I squirmed from his arms to don a shirt. By the time I was mostly decent, he had the laces untangled and held the supple leather out to me.

“I didn’t realize you were so handy with a bodice,” I teased, pulling it over my head and turning to face him as I began to adjust the laces.

“I’ve had some practice.”

“Too much practice, I’d wager.” The spear of jealousy caught me so off guard I felt my stomach lurch.

Caspian laughed, taking my shoulders in his hands and pressing a kiss to my brow. “Prickly urchin,” he teased, scooping my hair over my shoulder and weaving it into a loose braid. “I felt that.”

I raised my brow, trying to push the jealousy away. Caspian didn’t begrudge my earlier romances, so I wouldn’t begrudge his. “You have practice braiding hair too?”

“I dabble.” He tugged the finished braid once before tipping my chin up to kiss me properly. It was slow and consuming, a promise of what—or who—would come later.

Again and again and again.

“I have eyes only for you, Urchin,” he murmured as he broke away. “And lips.” He brushed a kiss across my mouth again. “And fingers.” Another tug on the braid, then his hand trailed to my backside to pull me close. “And,” a press of his hips, so hard and insistent against my core I gasped, “other things. All only for you now, my beautiful mate.”

“Those other things do interest me,” I murmured, trying to remember why exactly we had gotten dressed. Heat was pooling again low in my core, and the completed bond between us magnified my desire with his tenfold. It was almost enough to make me come undone right then and there as he nipped the tip of my ear with his teeth.

My stomach rumbled again, and I remembered the purpose of the clothes.

“Breakfast,” I gasped, pushing out of his arms before he could melt me into a puddle on the floor. “Food.”

Caspian laughed, throwing an arm around my shoulders as we headed for the door. “Always eloquent, my love. I suppose you’ll be needing the energy with what I have planned for you later.”

The heat, so quick to build again, rapidly morphed into embarrassment as he opened the door to cheering and whooping from the entire crew. I felt my face burn red and barely resisted the urge to hide it against his shoulder as he guided me out, not at all embarrassed by the attention.

I was a mated female. I doubted anyone aboard hadn’t guessed what we’d been doing all night. Or what Caspian intended to do with me all day. But it was strange being so open about it. I’d hid all of my romances from my parents, never inviting a male back to my room for fear of being caught. And my relationship with Vitulus hadn’t been a romance by any stretch of the imagination.

I felt very exposed.

“Seas,” I groaned as the cheering and laughter and congratulations followed us along the deck. “You think they heard?”

“Almost certainly,” Caspian replied as I looked up at him. His eyebrow was raised in an amused tilt, his amber eyes glinting with mischief as his hand remained protectively around my shoulders. “Or felt. I thought you were no blushing maiden, Urchin?”

“Maybe just the maiden part,” I mumbled, earning a laugh and a squeeze.

“Want me to throw them all overboard so they can’t hear us again?”

“Yes,” I grumbled, as my stomach churned with hunger and embarrassment. “After breakfast, though.”

Caspian chuckled as he guided me toward the galley, where the clatter of spoons and pans told me breakfast was being prepared.

Reuben gave us a toothy grin and a salacious wink, pushing two bowls of gray mush and some crusty bread toward us.

Caspian thanked the cook and began forcing down his breakfast while I cringed. “Still inedible?”

“Always,” he sighed, tearing off a hunk of bread between his teeth. “He tries so hard, bless him.”

“Morning, lovebirds,” shouted Zephyr, swinging down from the rigging with a grin on her face that told me she had definitely felt what we’d done last night. “Surprised to see you up and about. Not up to the task, Cas?”

I groaned again, pressing my face into Caspian’s shoulder as it turned red. He laughed, pulling me close to him.

“You don’t need to be embarrassed, Marina,” Zephyr assured, looking amused as I peeked around Caspian’s bicep. “There is no shame in taking pleasure from another, especially when that other is your mate.”

“See?” Caspian said, pressing a swift kiss to my temple.

“Even if he isn’t up to the task of—”

“Thank you, Zephyr,” Caspian interrupted, scowling at her wry grin. “Don’t you have work to do?”

“Tons,” she agreed. “But I needed to congratulate my king and queen on their union.”

“And pry into our personal business,” Caspian grumbled. “Eat your bread, Urchin.”

I smirked, enjoying that it was Caspian who flushed pink instead of me.

Zephyr looked solemnly at Caspian, her single brown eye bright. Then she clapped her hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. “There’s no shame in—”

“Finish that sentence, and I’ll feed your only good eye to the sea dragons,” Caspian growled as I tried to suppress my laughter.

Zephyr tsked, hopping to the deck above us with a flap of her wings. “So touchy, these newly-mated males.”

Caspian growled and scooped me into his arms without warning. The bread almost fell into the waves as he launched skyward, circling the ship once to cheers and a few lewd gestures before landing again in front of our cabin.

“What are you doing?” I gasped as Caspian pulled me into the room and threw himself at me, catching me in a kiss that nearly stole my breath.

He walked me back to the bed tearing at the laces of the bodice which was suddenly far too hot and tight on my skin.

“Proving that I’m up for the task,” he murmured between kisses, tugging at my trousers.

“All because of a little teasing?”

“Take your clothes off, Urchin, or I’ll take them off for you.”

The heat in Caspian’s gaze was almost otherworldly, sending sparks of desire shooting down my spine as I felt his need for me pulsing down the bond. I could see the hard length of him straining against his trousers, and my mouth dried out a little.

I let him undress me.