34. Tempest
34
TEMPEST
T his delightfully wicked fae man was going to drive me out of my mind, and I welcomed it with arms wide open.
How could something as simple as his touch between my legs make need coil through me to the point where I could feel myself beginning to snap?
When I did, he’d be waiting to gather the fragments of me and knit them together, turning me into something even better than I was before.
Warmth coated me, followed by deepening heat. And when he dipped his fingers inside me, he dragged the fire along with him.
“Ah, fuck,” I cried, jerking my hips up to meet his hand.
“Yes?” he drawled in my ear. “Are you distracted yet, my fury?”
“I believe you’ll need to try a bit more.” I wiggled my ass all over his cock, savoring how hard it was, how thick. I adored how he was always ready for me, always eager. “Fuck, yes,” I whispered. “This is going to be good.”
“Take what you need from me.”
He kept sliding his fingers inside me, spreading the spicy warmth. It was heating me up much too fast, and while I adored that, I wanted more. So much more.
I eased my body to the side and grabbed onto his cock.
“Greedy thing, aren’t you?” He tried to sound prissy.
I laughed, because even in this, he could make it fun. “You adore that about me.”
“I do. Everything, Tempest. Everything.”
I shifted around and straddled him, sinking down onto him, filling myself completely.
His groan shivered across my bones—as it should. No one had ever done this for me, and I didn’t only mean good cock. He touched me in places no one ever had. When we were together like this, he dragged the stars down from the sky and handed them to me one by one. He soothed my quaking soul. He brought out my best and made me realize that even in my worst, I was good enough.
Soon the water was sloshing around, and our moans filled the room.
He eased me over to the side of the tub and braced me with his big hands on my hips, holding me in place while he pulled out and drove himself back inside.
The red gel he’d stroked within me kept heating, spreading warmth all the way to my clit. It throbbed along with his thrusts, driving me straight up to the sky and beyond .
And when I crashed, he caught me, shouting out his own pleasure with a cry that filled me up all over again.
He held me as he dropped back into the water. Curling around me, he kissed the nape of my neck, murmuring sweet words that made me know everything would be alright.
We lounged in the water until it started to get cold. That wasn’t an issue; we could heat it if we wanted, but we both had places we needed to be. Brenna might scold me if I was late, but Ivenrail’s punishment for Vexxion would be much harsher.
That would never do.
“Go,” I said. “I can get ready by myself.”
“I want to pamper you all the time. Stand by your side. Be here to fulfill your every need.”
“I love you.” I stroked his thigh. If only we could lounge in bed all day. Craft meals and feed each other. Fly dragons side by side and roll around in flower-filled meadows, laughing. Someday. I was going to hold onto the belief that it could happen.
He kissed my cheek, and then he was gone, dressing himself mid-flit, a task I needed to try one of these days. Another thing to add to my list, though this one would be near the bottom.
I climbed out of the tub and dried, donning the gown he’d still somehow thought to leave for me, a pretty green one that matched my eyes and the pendant he’d given me. I did my hair, arranging it simply, and walked out into the sitting area, strolling over to stroke Drask sitting on his perch, staring out the window.
“When did you come back?” I asked, smoothing his feathers. “I need to go help Brenna get ready for dinner, buddy.” I lifted him and placed him on my shoulder. His talons dug in as he rubbed his head on my face. It was nice to have my steadfast friend.
I turned and started across the room, but paused when I noted something different.
Ember’s Shadow wasn’t lying on the table where I’d left it, only the wooden dragon locked within its original pose. Since the book might’ve slid down between the cushions, I ran my fingers along them, but I didn’t find it. Dropping in front of the sofa, I peered underneath. No book. I sat back on my heels and grumbled, peering around.
“Where is it?” I asked Drask.
He fluttered his wings and settled.
Rising, I walked around the room. Had Vexxion stopped here on his way and grabbed it? He said he wanted to look at it.
Did you take the book? I asked.
I did not.
It’s not here. If you didn’t take it, someone else must have.
No one would dare enter our suite. It has to be there. We’ll look for it later.
I sighed and left the room, arriving after Delaine and Reyla, finding them sorting through Brenna’s dresses, holding up one after another while she rejected them. She was in a snarly mood, and it appeared nothing was going to make her feel better.
“I want something pretty,” she said, flouncing around her room in her underwear. “Pink or light blue.”
I stepped into the closet and went to the back, shifting the dresses along the rack, looking for something she hadn’t worn yet. There were plenty of dresses to choose from, and I gathered an armful of them and carried them out into the room, holding up one after another while she scorned them all.
Doing my best to maintain a smile, I returned to the closet for more while Delaine and Reyla did the same. Delaine tripped Reyla as she left the closet. Reyla kept going, her gaze locked on the ground.
I sent Delaine a sneer and mumbled a spell that made her nose grow longer.
Pausing, she frowned and ran her fingertip along it. She wiggled it and it shortened once more. “Do that again, and you’ll regret it.”
“Touch Reyla again, and you’ll be the one living with regrets.”
“What did you do to Prenton?” she hissed as she dragged a medium blue dress from the rack.
“Prenton?”
“My father’s Nullen. He’s missing.”
“Perhaps you should ask your father about his collared Nullen, not me.”
“You did something ,” she fumed. “I know it.”
“Ask Madrood.” I threw it out there and watched for her response. She didn’t disappoint me.
The high color left her face. So, she had been aware of the plan to kill me. “I don’t talk to dragons.”
I strutted past her with three pink gowns draped over my arm. “You should try it sometime. The conversation can be quite heated but the burn after is delightful.” I didn’t like using Prenton’s death to irk her, but I hated this woman with a passion that made my veins snap. If only I dared do more than lengthen her nose.
“What happened to him?” she called after me.
I turned in the open doorway, noting Reyla pausing behind me, rejected dresses hanging from her arms. “It was so odd. I was leaving Madrood’s stall, and Prenton ran toward me with a knife in his hand. I can’t imagine why he’d do something like that. For a moment, I thought he might accidentally cut me. Perhaps Madrood thought the same thing? He seems to have taken a liking to me. He urged me to the side and . . . I’m terribly sorry to share this news with you, but Madrood . . .” Real tears sprung up in my eyes. No one deserved the ending Prenton had found in the stable. “Madrood burned Prenton with fire.” I swallowed hard. “At least it was a quick passing.”
Delaine rarely gave anything away, but she did now with a widening of her eyes.
“Had you known him long?” I asked.
“Years,” she snapped.
What cowards she and her father were to send him to kill me. Delaine knew I could defend myself. Had she thought he’d find a way to sneak up behind me?
“I can’t imagine why he was carrying a knife, let alone rushing at me with it raised,” I said. “Do you think he believed Madrood was threatening me and wanted to protect me?”
We both knew that wasn’t the case.
“That must be it,” she said tightly, spinning around to grab more dresses.
“I suppose this means your father can now claim someone else. ”
Her arms empty, she shoved past me. “I suppose it does.”
We finally found something for Brenna to wear and quickly helped her into her gown. While she sat in her chair at the vanity, we arranged her hair, dressed her feet, and draped her with jewelry.
She kept snarling.
“What’s wrong, my lady?” I asked, struggling to remain patient.
“Nothing. Nothing,” she snapped. “I had plans for tod—” She slapped her hand over her mouth.
Jeez, she wasn’t going to sneak out to be with Zayde, was she? Didn’t she realize how close to death she’d be if she did something like that?
“Plans for what today?” Delaine asked.
“Plans for nothing,” Brenna said as I twirled a swatch of her hair and artfully pinned it in place on the top of her head.
Reyla hooked jewelry though Brenna’s earlobe.
Delaine frowned but didn’t press her further.
We escorted Brenna to dinner. Thankfully, she dismissed us outside the dining room, stating she wouldn’t need us again tonight.
“Would you come with me?” I asked Reyla. I needed to ask her if she’d taken the book, though I wasn’t confident she’d respond.
“No,” she spun and hurried away before I could latch onto her arm.
Since I had no interest in spending time with Delaine, I followed Reyla, though I didn’t catch up to her.
Giving up for now, I flitted to my suite .
Vexxion was expected to remain with the king through the evening, which meant I was free to do whatever I pleased.
It was time to explore a location Vexxion made me promise to avoid.
The king’s bedroom.