Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
KILLIAN
It will take me some time to truly wrap my mind around all that.
..Thea has told me this night. Thea. Not Tess, but Thea.
A fucking twin. I can scarcely believe it all, but I’d be lying if I said that the fact that she isn’t Barony’s Gifted after all doesn’t ease something inside my chest. It turns out Tesni’s reputation is even more accurate than I could have guessed, the fire bitch that betrayed her own twin and left her to fend for herself at only twelve.
I burn with fury at all that Thea has endured, all that she has overcome, but a fierce pride wells beside that fury.
She is strong and resilient. She is kind, despite the world showing her the worst it has to offer.
She is smart and giving and powerful beyond measure.
And she is mine.
I settle above her, bracing myself on one straightened arm as I grip my shaft and position the head at her entrance.
Wet heat kisses the crown and I hiss between clenched teeth.
Finally, after these weeks of holding ourselves back, I’m going to bury myself in this woman that was made for me, this woman who, despite having to have hidden herself from everyone, I know better than anyone else in this world.
I lean down and kiss her, deep and long, sweeping my tongue against hers and running the head of my cock along her pussy until she’s writhing beneath me.
“Killian,” she whisper-groans and I can’t tell if she’s cursing me for teasing her or begging me to give her more. Both, I’d wager.
“Ready?” I ask, voice low and husky with need.
“Yes,” she breathes, arching her hips, desperate.
I chuckle low but don’t deny her any longer.
I slowly press forward, feeding my cock inside her.
She sucks in a sharp breath and I curse low.
Great fucking Makers the feel of her, hot and wet and tight as a fist. I press forward, forcing myself to go slowly despite the clawing need to slam my hips forward, to bury my cock so deep inside her that she’ll feel me for days.
She digs her fingers into my lower back, and I pause.
“Alright?”
“Y-yes. Just…Great fucking Makers, Killian, I don’t know if I can…” she pants and I can see the touch of panic in her eyes. I grip her chin between my thumb and forefinger and force her to meet my eyes.
“Breathe, Thea. You can take me, love, I know it. Just breathe and keep your eyes on me.”
Her green eyes blaze at that, burning emeralds that I know just how to coax to life.
She obeys, taking a deep breath, holding my gaze, and I shift my hips forward once more, sliding deeper.
It’s tight. Fuck it’s tight, her walls squeezing me like a damned fist. I gnash my teeth against the pleasure, against the desires running through my mind, but I’d never fucking hurt her, so I’ll do none of it until she’s alright.
She has to be alright. She has to be ready.
I reach down and massage her clit, rubbing slow, gentle circles, and she moans quietly, shifting her hips and a fresh wave of wet heat sends me slipping farther inside.
“That’s my girl, you’re doing so well, Thea. Makers, look at you…” She moans again, louder, and I glance down between our bodies, the sight of my cock, half buried inside her making me want to come here and now. She digs her fingers into my skin, pulling me forward.
“More.” She writhes as she begs, sending me deeper. “More, Killian.”
“So greedy,” I tsk with a grin, but press forward, sliding in to the hilt. She cries out and arches off of the bed. “Fuckkkkk.” The wave of pleasure that crashes through me as she takes me so fucking deep is nearly too much, the feel of her so intense I can barely breathe. “Are you alright?”
“Yes,” she rasps, meeting my gaze. Her pupils are expanded, only the faintest line of green around the black, and sweat beads her brow.
I shift my hips backward before thrusting forward again, still slowly, still gently.
Again. Once more, to be sure she’s ready.
She groans and pants, eyes sliding closed, her teeth digging into her bottom lip.
She looks like an angel of the Makers’ own creation, fiery hair spread out across the pillow beneath her head, lips red and swollen, skin flushed with wanting.
I lean in and kiss her, sucking her bottom lip between my own before biting down.
She cries out, fingers digging into my back harder now, nails biting into my skin, and hips arching upward, demanding.
“Hold on, love,” I say, half playful, half warning. Her eyes flash open at that and there’s no trepidation there, only a sultry challenge that sets my blood aflame.
“Let’s see what the great Commander can do,” she whispers, and I don’t think I’ve ever been more aroused than I am in this fucking moment. The way she teases me. The way she pushes me. The way she challenges me in the best ways at every turn. This woman…
I start to move in earnest then, no more gentle thrusts, but powerful ones that have her clawing at my back and crying out in pleasure over and over, her breasts bouncing from the force of it, her hair looking like rippling flames as her head thrashes.
“Ah Makers, harder Killian,” she begs and it’s like a song to my heart.
I shift back to my knees and pull her hips off of the bed, hooking her knees over my elbows and spreading her wide.
The angle sends me deeper, hitting spots that have her screaming and sweat running down my chest and back with the strain of keeping myself from coming.
I won’t, not until I wring another orgasm from her first. She reaches up and grips her breasts, massaging and kneading.
The sight nearly undoes me, but I clench my teeth as I pound into her, forcing my body under my command.
“Fucking hells, Thea. Pinch your nipples for me, love. Ah fuck, just like that. You look so fucking beautiful, taking my cock so well…”
She whimpers and makes a sound I’m all too familiar with now, that tiny hitch in her breath, the small change in the tenor of her soft moan. I smile.
“That’s it, Thea. Come for me, love. Come hard around my cock.”
I thrust two more times and she rakes her nails down my stomach, leaving bloody tracks that I’ll wear like badges of great honor.
“Right…there…Killian…FUCK!”
She comes in a rush, her walls pulsing and squeezing me so fucking tightly, over and over as she rides the wave of release.
“Can feel you…fucking hells, Thea.” Before she even stops spasming around me, I grip her waist and flip her to her stomach.
Great fucking Makers, she doesn’t hesitate, immediately pressing up to her hands and knees and raising her perfect ass into the air.
I make some unholy animalistic sound at the sight and run my hand over the pert curve before gripping my cock and positioning it once more.
I press inside her again, hoping that one day she’ll allow me to do other things from this position.
At the thought, I can’t stop myself from trailing my fingers downward from the base of her spine, brushing over that forbidden spot for just a moment and making her gasp and writhe.
I quirk a brow, thinking that my woman may very well enjoy that.
Later, I scold myself. Later. We have time.
We have forever. I hope…No, I press the thought away.
We will. We’ll deal with whatever is to come and will be stronger for it.
I grip her hips and slam forward as I tug her back, fucking her hard from behind.
She cries out in pleasure, digging her fingers into the bed before turning to look over her shoulder at me.
Fucking hells, if ever there were a sexier sight in all of the empire…
She reaches back and grips my thigh, nails biting, begging for more with hoarse, throaty screams. I give her what she wants, slamming my hips over and over, pulling her backwards on every thrust to hit deeper, harder.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, Killian…I’m close…”
“I know,” I tell her, panting, slick with sweat. “Come again. Want to feel your pussy squeezing me so fucking tight…”
I grab her arms and tug them behind her, crossing one over the other across the small of her back, forcing her shoulders to lower. She gasps and I grip both wrists in one hand as I slam my hips forward.
“Oh Makers,” she cries. “Yes, yes, yes…” She screams as she comes again, but in this position, she can’t move away, can’t writhe or escape the full power of her climax.
Her entire body trembles from the force of it and I yell her name as I follow her, coming so hard that stars explode in my vision, burning everything else in the world away.
We collapse together, both of us out of breath and covered with sweat. We lie there, tangled together, neither of us speaking for an eternity, the only sounds the crackling of the fire, our ragged breathing, and the beating of my heart loud in my ears.
Eventually she shifts and turns to face me. Her cheeks are flushed a beautiful pink, her hair a tangled mess of fire. I run my thumb over her bottom lip and she kisses the pad softly.
“Are you alright?” I ask.
“Alright is not an adequate word to describe how I am,” she sighs.
“Good,” I lean down and kiss her, the taste of salt on her lips.
I push myself up and pour a glass of water from the pitcher on the table and hand it to her.
She sits and takes it, sipping it gratefully, rubbing sweat from her brow and fanning herself.
It’s stifling in this fucking tent. As if reading my thoughts she gives me a look that says here we go and I feel her Gift rising.
I have no block on her now, though I can still feel her energy like always.
A moment later the temperature around us drops, cooling the sweat on my chest and back.
I blink and take a deep breath, letting it out slowly, still a bit shocked about her true Gift—and the strength of it.
“I imagine that came in handy in Helios.” I arch a brow and she smiles.
“We told everyone that Math invented a contraption that cooled the air in the tavern with thick blades made from palm fronds tethered together, rotating by means of a series of pulleys and gears.” She snorts at some memory of them creating the fraudulent machine I’m sure.
“But it kept the seats and our coffers full, everyone dying to get inside Okania and escape the stifling heat.” She shrugs.
“Okania--freedom,” I muse at the use of the old Nydic word. The language has mostly gone extinct in the empire, but a few phrases have remained and are mixed in with the common tongue.
“It seemed like a fitting name, all of us needing it in some form or another there. Math from a bastard of a father; Cece from a loving but overbearing and exhausting family of fourteen; the sailors and pirates and patrons that found a safe haven in Helios for a million other reasons.” She sighs. “And me from my old life.”
“But you’ve never really used your Gift?” She knows what I mean and shakes her head.
“That first day when I escaped the guards, and a few times since then to defend myself, but I kept it hidden as much as possible. It was the only way I knew how to survive.”
“So, you’ve never trained with it then?”
“No.” She blinks, frowning. “I…well, I didn’t really know you could do that?”
I roll my eyes. “Of course you can train it. It’s how you get stronger, gain more control, like any other part of your body.
Thea, with the power you unleashed on that tundra…
” I shake my head, still in awe of it. If she can truly learn to wield it, she would be an asset to our army.
Hells, she could end this war before it even really starts.
A conversation with Yara from years ago surfaces in my mind and inhale quietly.
The old loon, who I love dearly, was in one of her moods, spouting nonsense about how the world had been long, long ago, how the dragons and winds and Makers and anything else you could think of speak to her of all manner of things…
and how it was foretold long ago that there would be a Gifted one day that would make all other Gifteds dim in the brightness of their power.
This Gifted would end a darkness encroaching upon our world and put things back to rights.
This Gifted would be important to all of us—but particularly to me…
My heart races. Could she truly have been speaking of…Thea? I shake myself, pushing the memories away and deciding that I’m as insane as Yara.
“Let’s talk about it later,” I tell Thea, kissing her forehead. “You must be exhausted.”
She gets a wicked gleam in her eye and those perfectly bowed lips curl upward in a sensual, teasing smile.
“Have you forgotten?” she whispers, shifting to her knees and pressing against my chest, pushing me to lie back on the bed.
“I do believe I promised to ride you like a wild Northland until your eyes rolled back in your head…” She straddles my waist and wraps her palm around my already hardening cock, stroking as she meets my gaze, all manner of wicked promises held in those emerald depths.
“Now that you mention it,” I rasp, tucking one arm behind my head and reaching out to grip her waist with the other, “I do recall something of the sort…”
She runs her tongue along her bottom lip and my cock pulses in her grasp.
“I believe you have mountains to shake, Commander...”
With that, she makes good on her promise.