Chapter 34
Rykr
Even though I’d shown her my underbelly, she still loved me.
Seren slept in my arms, her body warm as it pressed against me, the smooth skin of her ass tucked up so close that I’d woken hard all night. Fortunately, she’d been happy to wake up with me, and we had fucked on every possible surface of this room—not that there was much selection.
I wasn’t spent, either. Even now, my hand rested on her hip and every irrational thought in my body urged me to wake her once more.
The oppressive silence of the early morning gave me too much time to think.
Lirien needed me—didn’t it?
But how was I supposed to leave her here?
Her soul had been threaded with mine in a way I’d never known was possible. In a way that felt like obsession. I wanted her in every way—as a wife, a lover, a queen, a friend, a counselor. In ways I couldn’t think of or verbalize.
She thought she loved me. That she knew me. Would she love the king of her enemies? The prince who’d once been labeled the scourge of her people? And if I turned my back on that divinely appointed path—would she love the man who’d chosen her over honor?
As the darkness of my thoughts sprouted long claws that dug into my chest, my lips dropped to her jaw, my hand smoothing forward across the flat plane of her stomach.
She groaned softly, a light laugh leaving her lips as she woke. Her lips found mine immediately and she kissed me softly, then smiled. “You don’t intend on letting me sleep at all this morning, do you?”
“Sleep is a waste of time,” I growled possessively in her ear, my hand sliding down to stroke her swollen, slick clit. “Especially when you’re facing death.”
Gods, she’s so wet already.
“And if we survive tonight?” She moaned as I pushed her thighs apart with my knee, teasing her entrance with my cock.
“Then we’ll fuck in celebration all day tomorrow.” I flipped her onto her stomach. “Get on your hands and knees.”
She complied readily and I set my hands on her ass, admiring the view of her, splayed before me. The sight of that quivering, slick pussy made me somehow harden even more. I’d coated it with my cum so many times already tonight, claimed her, made her thoroughly mine and it wasn’t enough.
It would never be enough.
I thrust myself fully inside her, taking her so fast that she cried out in pain and pleasure, a groan ripping from her throat. “Did I hurt you?” I asked.
“Yes.” She reached between my legs and squeezed my balls. “But I liked it.”
This woman was going to drive me insane.
How could I satiate myself with fucking her? Nothing was enough.
This bond made sure of that.
Nothing would ever be enough—would it?
Or was it that lack of balance that had me this feral? I wanted to give her everything I had—but what if what I needed to give her was a literal piece of my soul, as she had given me?
A knock on the door made us both look back and I moved to pull away from her, but she clamped her hand harder against me. “Finish first,” she demanded.
I smiled and leaned down, my hand sliding around her waist to find her clit as I continued to thrust. “My pleasure, darling wife.”
Her moans began to grow louder and she reached for the pillow to bury her face against it.
I tugged it away from her with my free hand, thrusting harder.
As cries of ecstasy left her lips, I felt her tighten against my cock, her body shuddering and shaking against me. That undid me. I groaned and gave one final thrust as I released inside her, pulsing deep.
Gods almighty.
My fingers traced the curve of Seren’s spine. She was warm against me, soft despite the strength I knew lurked beneath. I’d spent a lifetime fighting battles, yet this was the first time I feared losing. Not a war, but her. Not the kingdom, but this.
A sharp knock shattered the thought. Seren tensed against me, and I cursed under my breath.
Heart hammering in my chest, I pulled away and lay back on the mattress. “I’m not sure I can walk.”
“Swiver. You’re going to make me answer the door?” Her cheeks were pink, her face flushed with pleasure. Combing her long hair over her shoulder, she shook her head at me, then stole the sheet off the bed and stood, wrapping it around her. “I’m dripping, you know,” she hissed.
The thought made me grin. “You’re the one who wanted to finish.”
She walked toward the door and cracked it open a slit.
“You need to get dressed,” Ciaran’s voice said stiffly from the other side of the door. “Rykr’s friend is back, and this time he has company. We’re in Amahle’s room. It’s bigger. And … quieter.”
Thorne?
Shit.
I hadn’t allowed myself to think about that whole situation all night. After the experience with the Seidr, my mind had been plenty occupied.
Seren closed the door but didn’t turn around.
“I guess that means he heard us last night,” I said, getting up from the bed.
I went over to the tub. Drops of water were still on the bottom of it, from when we’d used it during the night.
Turning the water on, I soaked a cloth in the warm stream, then carried it to her.
Turning Seren to face me, I knelt in front of her, then cleaned the mess I’d made on her. She set her hand on my shoulder. “Company?”
I stood and held her gaze. Would she be angry that I hadn’t told her? “It’s not what you think. Or who you think.”
Seren crossed her arms, pressing the sheet against her perfect breasts. “Who do I think it is?”
“More Regulation soldiers. But it’s not.” I went back to the tub, wiped myself clean, and shut the water off.
The truth was, I hadn’t been ready for this meeting last night. I wasn’t sure if it would have changed things between Seren and me.
And after everything … I hadn’t wanted to risk it.
The night we’d had, despite how it had started, had been incredible. Selfishly, I hadn’t been willing to let anything take that from us.
We dressed in silence, a heaviness creeping in. Her thoughts, a hum in my head that I’d learned to block out, were unusually quiet, as though she was afraid to think too much.
I tensed as I finished strapping my sword at my hip. Seren gave me an odd look. “It doesn’t quite feel real, does it?”
“What?”
“Last night. It was like a dream.”
A smile played at my lips. “A dream? Or a recurring nightmare?”
She chuckled. “Hilarious.” Then she came over toward me and kissed me. “Ready?”
“Does it make a difference?” I arched a brow. I wasn’t sure that I was.
We crossed the hallway and Seren knocked. Amahle opened the door immediately, ushering us in.
The room was only slightly larger than ours, but it had the benefit of a window to the street. Thorne occupied a large space over by the window and at his side—Brogan Ragnall.
Seren’s knees nearly buckled. A strangled cry tore from her throat and she was gone from my side, flying toward her father.
I’d tried to prepare for this meeting since the moment Thorne had told me the man was here and helping him, but the sight of him stirred fury in my blood, my hand dropping instinctively to the hilt of my sword.
Brogan caught his daughter in a tight embrace, and I tore my gaze away. The man who murdered my mother should be a savage, heartless monster, not a loving father with a family. I wanted him to be the former—needed him to be.
Ciaran sat awkwardly on a chair, looking absolutely miserable. Amahle sidled up to me. “Nice work,” she whispered with a wry smile. “Ciaran spent the night on my floor just to get away from you two.”
Seren pulled away from Brogan, wiping tears from her cheeks and then whirled back to look at me.
“Did you know my father was here?” Then she stiffened slightly, as though remembering the hatred I’d relayed before—and the fact that I’d never met her father.
“Father …” She pushed back a strand of hair, nervously. “It’s a long story, but this is—”
“I know who he is—what’s happened.” Brogan lifted his chin and held my gaze.
The simplicity of his words was clear enough: he knew me as Prince Calix Warrick.
Odd how, in many ways, I no longer knew myself by that name.
“I spoke with your mother,” Brogan said in a gruff voice to Seren, still watching me. “You were wise to stay here. The House of the Veil is filled with spies.”
“That’s where Mother was going, isn’t it? The sewer …” Seren’s eyes widened and she glanced at Thorne.
Thorne shifted beside Brogan, watching us both with caution. I’d given Thorne an earful about trusting Brogan. No matter what the man had done or claimed, I couldn’t and wouldn’t trust him. Anything else would mean sheer stupidity.
But Thorne had insisted. Brogan had found him in the forest. Helped him, rather than killed him. Led him to Emberstone. “Did you claim refuge with the Viori?” I asked Thorne.
Thorne lifted his right wrist with a scowl. “I got a shiny new brand and everything.” The Viori rune gleamed on his skin. “I still have to present myself for a loyalty test and pledge tonight. Before your trial.”
“Thorne, this is my wife, Seren,” I said, directing Seren’s attention to him.
“My lady,” Thorne said with a bow. “Thorne Ursidor, at your service.” He gave me a knowing look. “Now I know why you don’t want to leave.”
Seren looked him over carefully. “Thank you,” she said, but the anxious set of her features remained. Her gaze snapped back to her father. “Did you bring him here, Father? What are you doing here? Where’s Madoc … and Esme?”
Brogan’s grim expression shifted.
After a tense moment, he said, “Haldron has Esme.”
Seren gasped, her shock seeping through the bond, the strength of her pain like a gut punch.
Wait. That daughter? That was the daughter Ragnall had come to rescue?
I felt the way Seren’s mind shifted. The way her thoughts raced, boiling with rage and questions as her eyes turned toward me, lips parted, shaken to her core.
The leader of her people was the villain she’d been looking for all this time. The one who’d taken her beloved sister.
Both Ciaran and Amahle looked equally stunned. “What the hell?” Amahle breathed.