Chapter 21
Gemma
A swirl of golden pleasure was tightening and tightening in my belly. Tightening into a single solid thread that threatened to snap at any moment.
One glorious moment, we’d been flying. I’d felt free. I’d felt other . Like I’d been this entirely new being, whose world had just opened up to endless possibilities. I’d felt powerful.
Now I had my back against a wall and a Kylorr between my thighs, wedging himself against my body like he was trying to come into my skin.
And I was parting for him.
I was breathing into his kiss, tasting my own blood, feeling my head swirl whenever he licked at my tongue.
He tasted divine. There was a roughness to his kiss that made me crazed . I didn’t know what was happening. All I knew was that I expected my pleasure and I would damn well get it.
When he tore his mouth away, I nearly groaned at the loss. My back left the warm stone of the staircase wall. The alcove we were in made a private little square, only big enough for us. Our only witness was the sea. It stretched wide, glittering and perfect, and I found myself blinking at it with a heavily lidded gaze as Azur turned me forward. As he pushed me over the banister railing of the courtyard terrace.
The stone was pushed under my breasts, and I gripped the railing hard. Azur bent over me, tugging hard at the neckline of my dress, and I heard it rip. He pushed the material down, and my breasts spilled out, the warm breeze drifting over them, making them pebble and stiffen.
His hot, roughened palm cupped one, and a ragged, shocked moan tumbled from my throat. His fingers pinched at one nipple, twisting it hard enough to make me squirm and my clit flutter, and I dug my nails into the stone, biting my lip, tasting my blood.
When he pinched again, I felt my knees tremble. My eyes flew wide, feeling the beginnings of my orgasm rising, hot and fast.
“Oh gods,” I whimpered.
His chuckle sounded strained and tight.
“I can make you come like this,” he breathed in my ear. “You don’t need my venom at all, do you, little wife?”
His venom?
I whimpered, dragging in lungfuls of air.
Our feedings were getting more and more physical .
Ever since the night in Maazin’s office, when he’d sunk his fangs into my breast and I’d felt the rasp of his chin abrade across my nipple, the feedings had been different. Like we were toying and playing at the edge of what could be. Like Azur kept pushing me and pushing me until he found my limits. Then he’d push some more.
We had an agreement. I would be whatever he wanted me to be during our feeding. I would act however he wanted me to act: fearful or submissive. I would play a role.
Only, Azur hadn’t demanded anything from me. He liked me needy though. He liked when I moaned for his bite.
The frightening thing was that I wasn’t playing a role.
Azur was bent over me, his front plastered to my back, as he tugged at my pebbled nipples. Every pull sent a flurry of sensation hurtling straight to my cunt.
Then Azur was groaning. He moved closer, and I was gasping for breath, tilting my head to the side, awaiting—no, needing —to feel that prick of pain, followed by the hot blur of pleasure.
I didn’t have to wait long.
But just as Azur bit my neck, as that first dizzying pull made me hiss, I felt his hand leave my breast and dive under the skirts of my dress.
I didn’t even tense when I felt his hand find me, so slick and warm that it was dripping down my thighs. I was lost. I spread my legs wider, sharp zaps of wicked desire skittering up my spine.
“Good wife,” he growled against my skin, and I gasped. “So fucking wet for me, kyrana .”
The callouses and the roughness of his fingers abraded sensitive flesh. I jerked and moaned, my gaze half-lidded, staring unseeingly out at the Silver Sea.
The orgasm came swiftly. From the lightest of touches against my clit, Azur made me jerk, and it set me off like a bomb. I broke. Shattered . With his fangs deep in my neck and his hand underneath my dress, I rocked and moaned and hissed and pleaded. I might have even screamed, the sound carrying over the water, and his dark laugh abruptly cut off when he ground his cock into the deep cleft of my ass.
His curse was a muffled whisper across my skin as he drank deep. As he ground that thick shaft, hard like steel, into me.
I was other again.
I didn’t feel like myself.
I was entirely new, created from Azur’s touch and crafted from the sublime pleasure that flooded me, altering every network in my body, every cell.
A second orgasm sparked between my thighs. A deep clenching that made me feel empty, as my walls spasmed and convulsed around nothing. I groaned, rocking against him. The movement made my exposed nipples drag across the rough, textured stone. It felt good . So damn good. That tiny bit of pain that made me want to hold my breath.
Azur froze. His fangs tore from my neck and every muscle in his body went rigid. His hips jerked. I could feel his cock swell. I could feel it twitch and spill in release. But he didn’t make a single sound.
With a sharp huff, Azur’s hand dropped from between my legs. The skirts of my dress settled. I felt warm. Like I was floating in a dreamy pink haze. Or was I just dizzy?
Azur turned me around. I thought he might leave. That he would leave me hanging over the banister with a ripped dress and flushed cheeks. That was what he did whenever he fed. Though the feedings were intense , he always left. Though he usually left me in my rooms where I could stumble right to bed afterward.
His expression was unreadable as he peered down at me. Suddenly, a wave of dizziness made me clutch at his forearm, keeping me steady. The world tilted.
Azur’s brow furrowed.
“Gemma,” he murmured quietly, his voice hoarse. His eyes were bright too. Burning like a roaring fire, embers peeking out at me.
“Hmm?”
His jaw tightened. “Have you been taking the baanye ?”
My blink was slow. “The baanye ?”
“The supplement,” he said, pressing his fingers to my wrist. His fangs hadn’t retracted yet. “To help your body replenish itself after my feedings.”
“Oh,” I said. Wasn’t he going to leave? “I’m not sure. Maybe Ludayn knows.”
“ Raazos, ” he cursed. “You should have been taking it this whole time! I told you to take it, didn’t I?”
I pushed at his chest, hearing the spark of his annoyance. As if he hadn’t just ground himself against me until he’d flooded his pants.
“I don’t know what I eat,” I argued. He’d fed from me twice yesterday. And now this feeding. I’d been a little tired this morning but nothing that would prevent me from working on the terrace all afternoon. “Ludayn brings me my meals, and I eat whatever is there. Except for that sludge tea.”
Azur bit out a sigh, his left wing twitching behind him. Just seeing it reminded me of flying. I wanted to do that again. I’d never felt anything more exhilarating.
“ Baanye is usually put in that sludge tea , you impossible female,” he rumbled softly.
Even though his eyes were sparking with irritation, I wasn’t afraid of him. With the exception of those first couple days…I wasn’t afraid of Azur.
He wasn’t what I’d thought he’d be.
None of this was how I’d thought it’d be.
“You’ll drink it,” he told me, jabbing the finger, which had been pressing and rolling my clit, toward me. I blinked, my cheeks flushing, my gaze fastening on the very tip, which appeared…wet. Gods . A deep sound rumbled from his throat when he saw where my attention was directed. “Yes?”
“Yes,” I said softly, feeling the sudden wave of dizziness fade. For now.
He’d grown in size again. I noticed he’d begun to wear looser clothes so that when he did feed from me, he wouldn’t ruin them. I’d tried to ask Kalia about it yesterday, but the subject had been awkward and stilted, considering we’d been speaking about her brother. She’d hummed and merely told me that it happened occasionally but not every time a Kylorr fed.
But every time Azur fed from me, he grew. Kalia had said it was the beginnings of a rage. An actual Kylorr rage, the ones that had won entire wars. Kalia had told me that Azur could trigger one at will if he wished. Her words had made me shudder. Had made me realize how powerful Azur was and why I shouldn’t go poking at him with my sharp words after he fed.
Only, he’d never harmed me.
Azur rolled his neck and I heard it pop. His gaze drifted down, and it took me a moment to realize my breasts were still out, the top of the neckline ripped open.
I flushed, gathering up the material to shield my nudity.
“I only have so many dresses, you know,” I grumbled, unable to help myself from grouching at him even though he was on the verge of a rage. “I’ll have to sew this one just like the one from a couple nights ago.”
Azur’s gaze narrowed. “Don’t bother,” he bit out. “It’s hideous and needs to be burned.”
Embarrassment made my cheeks heat. My temper—normally tame and manageable—reared its head, making me snap back, “This dress has lasted me for years , even in the mines. Not all of us have the luxury of buying pretty things that aren’t practical.”
Azur’s eyes burned . If I was afraid of him, that look would’ve scorched me where I stood, but as it was, I glared back at him, undaunted.
This was a game between us, I’d begun to realize. When he wasn’t feeding off me, when I wasn’t coming my brains out, we were usually sniping at each other.
Like a…
Well, like an old married couple.
“You will never step foot in another mine in your entire lifetime, so what does it matter?” Azur hissed back, lowering himself so that we eye level. My eyes flicked to his lips, suddenly jarred because I remembered his kiss. Oh gods , he’d kissed me, hadn’t he? And I’d… liked it?
And I wanted to kiss him again.
A rough huff exhaled from his nostrils, and when I looked up to his eyes, I saw that his were now on my lips.
I held my breath as his dull claw reached forward, brushing the fullness of my bottom one. I was still bleeding a little from his tiny, nipping bite, and I could taste the metallic tang on my tongue. His touch was surprisingly gentle, and when a dab of my blood came away on his thumb, I watched, with a swirl of dizziness, as he sucked the pad clean. His eyes darkened. There was a new kind of awareness stretching between us now, tight and breathless.
Azur seemed to shake himself. He straightened, towering over me, blocking the sunlight behind him, casting me in shadow.
“Besides,” he continued, clearing his throat, “you’re my wife. The Kylaira of Laras. You think you can continue to dress in these rags and not embarrass House Kaalium?”
I bit the side of my cheek to keep myself from snapping at him.
He saw it. Nearly smirked. And that irritated me.
“I’ll arrange for a clothier to come to the keep tomorrow morning,” he told me next, his tone stern. “I’m certain my sister will be more than pleased to help you spend my credits and fill your closets.”
I stiffened even though the greedy part of me—the thread that all the Haras seemed to share—perked up at the notion of things . New, glittering, pretty things. New dresses. Clothes. Things I hadn’t allowed myself to have in years .
The want mingled with my pride.
“I don’t need new dresses,” I said, sniffing. “I have a few that are perfectly acceptable for—”
“ Wife ,” he growled, cutting me off. He jabbed his black claw at me again, his pointed ears twitching. Which I found…fascinating. “For once , do not argue with me.”
I glowered at him but bit my tongue.
“Good,” he rasped, pleased. “Maybe you can be tamed.”
To prevent myself from clawing at his eyes, I tilted my head to regard the Silver Sea, fuming. My ire softened when I remembered the skim of the water against my fingertips, the lap of the waves against my hair as Azur had flown me over it.
I’d never experienced anything like that before.
I’d never felt so free. So thrilled. So weightless.
And I wanted to do it again.
Drawing in a deep breath, I turned to Azur. He might deny me. But I’d ask all the same.
“Will you take me over the sea again?”
Azur’s gaze steadily flickered between my eyes. His expression was unreadable as always, his slitted pupils widening before contracting. His fangs were still elongated and pressed against his surprisingly soft lips.
“If you take the baanye , I will,” he grumbled finally. His gaze sharpened when my lips parted. “At every meal.”
A small price, I supposed, to experience the thrill of flying. I was looking at those wings in a whole new light. A new world had been opened up to me.
With a curt nod, trying to hide my blooming excitement, I sniffed and said primly, “That’s fair.”
Did Azur’s lips quirk? I couldn’t be certain.
Maybe…maybe my life in Krynn could be fulfilling. Maybe my marriage to Azur wasn’t completely doomed. We seemed to be taking small steps, small compromises toward one another.
What would happen if we met in the middle?
“Ludayn,” Azur called out suddenly, raising his voice.
My brow furrowed.
My indigo-haired keeper suddenly scurried down the steps from the upper terrace. My cheeks reddened. How long had she been nearby?
Likely the whole time, I knew. Gods, had she heard us? As my keeper, she was never far, always waiting nearby to serve me food or drinks, especially when Kalia and I worked on the starwood blooms. It was her duty, I’d begun to realize. To make sure I was content, cared for.
“Yes, Kyzaire ?” she asked breathlessly.
“Take the Kylaira up to her rooms,” Azur ordered her, though his gaze never left mine. “She seems to have ripped her dress.”
I shot him a warning glare.
“So clumsy,” he purred, making my heart stutter in my chest, just as a jarring, familiar warmth bloomed between my thighs. He turned from me then, and I gaped after him. “And make sure she drinks her baanye . I don’t care if you have to force it down her throat.”
With that, my silver-tongued charmer of a husband disappeared, shooting into the sky, flying toward the balcony that I guessed was his office in the west wing of the keep.
I met Ludayn’s gaze with burning cheeks.
She bit her lip with glinting fangs to hide her smile. “Come, Kylaira , let’s get you changed.”