Chapter 40 #2
Perhaps in retaliation, he skimmed over my ribs and then cupped my breast through the thin cotton of my shirt. I raised my other hand to tangle in his dark hair, pulling his mouth to mine hungrily.
I didn’t even realize I’d released my usual death grip on the windowsill to touch him until I felt the cool air caress my skin as his hand worked up my shirt. The sensation reminded me of just how frightening this should be.
But I could have died today. It would do no harm to indulge myself in something I wanted, and I did always want Fieran. Perhaps if I gave in, the desire would become easier to control.
Perhaps.
He tangled his hand in my hair, angling my face up to give him better access.
My heels slid over the window seat, restless as I sought more of his mouth.
The two of us traded hungry, wild kisses.
He rolled my nipple between his fingers, and it sent a hungry twinge through my body, but he didn’t do anything more.
He just kept massaging my breast until I thought I’d go mad from the heat building inside me.
“What are we doing?” I whispered against his mouth.
“We can stop.”
“Forget stopping. I don’t want to stop. I’m asking why we’re kissing like a couple of kids.”
He grinned. “And I’m supposed to resist loving you?”
“Shut up.”
His hand delved between my thighs, teasing me over the fabric, and if it were an apology, it was a good one. His touch was too light, so I grabbed his hand, pressing his fingers harder against my aching clit.
“You know what you want,” he murmured, his fingers curling in just the right places now.
His touch sent pulses of heat through my core, and I nuzzled his throat and his jaw, moving as I sought more friction. “More.”
He pushed my underwear down, his warm palm cupping me, his fingers stroking through my folds. My hips rocked up to meet him.
As he kept going, I made a sound I didn’t even recognize. His mouth covered mine, swallowing it greedily, as I rode his palm all the way to my release. I turned my head to one side, then the other, caught in the last wild beats of pleasure, as his fingers pumped steadily against my clit.
As I grew still and limp, his fingers relaxed, but he kept that possessive, intimate grip. His thumb curled across my lower belly, teasing me, and even though my clit was still throbbing and sensitive, fresh tendrils of desire began to root where he touched.
I let my head loll against his chest.
He brushed his lips softly against my forehead. “I’m proud of you.”
I jolted up slightly. “Why?”
My voice came out sharp, annoyed.
“Look,” he said, running his hand over my thigh.
The night had come completely. The sea was a black void far below.
At some point, as my thighs parted for him, my leg had slipped from the windowsill—on the wrong side. My boot dangled over that vast expanse.
I jerked it up into the window seat, then rolled inward, planting my feet firmly inside Fieran’s room. I moved swiftly across the rug, putting space between me and the window, as if it might eat me.
Though he claimed to be proud of me, as usual, Fieran looked pleased with himself. “The most pleasant form of training. Soon, you’ll be ready to fly.”
For a moment, I stared at him in shock. He thought he was going to orgasm me out of my childhood fears?
He was fucking me for a purpose?
“You arrogant, condescending bastard.” Sudden fury welled up inside me. I fixed my clothes, yanking my tunic down; the places where his hands had touched my bare skin burned. “I don’t need that kind of training. I don’t need you to be proud of me. Who do you think you are?”
He didn’t stir from the window seat, leaning against one curved side. He looked maddeningly calm and untouched in the face of my fury.
“Oh, Cara.” He looked at me with open sympathy, as if he could see right through me to my ragged heart.
I didn’t know what he was going to say next, but whatever it was, I didn’t want to hear it. I felt like I was going to die if I heard the next words out of his beautiful mouth.
I stormed out of his room, almost tripping over Rees.
“Your dog likes me better!” I called over my shoulder to him as Rees rose to his feet. Rees loped ahead of me, a massive shadow, as if he already knew where we were going.
It was only when I fled back to my own room, with multiple doors firmly closed between Fieran and me, that I couldn’t escape the truth.
I didn’t mind his methods of coaxing me over my fear of heights one bit. My clit was still sensitive, throbbing as I paced the room, too keenly aware of my tight, heavy breasts. I could’ve happily straddled him—carefully—on the window seat and ridden him for the rest of the night.
But his words.
I’m proud of you.
I’d never heard those words before in my life.
The patronizing prick thought he could control me. Make me want to please him. I didn’t care if anyone was proud of me, least of all him.
My boot caught the edge of a chair, sending it crashing into the wall. A vase toppled from the sill of one of those shuttered windows.
The vase shattered on the ground, spilling gold coins.
I stared at them in horror. No. No.
Someone must have realized I’d thrown the amulet away before they could use it to destroy me. I bent to pick up the pieces of gold with shaking fingers, only to realize these might not be the only valuables hidden in my room.
I ran to check the door was locked first, though that lock would barely slow Fae who came to arrest me. Would they send the Night Guard? Would it be that easy for the queen to write me out of Fieran’s scheming, tossing me into one of those prisons from which no mortal ever rose again?
Frantically, I ran my hand over the cool expanse of fabric under my pillow. Nothing.
I knelt, my knee slamming painfully into the floor in my haste. I ran my hand under the mattress instead.
My fingers skated over more coins. Over tangled chains. I pulled them free, sweeping glinting gold onto the hardwood floor. Wayward coins rolled on their sides across the room, spinning until they fell. One of them rolled under my dresser.
I leapt to my feet and followed the coin. The dresser held my plain black training tunics and leggings. There shouldn’t be anything else there. I pulled out one drawer after another, fumbling through the fabric.
Nothing.
Then I reached the bottom drawer, where I’d tossed the empty bag I’d brought from home. When I’d done so, I’d imagined the bag carrying my handful of books back to my family.
But it wasn’t empty now. With ever-increasing horror, I ripped it open to discover more gold.
Someone had hidden gold in my room. Piles of it.
Enough to change my family’s life forever…or damn me as a thief to meet an executioner.