Chapter Ten
Dearg
It was time.
I looked across the table at my father. “I need to speak to you privately.”
His brows flew up and his lips twitched slightly as he folded his napkin and set it aside. “Of course.”
I was acutely aware of Iona’s gaze lingering on my profile, the faint frown on her face as she visibly wondered what I was up to.
Mother spotted her cue and said to Iona, “We have an incredible dwarven mead you must try.” She signaled one of the servants waiting just out of view, and the woman slipped in with a tray holding a decanter and glasses.
As we headed out into the hall through the doors to the suite, Mother asked, “So what was it like growing up with Maeve for a granny?”
Hearing the Mother of Fairies described as ‘granny’ got a giggle out of Iona as the double doors closed.
Dad asked, his tone a little dry, “Are you going to tell me what you want, or am I supposed to guess?” Judging from the twinkle in his gaze, he knew good and damned well what I wanted to ask.
I told him.
“About time,” he grunted.
* * *
After we said goodnight to my parents, I led Iona down the hall toward my chambers. As soon as we were alone in the corridor, I swept Iona into a bridal carry and strode down the hall to my chambers.
Iona laughed in delight and looped her arms around my neck. “You’re really leaning into the romance hero role.”
I smiled down at her. “You deserve romance. Come to think of it, so do I.”
Her smile faded as she stared up into my eyes, her gaze soft. “I’ll see what I can do.”
I mentally ordered the door of my suite to open. The wards tasted in my magic with a hot sting before consenting to obey. I carried her inside. “Read a lot of romance novels?”
“Since I took the job as Summerwood chief, that’s as close as I get to sex.” Her dimple flashed. “With the exception of a certain prince.”
“A very, very lucky prince,” I murmured as I bent to kiss her. She kissed me back, her tongue swirling around mine, stroking and tasting.
Heat fountained up in me, and I felt my cock harden in an erotic rush. By the time we broke the kiss, we were both breathing hard.
Iona glanced around as I carried her across the room. “Wow,” she murmured. “You weren’t kidding, were you?”
I looked up to see my servants had obeyed the directions I’d sent in that communication spell.
Instead of the light spells that normally illuminated the room, there were candles everywhere, just as there had been in her underground bath.
Individual candlesticks and candelabra of varying heights illuminated the heavy handmade furniture with intricate carved dragons coiled around the tall canopy posts.
In between stood silver trays piled with pyramids of fruit -- strawberries, peach slices, berries -- along with silver bowls of sauces: chocolate, whipping cream, honey.
Clusters of roses -- bloodred, white, and sunset orange -- stood in silver vases of varying heights among the candles. Drifts of rose petals covered the pile of lush dark furs that lay in the middle of the room.
Music played, low and soft and romantic, contributed by a trio of musicians with stringed instruments who played on another floor, their music carried by a communication spell.
I smiled in satisfaction. Perfect.
I carried Iona to the furs and knelt, lowering her and her green silk court gown to the pile of gleaming sable.
Gazing down at her, I felt drawn into the depths of her shining goddess-green eyes.
She licked lush, soft lips, then reached up to draw me down.
Hungry for her, the blood pounding in my cock, I tasted her soft lips, far more intoxicating than the mead we’d had at dinner.
She drew back at last, her eyes softly glowing.
“Not to be critical, but you aren’t naked,” she said, her voice low, a little rough with desire.
My cock bucked at the sight and scent of her need.
“Neither are you,” I agreed. “Let’s do something about that.”
We undressed one another by hand this time.
I concentrated on making a production out of it.
Though gravely tempted, I managed not to pull the dagger out of my boot and slice the laces of that magnificent dress.
I was, by the Egg, going to give her all the romance she wanted.
From now on, she wouldn’t have to rely on novels to supply passion.
I kissed each lovely inch of skin as I bared it, pausing over the creamy flesh to kiss, suck, lick. My cock was so damn hard, it was doing embarrassing things to my codpiece.
Iona matched me kiss for kiss, stroking her hands over my chest. Her thumbs rasped over my dark nipples, the sensation deliciously erotic.
Hers were not the soft, lazy hands of court ladies -- there were calluses from sword-work on those long fingers. By the time we were undressed, we lay in the middle of a pile of silk, velvet, and sable, our jeweled weaponry scattered around us, shimmering in the candlelight.
I sat back on my bare heels and looked down at her as she lay there, magnificently sensual in the soft yellow light amid the pile of green velvet and emeralds.
“You look good enough to eat. In fact…” I reached to the nearest silver tray.
Picking up a juicy slice of peach, I swirled it through a bowl of whipping cream and presented it to her tempting mouth.
Half closing her eyes, Iona bit deep. A little squirt of peach juice wet my fingers.
Iona grinned, capturing my hand and leaning in to slide my index finger into her mouth. Gazing into my eyes, she licked it clean like a cat, then sucked the other fingers on that hand, tongue swirling over my skin.
My cock bucked hungrily, and I let my eyes glide down, lingering on her soft breasts, the flat belly, the long runner’s legs.
She met me stare for stare, her gaze sliding like a stroking hand down my body, making my cock jump in eagerness.
“You’re hot as Maeve’s Forge,” she breathed, her voice rasping a little with need.
Her attention locked on my erection, bare and jutting hungrily. Wrapping one slim hand around it, she stroked slowly, each pull sending silken ribbons of pleasure curling through my blood.
I caught my breath as my heat built so bonfire bright, I found myself pumping into her hands. Reaching for the nearby bowl of whipping cream, I scooped up a generous portion out with my fingers, then spread it over the tight peaks of her nipples.
Iona purred in a happy little rumble, her smile widening. I leaned over and took one cream-covered nipple into my mouth, suckling, teasing, alternating with gently raking my teeth over the stiff point. Iona gasped, her long fingers tightening on my cock.
It felt so good, losing myself in her. Especially when I remembered how damned close we’d come to losing each other.
A memory flashed through my head -- the horrific moment when I’d felt Siobhan’s power seize my mind like an oyster she meant to pry open and scoop clean.
It had terrified me as all the ugly deaths I’d faced never had.
Dying came with the job, but the madness that battered my mind as Respen howled in terror…
Iona had killed her mother to save me, even though I’d felt how close she’d been to going under. She’d fought her fear for me and won, saving us both.
I growled, fired by a fierce need to pleasure her. Rolling over, I went for that lush little pussy, forgetting all my plans of slow, building passion. I needed her now. Needed to seal the deal.
“No,” she said, her hand tightening around my cock with a grip that made me want to moan. “I know you’ve got this compulsion to drive me insane, but this time is for both of us.”
Releasing me, she grabbed my shoulders and flipped me neatly on my back.
“But I want to --”
“I know what you want.” Her voice was low, sensual. “I have other ideas.”
Before I could even think about turning this into an erotic wrestling match, she scooped two fingers into a bowl of chocolate, caught my cock with her other hand, and stroked a swirl of warm candy over its mushroom head, then drew long, sensuous flourishes down and around the shaft.
I gasped at the sensation just as she turned her back to me and threw a long leg over the width of my chest. I almost drooled at the magnificent view of her uplifted ass and the plump lips of her pussy.
With a soft sigh of anticipation, she stretched out along my body, covering me with silken skin and lush beauty.
She began to lick the chocolate off my cock, her strokes long, lingering.
The chocolate was thick, liquid, and warm, and the sensation of her tongue lapping it off my erection made me roll my head back and shudder.
My view of her pussy was equally irresistible, plump lips parted by her position as her breasts teased my abdomen.
But that pretty cunt was a little too far away, so I caught her by the thighs and pulled her closer until I could fasten my mouth over pink, wet flesh.
As I started trying my best to drive her crazy, she drew another spiraling chocolate design over my shaft.
What’s good for the goose is even better for the gander. I reached to scoop up a generous amount of whipped cream and made good use of it, painting it all over that wet rose pussy, listening to her gasp around my cock.
Then she started sucking in pulls so strong, my eyes wanted to cross.
What I had in mind for her was going to take a while, so I grabbed one of the cushions nestled among the furs and shoved it under my head.
Pausing a moment, I studied her gorgeous pussy while she did distracting things to my cock.
I breathed in, tasting her scent. My inner wolf gave an approving, impatient rumble, and I went for her pretty clit, making her jerk and gasp.
I inhaled slowly, then gave her a slow lick from clit to taint. With a happy lupine rumble, I lapped, then flicked my tongue over and around her clit until she moaned and began to pump her hips.