CHAPTER SIX TREW
CHAPTER SIX
TREW
Isi obeyed.
As she should.
This woman was going to come hard but only when I’d told her she could do it.
Her legs trembled as she widened her stance, bracing herself against the door behind her. Sunlight streaming through the window caught the flush spreading across her skin, painting her in shades of rose and gold.
Beautiful. Mine.
I needed proof. Needed to taste her, touch her. I’d die if I couldn’t feel her pulse racing beneath my hands. It was the only way I could prove to myself that this wasn’t the nightmare I’d lived with for days after I woke up to find her gone.
I glided my fingertips up the inside of her thigh, and a fine tremor ran through her muscles. She sucked in a breath, and the sound shot straight to my groin.
“Don’t move,” I growled. “You stay exactly where I put you.”
“Trew—”
“Do you understand?”
She paused before speaking. “Yes.”
Magic erupted between us, her fire calling to mine until the very air around us shimmered with heat.
I kissed her inner thigh, and her pulse jumped beneath my lips. She smelled of salt and flowers and all her. I’d dreamed of her taste every night she was gone, woken aching for it.
I ran my tongue across her thigh while her fingers scrabbled against the door, seeking purchase on the smooth wood.
“Tell me what you feel,” I snarled.
“I—” Her breath hitched. “Your mouth.”
“Be more specific.”
“Hot. Wet. I feel—oh—”
I found her center, licking her, and the sound she made went straight to my cock. It was sweet and desperate and exactly what I needed to hear.
I worked her slowly, clinging to every gasp and whimper. When her hips shifted forward, seeking more, I pulled back, frowning up at her. “I told you not to move.”
“Please.”
“No.” I met her gaze. “You fucking left me. You don’t get to come until I say. I couldn’t control anything.” The word came out raw. “I couldn’t stop you from leaving. Couldn’t protect you. I couldn’t even get close to you without risking exposure. For six fucking days I had no control, Isi. None.”
My grip on her hips tightened. “But I have it right here. Right now. You’re going to feel what I felt. The desperation. The need. The loss of control. And I’m going to prove to myself that we’re together again.”
Her protest died when I returned my attention to her, using my tongue in slow, devastating strokes. I could feel her climbing toward the edge, her breathing shifting, becoming ragged and desperate.
Almost there. Almost—
I pulled back, easing onto my heels.
Isi’s magic flared uncontrollably, the torches in the room flickering as if caught in a sudden wind. Magic thrummed between us, invisible threads binding her pleasure to my command.
“Trew.” The whimper in her voice showed perfect agony.
“You tortured me for six fucking days. Wondering where you were going. If someone was going to hurt you. If I’d ever get to hold you again.”
I gripped her hips hard enough to leave marks. I wanted to see the evidence of this tomorrow, proof that she was here, that I’d touched her, that she was mine.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
I returned to my task, less controlled now.
Rougher. I used my tongue and lips and the edge of my teeth, building her back up in an almost brutal way.
I growled against her skin, bringing her higher this time, feeling my own control starting to fracture.
The terror that had consumed me for the past six days bled through every touch, transforming into something rawer. More desperate.
She was here. She was safe.
Her breathing had gone ragged. “Please, Trew, I can’t—I need—”
“Beg me properly, Minx.”
“Please let me come. Please. I’m yours. I won’t leave again. I promise.”
The words fractured through my ribs.
I brought her to the edge again, kept her there, trembling and desperate.
“Say it again,” I said in only a marginally softer tone.
“I’m yours.” Her voice cracked. “I’m here, I’m safe. I won’t leave again.”
A tear fell onto my upturned face. Then another.
I looked up to find her face wet, her body shaking with more than just denied pleasure. She was crying, silent tears streaming down her flushed cheeks as she stood exactly where I’d positioned her, trembling but obedient.
Her tears weren’t from pain. They were mine, reflected back. The sight shattered every bit of me.
“Say my name,” I growled. “My real name.”
“Trewyn.” It came out broken, beautiful.
“Who do you belong to?” I kissed her thigh where I’d gripped too hard, already gentling my touch.
“You. Only you. Always you.”
The fear that had been driving me finally broke.
I softened immediately, the shift so complete it was like changing into a different man. The punishment dissolved into pure worship.
“I’ve got you,” I said, pressing kisses up her thigh. “I’ve got you, love. You’re here. You’re safe.”
I found her hand with mine, threading our fingers together as I brought her higher. Gentler now, but no less devastating. Building her up with tenderness instead of torture.
“That’s it,” I whispered. “Good girl. Be good for me, Minx. Let me take care of you.”
She was shaking, her legs barely supporting her weight. I felt the exact moment she reached the crest, her entire body tensing. Our magic entwined visibly, threads of fire weaving between us, glowing as a brief vision flickered, our bond, unbreakable, pulsing with shared heat.
“Now, love.” I looked up, meeting her tear-bright eyes. “Come for me now.”
I didn’t stop, but carried her through it as she shattered. As I shattered along with her.
My name tore from her lips, and I held her steady as her legs gave out, catching her as she collapsed against the door.
I stayed on my knees, pressing my forehead to her belly, my shoulders shaking with relief so profound it threatened to unmake me.
“I can’t bear to lose you,” I said against her skin. “I can’t. My crown demands my blade, but my heart? That’s yours alone.”
Her fingers wove into my hair, stroking gently. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”
I rose slowly, holding her shoulders, staring down at this woman who could ask for the world, and I’d do everything within my power to give it to her.
But all she wanted was me.
I lifted the gown over her head, tossing it aside. She stood tall before me, her chin lifted and everything I craved in her eyes.
I skimmed my fingers up her arms and she hissed and winced. The sound was soft, barely audible, but it cut through me like a knife.
Everything inside me came to a standstill. “Minx?”
She rubbed her arms, curling her shoulders inward. “It’s nothing.”
I caught sight of mottled purple-black bruises wrapping around her upper arms.
Fingerprints.
Fury roared through my veins.
My touch gentled as I carefully shifted her arm, revealing more bruises across her shoulder, dark purple ones.
Someone had grabbed her. Hard, more than once, and recently.
“Who touched you?” The words came out in a growl.
She tried to cover the marks with her hand. “Trew, it doesn’t matter—”
“The fuck it doesn’t.” Rage built in my chest. I’d seen battlefield injuries that looked less vicious. “Tell me who put their hands on you.”
“It was just…” Her jaw tightened. “My father was angry I left my guard, that I fled on my own. He wanted answers I couldn’t give.”
Red hazed my vision. The king. Her own father had done this. Why would I think anything else? After all, he’d whipped her.
My magic stirred, responding to fury so pure, it threatened to burn through my control. The temperature in the room spiked.
“How many times?” My voice came out deadly quiet. “How many times has he hurt you?”
Her silence was answer enough.
I traced the edge of the worst bruise with a featherlight touch, my hands shaking with the effort to be gentle when all I wanted was to tear Caldrith apart stone by stone. I infused healing magic, though the worst of them still remained.
“I’m going to kill him.” The words slipped out, flat and certain.
“No.” Her hand covered mine. “Not yet.”
“I love you. That means you’re mine to protect, mine to cherish as you deserve.”
“And I love you. That means I trust you to let me handle this in my own, vicious way.”
“Alright.” The word tasted bitter. Like defeat. But I did trust her and it would be wrong of me—again—to step between her and her vengeance.
I lifted her into my arms, and she wrapped herself around me as I carried her into the adjacent bedroom, lowering us both down onto her bed. I couldn’t let go. Couldn’t stop touching her, feeling the proof of her heartbeat, her breath, and her warmth.
“I’m not alright,” I rasped against her skin. “I won’t be alright until I’ve memorized that you’re here.”
“We’re together again,” she said, her hands cupping my face. “I’ll always be yours.”
“I just… I need a moment.” My voice came out rough.
She guided my head to her chest, and I pressed my ear against her, listening to the steady rhythm. Proof of life. Proof she was real.
A distant sound echoed, a guard’s footsteps in the corridor beyond, forcing us to still and listen until they faded.
She ran her fingers through my hair, and we lay in the light, breathing together, slowly coming back to ourselves.
“I’m never letting you go again.” I lifted my head, meeting her eyes. “No more protecting me, Isi. No more impossible choices made alone. We’re stronger together. That means we face the impossible together too. Even if it’s dangerous. Especially then.”
I turned my head and kissed her temple, holding my lips there until my breathing steadied.
“I can’t promise I won’t be terrified,” I rasped.
“Can’t promise I won’t want to lock you somewhere safe.
But I won’t let fear make me abandon who you are, a person who’s brave enough to walk into a nightmare for the people you love.
” My voice dropped to almost nothing. “I just need to be there with you when you do it.”