Chapter 38 #2
That word. If she was saying what he thought she was saying… A lance of something far stronger than desire shot through him. Necessary, and reaching out for her. Only her.
“I see nothing impossible about that.”
Her quiet laugh was sad. “Then we are at an impasse, because I see nothing possible about it.”
That tone, so bloody resigned.
“Do you trust me?”
Luna blinked up at him and searched his face. “Yes. Sisters save me, but… somehow, I do.”
The same question he’d asked her while they’d been descending into the chasm—a far different answer in return, and all the encouragement he needed.
“Then hear what I am about to tell you, and believe it, because I swear on those Sisters I will never lie to you, and I will never go back on my word.”
Brand let his hands trail down her sides as he sank to his knees before her, tendrils of steam dancing around them.
“No one holds more power than an Imperial. If you want to be free, then free you shall be because I will make it so. Whatever you fear, I will gladly spend my every waking moment at war with it until you are released of the burden. And if you are lost, I will find you.”
Whisper…
He gripped her hips harder and tugged her closer. “There is nothing you could say that would make me forsake you. Nothing you could do. If we lived forever and you never said another word about your past, I wouldn’t give a single shite. I am already yours, Lunara. Irrevocably.”
“We were supposed to talk after a bath,” she whispered. “And f-food.”
“Things don’t always go to plan,” he laughed out. “Sometimes, it’s a good thing.”
Luna nodded, dazed, as if she’d never thought of it like that before. Shite, he rarely did, but with her it was easy.
“I meant all of it, little moon. Whenever you’re ready, you need only say the word, and I will spend the rest of our lives at your side proving it.”
Not because she was his true mate—only an added blessing, at this point—but because he was bloody fucking in love with her, and he wanted her to believe it.
Her head tilted, brow furrowed. “I…”
He didn’t dare to move, to breathe.
Whisper…
A muscle under her eye twitched. Luna lifted her chin and broke away, walking backwards, something a little wild in her look. Pausing just shy of the pool, she—
Her dress was gone in a flash of light, every inch of her revealed.
“I’m ready.”
Burning fucking Solyrian.
“Are you—”
“For the love of the Sisters, Brand, do not ask me if I’m sure.
No one in their right mind wouldn’t be sure after the things you just said.
I’ve…” Her cheeks puffed out. “I’ve been waiting fifty-two years for this moment.
To be brave enough to take what I want. Please, don’t make me wait any longer. ”
Brand was on his feet and surrounded by her before he knew he was moving—hands sinking into her thighs as they wrapped around him, mouths fused, her body crushed between his and the wall.
When she cried out to the rafters, he took advantage and lavished the column of her throat with his tongue, tasting the salt on her damp skin. The life.
“I don’t… suppose you could…” he said between nips and licks, “get rid of—” Another flash and they were skin to skin. “Yes.”
He latched on to a dusky nipple, rolling the beaded tip under his tongue. She bucked, dragging her hot center over the length of his rigid cock. He wanted to sink into her, hard and fast. Fuck her until they both collapsed, but—
“I promised you a bed for this,” he panted, grinding against her.
“You also promised me a bath and food,” she rasped, nails clawing down his arms as she arched her back. “Things don’t always go to plan.”
“Cheeky, using my words against me.” Her giggle turned into a moan when he wedged a hand between them and gripped himself, rubbing his throbbing head over her clit.
“It’s not going to work though,” he rumbled low, tugging the lobe of her ear with his teeth.
“I think you’ll find I suggested a bath and food earlier, while in the cave”—He wrapped his arms around her as he spun, knelt, and laid her over the bubbling geysers—“I believe I swore you would have silk sheets and down feathers cradling this flawless fucking body when I finally had the privilege of being buried inside it.”
She had an unbelievable ability to make him lose all control by merely existing, tempting him to do whatever she wanted and the rest be damned.
Not this time.
“That is one promise I intend to keep. Until then—”
He settled back on his haunches and slapped a hand to the stone, commanding it to mold to her body.
The tiny holes beneath her shrank and grew in turns, fluctuating the water’s flow in massaging fits and bursts.
But her sweet cunt was already dripping on its own.
Contracting. Empty. Begging to be filled.
And that simply wouldn’t do.
Brand palmed his cock, grazing the long length from root to tip, and urged the stone between her legs to rise up in the same shape. Power in tune with her and his creation, he grabbed her thighs with a growl and spread her wider.
“—I can indulge you in other ways.”
A yank and the stone phallus impaled Luna, sliding perfectly into her clenching entrance.
Her gasp and whimper… The way her eyes rolled back in her head… Her limbs melting into the spaces he’d made for them…
Music, and artwork, and everything he’d ever wanted in his bloody life. Her pleasure was his, and damned if he wasn’t right there with her. The bond had sprung to new life, the whispers gone, pure ecstasy buzzing along its fragile hold instead.
Panting, he reached up to a recessed shelf and pulled down soap and oil.
“We’ve traveled together. Bathed together.
Slept side-by-side.” He upturned one of the glass vessels and drizzled every drop of its contents over her writhing form.
“I’ve touched you, tasted you. Wanted you so desperately I couldn’t see straight.
” Dipping a cloth into the pool, he brought it to her stomach and flattened it beneath his palm.
“We’ve gone into battle together,” he rasped, remembering the near-fatal wounds that had marred the perfection there, “and wept in the aftermath.”
Hooded eyes on his, she raised her arms above her head, resting them on drenched waves of chestnut hair, trailing like a halo around her.
Brand scrubbed her slowly, lathering every inch and torturing them both. “Do you know what that means?”
Luna’s teeth sunk into her lower lip as she shook her head, still rocking. Fuck, he was tempted to lean down and lick the marbled cock clean, just to have the taste of her on his tongue. To feel it working its way in and out of her.
He circled her clit once, twice—a tease before leaning away again. “It means I’ve spent weeks learning your body in a thousand different ways. Obsessing over every little thing so I might best serve you.”
Brand quickly scrubbed himself with the same linen and tossed it aside to pick up the oil. Uncorking it, he turned that over too, dousing both of them.
“Shite,” she breathed, whimpering, rising up on her elbows and thrusting herself harder, faster.
Oh, yes. He knew exactly what she wanted—because one of those little things he’d learned about his precious mate was that she liked to watch.
Brand took his time dragging his palms up his arms and behind his neck.
Over his pecs and down his abdomen. Luna’s breath hitched when he reached the jutting length of his own cock, cupping his balls and stroking himself in time with her movements.
He was helpless to stop the bow of his body, the rumble that forced itself past his lips as he took her in.
His eyes followed the viscous beads dripping slowly down the swells of her bouncing breasts, gathering at the turgid, blushing tips.
The glisten of it on her opalescent skin and in the soft hairs on her mound.
He couldn’t wait another second.
“I think we’re clean enough now, don’t you?”
Her chest was heaving, hips undulating. “Yes.”
“If you’re satisfied, perhaps you’d like a dip in the pool, after all?”
She narrowed her gaze, silver sparks swirling in the azure depths. “Brandir aht Bordoroth, if you don’t take me to bed immediately, I will scream.”
He chuckled. “Is that supposed to be a threat, little moon? Your screams will only encourage me.”
Luna planted her foot in the middle of his chest and shoved him back. So sudden and unexpected—with so much force—that he had no choice but to land on his arse with a curse, sliding back across the washroom floor.
Between one blink and the next, she was straddling his chest, hands clasped around his horns.
“How did you—”
“Since you’re so keen on learning, know this…” Her voice had a strange quality to it, similar to when she’d blooded him in the cave. It only made him burn hotter for her. “I’m not a naturally patient person. Surprise. You want to keep your promise? Then do it now, Demon, because I’m ready.”
She punctuated her statement with an almost-violent kiss, using her grip to tilt his head wherever she wanted it—and then she was gone, sauntering out of the washroom and into her chamber.
“Are you coming or not?”
Weeping fuck.
“Saucy, bloody minx…”
Brand caught up and spun her around, bending to throw her over his shoulder. When she flailed and fought the hold, pulling his hair to lever herself and trying to wrap her legs around him again, he landed a wet smack on her arse.
Her drawn out moan as he massaged the spot, the way she drooped, contradicted her hissed, “Insufferable, high-handed—”
“Overbearing Demon. Yes, I know,” he growled, skirting around the sitting area as he made for the canopied bed. “Dry us off.”
“Make me.”
That stopped him dead in his tracks, a bolt of pure lust shooting down his spine.
The only sound while he wrapped his head around it was the soft pitter-patters of water dripping from their bodies to hit the floorboards.