Chapter 11
SPARROW
Thanafern seemed surprised to see us when we returned so early to The Three Cats.
He asked us if we required lunch, and Elowin told him we’d already eaten.
He told us that if we needed him, we’d find him in the kitchen.
Elowin thanked him and we went upstairs.
To my faint surprise, Elowin’s room appeared to be as fine as mine, though I didn’t have much time to take it in.
We were kissing again within moments, and the air in the room shimmered as glittering butterflies burst into life around us.
Then Elowin stepped back from me, holding my hand.
He smiled as the butterflies dissolved into sparkling dust and very slowly ran his fingers up the length of my arm, along the little windows of skin that the lace in my new tunic showed.
My skin tingled in the wake of his slow, deliberate touch, goose bumps appearing.
I shivered despite the warmth of the day.
Elowin released my hand, and for a moment I was profoundly disappointed, but then his fingers went to the laces at the neck of his tunic, and my breath caught with want.
I had seen Elowin shirtless before. I had even seen him naked before.
But those instances hadn’t been full of anticipation like this one.
Because this time I wasn’t just seeing Elowin.
Very, very soon, I’d be able to touch his bare skin with the same deliberation he’d just touched my arm.
My body felt hot, and my cock was already beginning to harden.
I wanted desperately to kiss him again, but I also didn’t want to interrupt him as he undressed.
So I made a small, sad sound instead, and Elowin looked surprised and then laughed under his breath.
“You could take your tunic off as well,” he suggested.
Oh, yes. I could do that! Except my fingers were suddenly numb and clumsy, and there were possibly too many of them because I couldn’t make any sense of the laces.
Elowin pulled his tunic off, revealing his sleek chest. The light from the windows illuminated the planes of his body and made him appear almost golden.
He was beautiful. Then he stepped forward again, closing the space between us, and his hands covered mine and moved them gently but firmly away from my laces.
He claimed my mouth in another kiss—more butterflies!
—and deftly untied the laces without even looking at them.
I pulled back long enough to wrestle the tunic over my head, dropping it to the floor.
I wasn’t muscled like Elowin, but he didn’t seem to mind if the way he was looking at my bare chest was any indicator.
He reached out slowly and ran a thumb over one nipple.
I sucked in a sharp, shocked breath, and my cock hardened further, which was most unexpected.
I wondered if he wanted me to touch him in the same way. I certainly wanted to.
“You can touch me too, if you’d like,” he said, smiling softly.
“Is mind reading your magic?” I asked him.
He laughed. “I have no magic at all, Sparrow.”
“None?”
He shrugged. “Not so much as a whisper. But then, I’ve never looked for it very hard either.”
“So you’re not reading my thoughts then?”
“I’m reading your face,” he said. “You can touch me.”
Now that he’d given me permission, I didn’t waste any time.
I traced a hand down the long muscle of his neck and along the curve of his shoulder, my palm soaking up the warmth of his skin, before mapping the planes of his chest with a fingertip.
Then, feeling bold, I teased my thumb over one hard brown nipple, gasping when it pebbled under my touch.
“What do nipple rings feel like?” I asked him.
Elowin laughed. “Do you want me to get one so you can find out? Or do you want to get one yourself?”
Did I? A week ago the answer would have been no. An hour ago the answer had been no. But now, like taking a balloon ride, the thought was tempting and terrifying all at once.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“That’s fine too,” Elowin said and took me in his arms and pulled me close so our bare chests were touching. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“I don’t know about the nipple ring,” I said, breathing in his scent and chasing it with my mouth to the place where his neck met his shoulder. “But I know I want to do this.”
Elowin tilted his head to the side, and his grip on me tightened when I pressed a line of kisses against his skin. He tasted of salt and magic, and butterflies alighted on his shoulder, their wings brushing my cheek as I kissed him.
“Sparrow,” he murmured against my mouth, one hand running down the curve of my spine as he kissed me again, with more passion than before.
A flurry of butterflies exploded around us, and I could feel that he was hard where our bodies were pressed together.
It was reassuring to know that he’d meant it when he said he wanted this—even if I wasn’t sure exactly what this looked like.
All I knew was that there was heat building under my skin, and every thought in my head had flown away with the butterflies, consumed by a need for more.
“Can we lie down?” I asked, my face heating at my own boldness.
Elowin’s answer was to pick me up and carry me over to the bed like I weighed nothing and lay me out on the mattress.
I very nearly swooned at the way he lifted me effortlessly, and the cocky smile he flashed me told me he’d done it to impress me.
I was doubly impressed when he took the time to remove both our boots before he joined me on the bed.
Then he lay beside me, his weight propped up on one elbow, and laid his other hand on my stomach. He tugged at the laces on my leggings and raised his eyebrows in a silent question.
I nodded, my heart beating wildly. Elowin kissed me while he undid my laces and slid a hand inside my leggings, cupping my hard cock through my braies.
I let out a noise similar to a startled shearwater.
Elowin laughed softly and moved his hand in a slow motion, caressing me once more before removing his hand and tugging my leggings and my braies down all at once.
I lifted my hips to aid the process, and he slid everything off in a single smooth move, leaving me bared to his view.
I fought the urge to curl in on myself—this was Elowin and he would never be anything but kind—but still, something loosened in my chest when he said, “Look at you, my pretty little Sparrow.”
His tone was reverent, like a prayer. Goose bumps prickled my skin again.
Then Elowin grinned and set to work removing the rest of his clothing. Once he was naked, he rolled onto one side. “If you want to stop, just say so,” he said, gazing at me intently.
I nodded my understanding and said, “I don’t want to stop.”
He leaned over me, bracketing my body with his arms, and kissed me again.
Except this time when he kissed, he rocked against me and I gasped when his cock rubbed against mine.
I shifted my legs, opening my knees to give him room to settle even closer against me.
And then, because that still wasn’t close enough, I linked my ankles together behind his legs.
“Sparrow,” he whispered again, his tone rougher this time but still reverent.
I couldn’t speak. I could barely breathe. Sparks raced beneath my skin, and I found myself mimicking Elowin’s rocking movement until I found a choppy rhythm that was so good it had my eyes rolling back into my head.
“I’m not going to last,” Elowin whispered.
Were we supposed to? Nobody had told me that!
I twisted my fingers around his braid and pulled him in for another kiss as pleasure coiled deep inside me, tighter and tighter, and the space where our bodies met became hotter and wetter.
I felt as though I was balanced on the sharp edge of a great drop, and each thrust of Elowin’s body against mine pushed me closer to the fall.
“Elowin,” I cried out. “More, please!”
“Sparrow,” he rasped, his breath hot against my mouth, and then he pinched my nipple, sharp and hard, and the shock of it shattered me into a million pieces. I came, clutching Elowin hard, opening my eyes to see the room explode with a cloud of glimmering butterflies.
Elowin came too, and we both watched in astonishment as the butterflies faded into glittery dust, and then nothing at all.
But the light they’d created still burned bright in my chest long after they were gone.
“How did you spend your afternoon, Sparrow?” Rowan asked me after she and Teon had sat down for dinner.
I could feel the tips of my ears burning. “Um.”
“Sparrow and I went to the Glaesflod markets,” Elowin said, his leg pressing against mine under the table from where he was sitting next to me. “There’s always plenty to see there.”
“Yes,” I agreed quickly, although in truth if anyone had asked me, I wouldn’t have been able to name a single thing I’d seen that afternoon. I’d still been half-drunk with pleasure when Elowin and I had set out.
I was grateful that Elowin hadn’t shared our afternoon tryst with Rowan and Teon.
Not because there was anything improper about what we’d done—how could there be, when it had been so magical?
—but because it felt precious, and special, and I wanted to keep it close.
I was especially glad that Thanafern, who was apparently one of the biggest gossips in the entire Everend Market, didn’t appear to have noticed anything either.
He hummed happily to himself as he brought out a loaf of fresh bread and inquired if we needed any more ale.
“I think one jug is quite enough,” Teon said cheerfully. “We can always help ourselves to another if needed. Why not take the night off, my friend, before the prince and his retinue arrive tomorrow? You’ll be run off your feet then!”
Thanafern beamed and thanked them and left us alone in the dining room. Elowin watched him go and said, “So, what news do you have that you didn’t want Thanafern to hear?”
Teon gasped and pressed a hand to their chest. “Is it really so hard to believe I just want our host to put his feet up for the evening?”
“Yes,” said Elowin, and we all laughed.
Teon laughed the loudest of everyone. “Fine. I just didn’t feel like him hovering all evening and turning us into his latest ridiculous rumor.
” But I did notice they were sitting closer to Rowan than one would expect—closer even than Elowin and me—so perhaps their claim that they were auditioning to be a third spouse wasn’t entirely made in jest.
“You must be looking forward to meeting Prince Aldian tomorrow, Sparrow,” Rowan said with a smile. “Will you be meeting in the Pavilion?”
“I’m not sure yet,” I said, my stomach churning for reasons I couldn’t put a finger on. “I suppose once he arrives I’ll wait for him to send for me.”
Elowin’s lips pressed together in a thin line.
Rowan shot him a look I couldn’t quite interpret and said, “He’ll probably arrange a private audience with you. And I’m sure he’ll find you very charming.”
“I hope he does,” I said. The tiny flicker of doubt I’d been nursing about my suitability flared briefly to life. I deliberately ignored it. “I mean, I’m sure he will find me a suitable match.”
Elowin’s expression tightened. “Well, if he doesn’t, he’s a fool.”
I gasped. “Elowin! You can’t talk about the prince like that!”
“I can if he’s stupid enough not to see what a treasure you are,” he said gruffly. His expression softened and he sighed. “I just meant that there are plenty of elves who would consider you a catch. I’m sure he’ll make you an offer.”
“Thank you,” I said, my voice catching.
The conversation carried on around me, but I ignored it, busy trying to make sense of my mess of tangled feelings. Because I’d come here to meet and marry the prince, and if I’d been asked last week, I would have said that was my greatest wish.
And it still was—of course it was! I’d spent my entire life preparing for this. But for reasons I couldn’t quite work out, I wasn’t as eager to meet the prince as I had been before I’d spent the day tangled in Elowin’s arms.