Chapter 29 #2
His face lit with the knowing smirk she enjoyed so much.
He began removing his boots. Satisfied, Tal returned to the comfort under her covers.
When they lifted, she added, “May as well remove the trousers too. You’ve been sitting on the ground.
” She smiled under the blanket at his pause before his belt clinked as it hit stone.
A moment later, the covers lifted, and the bed shifted with his weight.
She faced away from him, but she could imagine how uncharacteristically nervous he must’ve looked.
She could see right through his devil-may-care attitude.
The man could act all cool and confident, but when it came to Tal, he was like a lost puppy.
Slowly, he eased up behind her and wrapped an arm around her middle.
She curled into him and tangled her feet between his legs.
After a breath, Faron relaxed and nuzzled into her neck.
They lay like that, listening to the other’s breathing, feeling each other’s heartbeat. Tal didn’t worry about the outside world. Her mind was at ease, her body without pain, and her heart where it was meant to be.
Faron shifted. He inhaled deeply, preparing to talk about something she did not want to face. “Tal, I want you to know, I—”
“Can we not talk about it for one more night?” She turned to face him.
“Please?” she asked quietly. The last two days, they hadn’t said a word about Faron’s lies, or done much of anything besides enjoy each other’s presence.
He was content to let her heal, and she was happy to just be.
“For one more night, I don’t want to think about the fact that I have the godsdamned king in my bed. ”
He searched her face. Tal reached up and smoothed the crease on his brow and placed her hand on his cheek. “Let it be us tonight,” she whispered and kissed him.
Faron melted. The arm he had draped around her middle held her tightly and pulled her further into him while the other came up to her neck and caressed along her jaw.
The sensation sent a wave of fire through Tal’s core.
She tangled both hands in his hair, crushing her lips to his.
Tal wrapped a leg around Faron’s hip and pressed into him.
The feral growl that escaped his throat had her smiling against his lips and only encouraged her to continue.
She ground her hip into him, almost content to simply feel him through the thin fabric of their shirts.
His hand explored her body, pulling her into him again.
Tal smiled for a brief pause and climbed on top of him.
With a hand to his chest, she forced him onto his back.
Their shirts still tangled between them, but that did little hide the evidence of their desire from each other.
Faron gripped her hips and held her steady, a warning on his face.
She leaned down and kissed him again, this time snaking her tongue into his mouth. She needed more. The days spent angry with him, spent without him, now left her with an emptiness that she needed filled.
She needed to feel his arms around her, holding her, comforting her, choosing her.
She kissed him until tears welled in her eyes.
She couldn’t let him see. She reached down between them and rubbed her hand over his length.
His hand shot to her wrist, but she gave him a wicked smile.
“Don’t worry. I’ll behave.” She kissed him again before finishing with “mostly,” and left a trail of more kisses down his torso.
His breath hitched when she reached the trail of hair below his middle. She reached up a hand and scratched his chest. Goosebumps covered his skin. Tal couldn’t help the mischievous smile she gave when he let out an involuntary sound.
Their moment in the tunnels after the botched plan at the brothel fueled her desire to pleasure him.
She’d been too harsh with him, and yet he said nothing of it.
He deserved more than what Tal could give him.
But while Tal held his attention tonight, she would let her mouth, her lips, and her tongue reciprocate what her mind and her heart couldn’t.
Faron’s body tensed under her, but she didn’t relent, not when he let out a deep, almost pained groan, and not until his body relaxed into the bedding, and an exhausted exhale reached her ears.
She let the sound wash over her before she crawled up his torso.
She kissed his neck then lay on top of him with a smile on her face.
Faron’s arms came around her and held her tightly. He tried to kiss her, but she turned away from him. Instead, he kissed the top of her head and collapsed back onto the pillow. “Blazing hells, Tal,” he sighed. “You—”
“Are unlike any woman you’ll ever meet?”
He nodded. “That too.”
Tal laughed against him. “What were you going to say?”
“You unravel me.” He tightened his arms around her and kissed her head again.
Tal didn’t say anything because she feared what it would mean.
This man. This man had barreled into her life when she’d grown content to block the world out.
He made her forget her anger when she wanted to burn it all to the ground.
He showed her how to laugh. He made her want to forgive him when she had never allowed forgiveness in her heart for anyone else.
She found herself counting down the minutes to when she would see him again.
It was an entirely new sensation, letting someone else dictate her happiness.
Tal would never admit it, but she didn’t know how she would ever say good-bye.
She moved to the bed, laying with her back pressed into him.
Faron’s hands caressed the exposed skin on her legs, sending chills racing through her body.
She closed any remaining distance between them and opened up for him.
Faron didn’t hesitate. His warm hand explored what pleasured her.
He kissed her neck and sent another wave of chills that clashed with the building momentum between her legs.
She wanted to tell him what to do, where to touch.
She ached to be filled by him, to feel him thrust into her, but she lay frozen in a state of expectation.
She didn’t dare say anything for fear of losing her hold on the growing tide.
Her fury beat in rhythm with his strokes.
She held her breath for one heartbeat, two.
In the third, the wave of electric ecstasy crashed over her again and again until she had nothing left to give and her body melted into the bed.
Tal breathed until the pounding in her ears and in her heart quieted.
She rolled over in his arms and met his gaze.
The low candlelight reflected in his eyes, and she found the flecks of gold there.
Her eyes traced the lines of his face, the dark hair that was much too unkempt for a king, the expressive brows, the length of his nose, the sharpness of his jaw, and the fullness of his lips.
She reminded herself that for a moment, this moment, this beautiful, stubborn, brilliant man was hers, and she would not waste it.
A soft glow filled the space around them. “You’re devastatingly beautiful, Tal.” He traced a finger from her brow to her jaw, down her neck, across her collarbone and placed his palm on her chest where her fury glowed the brightest. It pulsed with her heartbeat, and she knew it beat for him.
She kissed him with a gentleness that even she didn’t know she was capable of.
The passion of a few moments ago burned away.
Faron didn’t grip her with barely concealed restraint.
Tal didn’t press her body into him. Instead, Faron wrapped his arms around her while she rested her own palm over his heart.
It beat a steady rhythm against her hand and the song called to her.
This kiss, this moment, felt like coming home to a warm fire on a cold winter’s night.
And right there in Faron’s arms was the closest Tal had ever come to finding a place of her own.
Faron’s heartbeat pounded against her ear while she lay with her head on his chest. She could hear the moment he fell asleep, when it slowed to match her breathing.
His arms around her relaxed and his body sunk further into her bed.
Something about the act touched a chord within her.
A voice in her head told her to remember this moment.
This man, this king, her king, could be anywhere, and he chose to be here with her.
In two days, he would likely have to go back to his duties, back to running the kingdom.
And she would pick up the pieces of her life and figure out what to do next.
Would the mages return for her tomorrow?
The next day? How long did she have before they came crashing down on this life she’d built? Would some other threat ruin it all?
She sighed. For now, the threats were too far away to do anything about.
She was safe. Her friends were safe. And she fell asleep listening to the heartbeat of a man who knew all her misgivings and still wanted to be by her side.
She inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. The world melted away and for a moment, Tal was content.
In the early hours of the morning, Tal felt the covers lift.
A cool air disturbed the warmth underneath.
Faron’s clothes rustled as he put them back on.
He kissed her gently on the temple and left the room in darkness.
The bed felt colder without him, and she tried not to think too much about what it meant.
She tried not to think about what the future held for them.
She tried not to think about last night.
She tried not to think about him fighting a mage for her or staying with her during the aftermath.
She tried not to think about their fight or him lying to her.
She tried not to think about all those times they’d had together before she discovered his title.
She tried and she failed at all of it. With him near, it had been easy to live in the moment and not think about the future, but with him gone, she feared she couldn’t ignore the inner turmoil.
She tossed in bed and noticed a paper on the pillow next to her. On it sat a note. “Stay in bed. I’ll be back.” When did he write that? She smiled to herself, glad to know he would return soon. Her mind quieted, and she burrowed further into her bed. Soon, she dozed off again.