44. The Nightmare Prince
Chapter 44
Mira betrayed the king as we all knew she would. Even Daj knew it. The great hall was draped in black and red satin, and curious elixirs supplied by Elixists speckled the rafters and walls with glowing powders that left the hall looking like it had been painted in gold dust.
A crowd surrounded the feast on the table, even if most of the seats were empty. I didn’t know if it was living his early turns always on guard with the fear of being snatched for his mesmer, but Daj never did sit long. He perched on the edge of the table, a horn in his hand, laughing with Bard and Aleksi.
My mother stood in front of her place, back to the table, chatting with Lady Shelba about the approaching birth of hers and Ash’s little.
Frigg’s father tipped on the back two legs of his chair, ankles crossed on the table, an herb smoke between his teeth. Folk would feast by plucking food off platters and moving on to chatter with someone nearby.
It was unorganized in some ways, but wholly familiar. Our halls were packed with the vagabonds my mother and father had collected over the turns. Laughter, taunts, a few spinning couples dancing to the beat of drums, they all were the sounds and sights of my childhood.
One was new, but had become my favorite sight of all.
I leaned against the table, flicking a small knife back and forth in my hand and watched Skadi spin across the hall with little K?re on her toes.
The boy was in love. It was written all over his face whenever Skadi held tightly under his shoulders and spun them around so her skirt billowed out and swallowed him up, then left him wobbling with a dizzy head.
Aleksi tipped a horn to his lips, mimicking my stance. “Never thought I’d see you this way.”
“I held that same belief more than anyone.”
“It looks good on you.” Alek hesitated. “Sander might’ve let some of your recent . . . confrontations slip.”
“And once again my brother proves he has the biggest mouth of us all.”
Aleksi chuckled. “Intimidating an elven guard right after the vows?”
“Meet that elven guard and you’ll understand. He’s an ass.”
“Torturing a tavern patron in front of everyone.”
“Who thought he had some sort of claim on my drunk wife.”
“You marked two elven kings with a threat, Jonas.”
I shook my head. “No, I didn’t, Alek. Honestly, do you know me at all? Retaliation for breaking Skadi’s heart was a promise.”
“You’re being watched.” Aleksi took another drink. “Be patient and calm, or they will use it against you.”
I knew this. The constant prickle of unseen eyes watching our every move had not left since we returned from Natthaven.
A wicked sort of darkness had burrowed into my blood, drawing out violent thoughts, a lust for pain and agony I only saw in nightmares. For Skadi, I would enter the terror I kept in my dreams, I’d become the creature lurking in the dark if they forced my hand. No remorse, no regrets.
“I’m being cautious.”
“Good.” He set his drinking horn on the table. Aleksi gripped my shoulder before he walked away to join the revelry. “But, of course, you know that if caution is forced to turn into something a bit bloodier, I will stand at your side.”
This was the reason I loved my folk so damn much.
Across the hall, I caught sight of Oldun.
The woman hugged her middle, a look of fright on her face. Since our confrontation, she’d been cold toward Skadi, and the fault rested on me. Too many turns had been spent taking lovers without much care for their hearts and jealousies.
What was she doing now?
Oldun had never been a lover, but she was one of the few I denied. When I looked again, she was gone.
Arms wrapped around my waist from behind, tearing my focus away from the crowd. “You look a little murderous over here. Not a good look at a celebration of your father, Nightmare.”
I returned a grin to my face and pressed a kiss to the top of Skadi’s head. “I was just thinking as much as I love my father, I’d like to be alone with my wife.”
A pretty little flush pinked the tips of her ears. She traced the lines of my palm, drawing a step closer. “I don’t think the king and queen would miss us. In fact, I think your father is searching for the exit now that your mother gave him his gift at last. I do think I’m missing some meaning about it though.”
I glanced over her head to where my father was currently, unashamedly, devouring my mother. I no longer flinched at the sight—it was a constant in this palace—but on the table was a stuffed horse.
Inge was explaining to Mira how my mother had slipped out to her shop twice a week for the last months, learning how to make the most intricate of stitches. It added a wash of heat to my chest.
Good hells, if I could be half the lover to my wife that my parents were to each other, it would be a life well-loved.
I tugged Skadi against my side. “The horse is a memory from their childhood, one that was destroyed by those who tried to destroy them. I assure you, it symbolizes more to my father than any coin or any title.”
As anticipated, my father tried to end the revel by briskly stating it was simply over. Those who wanted to drink and laugh and feast ignored the king and waved him away.
I dipped my lips to Skadi’s ear. “Ready to go?”
She drew in a shudder of a breath when my palm drew scandalously high on her ribs. “I was ready long ago.”
In our corridor, I pressed her against the door to my side of the bedchamber. “We should take out the wall, Fire. Do we need separate rooms?” I dragged the tip of my tongue along the edge of her ear.
Skadi blew out a rough breath, shaking her head. “Tomorrow. I’ll steal it away.”
“Will it bring down the whole palace?”
“I’ll try not to.”
I laughed and kissed the corner of her mouth, unlatching the door and shoving us inside.
Skadi’s breaths grew heavier with each kiss. “You vowed to make up for our stolen moments alone in the wood. I hope you plan to make good on that, Husband.”
I didn’t need to hear another word. My palms clasped her face and crushed her mouth to mine.
I yanked at the laces on the back of her dress, sliding it off her shoulders. Skadi ripped my belt free with enough force the leather whipped my wrist on its way to the ground. She wriggled free of her gown, only a diaphanous shift underneath. In a frenzy, she shoved my trousers down and had her warm, cruel hands stroking my cock in the next breath.
Her back slammed into the wall. Beside her face, my palms flattened. I kissed her, bit her bottom lip, her neck, rocking against her hand until I was damn-near panting into her mouth.
Next to us was my desk. I cast a glance at the made bed, then back to the wood surface. Gods, no time.
I spun Skadi around, her hips striking the edge of the desk. My palms skirted around her front, cupping her breasts. She whimpered when I tugged the shift down and pinched and rolled her nipples between my fingers.
She bucked into me.
“Bend for me, Fire.” I pressed her onto the table, breasts flattening over the wood.
Skadi gasped, her fingers digging into the surface when I rolled up the skirt of her shift and used my knee to spread her thighs. I gripped my cock, aligning the tip with her soaked entrance, stroking back and forth, nudging in, then pulling back out.
Skadi turned her head, her cheek along the tabletop, lips parted as harsh, pitchy breaths heated her cheeks. “Please.”
“Please what?” I pressed a kiss to her spine. “What do you want, Fire?”
Again, I nudged the tip of my length inside her, only to pull it away.
Skadi hissed in frustration. “Jonas . . .”
“Words, Wife.” I gripped her hair, arching her neck slightly, and took one of the rings pierced in her ear between my teeth.
“Damn you,” she cried out. “I want you inside me. Now.”
I kept one hand tangled in her hair, the other on her hip, and thrust inside in one fierce motion.
Skadi sobbed my name, a sound I would never tire of no matter how many centuries I lived. There was nothing slow, nothing calm about this. I bucked and pounded into her hard. The desk legs scooted along the floorboards with each push.
Skadi cried out, sitting back into me, knees weakening. Her fingernails dug into the wood top, seeking something to hold to as I leveraged one of her knees onto the edge, opening a new angle.
“Jonas, too much.” She gasped. “It’s . . . it’s . . . don’t stop.”
I was frenzied. Sweat dripped onto my lashes. Fire burned in my veins, pooling low in my gut. Another thrust and Skadi fell apart. She writhed and trembled, her cries shattering the quiet of the room.
Before she caught her breath, I quickened my pace, head lost in a fog.
My heart felt as though it might snap free of my ribs and spill out on the table, bloodied and hers for the taking. My release came in a rush. I couldn’t see straight. Hot, endless streams spilled into her. Both legs felt like they might buckle; I braced on the table’s edge until the haze in my mind lifted enough to keep upright.
With care, I eased out, helping her off the table, and took her in my arms.
“I can’t . . . breathe,” she said against my chest.
All I could manage was a nod. Words were too difficult to gather in the moment. I pressed a kiss to her hair. She smelled of sweet spice, and me, and us.
It took a few more moments of standing there, half-naked and sated, before we managed to stagger to the bed. Skadi folded her dress from where it was tossed on the ground while I readjusted the table back into order.
I tugged my trousers back on, but hesitated before taking off my tunic. There was a pathetic piece of me that thought she might think it too much.
“You going to sleep standing up?” Skadi had the quilt tucked over her nose, and her eyes sparkled over the hem.
I let out a rough breath and stripped my tunic.
“Are you wounded?” As expected, Skadi sat up at once. She took a match stick and lit the candle on the bedside table. Her fingers covered the cloth bandage over my heart. “Jonas, what happened?”
“Nothing. While I was out this morning, I visited the inkist.”
Skadi let out a gasp. “You got another one. May I see it?”
Jaw tight, I peeled off the cloth, wincing when some of the irritated skin pinched and split.
Skadi looked to me, then back to the design. Gingerly, her fingers touched the area around the new tattoo. “A flame?”
I pressed a kiss to her palm. “It’s you.”
What I knew of Skadi, I expected her to flush, perhaps grin with a bit of shyness, but I did not anticipate her kiss knocking the air from my lungs.
She kissed me, destroyed me was more like it, as though she might never get another taste. With swift movements, Skadi leveraged over my hips. “I would vow with you again and again, Jonas.”
I would never get enough. She was branded on me, not only on the surface, Skadi was imprinted on my damn soul, and I never wanted to be rid of her.
I ought to have known the stronger we grew, the fiercer others would want to tear her away.