Chapter 42
My gaze slips from Tiernan’s hands to the ink on his forearm as he slips his tunic off over his head and signs something to me. Flutters fill my stomach as I find his amused gaze again before he takes a knee to start removing his boots.
I clear my throat. “Are you sure this is a good idea? Shouldn’t we be getting back to the others?”
He stands to toe his boots off while he signs. “We probably should but …” He gestures to the water again. “This one can’t overflow like the tub back in the Verge.”
I bite my lip around a grin. My cheeks heat up from the memory of what’d occurred back in the Verge.
I’d have expected to feel less coy about either of us being undressed in each other’s presence after that moment, and yet, as he’s down to his breeches, hooking his thumbs into the waistband, I turn my attention to the water.
Tiernan wades into my view, waist-deep in the pool with a grin splitting his face. “You’re missing out,” he signs above the water. He sinks down until his head is submerged then resurfaces, pushing wet hair back from his face.
“Alright, I’ll come in,” I say. “But only for a moment. Let me just get some blankets.” I approach Ghendor to retrieve our packs then leave him to wander while I return to the side of the spring and set the packs down.
Setting two blankets aside, I glance up to find Tiernan watching me, now chest-deep, from the water.
“I feel like you’re procrastinating,” he gestures.
Painstakingly, I begin removing my own clothing, folding each layer and placing it beside Tiernan’s. “Maybe I am,” I say, slipping off my breeches. I take a deep breath before I unwrap the band of fabric from around my breasts and place it atop the rest of my clothes.
Removing the ribbon at the end of my hair, I unbraid and let the curls fall over my shoulders. There’s adoration in Tiernan’s gaze as I hug my torso, my legs firmly together even as my toes grip the very edge of the pool. He wades closer, his body emerging until he’s only waist-deep again.
I take his extended hand and slip down into the spring. A sigh of relief comes over me as the water envelops my aching muscles. Tiernan pulls me farther out until the water reaches just below my breasts and I sink down so that it laps across my collarbones.
I hold my breath, pinching my nose shut to dip under for a quick moment before resurfacing. When I turn my gaze back to Tiernan, he’s staring intently at me.
Self-conscious, I smooth my drenched ringlets away from my face and ask, “What is it?”
His eyes seem to stare right into my soul. “I don’t deserve you. I’m sorry I’ve been keeping my past from you.”
“Tiernan—”
“But never forget that you have my trust as much as you have my heart.”
My chest fills with warmth as Tiernan slips his arms around me, pulling me against him.
All words flee from me as my arms settle on his shoulders, as I gaze into his dark eyes.
With no secrets left between us, with the old wounds opened and our hearts vulnerable to each other, I feel everything all at once.
I kiss him with an intensity fueled by all the time we’ve wasted.
His lips roam my jaw, along the side of my neck, and down to my collarbone.
My body comes alive beneath his hands that seem desperate to explore every part of me.
Molten heat fills me at the feel of his hard length against my thigh. His fingers knot in my hair, my head falling back as his lips skim over the pulse bounding in the hollow of my neck. I squeeze my thighs together, unable to keep myself from seeking the wonderful friction I crave.
“Let’s get out of this water,” he whispers into my mind.
I nod, and we rush for the edge of the spring.
Tiernan pulls himself out of the water, whipping a blanket open with one flick of his wrists before helping me out of the steaming pool.
I wrap my arms around myself, shivering from the change in temperature.
Tiernan sits atop the blanket first and gently tugs me beside him before he picks up where he left off, trailing kisses from my collarbone downward. My coldness is immediately forgotten.
I’m unprepared for the jolt that moves through me as he sucks the peak of my breast into his mouth. My back arches, my stomach clenching with surprising intensity. I can’t even think as his lips and tongue tease my nipples and awareness floods every part of me.
I’m not sure when I end up lying flat, but the blanket’s not much of a barrier between my back and the hard ground. The liquefied heat and pulsing need between my legs demand attention.
Tiernan draws in a breath and light pleasure flutters over my skin like thousands of butterflies.
His pleasure.
Gods, what a strange, compelling sensation—feeling what he does. He lifts his head, partially hovering over me. The subtle redness in his cheeks is a sight to behold. “You’ll let me know if you want me to stop, right?”
I nod. “Yes. But is it … is it alright if we don’t … I …”
He patiently waits for me to get my words out, one brow lifted, no judgment on his face.
“I don’t want my very first time to be in a cave.”
His laughter ripples through me, but he smiles and twirls a loose curl of my hair around his finger. “I understand. Are you alright with me pleasuring you until you climax?”
Flustered and speechless, I sputter, completely forgetting every word and every sign.
Tiernan’s grin widens. “I’m not sure I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m also very skilled with my tongue.”
It takes my inexperienced mind a moment to catch up, but I watch the amusement play across his handsome features as a heat rushes over me.
“You don’t have to do that,” I sign quickly.
Embarrassed heat continues to hold me captive until he kisses me languidly.
His palm drifts over my breasts, down to the needy ache at the apex of my thighs.
A gasp slips from my lips before I press my hand over my mouth to stifle a moan.
“Don’t silence yourself,” he says into my mind as his finger strokes in a tight circle over that spot.
I let my hand fall away from my mouth, and he kisses down my body, his hands gently spreading my thighs.
There’s a smoldering glimmer in his eyes when he peers up at me from between my legs.
“Tiernan …” I say, my voice wavering. I’m still embarrassed at the mere thought of his mouth being so close to …
Oh gods …
My senses scatter as he flicks his tongue against my clit. A slew of pleasurable sensations flow through me. I gasp, my back leaving the blanket for a moment as my hands fist in his wet hair. As he drags that skilled tongue up my very core and delves in.
It becomes impossible not to writhe beneath him. My eyes flutter closed as I bite back a moan.
Tiernan lifts his head momentarily, his finger taking over where his tongue had been. “Don’t rob me of those beautiful sounds,” he says. “Let me hear you.”
Then his mouth is on me again, devouring me while cool vapors begin to flood my hands.
I let my hand slip from his hair, my legs over his back as I grip the damp blanket beneath me.
I fight against the powers so eager to unleash themselves.
I’m already lost in the pleasure, but I become utterly mind-numbed as he coaxes a finger inside me.
His tongue starts to move in tandem with his determined strokes, and my shadows come alive.
Unbidden, they twine down my arms and stretch toward him. I draw in a breath, tensing.
“Tiernan. I can’t hold—”
He peers up at me, his voice clear in my mind as his finger continues to move. “I trust you, love.” he says. “You can let go.”
Love.
My heart swells and pressure builds until I fear it’ll shatter me.
Until ropes of shadows wrap around Tiernan’s arms. I lose the battle to keep from squirming.
I’m unable to stop the gasps and moans of pleasure, unable to keep my hips from lifting off the ground when my control snaps.
The pleasure ripples through my body, my thighs quivering through the intense, rhythmic pulses around his finger.
Then it’s all too much, one wave cresting over into another, leaving me shuddering as shadows dance over his back and across my skin. I shove at Tiernan’s head. “Too much,” I whisper aloud. “Too much, too much.”
He retracts his finger and my shadows scatter.
Tiernan lifts his face to me, a triumphant grin on his swollen lips.
He kisses up my body again to my mouth, and I eagerly meet his tongue stroke for stroke.
The tiniest hint of embarrassment is triggered by the taste on his lips, but satisfaction relaxes my body in a way it’s not felt in …
I actually don’t recall ever feeling quite this way.
I curl into the crook of his arm as we lay sidelong. For a moment, I just breathe, letting my pulse settle, letting the mindless satiation melt away. He’s given me this pure bliss and I— “Do you want me to …” My hand is already moving down toward his erection when he captures my wrist.
“It’s alright,” he says. “Tasting you is already more than I dreamt of today.”
I smile sheepishly at him, hardly able to meet his eyes. “Are you sure? I don’t know what I’m doing, but you can—”
“Durvla …” He chuckles, tucking back frizzy curls from my face. They bounce right back in front of my eyes. “I think your shadows like me.”
My lips part, a question on the tip of my tongue. But Tiernan’s eyes flick down then back up to me.
“Oh … oh gods.” I cover my face while I feel his amusement tickle my skin. I lower my hands to find him staring at me with such adoration again. He sits up, tucking his own hair behind his ears. “Do you want to clean up before we head back to tell the others? About this cave, I mean.”
Right … I sigh as reality sets in again. We slip back into the pool to wash up, then get dressed as quickly as we can. When Ghendor is loaded up with our packs and we’re ready to mount up and head back to the river, Tiernan turns to me with urgency in his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I ask him.
He shakes his head, smiling softly. “I know I’ve given you a hard time on this journey, but if only you knew how much I wanted a moment like this with you. If I could stop time just to watch you come undone again, I would.”
The cave suddenly feels several degrees hotter.
“I love every part of you, Durvla. Your heart, your strength, the darkness that you control with the elegance of a goddess. I will never take you for granted. I’ll spend every waking moment trying to remind you of how much you mean to me.
Because even though the world is falling apart, you are the one I want to fall with. ”
My throat spasms, a knot cinching tighter as tears spill over from my eyes and trickle down my cheeks.
My mind fixates on one word in particular.
On the thing I never thought I’d be capable of feeling—not in this way.
But now there’s no doubt in my mind about it, and there’s no part of me that wants to hide from this.
I stare into his eyes and sign, “I love you too, Tiernan.”
Relief flows from him.
“But I’m afraid I cannot outdo that speech.”
He laughs and swipes away a tear of his own before wrapping me in a tight hug. He kisses the crown of my head then my cheeks and my lips. And when we’re out of tears and laughter, we mount Ghendor and head back to the group and back to the journey that could make or break the kingdom.