Chapter Thirty-two #2
Then his fingers started at her clit again, circling and teasing until her moans grew louder and louder. She was completely uninhibited, her breasts bouncing as she rode him, her backside slapping against his pelvis as that coil of desire took hold, unravelling her —
And then she was being lifted.
Wilder pulled out of her to flip them around, so that she was on her back in the plush fur of the rug and he was braced above her, his gaze ravenous and intense in the low light of the cabin.
‘Tell me you feel it too,’ he growled, pushing into her.
Thea wrapped her legs around him, giving him better access, drawing him deeper. ‘I —’
‘I need to hear you say it,’ he said, his teeth closing over her nipple.
She gasped. There it was again, that unique blend of pleasure and pain that was so inherently Wilder .
‘I feel it,’ she panted, her heart seizing. ‘I feel everything with you.’
Thea didn’t realise her Warsword had been holding back, but at her words, whatever leash he’d kept on himself snapped completely. He grabbed her wrists and pinned them above her head, causing her to arch beneath him as he fucked her hard and deep.
Each stroke was more brutal than the last, but Thea met every thrust with a tilt of her hips, begging for more, taking everything he gave her.
And he gave her everything.
She kissed him fiercely, her tongue tangling with his, his beard scraping her jaw. They seemed to breathe and move as one. Completely and utterly joined.
It wasn’t pleasure alone that roared in her veins, but her magic too. It answered him like it answered the call of a storm. She felt him not only inside her body, but inside her soul, inside the very fibre of her being, coursing through her like an unbroken tempest.
Power met power and bound together, two threads entwining, forging something new, something stronger.
Thea writhed beneath his powerful grip, desperate to mark him with her fingernails, to claim him in some visible way, but her arms were still pinned above her.
He didn’t release her. Instead, he thrust into her harder.
‘Wilder,’ she breathed, the intensity of it nearly shattering her.
Wilder’s deep, carnal moan in her ear was her undoing.
It unravelled that building pressure, causing her to clench around him as she spiralled out of control.
Pleasure climbed higher and higher, and just when she thought she would crest and fall into oblivion, it reached a new peak, a new level of madness.
And then she was beyond the point of no return, her climax hitting her like a bolt of lightning to a surging wave, one she rode as it crashed through every part of her, breaking her into a million pieces.
Wilder gave a shout, shuddering into her with his own release.
On and on that pleasure went, until Thea was nearly sobbing with the force of it.
Still braced over her, still inside her, Wilder met her gaze, a trembling breath escaping him, his silver eyes glistening.
‘I —’ His voice cracked with emotion.
Thea freed her scar-flecked hands from his and reached up to cup his face. ‘I know,’ she murmured, and kissed him softly.
* * *
Thea didn’t know how long they lay there, tangled in one another, the sheer intensity of the cord between them rendering her speechless, raw.
In what must have been the early hours of the morning, Wilder finally peeled himself away from her, tugged on some clothes and left the cabin without another word.
A short while later, he returned carrying two giant pails of hot water and tipped them into the tub as though they weighed nothing.
Thea watched him from where she still lay on the rug.
If she didn’t know any better, she’d say he was fussing.
He dipped his elbow into the water and hissed at the heat, adding a pail of cold water into the mix. He also set up a small table beside the tub, where he placed a tray of bread and cheese, and a goblet of wine for each of them.
Wilder Hawthorne was definitely fussing. Over her.
‘Should be a good temperature now,’ he told her, offering her a hand up. They were the first words he’d spoken since they’d…
Smiling to herself, Thea let him help her, the blanket she’d been clutching falling to the floor in a puddle at her feet. Wilder’s gaze darkened at the sight of her naked body, but he led her to the tub and held her hand as she stepped in.
She sank down into the heat, moaning softly as the tension drained from her muscles.
‘Perhaps you should join me this time…’ she ventured.
Wilder surveyed her. ‘Perhaps I should.’
She watched as he stripped off his clothes and swept his hair back in a knot, his muscles rippling with each movement. Gods, she would never tire of the sight of him, every incredible inch of him… Her gaze fell to the heavy cock between his legs —
‘Don’t get any ideas, Princess,’ he warned as he stepped into the tub with her.
He took up the spot at the far end, so they were face to face.
He seemed even more enormous confined to the bath, his arms resting against the sides.
His long, muscular legs settled either side of her and his gaze trailed over her face and then down to the tops of her breasts.
‘Don’t get any ideas, Warsword,’ she laughed.
He leant back against the tub, a grin spreading across his face, and Furies save her, it melted her heart.
She had never seen him like this before…
Not really. It made her want to cherish the moment that much more, knowing that not many ever got to see Wilder Hawthorne like this, with his guard down.
Gods, he was beautiful, and gods, she was happy.
The sheer joy in her chest was barely containable, and the warmth that settled there threatened to overwhelm her.
It was as though time had stopped for them, and now…
‘Is this wrong?’ she asked quietly, realising that further east, Tver was likely at the mercy of the darkness and its servants – that somewhere out there, people were dying.
Wilder pinned her with a look of understanding. ‘I learnt long ago to take the small pleasures of life when I can.’
‘But —’
‘What can you do from here, Thea? We are on our way to aid Tver. Tomorrow we will strategise with Torj and the others. But for now, we can do no more. And when we step foot on land again, who knows when we might have a night like this?’ His words were earnest and gentle, yet firm.
Thea fought against the tightness in her chest and nodded. She reached for her drink and took a grateful sip.
‘How do you think the others took the news?’ she asked, placing the goblet back on the table and lathering soap onto a cloth. The conversation with her friends about heirs and storm wielders seemed like a lifetime ago now.
‘Better than I did.’
Thea laughed. ‘True.’
He sent a splash of water her way and she splashed him back.
When the bath settled again, she began to wash herself. ‘I thought they’d ask if I was going to claim the kingdom, take back the non-existent crown, you know?’
‘It exists, somewhere. Those sorts of things always manage to escape the fire, so to speak.’
Thea tried to picture it: a crown out there somewhere with her name on it. She couldn’t.
‘And the questions will come,’ Wilder added, his fingers circling the surface of the water.
‘I know.’
‘What will you tell them?’
‘That it’s not what I want.’
Wilder pulled her foot into his lap and rubbed the sole with his thumb. She nearly moaned. ‘And what of duty?’ he asked. His words weren’t accusatory, weren’t laced with some ulterior motive, only thoughtfulness.
‘You think I have a duty to a kingdom that no longer exists?’
‘It doesn’t matter what I think. What do you think?’
Thea let her head rest against the rim of the tub and closed her eyes as Wilder worked his fingers against the tender parts of her feet.
‘I wonder what’s to gain by trying to raise something from the ashes…
By trying to claim something that has been forgotten for over thirty years,’ she admitted.
She had barely allowed herself to think of it, and as she spoke now, she realised she still didn’t know what to make of her heritage and who her family had once been.
Wilder was quiet, waiting for her to process, to gather her fears.
‘What if I did reclaim it?’ she asked quietly. ‘What then? For what purpose would I rule?’
Wilder shrugged. ‘To even the playing field in the midrealms? To make a difference? You could see the women warriors of Thezmarr reinstated… You could do a lot of things, Thea.’
But Thea shifted, the water sloshing around them. ‘You spoke of duty… What of a ruler’s true duty?’
‘And what’s that?’
‘To provide an heir.’
Wilder flinched.
‘That’s not something I want,’ she told him. ‘Not ever.’ Again, she waited for him to tell her that she’d change her mind, that all women did when they got older. She’d heard the same patronising notion plenty of times in the fortress. But no such words slipped from his mouth. ‘Does that make me —’
‘It makes you, you. And you are perfect,’ he said.
She raised a sceptical brow, all their arguments, all their tense moments flashing before her. ‘Since when?’
‘Since always,’ he said, smiling softly. ‘I was just too stubborn to see it.’
Tears burned Thea’s eyes, but she didn’t let them fall. ‘I like you like this…’
Wilder wiggled a brow. ‘Wet and naked?’
Thea laughed. ‘Relaxed. Yourself… You’re perfect, too.’
A cloud passed over Wilder’s expression, so quickly Thea thought she’d imagined it.
‘What is it?’ she asked.
He studied her for a moment, his expression unreadable. ‘I never thought I would have this.’ He gestured between them.
Thea waited, watching as his brow furrowed and he struggled to find the words.
His throat bobbed. ‘And now I have it… I’m terrified.’
‘Of what?’
‘Of losing it. Of losing you.’
Thea’s heart fractured. She knew he had lost others he’d cared about, and she knew that although her fate stone wasn’t currently around her neck, it would always be between them.
Water sluiced down her as she moved, settling in his lap, straddling him.
Even now, his desire pressed against her and she dipped her head to his, kissing him.
‘You won’t lose me, not until fate itself comes to claim me.’ She shifted her hips, angling herself at the tip of his cock. ‘I promise you that, Warsword.’
He claimed her mouth brutally, his hands tangling in her wet hair, pulling her down onto him. Wilder sheathed himself inside her and Thea cried out.
His teeth scraped along her neck as he began to move beneath her, filling her with everything he had.
‘Don’t make vows you can’t keep, Princess.’
But every thought had emptied from Thea’s head as the intoxicating force of him took hold, and she kissed him again, hard enough to bruise, hard enough to pretend she hadn’t heard those words.