Chapter 52 #2
Air stuttered in my lungs. Could he possibly be working with Lyriasthe, with the Elessarum?
Had Heraphia Seen something and not told me before our first treasonous conversation?
If Vaeron was already weaving himself in with the rebel group, perhaps the Goddess had truly tied our fates for change—this change.
Before I could ask another question, he pressed a finger to my lips. “Not now. Not out loud. I do not know where Iaoth has spies. And she has been watching you closely. As have the rest of the nobles. Even the city knows of your power now. We must tread with the utmost care.”
I swallowed hard and nodded. He retreated, then slipped his hand around mine. We resumed our walk, my head spinning with the new revelations.
“Breathe,” he murmured, and I forced myself to slow the rise and fall of my chest.
Focusing on the sights, sounds, and smells around me, I halted my inner spiral and drifted back to an easy center.
“That’s it,” he crooned, guiding us around a smaller tree and onto a thicker thoroughfare in the garden. In the distance, I spotted a few females tending to fruit trees, picking up the pieces that had fallen on the ground and placing them in wicker baskets attached to their hips.
“Do you want one?” Vaeron asked me, following my gaze.
“What are they?” I hadn’t seen a fruit like that before, and curiosity got the better of me.
With a tug on my hand, we approached the group. “Herr R?viel,” one female squeaked when she noted our approach. Dipping into a quick curtsey, she offered him, then me, pleasantries. “Herra R?viel, what can I get for you?”
I blinked for a moment, confusion knitting my brows.
I am Herra R?viel.
The thought slammed sense back into me. Everyone in the palace knew about us now, and that I was a Seer. And that Seers got whatever they wanted.
Except for freedom, but I was trying to be less bitter about that fact.
“What kind of fruit is that?” I asked, gesturing to the red, puckered skin. It wasn’t round and robust like an orange. Instead, it was almost almond shaped, closer to the size of a goose egg.
“Goddess fruit,” she replied, attention repeatedly flicking to Vaeron. Of course, she was probably thinking about the trial. That was all anyone could talk about.
And every time it was mentioned, my stomach knotted tighter.
Using two hands, she peeled its flesh away, revealing a firm, white center, almost like an apple.
She held it out to me, and I accepted, turning it over as my appetite waned.
“Go on, try a bite,” Vaeron encouraged, but the velvet in his voice had turned to steel. I wasn’t exactly hiding my thoughts and feelings behind a thick barrier.
I nibbled on one end. Flavor exploded in my mouth. Sweet and tangy, the fruit tore easily. I chewed, savoring the complex combination. A sour aftertaste lingered after I swallowed. “That is…”
“Unlike anything you’ve tasted before?” my mate finished for me.
“Yes,” I laughed, and the female helping us did too.
“That is why it is called Goddess fruit. Only a dozen trees grow in the realm. It was one of the reasons Thalvireth Palace was built here,” Vaeron explained.
That hadn’t been in our history lessons.
“So eat the entire orb, we don’t want it to go to waste,” the female said.
She didn’t have to twist my arm. I took another bite, then offered the rest to Vaeron. He only sank his teeth in once, chewing slowly, before handing it back to me. “I’ve had plenty before. Enjoy it.”
I did, warmth seeping into my limbs like summer wine. My skin cooled, kissed by the ghost of winter. Pleasure blossomed in contrast.
“It’s an aphrodisiac too. You’re meant to feel divine after consuming it,” Vaeron hummed down our mental connection.
My mate thanked the female, then wrapped an arm around my waist and guided me back toward Thalvireth. His hand drifted lower, thumb caressing my hip. Sparks shot across my skin, and I’d had enough fruit that the low, circular touch sent tremors between my thighs.
“Careful,” he murmured darkly in my mind. “If you keep looking at me like that we might not make it back to our room.”
I hadn’t realized I’d been staring up at him. The slight twist to his lips, almost hidden by the stubble he’d kept once I told him I liked it, revealed his amusement.
“Who said I want to wait that long?”
A growl vibrated in his chest. Desire, dark and hungry, surged from him and wrapped around me.
Overhead, Ilae and Ysolthe clicked, signaling their departure. I looked up, watching the crystalline pair circle the sky. A matched pair, flying together, as they should be.
Just like Vaeron and me.
The thought stole my breath as we entered the marble maw of the palace. I let his touch and the lingering notes of the sour juice ease the anxiety of what was to come.
For tonight, I would take this small, stolen peace.
We tumbled into bed, a tangle of limbs and teeth. I tugged on the leather binding Vaeron’s hair and tossed it aside. Stormwood curled in my nose as I threaded my fingers at the nape of his neck. He groaned—low and feral—as I scratched.
I arched into him, and he captured my good leg and hiked it higher, hardness digging into the place where I wanted him most. A gasp burst out of me as he rolled his hips. There was entirely too much fabric between us.
Breaking our kiss, he scraped his teeth along the side of my neck. Fingers skimming my flesh, he lifted my skirt higher. I gasped when he cupped my center.
“The heat of you here,” he rasped. “After that Goddess fruit, I need to taste you.”
His tongue trailed down my throat, dipping between my breasts. Luminous magic unfurled from his palms, sliding my skirt to my waist.
But it didn’t stop there. It starleaped to my wrists, guiding them above my head like strands of radiant silk.
My seam pulsed against his hand. A wicked grin bloomed on his face. He grazed the barrier between us with the backs of his knuckles, featherlight and promising sin.
“Do you like surrendering to me, little fugitive?” he crooned, snatching my hips. Energy crackled where our bare skin touched.
“Yes,” I croaked, because I could feel the evidence of it between my thighs.
His fingers hooked in the band and ripped, revealing the wetness seeping out of me. “Goddess,” he cursed, gaze locking on my core.
I strained against the white binds, aching to touch him, to remove the shirt and reveal the carved torso beneath.
As if he’d read my thoughts, Vaeron tugged off his tunic and tossed it to the side. Pupils blown, he drank in the sight of me as he settled low on the bed.
“Fuck, your smell.” His nose trailed along my inner thigh, his inhale brushing against my skin. “It’s even better after consuming the fruit. I fear I’ll never be able to stop once I taste you.”
I whimpered as his tongue flicked out, testing me, teasing me. With a groan, he licked my slit, dipping briefly between my folds before circling my clit
“Vaeron,” I gasped as he did it again. Breasts heaving, I watched him burying himself deeper. His stubble scratched my thighs, heat blooming low in my belly.
His mouth was ruinous rapture speaking the language of pleasure.
I rolled my hips, seeking his lips on the sensitive bud again. His possessive growl brushed over my skin, vibrating me. “No one else will ever see you like this.”
His tongue dipped inside me, drawing out a wanton moan. Again and again he fucked me like that, never giving me enough friction to unravel completely.
“Please,” I rasped as his teeth raked against my overheated flesh.
He paused, trailing a hand slowly over the slick path his tongue had left, looking up at me with a wicked grin. “Please what?”
The pads of his fingers danced along my center, gliding through the gush of arousal.
“I need more,” I whimpered as he dragged two digits over my clit.
His head dipped again, tongue sweeping through my folds. “More this?” His mouth latched onto that sensitive bundle of nerves. “Or this?” He sucked there, tearing a cry from me. “Ah, I think that is what you wanted.”
Ecstasy crashed through me as he worked harder, faster. I panted, straining against the white shackles. I so desperately wanted to touch him, to thread my fingers in his iron-gray hair and hold him exactly there.
Time disappeared, and I wanted to spend eternity in this bliss.
My orgasm raced forward, eager to leap. My walls fluttered while my breath came in short, choppy waves.
Vaeron licked, one long stroke, and retreated. A cry fled my lips. “Why did you stop?”
He merely offered me a vicious, predatory grin. “Because I want to draw this out. And letting you come so soon wouldn’t serve my designs for you.”
I hated that he controlled me so. I loved that he had a plan for my pleasure.
He swiped his fingers through my arousal, and I bucked. More magic pooled from his hands, wrapping over my legs and pinning them open. “Look at you, a wet, writhing mess for me.”
He curved over me, and my gaze traced every hard plane of his body.
“Open.”
I did as he pressed his soaked fingers to my lips.
“Close.”
I sucked the two into my mouth with a groan, tasting myself.
“Now you know exactly what I was experiencing,” he crooned, withdrawing them slowly and dragging them to the middle of my chest. My own magic leaped up to meet his touch. “But it wasn’t enough. I need to see all of you.”
Without care for the fabric, he gripped it and ripped.
“I liked that outfit,” I protested as he threw the dress away.
“I’ll buy you another,” he growled, capturing one nipple in his mouth.
“Fuck!” I gasped out as he took the other between his fingers and pinched. Light replaced his touch a moment later, and he planted open mouthed kisses all the way back to my core.
“I need more of this,” he murmured before latching onto me again.
The luminosity pinning me to the bed was the only thing preventing me from flying to the heavens. My vision went blank as his tongue swirled my clit. The sweetest melody rang in my ears as he dove it inside me again.