44
I couldn’t move my arms. Something blocked them against my chest. Slowly, I opened my eyes. Amlach’s big arm was wrapped around me from behind, his large hand gripping my wrists in a possessive yet non-threatening way.
I vividly recalled what it was like to be embraced by my parents, by Araton. Still, Amlach’s hug felt different. It felt . . . complete.
It was my place.
My heart started pounding so fiercely against my ribs that I feared it would wake him up. However, he kept sleeping peacefully on my hair. Carefully, I disentangled myself from his hold and slowly turned to face him.
I moved my hair away from his face; his steady breath, escaping from his slightly parted lips, brushed against my chin.
I contemplated his face, from the fine wrinkles around his eyes to the dimple on the tip of his nose.
My index finger traced the outline of his full lips, then I brushed the back of my fingers across his bearded cheek.
Had he also slept so soundly next to Mistress Yrrek? Had she, too, woken up to look at him and caress him, just like I was doing?
I couldn’t stand it. I didn’t want to.
Because . . . because Amlach was mine. And I . . . I wanted the future that Roxior had described to me.
Yes, my family and my people were waiting for me, and I had obligations I couldn’t escape.
But centuries of solitude also awaited me in the future.
Soon, Araton would reunite with Serie among the stars.
Eventually, my parents would set off together toward their Rest. And I would stay behind to reign.
Alone.
I didn’t want that to be my destiny. I wanted . . . I wanted to be happy. But . . .
What if he doesn’t want a life with me?
What if he rejected me?
Insecurity clouded my eyes as I brushed a wavy lock away from his forehead and . . .
Amlach blocked me just before I could tuck it behind his ear, moving so swiftly it seemed almost supernatural.
Startled, I watched as his fingers crushed my wrist like red-hot pincers. “Amlach,” I groaned.
He quickly relaxed his hold, his eyes remaining closed, and let out a contented moan. “Good morning, Elf.”
I watched his hand slip into mine in a natural, disarming way and held my breath as he placed our clasped hands in the space between our heads.
Yearning to hear his velvety voice once more and to be gazed at as only he could, I whispered, “Amlach?”
“Hmm?”
I bit my lip, uncertain about whether to continue. “Why did you never have a woman?”
His eyebrow went up as he smirked.
I playfully punched him in the chest with my free hand. “You know what I mean.”
Amlach let out a low chuckle that prompted me to rub my thighs together, overwhelmed by a sudden rush of arousal in my sex. This unintentionally caused me to slightly brush my knees against Amlach’s, who finally opened his eyes.
He let his eyes run over my face for what seemed like an eternity before replying, “No woman has ever made me want to start another family, besides the one I have with my comrades in arms.”
He casually slid a leg between mine, making me blush as I felt the pressure of his thigh against my heated core.
His grin broadened. “I guess you haven’t found your mate yet either, have you?”
Sadness seemed to freeze every cell in my body. I looked down at our intertwined hands. “And I never will.”
“Why do you seem so sure about that?” he asked, confused.
I hesitated. “Elves find their mate within their early thousand years.”
“I feel like there’s a but coming,” Amlach said lightly, trying to ease my tension.
For a few seconds, I stared at his thumb gently caressing mine. “But not all succeed, as the Spirits have not chosen a mate for every elf.”
Amlach remained silent for a moment. “What happens to those who can’t find theirs?”
“Some have the strength to drag themselves into a lonely existence thanks to the affection of their family.” I made a pregnant pause. “Others decide to leave this world to avoid facing a life without love.”
“I see.” I felt his gaze studying me, but I didn’t dare to meet it. “Nauriel,” he called me.
I kept looking downward.
“How old are you?”
A tear escaped my eye. “I’m three thousand years old.”
He released his hold on my hand to lift my chin. His gaze was so intense that I drowned in it with all of myself.
“You will find your mate,” he assured me with dark firmness.
Bewitched, I allowed him to wipe my tear with his thumb and then pass it over my lips, moistening them.
He gradually lowered his calloused fingertips onto my protruding collarbone, then traced a fiery trail down my back, making me arch against him.
I shivered as he touched my buttocks and gasped uncontrollably when, with a smooth move, he hooked his fingers over my knee joint and positioned my leg against his side.
I instinctively ground myself against him, and he responded by squeezing my butt so roughly that I moaned over his lips.
“Nauriel?” he said, his voice husky with need.
An implicit question. A plea not to stop him again.
I touched his cheek, savoring the sensation of the beard beneath my hand. I traced his lips with my index finger, my pulse racing at the thought that we were about to kiss.
And, oh, how badly I wanted to.
I wanted to kiss him with open mouth. I wanted his tongue to touch mine. I wanted to sink my teeth into his lips. I wanted him to suck mine. I wanted to know the taste of his saliva.
I wanted Amlach to be my first kiss.
My first time.
My everything.
My one and only.
“Yes,” I whispered, giving him my permission.
Predatory excitement came alive in his eyes like a bonfire, and his fingers pressed into my skin with almost painful force.
We inhaled together to lunge at each other . . .
Someone cleared their throat so loudly that even the goats gave protesting noises.
Blushing to the tips of my ears, I untangled myself from Amlach and sat straight up, pulling down the skirt of my nightgown that had ridden above my knee.
“Perfect timing, Lotte,” Amlach said, without bothering to conceal his irritation.
She deliberately ignored him, her hard look fixed on me.
“That’s the last time I spend the day searching for you because you had a fight with your boyfriend.
” I started to respond in kind, but she addressed Amlach.
“And you . . . Next time you find her first, you are kindly requested to bring her back into the house, not join her in the stables.” She wrinkled her nose as she observed the hay we were lying on.
Amlach’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Will do.”
The housekeeper jingled our collars with handcuffs as a tacit command for us to stand up. “Hurry,” she said after she chained us together. “Master wants you to get back to your training right away.”
As I watched her collect the tray with my untouched dinner, now swarmed with ants, and head toward the shed entrance without even waiting for us, Amlach quietly slid his hand back into mine and leaned down to whisper in my ear.
“Tonight,” he promised in a sensual voice.
I smiled, feeling as excited as I ever had in my life.
Before straightening up, he lightly kissed the tip of my ear, then winked at me and pulled me out of the cage with that smirk that drove me crazy.