Chapter 11
Harper
Gareth has fallen asleep, but I’m nervous about leaving Sevrin alone at the academy.
So I carefully slip out of his arms, dress, and try to leave.
I stop, staring at Gareth. He looks like a painting, lying on the bed asleep.
His dark hair is still a little damp from his bath.
I smile, my chest warming. He’s such an incredible man.
Even after all he’s been through, he has such a good heart.
I don’t think I’ve felt this hopeful about my future with the princes before.
There’s just something about all of them seeming to sincerely want to connect with me.
Before my conversation with the three of them, I wasn’t even sure if they wanted our marriage to be anything but sex.
And even though they did a terrible, awful job of explaining what they imagine for our future, and what they want of me, it’s enough to know that they do want more than just sex.
That they want something real, even if they can’t quite articulate what that is.
Releasing a slow breath, I slip out of the hall and slowly close the door behind me. I turn around, gasping when I see Alaric standing across from Gareth’s door looking upset.
“Prince Alaric–”
“Alaric,” he clarifies, and I realize just calling them by their first names is really important to the princes. “If you can call that Hollowborn by his name, you can call me by my name.” And, apparently, that was a sticking point for them too.
I try again. “Alaric, are you okay?”
He folds his arms in front of his chest and looks at the ground. “Is it me? Is there something about me you don’t like?”
“Wh-what?” I ask, confused.
His intense brown eyes meet mine. “You know we can all feel when you have sex, right? I went to all of our rooms before I realized you were at Gareth’s. I realized you could be at any of their places, since you’ve been with all of them. It’s just my room you couldn’t be at.”
I don’t know what to say. “I’m sorry.”
He shakes his head. “Don’t say sorry, explain it to me.
I’m a man accustomed to criticism. If I need to fight better, I’m told as much, and I do better.
If I have to be faster, go harder, survive on less, I can do it, I just need to know what I need to do.
So, tell me what I need to do to get you to care about me the way you care about my brothers. The way you care about the Hollowborn.”
A couple dragon riders come around the corner, and I have to step back to let them walk between us. We fall into a tense silence until they disappear around the corner, and it’s awkward, but I’m honestly glad to be given a moment to get my thoughts sorted.
“Maybe we should go on a walk in a less busy part of the academy and discuss this,” Alaric says, his back stiff, his words even stiffer.
I nod, and we walk next to each other, through the busier part of the academy, then go out a doorway to a walkway along the outside of the wall near the ocean. It’s a little windy and cold, but it’s definitely quiet. There’s not a soul in sight.
“So,” he begins, clearing his throat. “What is it that I need to do or change to have you feel as close to me as you do to my brothers? And the Hollowborn?” he throws in with unconcealed anger, before stilling his face once more.
“Alaric,” I try again, trying to choose my words with care. “It’s not that I don’t care about you. Our relationship has just been… unconventional.”
“How so?” he asks.
“Well, if this were a traditional relationship back at Pennyvale, we would’ve met. You would’ve asked to court me. You’d have taken me out to meals, made me picnics, gone for walks with me–”
“We’re going on a walk right now.”
“Yes.” He’s technically right. “But it’s not… a romantic walk.”
He turns to face me, looking confused. “How is this not a romantic walk?”
I smile, feeling flustered. “I mean, we’re not even holding hands.”
Immediately, he reaches out and takes my hand, then nods. “We’re holding hands now.”
A laugh slips out, despite how hard I try to hold it back. “But is this romantic?”
He seems to consider that for a second, watching me carefully, the wind blowing around us, and his hand holding mine.
A minute ago, this walk felt the furthest thing from romantic, but now I can feel the heat building between us.
I just wonder if he even feels it. These men, all three of them, feel like creatures from another world, who have only watched romance from afar, but never participated in it.
Alaric drops my hand, then takes a step closer. I watch him, trying to decide what he’s thinking as he looks down at me, but he almost looks more unsure than I do as he lowers his head.
That’s the thing about these men too. As little as they know about romance, they seem to know a hell of a lot about lust, and Alaric is no exception.
His kiss isn’t gentle. It isn’t hesitant.
It’s the kind of kiss that steals the ground out from under me.
The ocean roars near us, wind whipping my clothes around my body, but his arms wrap around my waist, pulling me into him, making me feel anchored, braced, wanted.
I curl my fingers into the front of his shirt, holding on partly for balance and partly because I need him closer, closer than the air, closer than my own shadow.
He tastes like salt and warmth and something faintly sweet, like berries.
When he deepens our kiss, my knees nearly give out, and he makes a low sound, half groan, or maybe a half growl, like he likes that a little too much.
By the time he finally eases back, brushing his forehead against mine, I’m breathless, flushed, and trembling just a little. He smiles, slow, wicked, unbearably confident.
“Tell me you didn’t feel that,” he says.
I swallow, heart racing like a trapped bird. “I think the whole damn ocean felt that.”
He laughs.
I smile, happy to be in his arms. “I think I just need a little more of this. Not just to be touched. I need to be near you. I need to see you care about me, that you think about me.”
“I think about you too much,” he admits, a husky note to his voice.
Lifting a brow, I say, “Not just sexually. I want to know that we can be more to each other.”
“We are more to each other.”
“It feels that way, but I’m not sure I can even trust my own instincts anymore,” I admit.
He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before opening them once more. “Trust your instincts, and I’ll do better. I’ll… try to be patient, even though feeling you with my brothers and the Hollowborn is torture.”
“Sorry,” I tell him honestly. “I don’t want you to feel that way. I hate that you’ve had to feel that way.”
He keeps holding me as he says, “My brothers I can almost forgive, but the Hollowborn? What has he done to earn your heart so fast?”
“This might be hard to hear, but Sevrin has been wonderful to me since the very beginning. He doesn’t make me wonder how he feels. He doesn’t make me question whether or not I can trust him. He’s just open with me.”
He gives a miserable little laugh. “Honesty. Something none of the Stormvales are very good at.”
I shrug, giving him a smile. “I think you could be.”
“I just want you to know that I’m very good with learning anything I set my mind to, and I’ve set my mind to learning how to make you happy, how to steal your heart.”
“So I should watch myself,” I tease.
He steers me back until I hit the outside of the wall. “Alaric…” I begin, uncertain.
“There are a lot of things you’ll find I’m very good at as a man who is extremely focused and detail-oriented.”
My pulse picks up. “Oh yeah?”
He starts to kiss me again. A hard kiss. A break. A hard kiss. And a break.
“I’ve been told I know how to kiss a woman.”
“Oh?” is all I can manage.
He kisses me harder. Deeper. Then undoes the front of my pants.
“Alaric!” I gasp in shock.
“No one can see us,” he reassures me, sounding out of breath.
“Alaric,” I repeat again as his hands slide into my pants.
His other hand digs into the back of my hair, and he cradles my face as his fingers brush along the outside of my pussy.
My heart’s hammering, and I know I should tell him to stop.
That someone might see us, but the truth is, I don’t want him to stop.
I want to see exactly what this focused man is capable of.
And then… he starts touching me. I melt. My knees are trembling, threatening to give out. He strokes me over and over again, gently, getting me so wet that I can feel myself dripping. Soaking my panties.
Rocking against him, my eyes close as he kisses and sucks his way down my neck, and then one of his fingers slips inside of me. I gasp, gripping his arm. “Alaric.”
“Shhhh,” he whispers. “Be a good girl and take my finger.”
Fuck. Alaric? The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
He adds a second finger to the first and fucks me with his fingers like a man built to do this and only this. Every time I think I’m getting close, like I can’t take any more, he adds another finger, until he has four of them deep inside of me.
“Alaric.” His name tears from my lips. “Please.”
But he’s not done yet. The man said he was skilled.
And he meant it. He teases and taunts, bringing me close to the edge, then dragging me right back.
I’ve never felt such a raw mix of desperation, need, and frustration in my life.
I can’t decide if I want to kill him or trap his hand between my thighs and finally fuck his hand.
“Alaric.” Now his name is a warning.
He gives a low husky laugh and bites my neck gently. “You’re going to come when I say you can come.”
Now, I do hit his shoulder and try to ride him harder, but he pulls away.
“Not yet,” he murmurs in my ear.
“You fucking asshole pr–” He shoves himself deeper inside of me, and the words get caught in my throat. “I’m dripping!” I finally manage, angry and aroused all at once.
“Oh, I know,” he says, so damn cocky.
“I’m going to make you stop.” I give the empty threat out of desperation. “I’ll leave and get myself off.”
His breath is warm in my ear. “No, you won’t.”
His rhythm picks up. I thrust my hips to meet his every move.
My head rolls back and he fucks me with his hand so hard that I can’t remember my own name, and then my orgasm hits so hard that I actually stop breathing for a whole damn minute before dragging in a ragged breath.
Stars dance over my vision, and the nerves in my pussy seem like they’ll never stop firing.
My legs shake, barely keeping me standing, and my head spins.
I blink my eyes open and look at him. Alaric is staring down at me, a look of complete satisfaction on his face, like he just came out as the top dragon rider. Which, maybe he did.
He pulls his hand out of my pants, buttons me back up, and then leans down and gives me another earth-shattering kiss. “This might’ve been more lust than romance, but I can give you romance, Harper. Just give me a chance.”
I nod, still feeling out of sorts. “I will.”
His expression grows more serious. “I will never link myself to a woman who doesn't want me.”
I give a breathless laugh. “I don’t think you have to worry about that.”
He seems to study me, those deep brown eyes of his even darker for a long moment. “And, Harper… if that’s what I can do with one hand, imagine what I can do with the rest of me?”
I shiver.
He kisses me again.
There’s a noise, a disturbance of some kind. I turn and see Arthur out on the walkway. He spots us and starts running toward us, waving his hands. His dirty blond hair is a mess in the wind, and his expression is that of a child being called to get a candy.
“Harper!” he shouts.
“What?” I shout back as he pulls me into a hug.
“I’m glad to see you back. And alive. You know, all that stuff, but guess what? Guess what?”
My head practically spins with the massive change in tone as Alaric steps back and watches my friend who… cannot read a room to save his life. But I guess pushing him down onto the rocks below seems like an overreaction to interrupting our private moment.
“What?” I ask him dryly.
His eyes sparkle as he leans in closer. “Your wedding dress is finished! I saw it. I don’t know anything about dresses, but it wowed even me. You’re going to be so excited! Come on! Come on! They said it’s time for you to try it on.”
I glance at Alaric.
He grins, drawing his shoulders back, all prim and proper once more. “Go ahead. We can finish this… discussion later.”
A shiver rolls down my spine. Yeah, we definitely have something to finish.
Alaric leans down and grabs one of the pretty white flowers growing in between the rocks. He slides it gently into my hair, his eyes never leaving mine. “I can’t wait to see you in your wedding dress.”
“Hopefully, I won’t disappoint.”
Arthur grabs my hand and starts dragging me back toward the academy entrance, chattering away about all the wedding preparations that have been taking place since I left, but my gaze is glued to Alaric. He surprised me today. In a really great way.
I have a feeling this whole marriage will be full of surprises.