Chapter 27
MALAKAI
We returned to Shadow Keep in a suffocating silence. She insisted on seeing to Sandwich and the whole larder of horses, and I’ve been pacing the halls and trying to wrack my mind for some solution to our Fae problem.
Worse, my yearning for her is no longer a shadow whispering in the corners of my mind.
It has become a physical predator inside me. It prowls beneath my ribs, ready to be unleashed. Every time I look at Aveline, the physical pull of her threatens to snap the final threads of my restraint.
The phantom hum of her magic’s under my skin, though muffled beneath the protection spell the coven placed around her neck.
My shadows rebels against the silver barrier keeping her power in check.
The keep is quiet, still sulking over the Unseelie Queen's intrusion.
I need Aveline like I need air, and I decide being apart from her any longer is stupid.
My shadows find her before I do, trailing the faint, sweet scent of lavender and fresh earth down to the stables.
When I step into the dim, vaulted stone barn, the air is thick with the scent of sweet hay, oiled leather, and horse musk.
Aveline stands in the center of a stall, completely focused on the giant golden horse.
Sandwich nudges her shoulder with his massive head, his golden coat gleaming under the lanterns, and she lets out a soft, melodic laugh that instantly causes the knot of tension in my throat to tighten, the ache of yearning near painful.
She brushes him with long, rhythmic strokes, and the huge horse relaxes into her, taking contentment in her after the trials of this morning.
I lean against the wooden doorpost, arms crossed, watching the elegant column of her neck. "You find comfort in the horses."
"Animals don’t demand magic or crowns. They are content with carrots and a soft touch. I find that more than comforting. It’s a relief." She turns her head, her beautiful features softening as she catches my eye.
"I am attempting to find comfort, too," I murmur, my voice dropping into a gravelly register.
Aveline watches me carefully.
Sandwich ignores me completely, happily chewing hay.
I step into the stall. The space immediately feels too small, the power radiating from her body casting a spell over my senses. "I promised you a courtship, Aveline. I promised to show you this world on your own terms. Let us leave the castle behind for an hour. Come for a ride with me."
She glances at the midnight stallions stamping their hooves in the adjacent stalls, then looks back at me, a defiant spark in her blue eyes. "We should take two horses, then."
"No," I say, the possessiveness in my tone slipping out unbidden before I can stop it. "We take only one."
“Pickles will be upset to be left behind,” she counters.
“I will be more upset not to have you with me,” I tell her, taking another step closer.
Aveline swallows hard, her gaze flicking down to my mouth before she darts it away, her cheeks flaring with that delicious pink.
She knows exactly what that means. She knows the torture of the proximity she is agreeing to.
Yet, she gives a slow, single nod. "It wouldn’t do to upset the King of Shadows. ”
An impish smile floats across her face, and I grin right back.
There’s my sunshine witch.
It takes me less than a moment to get the horse out. I mount the beast's back and easily hoist Aveline up in front of me.
The moment her hips settle against my lap, a violent jolt of pleasure spikes straight through spine. My long arms bracket her body as I take the reins, pulling her back flush against my chest until there is not a single inch of space between us.
I bite back a groan, my cock growing hard between my legs, pressed tight against the soft curve of her ass.
Waiting for Aveline is the sweetest sort of pain.
We ride out into the deep canopy of the Elder Forest, leaving the castle behind.
Every powerful stride of the horse forces her closer.
I am hyperaware of the shifting of her weight, the rapid flutter of her pulse against my forearm where she leans into my grip, and the scent of her hair whipping against my jaw.
My need for her is a band pulled to the absolute breaking point.
Deep in the thicket, where the ancient oak trees weave a dense canopy that blocks out the rest of the world, I decide I cannot endure it for another second.
I must slake my hunger for her.
I pull the stallion to a harsh, sudden halt.
Before Aveline can even ask why, I slide off the horse's back and reach up, my hands locking securely around her waist to lift her off the horse.
I don’t bother to set her feet on the damp earth. It’s not worthy of her.
Instead, I press her body to mine and pull her legs apart, her back against the solid, rough bark of an ancient tree.
My chest heaves as I pin her there. My cock twitches, the heavy length of it aching with the need to claim her, to seal our bond.
I need my sunshine witch.
"Malakai," she gasps, her blue eyes wide and dilated. Her breasts heave under the tight fabric of her gown, and I groan.
Any illusion of my patience is utterly incinerated.
"I would wait for you until the skies bleed, Aveline," I growl against her skin, my voice a ruined rasp.
I crush my lips to hers, and the world all around vanishes.
The kiss is not some gentle request.
It’s not easy, or searching, or tentative.
It’s desperate.
It’s a reclaiming of the soul I have starved for.
Aveline lets out a low whimper into my mouth, her hands tangling frantically into my hair, pulling me closer. I am drowning and she is the sea.
Her tongue slides against mine stealing the air from my lungs and any restraint I have left.
My hands slide beneath her cloak, mapping the curve of her waist through the linen of her overdress. I can’t help myself, I press my hips into the apex of her sex, needing release, needing the fabric to disappear, and all the while knowing I can’t.
I can’t, and I won’t, not until she says I can.
Still, the feel of her body against mine makes my head spin. I kiss down her neck, nipping at her collarbone, the soft flesh of her shoulder, finally freeing one of her perfect breasts from the cage of her dress.
Her fingernails scrape at my neck as I gently bite on her nipple.
“Malakai,” she moans, and I suck hard, working one hand down her waist, trying to free what I want from the prison of her skirts.
My shadows surge upward from the forest floor unbidden, wrapping around her thighs, her back, and my shoulders, caging us away from the world.
I pull her other breast out, laving it with my tongue, until her nipples are stiff, bright pink peaks.
“Can I touch you?” I ask, finally pulling away her undergarments until she’s bare under her dress, her wetness dripping onto my pants, the heat of her cunt driving me insane.
“Please.” The word is half sobbed, and I smile before I kiss her again, slowly working my fingers to where I want them.
She cries out as I find the bud of her sex, and I smile into her neck as she leans full on me, her legs held up by my shadows. I make slow, gentle circles there, dipping my head to suck on her tender nipples as she pants and writhes against me.
“So wet. So wet and tight,” I mutter, gently working one finger into her sex, rubbing her clit with my thumb. She’s loud, too, choking out praise and my name as I bring her to climax.
I love it.
She tightens around me, her inner walls beginning to flutter.
“Look at me,” I demand, and she does, her blue eyes wide with a mixture of awe and disbelief. I stroke her clit again, carefully slipping a second finger in, slowly pumping as she stares up at me, rocking her hips against my palm.
When she falls apart, her head thrown back, limp against me, I feel like I’ve conquered the entire world.
I kiss her until her lips are swollen and burning, until her chest heaves in shallow, ragged gasps against mine, taking every single ounce of her sweetness until we are both trembling with the force of it.
When I finally tear my mouth away with a heavy, ragged shudder, my forehead crashes against hers. My chest heaves, my hands locked tightly under her hips, keeping her pinned to the bark because if I let her down now, my knees will give out.
Aveline stares up at me, her eyes dark, her breathing a frantic, pathetic ruin as she clutches at my shoulders and neck. The standoffish duchess is entirely gone, replaced by a woman completely consumed by the same wildfire raging in my veins.
“Take me back,” she says, her eyes gleaming, a faint sheen of sweat on her silken skin. “I want more.”
"We are not going back to the castle yet," I pant, my voice gravelly against her wet lips.
"Where..." she clears her throat, her voice a breathless whisper. "Where are we going?"
"To finish our evening," I murmur, kissing the corner of her swollen mouth one last time before lifting her back onto the horse.
We ride straight to the edge of the Wild Oak Woods, the twilight turning the sky a bruised, deep purple by the time we reach the thatched and tiled roofs of the village.
I have no intention of sharing her with the coven tonight, nor do I intend to let the posturing of my idiot brothers interrupt the courtship she deserves.
Before we arrived, I sent a wave of power ahead, a request of shadow and gold. Longleaf Brews is ours for the remainder of the evening.
Lila and Druze have closed the tea house early just for the two of us, drawing the heavy velvet curtains across the glass storefront to ensure absolute privacy from the town.
When I push the carved wooden door open, the interior is a silent sanctuary.
Lila stands near the counter and offers Aveline a smile of greeting. "The kitchen is fully prepared. The privacy of the alcove is yours." With a respectful dip of her chin, she and her dryad husband slip out the back door, leaving the entire establishment to us.
I guide Aveline through the pinwheel of rooms until we reach the secluded booth hidden within the massive, hollowed tree trunk.
The magical orbs float lazily above the wood, casting a soft, ambient gold light over her flushed face, while the green vines along the wall curl inward, providing a living, protective curtain around our table.
“You look beautiful like this.” I help her into her seat, my hand lightly brushing the small of her back, relishing in the immediate warmth that always sparks between us.
Aveline wears a slightly dazed expression, and I’m delighted I’m the one to have put it there.
"One of everything, I assume?" I ask, a genuine, roguish grin finally breaking across my features as I take my seat opposite her.
Aveline looks around the beautiful, empty tea house, then turns her gaze back to me, the amulet at her throat catching the candlelight.
The tension of the Unseelie attack has completely dissolved, replaced by a quiet, charged intimacy that makes the physical ache in my chest settle into a deep, possessive thrum.
"One of everything," she agrees softly, a stunning, genuine smile breaking across her rosebud mouth. “I worked up an appetite.”
“You’ll need your strength,” I tell her, reaching for her hand.
When she places it in mine, with a low laugh, it’s like a gift.