Chapter 32
AVELINE
He drops me onto the plush, velvet expanse of his bed with a soft thud.
I can hardly catch my breath.
I know what I want. I don’t understand it, not yet, but I know I want him, and if I have to wait one more second I think I’ll scream.
The darkness dissolves back into the floorboards, leaving the bedroom illuminated only by the crackling amber firelight of the hearth.
Malakai hovers over me, magnificent, shedding his clothes while I watch, barely breathing.
His chest is heaving, his dark eyes dilated so completely that the need I see there makes my head spin.
He reaches down, his large, calloused hands sliding up my thighs, his fingers bunching the linen of my undergarments as he prepares to rip away the final barriers between us.
Fear hits me, unexpected and unbidden. My hand flies up, my fingers pressing against the burning center of his chest to halt his momentum. "Malakai, wait."
He freezes, his muscles locking under my palms like carved marble. He looks down at me, his breathing tortured. "What is it, Aveline? Do you need me to stop?"
The care, the tenderness in his voice… it tells me I’m doing the right thing.
"I don't want you to stop," I whisper, my throat tight. "But you should know... I have… There has never been anyone else. I have never done this. I don’t want to disappoint you."
I feel incomparably small and stupid at that admission.
The absolute stillness that settles over Malakai is breathtaking. The feral storm inside his eyes shifts, replaced by a look of such profound tenderness that it steals the remaining breath from my lungs.
He doesn't look smug, or disappointed, or anything but… in love.
"Aveline," he breathes. “You could never disappoint me. Never. Especially not in this. You tell me what you need, and if it’s too much, we stop.”
Tears well in my eyes, tears of gratitude, and I nod. He kisses me again, deeply, sweetly, and I taste salt on our lips.
Slowly, Malakai undresses me.
His large hands move to the laces of my boots, unthreading them with absolute care before sliding my undergarments down my legs.
Each article of clothes is replaced by soft kisses.
The sole of my foot, which makes me laugh.
My ankle, which tickles. My knees, which makes my breath stutter.
My inner thighs, which makes me forget to breathe at all.
He plays with the small thatch of blonde hair there until I’m whimpering, begging for more.
Finally, Malakai discards his own clothes until he is entirely bare, his heavily muscled frame bracketing mine on the sheets.
He’s beautiful, and I take my time kissing his skin too, reveling in the way he sucks in a breath as I explore.
Carefully, we untie my overdress, and he lifts the thin blouse over my head, releasing my breasts.
“I quite like these,” he tells me, grinning.
I tip my head back and laugh. “You know, I did get the feeling you might.”
When his mouth finds mine again, the kiss is slow, sweet, and filled with a deep, consuming devotion. His hands map every single inch of my bare skin, his calloused palms tracing the curve of my waist, the swell of my hips, his touch leaving a trail of liquid fire in its wake.
"Let me show you, my queen," he finally murmurs against my lips. "Let me teach your body what it means to belong to the night."
He slides down the length of my body, his dark hair brushing against my stomach, sending a violent jolt straight through my core. I gasp, my fingers knotting frantically into the velvet sheets as Malakai parts my thighs.
He doesn't rush.
He rests his warm hands securely under my hips, tilting me up toward him, and then his tongue finds the sensitive, swollen center of my core.
A choked sob tears out of my throat.
This is nothing like last night.
Oh gods, it’s so much better.
He licks, and sucks, and plays with me in ways I didn’t even know were possible.
The sheer, explicit intensity of the sensation shatters my composure entirely.
Malakai worships me with a heavy, deliberate hunger, his tongue sliding over my clit in slow, rhythmic strokes that turn my bones to water.
The burning heat of his mouth against my soaking flesh is incredible.
His fingers slide inside me, stretching me gently, preparing my body for him while his mouth continues to drive me ruthlessly toward the edge of sanity.
I writhe against his mouth.
My head tosses back onto the pillows as the pleasure builds into a suffocating, blinding crest. The shadows of the room surge upward unbidden, wrapping around my ankles and wrists, anchoring me to the bed so he can feast on me as an orgasm rips through me.
Malakai drinks down my whimpers, holding me securely against his face until the trembling in my limbs finally begins to subside.
He slides back up my body, panting heavily, his normal composure completely unraveled.
My magic wakes up with a vengeance. It pours from my skin in shimmering waves of liquid sunshine, illuminating the dark bedchamber in a magnificent, golden glow. I have never felt so entirely powerful in my life.
The poised duchess is gone.
Now?
I am a queen commanding her god.
I reach down, my fingers wrapping around his wrist, tugging him closer. "My turn."
Malakai lets out a low, ragged gasp as I shift beneath him, forcing him onto his back.
He stares up at me in dazed bewilderment as I sit up, my golden-glowing skin casting dancing light across his sculpted chest. I slide down his torso, my eyes fixed on the thick, heavy length of him standing proudly against his stomach.
I have never touched a man like this.
I wrap my fingers around his cock, his skin burning hot and velvet-soft against my palms. Malakai’s hips jerk, a groan ripping from his chest as his knuckles turn white against the sheets.
"Aveline," he warns, his eyes flashing like embers. "You are playing fire."
"Then let me burn," I murmur, leaning over him.
I lower my mouth, taking the crown of his length between my lips.
It’s awkward at first. My teeth brush slightly against him, and I am not entirely sure of the mechanics, but Malakai doesn't seem to care.
The moment the wet heat of my mouth closes around him, the ancient god completely unravels.
He throws his head back into the pillows, and a raw, guttural growl tears from his throat. I gather I must be doing it to his liking, and use my hand to stroke his length while my mouth slides down his shaft, taking as much of his thickness as I can manage.
The taste of him is intoxicating. I use my tongue, mimicking the slow, deliberate strokes he used on me, until the terrifying Elder God trembles beneath my fingers, entirely at my mercy.
I decide I might just like him like that.
"Stop," he gasps, his hands flying down to catch my shoulders, his grip tight and desperate as he pulls me up. "Stop, Aveline... if you continue, I will pour myself into your hands, and I want to be inside you when that happens."
I let out a breathless, triumphant laugh, and allow him to hoist me back up his body. He rolls us over in a single, fluid stride, pinning me to the bed once more.
My playful smile completely evaporates, as he cradles my head in one hand. Malakai hovers over me, between my thighs, and waits for me to catch my breath.
"You are my mate, Aveline," he whispers, his voice thick with emotion. "In this life, and every life that follows. I love you."
"I know," I say softly. "I love you too, Malakai."
He lowers himself, his cock pressing tight against my slickness. He moves with agonizing slowness. He pushes inside me while I cling to him, a steady intrusion until he stretches me impossibly.
“Breathe,” he tells me. “Breathe.”
Shadows writhe around my upper thighs, and one strokes against my clit as he pushes further, and further.
I inhale sharply at a sudden pressure. Malakai instantly stops, his muscles shaking with restraint, and his mouth finds mine even as his shadows continue to work me, pain melting into sheer pleasure.
Light pours from my skin and dances across his shadows, our magic twining together, spiraling up our bodies.
“Malakai,” I finally moan, “I need more.”
Malakai begins to move, gently at first, until I dig my fingers into his hips, and meet him stroke for stroke.
I wrap my legs tightly around his waist, pulling him deeper, demanding more as I cry out his name.
We move together until the magic overflows, sending a shockwave through the castle as we shatter into the dark.