Chapter 26
It’s happening.
This kiss. This moment.
Yes. Without a doubt.
I want this so badly that I can’t stand another agonizing second of resisting him.
I pull my mouth away, and he looks at me—really looks at me—before cupping the back of my head and pressing my lips to his again. He groans as I straddle him and clasp his face in my hands. He tastes like ale and mint and smells so good, like firewood, leather, and spice.
The stubble along his jaw is coarse beneath the pads of my fingers, a contrast to his soft skin. Our breaths thicken between the slightest breaks, and he clutches the back of my bodice with one hand while I thread my fingers through his silky hair.
“This doesn’t mean anything,” I say, panting when his hot mouth claims my throat. He presses a kiss there, causing a soft moan to escape me. I tingle everywhere.
“Liar.”
“I’m serious.” I grip a handful of his hair and tug on it, forcing him to look at me.
He stares up, his mouth as damp and swollen as mine feels. “You really don’t know how to stop talking, do you?”
Cradling the back of my head, he guides my mouth back to his, much gentler this time. I melt in his lap, moaning into his mouth, ready for more. Our tongues collide as we wrestle with each other’s clothes. That invisible hand of his skims down my spine as his real hands perfectly cup my ass.
Flipping me onto my back on the carriage bench, he shoves my skirts up and guides the lower half of his body between my thighs, and when his mouth claims mine again, I savor the taste of him.
I lace my arms around the back of his neck, bringing his chest closer as he grinds his hips up and down, creating a steady friction.
I feel him hardening, digging into my pelvis and lower belly as deep groans form in the hollow of his throat.
I never want this ride to end. I want this moment to last forever, with his lips on my throat and his erection rocking against me, making me wetter by the second.
“So you were jealous,” I say as his lips plant kisses down my chest.
“Fuck the prince,” he growls, kissing the swell of my breasts.
His words send a twisted thrill through me.
“Take off your trousers,” I demand.
“No.”
I pause, frowning. “Why not?”
“I’m not fucking you in a carriage.”
“What does it matter? This won’t ever happen again after tonight.”
“I really wish you’d stop lying to yourself.”
“Thane,” I snap.
“Zaira,” he snaps back.
I huff and start to sit up, ready to push him away, but he forces me back down with a forearm to my chest.
“I said I’m not fucking you in this carriage. I never said I couldn’t please you in it.” He scans my face with blazing gold eyes. “That’s what you want, right? For me to please you?”
I’d be a fool to deny it. My body is way too worked up for my own good.
I nod eagerly. “Yes.”
“So you were lying.” His deep chuckle fills the coach. “This does mean something to you.”
Holy Crystal. The Shadow Realm must be bathed in light right now because Thane Valkor just laughed. Out loud. Should I point it out to him? No, no. I won’t mention it. He might not ever laugh again just to spite me.
I want to hear it again, though. Many more times.
To keep us in this moment, I say, “If you keep talking, I’m going to shove you out and hope you hit your head on a rock.”
I watch him fight a smile as something tugs at my underpants. It keeps tugging; however, when I look down, I don’t see a thing.
“Tilt your hips,” Thane instructs. That magical hand of his is clearly at play again. I lift my hips so he can lower my underwear just enough for the magical hand to have access.
I gasp when I feel the warmth of it skim through my delicate lips.
Thane’s eyes burn bright gold as he kisses me again, massaging one of my breasts with one hand while the other cradles the side of my head.
As he does, the invisible hand dips inside me before pulling back out and circling my most sensitive spot until I buck beneath his hardened body, gasping.
Caging my bottom lip between his teeth, he keeps the magic going, rubbing my swelling bundle of nerves before allowing it to take careful thrusts inside me.
I hold on to him as he releases my lip to give me a tender kiss.
My moans grow louder, and he disrupts the kiss to drag his mouth to the shell of my ear.
“You’re so wet for me, Zaira,” he rasps.
I suck in a breath, clenching my thighs around his magic. Hearing him say my name drives me crazy.
“No. Don’t hold back now,” he growls, spreading my thighs apart again. “I need to hear you come for the man you pretend to hate.”
His words are my undoing. Never in my life have I had an experience like this, but that magical hand keeps rubbing, keeps dipping, keeps pleasing with perfect pressure, and sure enough, I detonate.
I begin a cry of ecstasy, but he crushes my lips and swallows the noise. The carriage is slowing down, but his magic is still finishing me off, grazing, teasing, making me twitch while his hands roam my body in soothing strokes.
Pleased, he watches me writhe and gasp a few seconds longer before he finally takes it all away.
“Damn.” He kisses the bend of my neck twice. “I can only imagine how amazing that would’ve felt around my dick.”
When the heat of his body is gone, I sit up and breathe as evenly as possible, closing my legs and adjusting my skirts. Orvena’s sake. That was…too good.
The carriage slows to a complete stop. I stare at Thane as he side-eyes me with that same smug smile from earlier.
My heart still thunders as the coachman opens the door and helps me out of the carriage.
His assistance is definitely needed. My knees are so weak that I’m not sure I can walk down the steps on my own.
I wonder if he may have heard my sounds of pleasure, but based on his simple smile, I assume he hasn’t.
That, or he’s used to hearing people get naughty in his conveyance.
As Thane and I make our way to the massive doors of the castle, neither of us says a word. Even when we enter and carry ourselves through the corridors, I still don’t bother saying a thing.
I take the stairs ahead of him, aware of his dominant presence more than ever now. I swear I can still feel the heat of his body pressed against mine, his lips on my skin, his hands roaming every curve, the invisible one inside me. The words he murmured in my ear before making me come.
Good grief, Zaira. Stop thinking about it.
When I reach the landing to our floor, something slips up my dress and between my thighs. I yelp as my body is carefully guided to the nearest wall.
Thane stands before me, his eyes illuminated as that same something presses on my sex, pulsating and teasing. It’s only now that I realize I haven’t put my underpants back on. I accidentally left them behind in the carriage.
I clutch Thane’s arm, trying to level my breathing. Gripping my face between his thumb and forefinger, he pins me to the wall. He kisses me again, a carnal moan rumbling in the base of his throat.
“Listen to me carefully,” he rasps when our mouths briefly part.
I sigh as his mouth hovers above mine and the magical thing between my thighs becomes firmer, now sliding up and down, purposely grazing that spot that makes me squirm. “I’m listening.”
He graces me with another deep kiss, coaxing my lips apart to plunge his tongue into my mouth. I clutch tighter at his tunic, wanting more than what just happened in the carriage. I want him—all of him in every way. Am I foolish for wanting to have sex with an assassin?
Yes.
Do I care in this moment?
No.
Tearing his mouth away, Thane keeps hold of my face.
“If you let that cocky little prince into your room tonight, I’ll stab his fucking eyes out, Zaira.
” There’s no smile or smugness this time.
He’s not joking. Of course he’s not. Even if it means adding another mob of angry people to his shit list. It’s not a question for me anymore about whether or not he wants someone to kill him. This man clearly has a death wish.
I stare into his eyes. “Why do you care if he comes by or not?”
“You deserve better,” he says.
I scoff. Who is better than a sexy prince? “And you think a wanted shadow assassin is better for me?”
He doesn’t answer, but he does release my face and make the naughty bit of his magic disappear.
I straighten myself up, clinging to some kind of decorum. “Why didn’t you actually do it? I mean, why use magic instead of…well, your you know what?” My voice is lower as my eyes dart left, then right. Anyone could be around to hear.
“You mean my dick?” Thane asks with a tilted brow.
I blush and fidget with my bodice, smoothing out the wrinkles. “Any other man wouldn’t have cared where it happened. And I no longer have my maiden’s mark…if that’s your concern.”
Thane offers a dark chuckle before bringing his mouth to the shell of my ear. “I didn’t fuck you in there because if I had, these mountains would’ve crumbled from how loudly you screamed my name, oh sweet one.”
I blink at him, clenching with need, as he takes a step back.
“Better to save all those innocent lives in the courtyard and in the castle.” He drinks me in, smirking. “You wouldn’t want to be the one responsible for all those accidental deaths, would you?”
I fold my arms, giving my head a slow shake. He’s such an arrogant bastard.
“Sleep the rest of the talmoon off,” he orders, walking backward. “I’m looking forward to seeing the regret in your eyes when the high wears off and it sinks in that you let an assassin’s magic fuck you.” He strides away while chuckling to himself.
That laugh again…only this time I’m annoyed by it.
Like a lustful fool, I stare after him, hoping he’ll turn around and kiss me once more, or at least use his magic again for another round…
But he doesn’t. He rounds a corner and disappears, leaving me sexually frustrated.
And the worst part about it? I can still hear him laughing.