Chapter 34 #2
“Which means she probably doesn’t think she can defeat you without it.”
Auraelia cast a look over her shoulder, searching the crowd for any sign of Garnet’s emissary before turning back toward Daemon. “What that means is that my time to take her down was just lessened significantly. If she channels the moon—”
Daemon pulled her closer. “She won’t have the opportunity to, my star. Not if we are together. We will do this together.”
Though anxiety churned in her belly, a soft smile pulled at Auraelia’s lips as she slowly slid her hands down his chest to encircle his waist. “Together.”
Without the moon, there was little to no way to determine how late the night had gotten.
By the time Daemon and Auraelia retired to her suite, her body was exhausted, but her thoughts wouldn’t slow down.
Events from the evening turned over in her mind in an endless rotation.
From Daemon returning to her and asking her to be his wife to the confrontation with Lord Harland and the information Caius supplied.
Auraelia collapsed face down onto her bed and groaned.
“What can I do for you, my star? What do you need?” Daemon asked as he crawled onto the bed beside her and rubbed her shoulders.
Rolling onto her back, Auraelia reached up and ran her fingers across his jaw, relishing in the soft, yet scratchy, feeling of his beard against her skin.
Tonight was possibly their last night together.
Potentially, the last night, she would see his face, see the love that shone in his eyes.
She took a moment to let herself soak in the moment, memorizing each and every inch of his face so that it was emblazoned on her mind, from the bright gold centers of his eyes and the mossy swirls that surrounded them to his plump bottom lip that her thumb was sliding across.
Daemon pressed a kiss to the pad of her thumb, and her chest ached with how much she loved him. How much time she’d wasted trying to push him away when she could have—should have—just been with him.
Her throat tightened as tears pricked at the back of her eyes. “You, Daemon. I just need you.”
“Auraelia, you’re exhausted. You need slee—”
“What I need is you. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, and if,” Daemon opened his mouth to protest, but she covered it with her palm, and his shoulders sagged with resignation.
It was the reality of what they were to face, and though he seemed reluctant to let his mind go in that direction, it was firmly planted in her own.
“If something happens to us, I want to know that I spent my last night completely consumed by you. Loved by you. Sleep can wait. Right now, I need all of you.”
“Auraelia.” Her name was a plea on his lips, matching the worry in his gaze.
“Please, my love.”
He loosed a heavy sigh, his eyes raking over every inch of her body before coming back to her face. Heat simmered in his gaze as it latched onto hers, the burning embers of love and lust colliding as his tell-tale smirk graced his lips. “I do love it when you beg.”
Daemon’s lips were hard and demanding as they came down against her own, his hands sliding along her curves until he reached her hips.
Auraelia arched into his touch as his fingers skimmed the top of her waistband, dipping in slightly as he reached the ties at the center.
Searing kisses marked her skin as he slowly trailed them along her jawline, down the column of her neck, all while his fingers made quick work of the thin leather strips that held her pants together.
Anticipation clawed at her insides, a pulse settling between her thighs as she waited anxiously for his hand to slip beneath the leather.
But as his mouth continued its downward descent, his hands moved upward.
His fingers drifted in featherlight caresses along her torso, tracing each and every lace of her corset before reaching the ties that held it together.
A low whine rumbled in her throat as he slowly pulled the strings to untie the knot at the top of her breasts before meticulously unlacing each segment down to her navel.
“Daemon.” His name was a plea that quickly turned into a moan as his mouth latched onto her nipple through her tunic, his tongue rolling around the sensitive bud before pulling on it with his teeth.
“Fuck,” she groaned, her hands flying to his head. Fingers tangled in his hair as he worked each breast in equal measure.
His hands were bruising as he gripped her hips, grinding her against the leg he’d pressed between her thighs, guiding her movements in long, languid rolls, giving her enough friction to drive her to the edge but not nearly enough to send her careening over.
“Daemon, please,” she begged as he slowly kissed his way back up her body.
“Not a chance, my star. If this is my last night with you, I’m going to take my time.
I’m going to worship every inch of your body.
Have you in as many ways as you or I can think of.
” Each promise was punctuated with a pop of a button on his vest until they were all undone, and he’d tossed the garment to the floor.
“I’m going to make you come so many times that you won’t think you can anymore—” he pulled his tunic over his head and added it to the slowly growing pile of garments on the floor, “and then you’ll give me another one. ”
Daemon climbed off the bed, and Auraelia watched with rapt attention as his hands slid to the clasp on his trousers…then stopped. The look in his eyes was intense—want mixing with that predatory gaze that lit her body on fire—as he hooked his thumbs into his waistband and stared down at her.
“What do you want, Auraelia? Use your words, or I will put that mouth of yours to better use.” A sly smirk lifted one corner of his mouth.
A challenge.
One he knew she would rise to but also struggled with.
She was in control of most things in her life, and letting go—giving Daemon the reins in the bedroom—had always been a comfort she clung to.
“Come on, Princess.”
Auraelia pursed her lips at his blatant use of her former title, her eyes raking down his body before meeting his gaze once more.
Challenge accepted.
Pushing up onto her elbows, she said, “Strip.”
One word—one command—was all it took for Daemon’s magic to seep from his pores, glittering darkness brushing against her as it slid along the mattress.
He kicked off one boot, then the other, his pants following quickly after, then raised a questioning brow.
Auraelia lazily ran her eyes along each line of ink across his chest, then down his chiseled frame to his cock, which stood at full attention with a bead of precum glistening on its tip.
When her gaze reached his face once more, she curled a finger in his direction and lifted a booted foot. “Now me.”
His smirk firmly in place, Daemon made quick work of her boots, pants, and finally, her tunic. When he leaned forward to kiss her, Auraelia placed a hand on his shoulder and tsked, gently pushing him down. “On your knees, Prince. Kneel before your Queen.”
Daemon’s smirk morphed into a rakish smile as he dropped to his knees. “I would gladly live on my knees at your feet if that’s where you want me, Your Majesty.”
Before she could even form a response, his face was buried between her thighs. His tongue ran long strokes along her slit before he sucked her clit into his mouth, flicking it with the tip of his tongue.
“Fuck,” she mewled, her back arching as her fingers found his hair once more.
Daemon’s grip on her thighs was bruising as he pushed one of her legs wider, then lifted the other to drape over his shoulder.
“Fuck, you taste good,” he moaned against her, slipping two fingers into her slick entrance and curling them forward to work the spot he knew would send her spiraling. He pumped them in and out a few times before removing them and bringing his hand to her mouth. “Taste yourself, Princess.”
Without hesitating, Auraelia wrapped her lips around his digits, sucking them into her mouth and licking them clean. She’d tasted herself on his lips before, but this was different. It was somehow more erotic to suck her arousal from his hand while he devoured her.
Pulling his fingers from her mouth with a pop, he thrust them back inside her, working her walls once more as he punished her clit with his mouth.
Heat bloomed low in her belly, her muscles growing taught, breath quickening as her orgasm built.
“Come for me, my star,” he growled, dragging his tongue up her center once before returning to assault that sensitive bundle of nerves.
Shadows swirled around her. Strands pinching and tugging on her nipples while bands massaged her breasts and wrapped around her throat.
The sensation was overwhelming, her senses going into overdrive as she dove headfirst into bliss.
Her climax ripped through her so suddenly that her breath caught in her throat, her back arching off the bed as her fist tightened in Daemon’s hair.
Instead of slowing his ministrations as she rode the waves of ecstasy, Daemon rose from his knees and flipped her onto her stomach. “We’re not done yet, my love. Time to give me another one.” Then he slid into her in one swift thrust.
The sensation of him filling her so completely while her walls were still fluttering from her orgasm sent her reeling, stars filling her vision as he worked her back toward the edge.
Daemon slid a hand down her spine, gripping her shoulder as he slammed into her from behind. His other snaked around her hip, slipping between her thighs as he worked her clit in furious circles.
“Oh–oh, God–dess. Dae–Daemon.” Her words were stunted with each thrust, his hips driving into her at a punishing pace. “Too–too much.”
“Be a good girl, and give me another one, Auraelia.”
Black specks swam in her vision, limbs tingling as she dug her fists into the sheets. Her body trembled, her magic raging to be released as the sensations built and her orgasm began to crest. “I–I’m going to come.”
“Fuck,” he growled as his thrusts became more demanding. “That’s right. Come for me, Princess.”
The walls of her pussy began to flutter as Daemon slammed into her again. When he pinched her clit, her climax erupted in streaks of lightning that struck walls and ricocheted off the mirror of her vanity, shattering the reflective glass and sending it cascading to the floor.
“Shit,” he cursed, wrapping them in a cocoon of shadows as he drove into her again and found his release.
Breathing heavy, skin slick with sweat, they collapsed together onto the bed. Silence reigned for a moment before Auraelia burst into a fit of laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Daemon chuckled as he swiped wet strands of hair from her brow. His question made her laugh harder, and a tiny snort accompanied each inhale, causing him to join in.
“I missed that sound,” he mused when they’d finally calmed.
“My laugh?” she asked, rolling onto her side and propping her head on a fist as she traced the lines of his tattoos with a finger.
“No, my star. Your snort. It’s fucking adorable.”
“You’re joking,” she deadpanned, casting him a sidelong glance.
“Not in the slightest.” Pulling her leg over his hip, he idly ran his fingertips along her skin. “It happens when you’re truly happy, so it’s a sound I cherish.”
Auraelia’s eyes softened as she met his gaze. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He pulled her down, his lips meeting hers in a soft, languid kiss, before pulling away. “Now, shower or bath?” Auraelia raised a questioning brow, and he chuckled. “I’m not finished worshiping you yet, my Queen.”