Chapter 8
After a dinner of buttered noodles with mushrooms and toasted pumpkin seeds, Incendis bid me goodnight.
With a bow. Needless to say, I was confused.
Two hours ago, we came all over each other, but now we were politely bowing?
I was about to say something—even with six other people in the room with us—but Mister I’ve-got-wings zipped right out of the room and disappeared.
Like, seriously, what the fuck?
This would’ve been an excellent time for Daddy Lars to make an appearance and drop some wisdom, but he didn’t show. Would he ever appear again now that we knew who he really was? I had a feeling he wouldn’t.
So instead of happily skipping up to bed with this fairy—fae—I was supposed to fall in love with, I trudged up to my room all by myself. I took a bath alone. Climbed into bed alone. Knew it would be hours before I fell asleep. Alone.
Damn him. How dare he make me question whether I’d done something wrong. Only hours into this relationship and here I was feeling like I didn’t know what I was doing. He’d run away. I’d never had someone do that.
I sat up in bed. Did he want me to chase him?
Knock! Knock!
I squealed there in the dark.
“Zalman? May I come in?”
“Incendis?”
“Yes?”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, a hand over my heart as I willed it to stop beating to fast. “Come in.”
He opened the door, and I gasped. Okay, so it was possible he’d rushed off to prep because this was a man who hoped he was going to get laid tonight.
“Your Highness,” I said with a grin, “that robe is absolutely indecent.”
It was similar to the one he’d had on when I’d arrived, but this one was a creamy color that was sort of iridescent while being absolutely transparent. I could see every line and curve of muscle from his shoulders to his thighs.
“Bring out your wings.”
He did, even fluttering them to make sparks fall to the floor.
“And now the fire.”
I could see him hesitate for a couple seconds before he let the fire overtake him. From the messy bun on top of his head all the way down to his toes, he snap, crackle, and popped like a campfire. I started tenting the bedcovers on my lap.
“Everything stays just like this, okay?”
He held the edges of the robe, making it part to reveal him right down the middle. He was definitely happy to see me. “Even the robe?”
“Especially the robe.” I threw back the covers. “It’s very pretty, and you look very naughty.”
Incendis fluttered over, sparks trailing behind him, and climbed into bed right on top of me.
I notched our legs and moaned at the delicious warm weight of him.
The fireplace in my room was nice, but this?
Mmm… When he bit his bottom lip and ground against me just a tiny amount, I remembered this was new for him.
“What do you want to do?” I caressed down his back and teased at his cheeks.
His breath stuttered. “Um, I’m not sure.”
“Is there any lube anywhere? We’ll have a lot of options with that.”
With a little help from his wings, he lunged across the bed for the table beside us. He sat back on his knees then and showed me a little blue jar.
“What would you like to do with it?” he asked.
Him sitting on my legs with his cock up and his ears on display did not help when I imagined an entire porn studio of possibilities and shorted out my own brain for a while there.
“Zalman?”
I cleared my throat. “Uh, so would you like to maybe try fucking me?”
His eyes went wide and his mouth popped open.
“Or have you practiced with a dildo maybe and want to switch that around? I’m good either way.”
A bright pink blush stole over his face. I chuckled and smoothed my hands up and down his thighs and waited for him to come back online, figuring I’d shorted out his brain, too. And, yeah, being with a virgin was getting really fun.
“You…” He licked his lips and tried again, “You’d let me do that to you?”
“Well, yeah.” I sat up, wondering why he’d phrase it like that. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“That seems like a very intimate act requiring—”
“I trust you, Incendis,” I said honestly.
He smiled like maybe that pleased him a lot. And I meant it, so I was glad that he knew I trusted him.
“Switch places with me.” He could fuck me, but I’d take the pressure off by being in charge of how it happened.
He got into position sitting up against the satiny, padded headboard, his wings splayed open behind him and long legs stretched in front of him.
He stared at me, his gaze flicking everywhere at once as I knee-walked up his legs to sit on his thighs.
Our cocks briefly fought for space between us, making me laugh.
I opened the little jar and had him scoop out some lube. I touched some and found that it was thick like a salve, but silky smooth when I rubbed it between my finger and thumb. “Nice,” I said with a grin, before aiming his hand between my legs and back to my ass.
He knew enough to swirl around and ease one finger in, which I appreciated. I didn’t need much prep, but if he wanted to play around back there, I’d let him. Cupping his amazed face in my hands, I leaned in and kissed him in the filthiest way I knew how.
By the time he had two fingers sailing in and out of me, we were pretty much just moaning at each other with our lips touching. Which made me laugh as I leaned back.
“Get some lube on your cock.”
I felt him shiver all over before he slicked himself up. While he held himself still, I moved over him, got us aligned, and then took my time working him deeper and deeper.
“Oh gods, Zalman…”
I managed to grin, way too focused on how amazing he felt spearing into me the way he was.
So long and the perfect thickness, I already knew I was being spoiled for life.
He held my hips, caressed my thighs as I flexed them, and stared up at me like I was everything.
I steadied myself by holding onto his shoulders, my cock rubbing his abs as I slowly rode his.
“So good, ’Cendis,” I murmured as I settled on his lap. His cock might’ve been vying to space with my spine. I swore I could feel him in the back of my throat. “Spoiling me…”
Oh, he liked knowing that given the smirk on his face.
He cupped my ass in his strong hands and eased me up and down, his arm muscles bulging beautifully.
I helped, of course, but watching his chest and arms and the open-mouthed awe on his face was seriously doing it for me.
And when he moaned like it came from his soul, I nearly came right then and there.
Instead, I found myself pushed over onto my back just before he swooped in and took me again.
He wasn’t letting me drive now, no sir. Incendis had found his aggression and he was reveling it in as he pounded my ass.
All I could do was hang on and keep breathing as he banged my prostate and had me flying.
I tried to warn him before I came, but I couldn’t make words form.
I just hollered and trembled and clung to him as a brilliantly incandescent orgasm crashed through me.
And when Incendis threw his head back and his hair tumbled free like a fire around his shoulders, I might’ve come a little more.
He was so wild and beautiful. And then my sweet prince sounded like a devil when he came with a roar.
Laying there panting and occasionally shivering, I thought maybe a part of me had shifted inside. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it felt like I’d made room for…something. When Incendis lifted his head to smile and chuckle, I laughed with him without needing a reason.
We took a few minutes to clean up, both of us wobbly on our feet. He had his wings to help compensate, and seemed to think it was hilarious that he had to brace me up a bit. We toppled back into bed, him half on top of me, and his wings moving like a lazy fan.
“Physical intimacy is incredible,” he said against my chest. “I almost wish I’d explored things earlier.”
“Why didn’t you?”
He lifted his head, looking a bit startled. “Oh. Um…”
“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it. I’m just curious.”
“No, it’s—” He eyed me and blushed. “Well, it’s partly because of you.”
“Me?”
He nodded. “Father told me I’d find the one for me several years after I claimed my court. So I waited,” he said with an embarrassed grin. “But then he included love in the curse, so I waited again.”
All I could do was blink at him. He’d been waiting his whole life…for me? I wasn’t sure what to think about that. Why me?
Had the curse just picked the closest available person to that fairy ring and tossed me at him?
Or were we soulmates? Two halves of a whole finally reunited?
“Don’t worry,” he said with a kiss to my cheek before he put his head back down. “I know love takes time, but that we’re so compatible and comfortable with each other is a good place to start.”
He was right, of course. I’d accepted that love might grow between us. I just hadn’t considered fate might be playing a part. Maybe I should have.