Chapter 19
Nymiria desperately tried to control the heat of her body. Perhaps she was still feeling the after-effects of her cycle, or perhaps this was just her. She couldn’t tell. But there was no denying that the aching of her skin begged for his touch.
“Say it again.” He said, his voice velvet.
“Say what again?” She tried and failed to sound angry. She just sounded desperate—her voice far too quiet, too breathy.
Aziel’s fingers were suddenly tangled in her hair at the back of her neck, his face so close to her that she could almost taste his words when he spoke again.
“Say that we are nothing, Nymiria.” A gentle tug forced her head back against the tree, her whole body trembling the moment he leaned towards her neck.
“It doesn’t sound very truthful when you smell like this.
I’d like to hear you say it again, just to see which one of us is truly lying to ourselves.
” A small gasp escaped her lips when she felt the sharp points of his incisors grazing over the delicate and sensitive skin.
She wanted to grab him, wanted to take hold of his head and push him further into that spot. She wanted his teeth.
“We are…” She had every intention of saying it again, but before the words could leave her mouth, his lips were closing over her throat.
Her body arched into his in response, her hands grappling at the front of his suit jacket.
That heat was back with a vengeance, her thighs and the walls of her sex clenching around nothing.
He pulled himself away from her neck, his eyes hooded with animalistic lust as he peered down at her. Moving his thumb along the swell of her lips, parting them just enough for her breath to coat the tip of his digit. “Tell me, right now, if you don’t want to go any further.”
Aching, Nymiria let out a breathy laugh. “Shouldn’t my answer be obvious?”
Aziel shook his head. “I’m not doing anything to you unless I hear that you want this.”
She was stubborn. Good gods, she was stubborn. Because even if he already worked her body into a frenzy, there was a part of her that wanted him to suffer from the same humiliation he was now inflicting on her.
She believed that it was a test. But as she stared up at him and saw that gleam in his eyes turn to shadowy concern, she relented.
It was not about forcing her to admit her desires—about winning or losing.
It was him caring. Even with that wild look in his eyes, even if his body radiated with the unmistakable scent of his arousal, he would walk away if she insinuated that she was not enthusiastically willing.
The thought made her chest ache, made a flurry of emotions cloud her mind.
“I want you to touch me,” she began, swallowing down that lump in her throat.
She took hold of the hand that was still cupping her jaw, slowly dragging it down her neck and chest, applying more pressure against her breast before moving further. “I want you.”
She released hold of his hand, their gazes never wavering. Even as his hands reached for the skirt of her dress and began pulling it up her legs, they did not look away from one another.
Aziel gravitated closer, one hand dipping between her thighs, the other taking hold of her chin.
“Then kiss me like you mean it, Moonflower.” Nymiria did not hesitate.
The moment their lips met, Aziel was between her thighs, her ankles locking at his back to keep him close.
The bark of the tree dug into her spine, the burning from the scratches drawing a low groan from deep in her chest.
Too distracted by his mouth to register much else, the world was suddenly moving—turning and shifting until she broke away just enough to realize that he’d placed her on the altar.
“Aziel—” She gasped. His hands moved down the length of her body, palms pressing against her knees.
Her dress was already bunched around her waist, the only thing shielding her bare lower half from the world being Aziel. He smirked.
“Easy access?” He crooned. Despite her narrowed eyes and the venom in her stare, Nymiria blushed. “Don’t look at me like that. You’d be surprised to learn that our undergarments are matching.”
The blush intensified, her mind wandering back to that night, all those months ago, when she’d first put her mouth on him—how every inch of him glistened with her essence. “Easy access?” She mocked, voice failing her.
He trailed his finger down her seam, teeth sinking into his upper lip when she arched in response. “Depends.” He shrugged.
“On what?” She whimpered when he pulled his hand away.
“No offerings.” He said simply. Nymiria blinked up at him, her whole body flaring with heat as he pushed the tip of his finger inside of her.
“I heard you talking to your father. I heard what you said about having the Alvaros family bind themselves to you.” He pressed his finger in another painful fraction of an inch.
Her toes curled. “I don’t want you to do that—not if they are the first.”
Nymiria swallowed, trying her best to remain unbothered, to play the game he seemed intent on playing. “Who would you like to be my first, then—Oran? Trio?”
“No, Moonflower,” He removed his finger, only to plunge two more into her all at once. Nymiria cried out, her whole body rocking forward. Aziel caught her against his chest, the fingers from his free hand gently brushing over her gaping lips. “Me.” He whispered.
She drew in a deep breath, eyes locked on his as he started to pump his fingers in and out of her. “C-can you do that?” She stammered. “Can gods make offerings to each other?”
Aziel smirked down at her, his shoulder lifting just an inch. He kept working his fingers, moving back just enough so that Nymiria could look down and see what he was doing. “I suppose we will have to find out.” He said simply.
He brought his hand to her neck, pulling her forward so that his mouth could cover hers, drinking in and swallowing each beautiful sound that came from her throat.
He wanted nothing more than to unleash himself upon her, to give her every inch of his body.
He had to congratulate himself on his restraint.
Had he been a weaker man, just the feeling of her hot, wet walls contracting around his fingers would have driven him to the brink of insanity.
She peeled away from him, gasping for air, her hooded eyes focused on his—swollen lips parted, her brow crumpling with each rough thrust of his fingers.
His hand never left her neck, keeping her rooted in place as he drove into her again and again and again.
When Aziel’s incisor dug into his lip and nicked the flesh, that beautiful silver gleamed in her eyes.
The moonflowers on her body danced to life, flowers and petals spilling from the tips of her fingers, cascading over the edge of the altar and onto the ground.
“Do it.” Aziel urged, his thumb resting over her clit. “Taste it.”
Nymiria watched as the bead spilled over the soft swell of his lip, rolling slowly to the sharp curve of his chin.
Her body trembled, the pleasure inside of her nearly reaching its peak.
She wasn’t sure what this entailed, but there was a call in her blood that seemed to propel her forward, wanting nothing more than to taste him, for her senses to be consumed by him.
There was not a shred of doubt in her mind when she dragged him to her.
Her tongue ran over the crimson line before she closed her mouth over his lip, tasting him, savoring him.
Aziel gasped, pulling away from her and dropping to his knees.
She barely had time to comprehend, eyes going wide the moment she felt his tongue drag up her center.
His hands spread her wider, his tongue rolling over the sensitive bundle of flesh.
White bloomed behind her closed eyelids, her head rolling back and hands gripping at his hair.
Her body was not her own. Though her mind and her soul were perfectly in tune with what was happening, her body seemed to move at its own accord—her hips rolling forward, meeting every delicious swipe of his tongue, her hands moving over her breasts, gripping and tugging at them to add to the fiery satisfaction that pulsed through her body.
“Fuck,” Aziel groaned. His lips were still wet with arousal, his fingers pushing into her once again as he looked up at her.
“I’m yours, Nymiria.” Nymiria’s body went rigid, her breaths turning choppy and her thighs shaking.
He rubbed over her clit, watching her intently as she started to come undone. “I’m yours.”
The sounds of her whimpering crescendoed into a raspy cry, her hands gripping at him and pulling him up until she could reach his lips. She kissed him—pouring every ounce of her soul into his mouth with every roll of her tongue—as her climax took hold of her body.
When her body was all but spent, Aziel was still staring down at her, those eyes of his seemingly peering directly into her soul. At that moment, had it not been for her fear or the memories that always seemed to steal away her happiness, Nymiria would have let him.
He noticed the moment the panic settled in, his jaw going rigid and his smile falling the moment he saw that look on her face. He lowered her skirt, tugging the fabric down her thighs until she was completely covered and stepped away.
“We can’t keep doing this.” She whispered.
Aziel gave her a half-hearted smile, like his heart would break any second. “It can be meaningless, Nymiria—”
“Can anything between us ever be meaningless, Aziel?” Nymiria asked. “You once told me that you could survive off crumbs, but I don’t think that I can do that. It’s not fair to you—”
“Who says it’s not fair? I told you this was what I wanted from you on that ship. I gave myself to you for the taking and I will do it again and again, every day of my life.”