Chapter 37 If you die, I die too
Daphne
If you die, I die too
Was it the dance, the wine—or the way he held me like I was something too precious to break?
We left the dining hall laughing until my chest ached.
He stopped—abruptly, as if struck by something unseen. Close enough that his breath stirred the hair on my forehead. His gaze swept over me, slow and searching, like he was seeing me for the first time.
My back met the wall, anticipation tickling my spine. No words passed between us, but the air pulsed with what we both knew. I was already begging for it—without a sound.
“Daphne…” he breathed. The reverence in his voice cracked something open inside me.
My pulse thumped in my throat, my knees about to give in.
His warmth, his scent, wrapped around me like a promise that something life-changing was coming.
He put his hands on the wall on both sides of my head, framing me, and I closed my eyes, surrendering to that feeling of being surrounded by him.
He leaned in, slowly brushing his lips against mine. It was a gentle, unspoken question.
“Emrys, did you lose your mind?” I whispered.
“I did, Daphne,” he murmured, deepening the kiss.
It was different from our first one—this one was less urgent.
As if he was taking his time to explore me, to breathe me in.
As if a final decision had been made, and he surrendered.
The ship spun around me, and everything—the undyne, the monsters, the uncertain future—sank to the bottom of the sea.
It was only him, his closeness, the way his hands held my waist, the gentle pressure of his mouth, that mattered.
He pulled back, and I sucked in a breath, my whole body aching for more.
“Forgive me,” he said, eyes wild and dangerous.
“You scoundrel,” I whispered, threading my fingers through his soft hair. “Forgive you? Never. Not after you showed me what it could feel like.”
The corner of his mouth curved in a crooked smile, and I ached to trace it with my tongue.
I rose onto my toes and kissed him again. Entangled and breathless, passing by some shocked passengers, we made it to our room.
“Daphne,” he rasped, voice heavy with arousal, “last chance to come back to your senses.”
To stop this? Not a chance.
This was the most freeing thing I’d ever done. Instead of answering, I playfully pushed him into the velvet armchair facing the bed.
“Or what?” I asked, unbuttoning my dress.
The answer was a low, warning growl. His face hid in the shadows, but I could see his eyes glow like those of a nocturnal predator.
My dress pooled at my bare feet. I stood before him, wearing only a transparent petticoat, the warmth of the fireplace tingling my skin.
The weight of his gaze over my body sent jolts of warmth to my core.
Sweet tension rippled over my breasts and throbbed between my legs.
I wanted him to see me. I wanted him to crave me the way I craved his touch.
Removing the pins from my hair, I let it fall down my back.
“You’re not wearing any underwear,” he said.
I shrugged, the lacy strap of my petticoat slipping and revealing a shoulder and most of my left breast down to my hard nipple. “I hate underwear. And corsets.” His fingers clenched around the chair’s armrests, knuckles white. “Daphne. This is a very dangerous game you’re playing.”
I stepped closer. “Who says it’s a game?” Another step. I knew very well that the soft light of the standing lamp revealed every curve of my body beneath the translucent fabric, every detail from the color of my nipples to what was between my legs.
“You’d better be careful, little thief,” he warned, shifting in his seat, “because we’re close to a point of no return.” His wide chest was heaving under the crisp white shirt, and I licked my lip when I saw the hard outline of his cock straining the fabric of his pants.
“Oh.” I raised a brow in mock confusion and took another step toward him. “I thought someone who lived for millennia would have a bit more self-control.”
“You have no idea how wrong you are about me, Miss Daphne.”
I stood before him, nearly naked. My nipples rubbed against the thin silk.
His scent—night rain, smoke, wild herbs—was laced with something darker now.
Something male. Feral. It made my mouth water.
I leaned down, my hair tickling his face, and I kissed him again.
I kissed him slowly, deliberately, sensing his control crumble.
The muscles of his neck tensed, his breathing became erratic, and his fingers dug into the flesh of my hips.
He pulled me onto his lap with a low, dangerous rumble. My slickness dragged over his hard length, and I whipped my head back and moaned. His lips trailed the curve of my neck, licking and gently nibbling, leaving goosebumps in their wake. My petticoat dropped to my waist, revealing my breasts.
“Daphne,” he said, more beast than man. “The devil would blush at the things I want to do to you.” He cupped a breast, his hot tongue circling my nipple before he gently sucked on it.
The pressure of his hardness against my soaked slit was increasing, and I shamelessly rubbed against it, the pleasure curling my toes.
The dark stubble of his face scratched my skin as he continued his onslaught on my breasts.
“You’re such a perfect angel, little thief,” he murmured while I was gliding against him.
“You’re really going to be the death of me. ”
Some hunger rose inside me; it was unlike anything I’d ever felt before.
As if I were thirsty, and he was water. I wanted to drink and drink until I couldn’t anymore.
The world narrowed down to the spots where his hands and lips were touching my body, to that maddening friction over his cock. I gasped as he lifted me.
“Let’s see what you’re hiding from me, little thief.”
His voice was low, reverent—hungry—as he carried me to the bed.
He laid me down gently, the sheets soft and cool against my back.
Then he paused, hovering above me, eyes dark and searching—
As if I were the most precious thing in the world.
“Show me,” he begged, his pupils so wide that his eyes appeared black.
With some twisted pleasure, I lifted my petticoat over my waist and let my knees fall open.
The warm air tickled the slickness between my legs.
Emrys’s throat bobbed. “I will taste this delicacy now, Miss Daphne. I will feast on this even if the world burns around me.” Heat curled deep in my belly as he dropped to his knees.
I bit my lip to muffle a scream as his hot mouth closed around my most sensitive spot.
Sweet heaven—nothing I ever imagined came close.
My eyes rolled back, my body unraveling beneath his mouth.
His tongue was trailing along my slit, exploring places nobody had ever touched, then circling back around my clit.
The need was building up, slowly and gradually.
I was aching for release, but didn’t want him to stop his sweet torment at the same time.
My fingers curled in his hair and I pulled him even closer to my opening.
“I want—” I moaned, trying to form a coherent sentence, but alas.
I could sense his sinful lips stretch into a smile.
Then this sinner plunged his tongue inside me, slowly drew it out, flicked it around my clit, and dove it in again—faster and faster until some feral tension started building up inside me.
Lifting my hips to meet each thrust of his wicked tongue, I was moaning in synchrony with his moves.
Until something snapped inside me.
A tidal wave of pleasure drowned all my senses, made me shiver in his arms, which were the only things anchoring me to this world.
“That’s it, Miss Daphne,” he purred. “That’s how I wanted to see you since I laid my eyes on you—undone in my hands.”
“You—” I licked my lips again, trying to get my thoughts together. My body was still shuddering, my breasts rising rapidly. “You were thinking of this?”
“Tell me you didn’t.” He grinned. “I dare you.”
Damn him.
He towered above me, mystical symbols twirling in hypnotic spirals across his muscled chest. Inky strands clung to his brow, and he wiped his lips with the back of his hand and looked down at me, his gray eyes nearly black now.
“You’re so beautiful, Miss Daphne. It’s been so long since I had something like this.” Something vulnerable flashed over his face. Sadness.
My hands trailed over the hard plane of his stomach, the runes on his skin shimmering faintly under my touch. My breath caught at the sight of the massive swell in his pants.
He stood still above me, his lashes casting shadows over his cheeks. “Are you sure you want this, Daphne?”
If I wanted this? Heavens, I’d scream if I don’t get it right now. Yet there was that little voice inside me, the one that grew louder with each punishment, with each insult. Was I good enough for someone who was a god once? Did he see me or his lost Branwyn when he held me?
No.
I had spent enough time alone in the dark. I wouldn’t let it ruin this moment.
Instead, I put my hands on his waist and smiled. “Isn’t it obvious enough, Emrys?”
Something feral rippled his face, and a muscle in his jawline twitched. He started unbuttoning his pants, his dark, heavy gaze never leaving mine. “Just make sure you tell me if it gets too… intense.”
My eyes widened as he released his thick length. Some instinct made me reach out and close my fingers around it—well, tried to close them, as he was too thick for my grip. He whipped his head back, the veins on his neck bulging. Gently, I slid my fingers up and down his cock.
“You’ll be the end of me,” he growled. My heart was about to leave my chest, so arousing was the contradiction he was: something dangerous and wild but aching to be tamed at the same time. My clit throbbed in anticipation—how would it feel to have him inside me, stretching me to my limit?
He must have read my mind because he settled on his elbows and aligned himself to my opening.
His fingers closed around my hair and he tilted my head—his transformation into a beast completed. He took my mouth possessively now.
I was so slick, so starved for him, that I arched at his first push.
He let go of my lips and pushed himself up, looking at me with those wild, inky eyes, and plunged his thumb between my lips.
I sucked on it, my lids dropping, when the second, more insistent push came.
“You have no idea what you’re doing to me, Daphne,” he murmured, tensing up and slowly gliding inside me.
Something tensed and stretched inside me, then tore, stinging me and making my eyes well up.
But the need and the pleasure were so intense that I lifted my hips to meet his next thrust.
But it never came. Instead, he scooped up my head, his fingers trailing my jawline. “Daphne, I didn’t know you were–” he froze above me, his sweat dripping over my skin like hot rain, “I’d have held back. Forgive me.”
My nails dug into his back, and I hissed into his ear. “Don’t you dare stop right now, Emrys Caerwynne.”
A furrow appeared between his brows, and he placed a myriad of tiny, gentle kisses along my neck and jaw. “Just tell me if I hurt you, little thief, okay?”
I nodded, knowing that right now, there was no way in this world that he would hurt me.
Slowly, watching me, he sheathed himself fully.
It was far smoother than I expected, considering his size.
A sound too similar to a purr escaped my lips.
His jaw locked, and he slid in and out, delivering the most blissful friction.
His lips brushed along my ear, his moves slowing down.
“You feel like home, Daphne,” he whispered.
My legs locked around his waist, and he picked up the pace.
Soon, his moves reached some savage crescendo, like a primordial dance, filling the narrow room with sounds of flesh slapping against flesh.
That sweet, aching tension rose inside me again, and I drew him closer for a harsh, bruising kiss.
My hips rose to meet each of his thrusts until that hot, delicious weakness flooded my senses, making my toes curl and my limbs tremble.
My lips whispered his name. One, two deep, harsh shoves and he stiffened above me.
Something hot spilled inside me and Emrys lowered himself, giving me a long, gentle kiss.
We remained in each other’s arms, a tangled mess of limbs, heat and marvel.
“I hope you don’t regret this, little thief,” he whispered, his fingers trailing gentle circles over my collarbone. “And you should know that immortals cannot have offspring with mortals. The gods, universe, or whatever, making sure the world will not be teaming with some tiny, arrogant demigods.”
“Hmm. You mean we could do this as often as we’d like without any consequences?” I murmured.
“As often as we’d like. I love the sound of it, Miss Daphne.” He pulled me in closer.
I smiled into his chest, trailing my fingers over the symbols carved into his skin. “Then I hope you’re immortal enough to keep up.”