Chapter Thirty-Seven
“Nadar!” Jucai grabbed my arm to stop me.
“Well done.” I jerked my arm out of his grasp. “I'm happy for you and your dread.”
Jucai grimaced. “I was going to dismiss my bed slaves, but I've been busy, mostly with you.”
I crossed my arms and cocked my head. “So, it's my fault that you didn't keep your promise?”
“No, of course not. Gods damn it, Nadar! I haven't been with any of them since you came to court.”
Bantar had said the same thing. Besides, when would he have had time to bed a slave? We had spent little time apart in Kansu.
I uncrossed my arms. “Then why didn't you dismiss your bed slaves as you said you would?”
“Honestly, I didn't want to hurt their feelings.” He rolled his eyes. “Little did I know that they would have been happy to be released.”
“Is that what they said?”
“Not in those words, but they didn't seem upset about becoming members of the household staff.”
“Probably because they know you'll have to seduce them if you want to be with them again.”
“Yes, that must be it.” Jucai held his arrogant expression for a few seconds before he burst out laughing. “What have you done to me? I don't even care that they don't want me.”
“But a mere Land Dragon diplomat couldn't have done anything to the great King of Ilshi,” I teased. “It must be magic.”
Expression going tender, Jucai pulled me into an embrace. “It is most definitely magic, and we need to settle it. Now.”
We had come back from the caves, bathed, and fallen asleep in each other’s arms, too exhausted for more.
Just being close had been enough for us.
When I woke, I expected to have wild sex that would trigger our mating magic.
But Jucai was already gone, off seeing to the storage of the magic disruptors and the gathering of all the slaves in the palace.
In short, we hadn't made love since before my capture.
“Yes, I think it's time.” I took Jucai's hand, and we hurried to the royal apartments, breaking into a run halfway there.
The guards gaped at us as we ran past, but we only laughed. By the time we made it up the stairs to his bedroom, we were both winded and fell onto the mattress, gasping and giggling. At last, our amusement faded, and we caught our breath.
I turned onto my side. Fake sunlight streamed past the columns to bathe Jucai.
His green eyes glittered, his hair glowed, and his skin shone.
There had never been a more beautiful man.
I pushed back his hair, threading my fingers through the silken strands, and removed his crown.
After setting it atop the headboard-table, I leaned over to kiss him.
Full lips pillowed mine, and a teasing tongue flicked out to draw me in. Salt and cinnamon rose around us, and I breathed him in. Just kissing Jucai sent a thrill down my belly. My cock came to attention, ready to serve the King. The thought had me pulling back.
Jucai blinked up at me and then frowned. “Nadar?”
I knew in my bones that if we went any further, we would mate.
This was my last moment of freedom. I'd be enslaved to Jucai more thoroughly than any of his bed slaves had been.
There would be no chains, but I'd be tied to him nonetheless.
Forever. My heart started to race. Did I really want to live under the sea? Give up my life and career for him?
Jucai set an elegant hand on my cheek, and the answer came instantly. Yes. I would give up everything for him because he would do the same for me. Magic would chain me to him, but it would also enslave him. I could live with that, but could Jucai?
“Are you sure?” I asked him. “There's no going back. I will be your only lover for the rest of our lives.”
Jucai's smile was brighter than the light bathing him, more real too. His thumb stroked my cheek. “It's too late, Nadar. I'm yours. It's done. Magic or not. There's no going back. I hope it's the same for you.”
“It is. I'm yours.”
With a groan, I kissed him. He was right. It had been over for both of us from the moment he came down his dais and took my hand. That touch had changed everything. I was no longer of land, nor was I of the sea. I was his. That surpassed all associations.
We tumbled together, clothes falling away, and I ended up on top. With his sleek body between my thighs and my hands moving up his chest, I knew there was no one who could ever satisfy me like Jucai. Every other man would fall short of the Sea King's glory. So, I had to make him mine forever.
Sitting astride his thighs, I was just below his groin, and Jucai's cock rested against mine. I loved the feel of our shafts shifting together. Sighing, I motioned at the bottle on the table that curved around the head of the bed. Water formed around it and brought it to me.
As the water evaporated, Jucai raised his eyebrows. “You've been practicing.”
“I have.” I waggled my eyebrows at him and opened the bottle.
The sweet scent of hress nectar floated out as I poured a few drops into my palm. Jucai twitched against me, sending thrills up my shaft. Then I palmed him. Stroked him. Got him nice and wet. Panting, Jucai watched me, and I undulated forward against his sacs.
“Enough! Mount me.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” I rose onto my knees and rubbed the remnants of nectar onto my opening. Jucai watched me even though he couldn't see what I was doing. Then I grabbed his cock, and he gasped. Wriggling onto it, I took him into me and let him pop out. Over and over.
“This is why I wanted you to wear a jewel,” Jucai growled.
I laughed and slid down his length. “The longer you wait, the better the pleasure.”
“That's horseshit.”
Hands on his chest, I laughed as I moved up and down Jucai's shaft, taking him into me at last. My channel stretched and adjusted, his tip hitting spots that tingled and sent zings up my spine.
My cock bobbed on his belly as I moved faster, my ass bouncing on his thighs.
It didn't take long before my cock wept, and his throbbed in my channel.
“It's rising, my love!” Jucai cried.
I felt it too—the urge to untie in more than the physical.
The glorious need to merge. Pleasure shot through me, my body bucked, and I cried out.
Glittering essence arched out of me to lash Jucai's chest. He cried out in turn, his body bowing upward as he filled me with essence.
It sank into me, going deeper than before, and it didn't stop—we both kept coming.
As I absorbed pieces of Jucai's soul, I grabbed my cock and angled it to cover his chest. Moaning, he rubbed it in and then closed his eyes and lifted his head.
I covered his face in essence, trembling when he opened his mouth and caught it on his tongue.
I wanted that too. I wanted to feel him everywhere.
I stood up. His cock slipped free, spurting glittering essence on my inner thighs.
I shook with every drop, the magic sending him into my soul to make me whole again.
Above him, I felt like a god, cock in hand as I marked my mate.
I lashed his thighs, his shins, his feet, and then his cock, all while Jucai writhed and rubbed my essence in.
“Roll over,” I demanded.
Jucai didn't just roll over; he got on his hands and knees. “I need you everywhere, Mate. Cover me and fill me with your essence!”
I wasn't much for penetrating others, so I covered his back, ass, and thighs first. I even came on the soles of his feet. At last, his quivering need called to mine, and I knelt between his legs. Suddenly, I had to be inside him—had to inject my soul into him.
I spread his plump cheeks. “Are you sure?”
Jucai looked over his shoulder at me, eyes flashing. “Fuck me now!”
I was still coming, and so was he; the stuff wasted on the bedding.
Angling my stream over his hole, I lubricated him, then slid my dick through it, getting myself slick.
Gently, I breached him. Just a little. Then I pulled out.
A little deeper. I felt him stretching around me, and I suddenly had to fight the urge to shove all of my cock inside him.
I understood then why Jucai wanted me ready for him.
“Damn it, come inside me now!” Jucai roared.
I slid in as deep as I could go, and both of us shouted in ecstasy.
Jucai's channel pulsed and milked my cock in rippling movements.
I pulled out and then shoved in again. It was sheer bliss, the pleasure grabbing me by the balls and wrenching me higher.
Reaching beneath Jucai, I caught his essence in my hand and rubbed it into my chest. The magic didn't stop this time.
It took us and spun us in a rapturous dance.
I lost control. Lost my mind. I was a beast, rutting with my mate. But I needed more.
I pulled out and lay on my back. Looking over at Jucai, I opened my mouth to tell him to cover me, but he was already getting up.
Hair and cock swinging, he stood at my feet.
Sunlight turned his essence into a rain of sparkling diamonds as it coated my feet, my shins, my thighs, and then my manhood.
I writhed, rubbing it into my sacs and then my cock.
Stroking myself with his essence as mine arced from me to hit his legs.
Jucai methodically covered my front, taking time on my chest. As I rubbed my nipples, back arching, he coated my face.
I closed my eyes and opened my mouth. Tingling essence filled my mouth, sinking into my tongue before I could swallow it.
Then he was diving into me, soaking every cell with his magnificence.
Within the bursts of pleasure, I saw Jucai's soul.
Felt the real him. Even more beautiful than his physical appearance, Jucai's soul shone with his goodness, courage, and honor.
I saw the darkness too, but it only enhanced his light.
This was my mate, and seeing the true him made my love for him soar into the realm of the Gods.
“Turn over,” he growled.
Lost in him in so many ways, I obeyed. I rolled onto my belly and spread out, hoping he would cover every inch of me. He did. From the soles of my feet to my scalp, he covered me in himself. Every lash sent me further into ecstasy. I hung suspended in space, stars shooting around me.
Then he was on top of me, his body covering mine. His shaft split my cheeks and slipped inside. Holding me with all of himself, Jucai moved decadently slow, in and out. The slippery hardness of his shaft sent me higher with every thrust. Only Jucai and I existed, our souls merging.
It seemed to go on for days or maybe seconds. Time had no meaning. I couldn't track how long we writhed together, skin sliding against skin. But when reason finally returned, I found myself snuggled against a sleeping Jucai. My body hummed with love and life, and my soul was full of my mate.
“I love mating magic,” I whispered and fell asleep.