Chapter 26
CHAPTER 26
N eve had almost forgotten she was a fugitive once she’d bathed and joined Eleksi by the fire to eat the simple yet delicious meal provided by Clayton.
The barn quickly warmed, adding to the languid, honey-like feel of her limbs.
“Do you ever imagine what it would be like, to have a wholesome existence like this?” asked Neve from where she was curled in her armchair in her black velvet dress. “Live on a farm, grow fruit, tend to animals?”
“I do,” replied Eleksi. “Although, I daresay I’d grow restless after a while. Would you?”
His muscular arms were draped lazily over the arms of the chair and he rested one ankle on his knee. He wore black trousers and a black shirt, and his sleek black hair was still damp from bathing.
With the blade of his golden dagger, he’d shaved his face in the spotted mirror propped up against the dresser. Without the cover of black stubble, his sharp jawline and chiseled cheekbones appeared more pronounced, as did his heavy jet-black eyebrows and platinum gaze. In the heat of the fire, the veins in his hands stood out against his pale skin.
How did he manage to become more attractive every time she looked at him?
“I suppose I might,” she replied, hoping he couldn’t read her desire in her eyes. “Perhaps when I’m older, like Clayton, I would enjoy such a life. It would be a lovely place to find peace after one too many misadventures.”
Eleksi’s mouth quirked into a smile. “What if that’s been Clayton’s path? You never know. He could’ve been a Spider King once upon a time. Or a thief. Or a murderer.”
“I think it’s far more likely that he’s exactly what he seems to be. A sweet old man who enjoys having visitors.”
“It does seem like it,” he conceded.
“Are you sleepy? You must be exhausted.”
He shrugged. “Food and resting by the fire have eased my fatigue. But perhaps we ought to sleep. Gods know when we’ll be this comfortable again.”
Neve’s eyes drifted to the wooden ladder leading to the bedroom.
He followed her gaze. “I can sleep down here by?—”
“No! Absolutely not. Last night I slept on the ground and you didn’t sleep at all. We both dearly deserve a bed. Besides, I?—”
She paused, her hands on the arms of the chair, poised to rise.
“You what?” he asked, standing.
Her face blushed. “Nothing. Let’s go upstairs.”
“After you.”
She climbed the wooden ladder, her blood dancing with a heady combination of excitement and nerves. How could she sleep with his body lying close to hers?
Yet, she was never going to suggest they didn’t share the bed—not when she’d been longing to kiss him again.
In truth though, she wanted to do more than kiss him. Far more. She wanted to release a lifetime’s worth of repressed energy and feeling. But she also feared what would happen if she did. What if she lost control of herself—of her abilities—and inadvertently killed him?
The bed was low to the ground, with a carved oak headboard, piles of pillows, and furs upon dark green woolen blankets. A cow-skin rug covered the bare wooden floorboards and a single window showed the vast night sky.
Eleksi lit the candelabra on the console. The ceiling was low enough that he had to stoop to avoid hitting his head.
“What were you going to say downstairs?” he asked in a low voice, standing before her with his head inclined.
“Oh.” She stared up into his incredible eyes, the need to feel his touch almost overwhelming. “I was going to say that I think I would derive comfort from sleeping next to you.”
“Comfort?” The corner of his mouth twitched and his eyes flashed. “You want comfort from me?”
She bit back a smile, taking a step closer to him. All he’d need to do was reach out and grab her.
Something gave way inside of her chest, like a giant chunk falling away from an iceberg.
“I want more than that,” she said, her voice becoming husky with lust. “I think you know it.” She gathered all of her courage. “And I think you want to give it to me.”
There was a moan of longing in the back of his throat, his gaze traveling from her mouth to her eyes. “Little witch, that I do.”
He placed his fingertips on her décolletage, causing her to sharply inhale. She turned her face up while he traced his fingers over her collarbone, up her neck, and brought the pad of his thumb—the thumb with the spider ring—to rest on her plump bottom lip.
“I want to give you everything,” he murmured. “I want you to have everything.” He leaned closer and she caught his intoxicating scent of leather and forest, causing a flame in her core to ignite. “And I want to have you. Only you. For there is, I believe, nothing else worth having.”
Eleksi crushed his firm, warm lips against hers.
The ignited flame within her expanded, sending heat through her whole body. The sensual energy created between them swelled her magic, and she knew she could cast with it, if she chose. But she didn’t want to cast spells at that moment. She wanted something else entirely.
With her eyes closed, she gently explored his mouth with her tongue. He kissed her back greedily, wrapping his strong arms around her body and pulling her to him. Through his pants, she felt his desire for her, rock hard and straining to be released.
She kissed him more deeply, tasting the essence of his energy. It was potent and colossal and rapidly merging with her own, swirling through her very being. To be this close to him made her dizzy with longing.
The flame inside of her grew, seeming to travel up her throat, toward his kiss.
Suddenly, the horrible image of Eleksi lying dead under the grip of her hand appeared in her mind. Panicked, she withdrew, prizing her mouth away.
“What is it?” he asked, his eyes drunken with lust.
“I don’t think I should do this,” she replied, panting slightly. Her eyes darted to her hand on his shoulder, where red tendrils of carnal energy pulsed from her fingertips. “It’s too dangerous.”
But she couldn’t bring herself to break from his embrace. She remained in his arms, held tightly to his body, heat pulsing between them. She desired him so strongly she could hardly bear it. Putting her forehead against his tensed pectoral, her eyes fluttered closed.
“What are you afraid of, exactly?” he asked.
“Killing you,” she whispered into his chest. “I’ve never had a man inside of me before. I have no idea what it would be like. I hurt someone just by kissing them once, remember?”
“But not me.” He put his hand under her chin and lifted it gently. “Tell me what you really want, little witch. I can see it burning in your eyes.”
“I want all of you. That is the honest truth. I want—” she hesitated. How could she articulate her desires without sounding deranged? What if she was deranged? “I want to devour you, and for you to devour me. I would stir my blood with yours if I could. I fear that means I will kill you in the attempt to satisfy my desire.” She felt his cock flex through the fabric of his pants, against her stomach. “Does that scare you?”
“No, Neve,” he murmured, cupping her face and looking at her like she was the most miraculous thing in the world. “That makes me believe we were made for each other.”
A slow smile spread across her lips. “You promise?”
“I promise.”
Neve’s heart sang. With her body, she pushed Eleksi backward until he came up against the end of the bed. Sending a pulse of energy through her fingertips, she cleared the bed magically, the furs and excess cushions sailing onto the floor.
Eleksi grinned as they kissed. She bit into his lip, tasting the metallic tang of his blood. He moaned and kissed her deeper, plunging his tongue into her mouth and running his large hands up and down her back, clawing at her.
She pulled away just long enough to tear off his shirt. His powerful, lean body was marble-hard, his torso rippling with muscle. Twin veins ran from his abdominals to his groin, like an arrow pointing to her desire. His skin was like ash wood, a few shades darker than her ivory hand, which skated feverishly across his broad chest.
As her hand moved downward, the flame within her burned taller and more ferocious.
His jaw clenched as she tugged his pants halfway down his muscular thighs. His huge cock sprang free, the base nestled in black curls. The shaft was smooth, except for the protruding veins running its length, and the thick head glistened.
He let out a low grunt and picked her up, transferring her to the bed with ease.
From on top of her, his hand traveled down her neck and over her bust, sending fiery sparks across her skin. His blazing eyes still on her, he unlaced her bodice, exposing her moon-pale chest. He kissed her deeply on the mouth and massaged her breasts. Pure pleasure shot through her body as he rubbed her pert pink nipples until they stood erect.
His cock pressed hard into her inner thigh. She probed her tongue further into his mouth, wanting to be closer to him. Wanting all of him.
He dragged one hand up her leg, sending a curl of pleasure into her groin. He lifted her dress to her waist and kissed his way deliberately down her neck and décolletage before moving between her legs, where her feminine heat pulsed with arousal beneath her underwear. The delicate fabric came apart easily as he ripped off her underwear with a single swipe.
Grasping her thighs with both hands, he dipped his tongue directly into her throbbing opening. Neve moaned loudly in ecstatic disbelief, balling the bedsheets in her fists. He swirled his tongue over her clit, across her pink folds, and then drove it back inside of her. She ground her hips down, wanting more, and he responded by burying his face in her.
When she a hurricane began forming in her core, he emerged, moving up to kiss her so that she might taste her own sweetness on his lips. She fumbled with the top of his pants, needing him inside of her. He dragged the wet tip of his cock over her flesh, leaving a translucent trail, until his head met with her saturated heat.
“Look at me, Neve,” he said in the same soft, dangerous voice he’d used the first time he ever spoke to her. The night he’d been sent to end her life.
Feeling half mad with longing, she gazed into his intense silver eyes.
“We belong to each other,” he said. “Until death.”
“Until death,” she whispered.
He drove his hips forward, penetrating her tight depths with a long, insistent stroke. She gasped and he covered her mouth with his, kissing her greedily. Her firm core gave way to the pressure of his steely cock and her own ravenous hunger for him.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, using her strength to pull him farther into her. Red tendrils of magic rose from their entwined bodies like vapor. Eleksi held himself deep inside of her, until she thought she could no longer stand the potency of the sensation.
Finally, he relented, withdrawing his cock and then thrusting it into her core, over and over again. With every stroke, the reserves of pleasure within Neve built, reaching incredible heights. The power within her made her feel as though she could blow the whole roof off the barn.
But she kept it within her being. With Eleksi, her energy felt good and safe and protected. That feeling of safety gave her new confidence in her abilities and in herself.
Eleksi switched to achingly long and slow strokes. Feeling every inch of his velvety shaft was enough to send her over the edge. He continued the delicious measured strokes as her inner walls shuddered around his erection in great waves of pleasure.
Only when the waves subsided did he pause. His cock tightly encased in her, he kissed a relieved and deliriously happy Neve lightly all over her face, with his hands in her silky black hair.
Before her breathing could return to normal, he increased his tempo, building to a climax of his own.
Neve yearned for him to fill her core with his seed. Still panting and trembling, she matched the rhythm of his thrusts to coax him to the zenith point. His husky moans filled the barn when he unleashed himself into her, holding her body flush against his, as if they were one being instead of two.
Neve’s eyes fluttered closed in rapture as his hot pulsations flowed into her aching depths.
He dropped his mouth to her flaming sternum as he regained his breath, slowly sliding his cock in and out of her, to revel in every last vestige of pleasure.