Page 111 of Whispers of the Water

I swallowed the burn his words created. They cut into me, reopening each of my insecurities. I couldn’t give into those feelings, especially not with the very one uttering them in front of me. It took everything inside me to keep my face even, giving away none of the fear his verbal attack evoked.

“Then I guess you’ll rot,” I said evenly. “In prison. Get him out of here.”

I stood and watched as Rance and Imani yanked Dax to his feet. The pair led him away, but that didn’t stop his sickening laugh as he called over his shoulder, “All hail the mother fucking Queen!”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

I PULLED INTO the familiar driveway and took a moment to drink in the one-story brick home. So many days I’d spent here with my Land Fae friends. So many memories within those walls. I didn’t know when or if I’d get to see the house again, but the knowledge didn’t hurt, because it wasn’t the house I needed.

It was the man standing on the front porch.

As soon as I was out of the car, I ran for Rune. His eyes pinched with worry after taking in the look plastered on my face, and he opened his arms as I reached him. I leapt into his hold, wrapping my legs around his waist and arms around his neck. He took me into his strong embrace as I crushed our lips together in a hungry kiss. He groaned in need as I swept my tongue past his lips, and my hands skimmed up the back of his neck and into his hair.

Pulling back only enough to take a breath, I asked, “Who all is home?”

“Just me.”

I nodded, relieved for once to find that the gang wasn’t present. As much as I loved everyone, I wanted—needed—the comfort that only Rune could provide.

“Take me to bed,” I whispered against his lips.

He sucked in a sharp breath before turning and carrying me into the house. He kissed me with an all new urgency that I felt in every fiber of my being. I reached down to pull off my top, letting it land where gravity guided it as Rune carried me through the living room.

He peppered kisses along my throat and said, “God, I can’t get enough of you.”

I gripped the back of his head, holding him close to me. “I need your body on mine.”

Rune nudged open his cracked bedroom door, and as soon as we were inside the familiar blue and black toned room, I slipped out of his hold and pressed my hands firmly against his chest. I pushed him up against the door, making it slam behind him, and not even a beat later, my mouth was on his. He gripped my waist tightly as the hard mass in his pants pressed against me.

Rune pulled back a fraction to look at me, but his hands never left me. They trailed up my bare back to the clasp of my bra. “As much as I love what’s happening, I feel like something’s wrong. Are you okay? What happened?”

I hadn’t told Rune about Dax and that horrific meeting yet since it was still fresh on my mind—not even an hour had passed. As soon as I’d seen Rune’s text that he was back home, I‘d driven straight here, needing to see him, feel his touch, and hear his deep voice. I needed his comfort, his support, and his affection, because without it, I was sure to lose myself to the demons of inferiority.

I shimmied out of my bra as Rune guided the straps down my arms, and once his hands were free of the material, I grabbed them and walked us backward for his bed. Turning, I placed my palms on his chest and pushed him to sit on the edge.

Standing between his legs, I stared down into his golden eyes. “I want to be good.”

Smirking, he flicked the bead of my nipple with the tip of his tongue. “I don’t think that’s a problem.”

Inhaling sharply against the jolt of pleasure, I took a deep breath and reached down to tug off his shirt. “I don’t mean in that department. Although, I do want to be good at that, too.”

“Then what do you want to be good at, Princess?” he asked, tilting his head up to look at me as he pulled me closer, the heat from his bare chest warming my skin.

“That,” I said.

Rune slipped his hands into the waistband of my pants and underwear, pulling both down the flare of my hips.

I stepped out of the garments and placed my knees on either side of his body until I straddled him, completely bare and aching at my center. When my wet middle nestled against the hard mass in his sweatpants, I bit my lip and took a deep breath to continue talking. “Princess. Queen. I want to be a good leader.”

Rune’s palms coasted over my skin, climbing from my thighs to my stomach, settling on my breasts. “You will be. What’s making you feel this way? Did someone say something?”

I forced a smile and gave a nonchalant shrug. “Maybe.”

Rune’s eyes were unwavering as they held mine, and he seemed to be searching my face for something. All of a sudden, Rune rolled to the side, pinning me beneath him. He leaned down and placed soft kisses on each of my closed eyes. “These eyes. They see people. Not the façade people put on the exterior, but you see who those people are at their core. You see past the lies, past the defenses, past the mistakes. You see the good in people.”

Rune leaned down to place another slow, sensual kiss to my lips and whispered, “These lips utter truth, kindness, and forgiveness, even for those undeserving of such gifts. You speak with a need to spread love and happiness, whereas so many others can’t wait to spit profanities and hatred.”

He slid down my body until he was able to place a kiss in the center of my chest. “This heart, this soul, is full of so much warmth. Compassion. Bravery. Resilience. Love. Bria, I don’t know who placed this doubt in your mind, but there is not a single person out there more fit to be a leader than you. Anyone would be lucky to have the right to call you their Queen.”

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