Page 79 of Whispers of the Water

Unable to find my voice, I nodded.

His hips moved back, then slowly pushed forward again. I gasped at the sensation of him filling me up, and with each gentle thrust, I became hungrier for more.

He caught my next sigh in a kiss, and heat curled tightly at my center as his movements picked up speed. He groaned in pleasure against my lips and squeezed my hands tighter as he pumped in and out with restrained yet desperate measure.

“Rune,” I moaned as my lips parted for him.

“You feel so good,” he said, trailing a kiss along my jaw.

That familiar sweet heat throbbed between my legs as Rune positioned himself to rub against my aching core. I threw back my head, unable to contain my cry as the mixture of his thrusts and touch sent me over the edge and spiraling into the euphoric abyss yet again.

Rune grunted as his movements became frenzied and fast. His whole body shuddered, and he joined me in the chasm of satisfied lust.

His hips slowed until he pulled out. I gasped at the sudden emptiness where we’d just been connected, but I didn’t feel the loss for long. Rune released my hands to cup my cheeks with reverent fingers, and he leaned down to place a soft kiss on my forehead.

“I love you, Bria,” Rune whispered.

I leaned into his touch with a light, joyous smile. “I love you, too. Always.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“ARE YOU SURE you’re okay with this? With me?” I asked.

Rune and I were lying on our sides beneath the blankets, our naked limbs entangled. Rune had cleaned us both after our lovemaking, and now, we rested in bed together. My fingers played with the blue gem of his necklace, and his hand continued its slow trek up and down my arm.

“Do you really need to ask that?” Rune chuckled as he gave me a salacious smirk.

Biting my lip against the threat of turning bright red, I said, “No, I … I guess I’m still trying to process. I psyched myself out, expecting the complete opposite of this.” I gestured between our naked bodies.

His hand roamed back up my arm and over my shoulder, up my throat, stopping at my chin. The pad of his thumb brushed the skin below my bottom lip as he pursed his lips and searched my face.

Finally, he said, “It was definitely when you bumped into me at that Italian restaurant.”

I quirked a brow. “What?”

“I figured it out. The restaurant. That was when I fell in love with you.”

I laughed. “You’re still thinking about that?” I shook my head and continued, “There’s no way that was when you fell in love with me.”

“I’ve always felt something. A certain spark. A certain allure. When I think back now on all our moments together, all I feel is what I feel now. I was done for as soon as that cute, short, doe-eyed girl smacked into me. If only I’d know then that I was staring into the eyes of the girl who would come to be my whole world.” He paused to place a kiss on my forehead. “But I know it now. I know that I love you more than I ever thought I was capable of, and that won’t change. Ever.”

He sounded so confident, sure that his feelings for me were unwavering. And while I desperately wanted that to be the case, I knew the hardest part was yet to come.

He didn’t know everything yet, including the worst part of all of this, the part I hadn’t even let myself dwell on until this very moment.

“Rune, there’s one more thing,” I said as my eyes searched his. My mouth instantly dried with the weight of my words, but I forced them out in a nearly nonexistent whisper. “I’m the Princess.”

He raised a brow, and I could see him questioning what that meant.

“I’m the Water Fae Princess. That means my dad …”

My words hung between us. I saw it the moment realization dawned on him. His face went ashen, and his eyes widened. He slowly rolled onto his back to stare wide-eyed at the ceiling.

“Your dad killed …”

I lay there frozen, fighting against tears that threatened to break through.

There it was. The hardest part of this entire truth.

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