Page 385 of Born of Blood and Ash

“When I was old enough, I was allowed to watch any meetingshe had with other gods or people who came from Lethe,” he said after a coupleof moments. “As we waited for those meetings to begin, I would crawl all overthe benches. Run from one to the other. Crawl under them. Only the Fates knowwhy. Ehthawn was younger then, too. Not as young asReaver, but small enough that he could easily move through the room with me.”

Gods, my heart squeezed as I pictured Ash as a little boy,playing with a draken. And it wasn’t hard to imagineit because I had a feeling our sons would be the spitting image of him as achild.

Our sons?

Look at me, thinking as if I knew for sure they would beboys. But I kind of felt like I did know for sure. I grinned as Ipressed my cheek to his chest.

“Anyway, I got to thinking about our children and how theywill one day be doing the same thing. Maybe in this throne room or perhapswherever we decide to stay when this is over,” he said, and my breath caught.“Except there will be two of them, and Jadis and Reaver to chase after them.And…” His voice thickened with emotion, drawing my gaze to his. His eyes shonebrightly. “And there will be us. We will be sitting in those thrones, watchingthem.”

Oh, gods, I didn’t know what to say to that. What he hadbeen thinking about was so unexpected, so perfect, that emotion swelledfiercely.

“Ash,” I whispered, my fingers curling into his stiff tunic.

He smiled, a small upward tilt of his lips. “I love what Ifeel from you right now.” His hand swept down my back. “It is…everything.”

“You are everything.” I rose onto my tiptoes,shuddering as his cool breath fanned across my cheek.

The touch of his mouth against mine had the same reaction italways did. As our lips met, the realms condensed to just us. There was no oneelse. No other expectations or duties. No looming battles where one mistakecould cause us to lose it all. It would always be like that, and that was afact I would never be uncertain of.

One hand slipped under my braid to curl around the nape ofmy neck. He tilted my head, deepening the kiss. A crescendo of need quicklyswelled between us as his other hand traced the curve of my spine, charting apath over the velvet of my robe. It ignited a fire as he pressed his handagainst my lower back, drawing me closer and leaving no room between ourbodies. I could feel him, hard and insistent against my belly, a pressure thatsent a cascade of desire pooling at my core.

A certain type of madness urged me on. We were nowhere nearanywhere private. Anyone could walk in on us. A drakencould fly over and get an eyeful. But I was breathless with desire—withwant—for him and only him.

I guided him backward until the backs of his legs met thethrone. He sat without protest, looking up at me with heavy-lidded eyes andparted lips. Holding his gaze, I positioned myself atop him, straddling the manwho was and would always be my entire world.

The coolness of the stone beneath my bare knees caused mybreath to catch as our lips came together once more. It was as fierce as thehold he had on my heart and soul. He kissed me with a hunger that mirrored myown, sipping from my lips as his fingers made quick work of the buttons on myrobe. The sides parted, and then, I felt his cold fingers through the thin silkof my nightgown. I moaned into his mouth, and before I could even take anotherbreath, the bodice of the nightgown gave way beneath his touch, tugged down tobare me to his gaze. A shiver ran through me as the cooler air of the room metmy heated flesh.

“Beautiful,” he murmured roughly, cupping my breasts in hishands. He dragged a thumb over one rosy peek, groaning as the nipple puckered.“These are so fucking beautiful.”

Ash lowered his head, taking the nipple into his mouth. Hisfangs scraped my skin, and the sensation was sharp, a wicked sting thatspiraled throughout my entire body. His tongue swirled, drawing a gasp from mylips, the sound lost in the vastness of the throne room. He drew the sensitiveflesh into his mouth, and my hips jerked, rubbing at the hard ridge of him.

With my heart racing, my hands moved to the flap of hisbreeches. I wasn’t nearly as nimble as him, and what he was doing with hisfingers as he took my other breast into his mouth didn’t help. Still, I managedto free him.

His mouth left my breast, and his head fell back. My fingersbrushed the cool hardness, tracing the line of his desire before I closed myhand around him.

His hips punched up, and his hands slipped beneath the robeand gown to close around mine. “I need in you,” he rasped. “Now.”

Dropping my forehead to his, I guided his cock with anurgency that bordered on desperation. The feeling of his cool tip against myheated dampness nearly undid both of us.

He pulled me down hard as he thrust up. The moment heentered me, I cried out, a riot of raw sensations pounding through me.

Neither of us moved for several seconds, our breaths comingin short, shallow pants. I felt him trembling, the same need building in me. Ibegan to rock slowly, wanting to savor the small bite of pain as I stretched toaccommodate every thick inch. The fullness was addictive.

Ash’s lips danced across my collarbone, each kiss ignitingtrails of fire on my skin as his grip tightened even more on my hips, fingersdigging in with a possessiveness that sent tingles racing all over my skin. Wemoved in sync on the throne, thrusting and grinding, our mouths comingtogether.

The throne room echoed with the sounds of our breathsmingling in the charged air. I rode him, clutching at his shoulder with onehand, the fingers of my other tugging on his silken strands. Every rise andfall of my hips drew me closer to the precipice. One of his hands slid to myass, his fingers pressing into the softness there with an intensity thatmatched the mounting pressure within me. The other slipped free of the robe tofind my braid. He gripped it hard, tugging my head back so he could see me.

Heat spiraled, coiling tighter, an invisible force pullingat the very core of my being. The striking lines of Ash’s face were etched withconcentration. His eyes were locked on mine, witnessing the moment my bodytensed. And then, with his name a cry on my lips that filled the vastness ofthe chamber, pleasure shattered me. It was a starburst, radiating out from theplace we were joined, sending shockwaves through every nerve ending.

I shuddered, waves of ecstasy rolling over me as his releaseswiftly followed. His hold on me became a vise, holding me still as he foundhis escape. Ash’s head tipped back against the throne, a low groanreverberating off the cold stone walls, filling the room with the echoes of hispleasure.

As the last tremors of our passion ebbed, I collapsedagainst him. We remained entwined upon the throne as our breathing and heartsslowed.

“I don’t think I will ever think of this throne the same wayagain,” he said.

I laughed against his neck. “Me, neither.”

His hand smoothed over the braid. “I assume all of that wasa pretty good indicator that you liked what I was thinking about?”

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