Page 119 of Crowned By the Fae King

It was a hell of a showcase for Yllana's and Pelleas' work. The dress they'd made for me fit my body like a second skin and moved with such natural grace that it was hard to remember it was a physical object instead of mist and shadow given form. I caught Pelleas watching me with an expression of unabashed happiness—one that vanished behind a smirk the second he caught me looking, and which didn't reappear, but which had definitely been real.

I wondered what his life must be like in Raven Court, for something as simple as a beautiful dress to make him happier than successfully holding a duplication glamor on a small army. He was so clearly an artist. What must it be like for a man like that to be the crown prince of a Court besieged on all sides by a god? To be one of Faerqen's darling game pieces?

Not your problem, I told myself, feeling guilty about it. I had a hundred other priorities before I could even think about pitying the Raven Prince. He had our hospitality. That would have to be enough for now.

We ate at the high table, like we were supposed to, Tarra hanging off Tech's arm and making calf eyes at him while he fed her dainties. Watching them, I decided that it wouldn't be awful if they ended up paired together. I didn't like Tarra, and Tech made me nervous, but if there was going to be a baby from the fallen Court of Mists royal line, it might as well be half-Marys. That seemed like it would help integration, not harm it.

As the star of the hour, Cass had to deal with a great deal of people coming up to congratulate him on victory or discuss certain battle-tactics. Though I'd expected him to hate that, Cass seemed to relax as the night went on. In retrospect, I supposed that made sense. He was a Fury, after all; he'd been a soldier in the Annihilation War, and his life afterwards had been fairly casual, and in the company of other soldiers. Being treated like a General and fellow soldier was probably a lot more comfortable than being treated like a King.

I lost track of him around one in the morning, because people liked dancing with royalty, and since nobody was going to dance with Cass and Tarra was halfway in the Misted Duke's lap, that meant I was up. I was midway through a dance with one of the human soldiers, laughing and having a grand time, when every nerve in my body lit up with pleasure.

I almost tripped over my own feet. My pulse pounded between my legs and my skin flushed hot, all my sensations caught up in Cass' reflexive amplification of sexual pleasure.

My soulmate practically purred with pleasure in the back of my mind. The sensation of his fingers traced along my inner thigh: C-O-M-E-H-E-R-E-?

I didn't even know what I said to the soldier to excuse myself. It sounded polite, and it worked, because thirty seconds later I was all but breaking down the door to one of the private lounges set aside for the revel.

Cass smirked at me when I burst in. He had to know the picture he made: sprawled out on the lounging pillows, bronze wings and heavy thighs splayed, his stiff cock outlined against his black pants. He was still in all his finery, including the crown. The signet ring on his left hand caught the light as he ran his thumb down along his erection.

"Oh, you motherfucker," I breathed, feeling that touch as if he had his fingers on my clit.

He regarded me lazily through his dark lashes, the gold of his eyes gleaming in the lamplight. "I'm hungry, lioness," he purred. His hand slid lower, cupping his bulge. "And I'm tired of waiting."

I took a step forward, drawn to him with magnetic force. "Weren't you going to court me, splendor? Whatever happened to going slo-ohh, fuck," I said, my words bitten off by a moan and my pussy clenching from the sensation of Cass stroking his palm back up his cock.

"I still want to court you," Cass said in that low purr. "I may very well spend the rest of eternity courting you, presuming I get the chance." He slow-blinked at me with the affection of a cat. "But with all that's happened… scheming dukes, angry gods, my unfortunate family…"

I barked a laugh, startled into it, and received a brilliant smile in return.

Cass' ears canted towards me, the silver chains of his delicate earrings swinging from the motion. "Fae so often forget that eternity can end with the stroke of a sword or the flight of an arrow. I had the luck to be reminded of that today. If I were to die tonight, I would die regretting not having trusted that your desire for me was as true as mine for you. So," he said, spreading his legs wider and splaying his hand across the broad strength of his inner thigh. "I'm yours for the taking, Quyen. Presuming you still want me."

I stepped closer. Taking deliberate care to make my gaze obvious, I dragged my eyes down along his body, lingering on his broad shoulders, following the strength of his sides and powerful lines of his splayed legs—then back up again, halting on the thick shape of his cock outlined against his pants.

His self-consciousness shivered through me, a prickling fear that had no place in this room. Cass was used to being looked at and dismissed, or desired and discarded. Those scars went bone-deep, but I knew I went deeper. I was in his soul the same way that he was in mine.

"Listen in, Cassie," I said, looking back into his face with a soft smile. I set my hand over my heart and stopped right in front of him, standing between his legs, not touching him. "There's no need for distance. Let yourself know how much I want you."

For the space of a heartbeat, Cass only stared up at me, his brows slanted and ears low in a pose of self-consciousness. But then…

Fullness seeped into me, a sensation like drinking water for the first time after being dehydrated for days, as if I could feel every cell in my body filling out from their shriveled states. His attention settled onto me, a gentle focus. Everything quieted. It was like being in a concert the moment when the conductor lifts his baton, everyone falling silent and inhaling in anticipation, waiting for the baton to fall.

"Oh," he whispered. Heat bloomed through my whole body, settling into a demanding throb between my legs and leaving my skin as hot as if I was lying sprawled under the summer sun. "Oh, fuck, sunlight, you feel like paradise."

"Good boy," I said, breathing the words, my entire focus on him. I wrapped my fingers around his crown to take it off and had to stand there, shuddering from the aching intensity of his attention.

His warm hand caressed my calf and slid up under my dress. The silk pooled on his arm.

"Leave the crown," Cass said, his voice throaty. He reached up, took my hand off the cold metal, and put it on the back of his neck, leaning into the contact. "Have me as I am. As all the things that I've become." His hand stroked higher, leaving a wake of glittering heat on the back of my thigh. "As a healer, a Fury, a King…" Cass lifted my leg and set it on his shoulder, resting his weight back on his wings and using his other hand to help me balance. "And as a man who has spent a great deal of time considering how he might place his mouth at the height of your cunt."

Need spiked through me at the hunger in his voice. Fucking hell. I hadn't intended on getting eaten out in my fancy clothes in a lounge with the door open, but I sure as fuck wasn't going to turn down the opportunity.

My fingers tightened on his nape, dragging myself closer. I didn't hesitate to give him my weight, leaning my knee against his chest and settling my thigh more heavily on his shoulder. "Do you think you can please me, splendor?" I asked, watching his face. My vision was already hazed with pleasure from the anticipation—and from the heated focus of my soulmate, who couldn't help but to lean into that pleasure, amplifying every sensation of my body.

Cass growled, a masculine sound, and nuzzled his face against my bare thigh. The touch of his mouth seared through me like a lightning strike, a sizzling streak of desire that had me baring my teeth. Love me take me keep me, his soul whispered to mine.

I hear you, I whispered back. I love you. You're mine.

If you want to say it, say it out loud, Cass purred into my mind. His eyes flicked up to mine, the gold like the corona of the sun around the eclipse of his pupils.

---