Page 96 of The Horde King of Shadow

“Hmm?” I asked.

“Kiss me,” she whispered. “Hanniva.”

My nostrils flared at that word like she had me trained. Before there was the possibility of her changing her mind, I captured her lips. I’d meant to kiss her gently, but whenever she saidpleasein her language, it drove all reasonable thought out of my brain.

Her shuddered sigh drifted over my tongue, and I groaned.

“I love when you do that,aralye,” I rasped, biting at her bottom lip. “When you breathe into me like that.”

Her hands dove into my hair, our movements becoming hurried and possessive. The fire being stoked, those embers burning low. The sizzle of falling stars overhead and the distant sound of Elthika songs joined our soft moans and the rustle of our clothes. She tugged off the riding tights hidden underneath her dress as I nibbled my mark above her collarbone.

I rolled us so Klara was on top, her bare legs straddling my hips. Pushing the material of her dress up to her hips, I watched as she unclasped the catches on my pants, pulling my hardened cock free.

“Let me feel you, wife,” I growled, hissing, my back bowing when I felt her drag the head of my cock against her slick, hot entrance.

She rolled her hips down in one swift movement, and we both cried out. And as the stars fell around us, as the starlight grass glowed with the stroking fingers of an unseen wind, I watched my wife move above me. I watched the sublime pleasure cross her beautiful expression and listened to the music we made.

A song all our own.

And I thought,How easy it would be to love her.

Only, this time, I kept that thought to myself.

In the aftermath, long after it went quiet in the meadow, long after we’d nearly finished the meat pies in the basket, we were lying next to one another. Klara’s hands were exploring me, tracing unseen things, her cheek pressed to my shoulder. I’d wrapped us up in the blanket to cover our naked flesh, shielding us from the worst of the chill. The rustle of grass around us felt calming. If I wasn’t careful, it could lull me to sleep.

But we needed to get back soon. I was loath to leave this place though. There was peace here. And that peace felt like Klara in my arms, happy and sated.

We were connected here. I didn’t want anything to ruin that.

Klara’s fingers traced down my back, and I suppressed a pleasurable shiver. I felt them pause over the textured flesh toward the base of my spine, flesh that had never quite smoothed with time. It was where my tail had once been. For a moment, I thought perhaps she’d find it too strange, that she would pull away from me, shuddering.

Instead, her touch lingered. Why had I never realized howsensitiveI could be there? I felt my cock begin to throb, a low growl reverberating up my throat as she stroked and explored the old wound. I couldn’t help but capture her lips in a soft kiss. Her hot exhale floated across my tongue, making me crazed.

“You said I could ask you anything?” she asked against my lips.

The edges of my lips curled up in a lazy smile. I pulled away, knowing what the question would be. “Yes,aralye.”

“Did it hurt?”

“Not so much in the moment. After…yes. Like hell. It’s a phantom ache that takes years to shake. Sometimes I still feel it. Especially in the cold.”

“Do you miss it?”

“No,” I admitted, looking down at her in my arms. “All riders know how dangerous it can be. I was glad to be rid of it.”

“That’s what Sammenth said, that she would be relieved once hers was cut off,” Klara said.

“I always knew mine would be gone one day,” I told her. “I always knew I would be a rider. So, mentally, it was an easy transition. For others…it can surprise them, how traumatic it can feel. But it’s our duty to adapt to the Elthika. Not the other way around.”

She nodded against me, the fingernail of her thumb scraping over the scar, making me suck in a sharp breath.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, jerking her hand away.

“Mmm,” I growled. “No, it feels good,wife.”

“Oh,” she whispered, her eyelids going half-lidded at the purr in my voice. She smiled, and I didn’t think she knew how seductive, how beautiful it was to me.

“Any other questions?” I teased, tracing the tip of my nose against her temple.

---