Page 27 of The Mirror in the Mountain

She leaned forward, her bare sex tantalizingly close. But she hovered there, seemingly unsure as her wide eyes met mine.

My hands found her hips, bracing her. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” I promised. “We can stop right now. And if you want to wait—for this, for the bond, for all of it—I’ll be here when you’re ready.”

A small smile twisted her lips, the way her mouth curved heartbreakingly perfect.

“I don’t want to wait.”

She dropped her hips, sliding along my length. When she brought just the tip of me inside her, I let out an almost embarrassingly loud groan of need.

So tight, so hot, so…

She winced, and I stilled. “Are you…have you done this before?”

A blush spread across her cheeks, so inviting it was all I could do not to taste it. It was hardly an unusual thing for our kind to have sex before a bonding ceremony, the act of pleasure even encouraged after reaching maturity. But the innocence of her blush confirmed what I had already guessed.

“Not…exactly, no.” She slowly worked me in another inch, and my fingers clenched against her hips, trying to keep myself still. “Puritanical, remember?”

She slid down further, and I struggled to form a coherent thought even as some primal part of me roared to bury myself inside her for eternity. “Estelle…”

“I might be new to this, but I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to move,” she said with a sinful smile.

I shrugged. “It’s my first time too.”

Her wide eyes met mine. I was hardly inexperienced, but this final boundary…maybe I had known somehow that there was only one person I wanted to be inside of for the rest of my life. As if she had read that thought behind my eyes, Estelle smiled. I lost my breath as she seated herself fully, biting the side of my cheek to keep this from ending far too soon at the rightness, the unimaginable urge to claim her and keep us joined like this forever. But her pained gasp brought me back, quieting the roar of my need. “I—I don’t want to hurt you. Are you?—”

“I’m sure,” Estelle breathed. “Please?”

I rolled my hips against her, gently testing. She let out a small moan, but it wasn’t one of pain. “You never, ever have to beg, Princess.”

She leaned forward, kissing me as she lifted herself, then sank back down. Holding onto her hips, I pulled back slowly, then thrust all the way back in. She whimpered against mymouth, making hot, breathy sounds that I focused on drawing out again and again.

I flipped us over in one smooth motion, making her gasp at the new angle. Her eyelashes fluttered; her hair spread out like a dark corona, strands of my darkness playing with the curls of her hair. She was so, so beautiful, staring at me, entirely unguarded for once. Biting the inside of my cheek, I concentrated on going slow—on making this first time just as perfect as her.

Estelle yanked against the nape of my neck, her breathing ragged as she pulled my lips to hers. Then my hand slipped between us, my thumb pressing down, and her entire body shuddered.

“Adrian…Adrian?—”

My control broke, and we came apart together.

I fell against her, barely having the wherewithal to keep my shadows in place as I panted against the curve of her neck. Leaving a soft kiss behind her ear, I carefully slid out of her, wrapping my arms around her as I tucked her against me.

My heart twinged at the way she was looking at me. Then her expression closed, and I fought the urge to wince as I watched that wall stack back up behind her eyes.

“You don’t need to be afraid of this,” I murmured. “I would never want you to regret me.”

Estelle stiffened. “I’m not. I don’t. I’m just…” She sighed heavily. “I feel like I don’t have a choice in this. And even if it’s something that’s meant to be, it’s?—”

“Scary?”

She glared at me, and I tucked a strand of her hair behind the point of her ear. “Just because I want this doesn’t mean I’m not scared too.”

Estelle shook her head stubbornly. “There are ramifications of being with me that you aren’t aware of yet.”

“Something to do with the High Queen?”

She startled before that careful mask slid back into place.

“You did accidentally mention something about your birth.” I grinned at her. “Or did you think I already forgot? Considering her gift, I’m guessing a prophecy is involved?”

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