Page 167 of The Duke and the Disciple

He released her neck, and a second orgasm took hold, and she whispered, hoarse, “No. More. Please.”

Rahn fastened both hands at her neck and pumped faster, baring his teeth with a threaded howl that bounced off the cave walls. His thrusts were so frenzied, she lost whatever breath she’d gained, and the world slipped into darkness. Warmth surged inside of her, and she came again, her contractions pulling him deeper, solidifying the bond they were always meant to have.

Distantly, she felt him slide out of her. She blinked the world away, but it came back. All she knew was the buzz spreading along her flesh, the utterly stunning awareness she was alive—not just alive but elevated to a higher plane of existence. Another world within her own. One that, unlike the celestial realm, was entirely hers and wholly safe.

Rahn slid a finger between her legs and brought it to her mouth. She wrapped her lips around his finger and sucked, tasting him... tasting herself. She was almost sad when he removed it again, but not for long, for soon his tongue was lapping the same place he’d dipped his finger, and the resulting crash was so much gentler, a soft, palpitating release that nearly put her to sleep.

Her mind registered the pain spreading over her, nearly every inch, but she was beyond that now, in a place where pain had no power unless fueled by love. She had nothing left to give, but he had nothing more to take either. She’d asked him to bare his true self, to trust she could handle it. He’d delivered her of a memory nearly as haunting as the Nok Mora, and she wanted more.

But not tonight.

Tonight she wanted to watch her lover through the haze of her dreamy lucidity and know she was safe.

Rahn was relievedthe water wasn’t too hot. He’d left it warming over the fire but had removed it when he’d brought Aesylt to the cave, to give it a chance to cool. He wanted the perfect temperature for her tender flesh, which would need healing the moment they returned to the keep. After everything that had happened in Voyager’s Rest, they’d agreed the celestial realm was best left to itself.

He hoped there was a vedhma with enough discretion to keep the matter private, but he was beyond such concerns. Shame had no place in their love, however they expressed it.

She was curled up on the furs he’d left ahead of time, sipping from the thermos of cider he’d packed in the bag he thought of as “needs of the aftermath.” Until the chase had begun, he couldn’t know how far he’d take things. Really, until he’d actually placed his hands on her neck, he hadn’t believed himself capable of it—no matter how loving his intentions. There was always a chance she’d react horribly and never trust him again. But Marek haunted his nightmares too. No dead man should have that much power.

Rahn sopped the warm rags atop her flesh, wincing on her behalf when she twitched at his touch. Perhaps hehadgone too far.

She placed a hand on his arm, with a look that saidI’m fine, but her eyes told another story.

“This is worse than I meant for it to be.” He dug into his satchel for the pot of ointment he’d stolen from the infirmary and spread it over her abrasions. “I should have asked more questions of you, to know what you were looking for.”

“This.” She scratched her throat, passing over the red rings his hands had left. They’d turn purple soon. He couldn’t decide whether to be excited or horrified about that. “This is what I wanted.”

Rahn dug out a soft tunic and linen trousers he’d found in her bureau. They were more suitable for lounging indoors than convalescing in a cave, but her skin needed to breathe. At least he’d had the foresight for that. “Here, let’s get you dressed.”

“Aww,” she said and he laughed, relieved he hadn’t crushed her humor. She patiently let him dress her and then curled up, nestling her head on his lap, just as she had that fateful night almost a year ago. “So, same time tomorrow?”

Rahn tried to smile. Everything about her tickled his impulse for joy. But if he’d been nervous about releasing his inner wulf, he was petrified to approach the next part.

“What’s wrong?” She looked up at him with so much concern gathering in her eyes, he knew he couldn’t drag it out a moment longer.

Rahn cupped her face and leaned down to kiss her, just as he’d wanted to do that night in the tree. He’d denied himself so many of life’s pleasures, for reasons that made little sense now, if they ever had. “That was the most sensual thing I’ve ever done. But now my heart is so full of the need to justloveyou.”

Aesylt smiled, kissing him back, but he shook his head.

“No, Aesylt. Not just now. Forever.” He peeled back to see her expression, but she was guarding it. Waiting for him to finish. “I know you don’t want children, and I can appreciate that, for I know nothing of being a son, let alone a father. But how... How do you feel about marriage?”

Aesylt slowly sat up. “Has Drazhan gotten to you?”

“No.” He reached for her face and rolled his forehead against hers. “You have. In only the best ways. And if marriage isn’t for you, it will change nothing. We can go on as we have, and I’ll be perfectly content. Iamperfectly content. All I want is you. All Ineedis you.” He kissed her, breathing her in. “But if you might consider becoming the wife of a lowly scholar, he could never know a greater honor.”

She pursed her mouth and looked at her lap. “Well, I’ll have to break the bad news to Pieter.”

Rahn chuckled in immediate relief. “Oh, please, let me.”

“You don’t have your heart set on a lavish wedding, do you?”

“Gods, no. Unless it’s what you want?”

“Ancestors, no!”

“Something private then?”

“Just a hundred of our closest friends?” Aesylt slowly grinned. “You know Drazhan will just keep adding names and adding names and adding names, blaming Imryll...”

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