Page 61 of Terragnata and the Heir of the Earth

“And now that I have seen it?” I breathed.

His voice turned to growl. “Are you trying to tease me, Terragnata?”

I smirked, feigning innocence. “Whateverare you referring to, Prince Casmerre?”

At this, he pulled me on top of him, his hands firm on my hips, raising his own into mine. Invisible ropes tightened around my wrists, raising them above my head as if they were fastened to the beam above me. I pulled on them, and a gentle but firm tug responded.

I narrowed my eyes at him for the use of magic.

“You havenoidea what you’re doing, Terra.”

He put his mouth to the crook of my neck, a kiss that ended in the gentle tug of my skin with his teeth. I whimpered in reaction, unthinking, my whole body wrought with tension. Cas’s hand crept up my shift until his palm lay flush between my thighs. He dipped his two fingers into my opening. I cried out, craving nothing but the wild ignorance of release. An invisible rope tightened around my mouth, stifling the noise. I was panting now, my nostrils flaring in and out at the speed of my heartbeat.

Cas lifted his two fingers for me to see, extending them apart, revealing a wetness from deep inside me. “I would be lying, Terra, if I said there weren’t many times when I wondered how you would taste,” he murmured, rubbing the wetness of me between his two fingers and his thumb. I moaned in response, the sound strangled by the invisible rope that separated my lips. He brought his fingers to his mouth, tasting me, his eyes shuttering for a moment.

Moisture crept down the skin of my inner thighs. Cas ran his hands under my shift, making to lift it above my head. But his fingers found the Dragon scale imprinted on my hip, and he stilled.

“Ahh, Ezren’s mark.” He ran the tip of his finger over it. I shuddered, struggling against my invisible binding. He furrowed his brow and cocked his head. “Interesting,” he said, his thumb brushing the moisture that had slipped onto my inner thigh. “I wonder if this is for me.” He examined my wetness once more. “Or for him.”

He paused. “Or, I wonder if it’s neither, and your desires are simply a result of settling back into your Fae form. It is ironic, though, that while I am marked for you, you are marked for him.”

At that, he swung his feet over to the ground and stood, his open shirt parted. “I cannot tell you the satisfaction it brings me to see you like this,mi karus. If I were a less seasoned male, I would have my way with you right now, without a second thought. But not yet. I need to know it’s really me you crave, and not a simple physical reaction, or the need to replace what you feel you have lost.” And then he tilted my face up, letting his invisible rope on my mouth fall away, and kissed me, his lips brushing mine in a whisper that contrasted the firm grip on my jaw.

“One day,mi karus, Isohope.” He slipped on his shoes and walked out. When he shut the door, the balance of the ropes fell, and I collapsed, a motionless heap on my bed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

RELUCTANT ROYAL

Ilay on the bed, unmoving, for a time, the phantom of desire still in me. Defeat and an overwhelming sense of loneliness clung to my skin. I considered attempting self-pleasure, but I was inexperienced and dejected.

Eventually, Olea came in and started the water for a bath. She coaxed me into it and gave me tea and biscuits and wouldn’t stop her jabbering until I’d eaten half the portion.

My thoughts drifted as she discussed proper court etiquette.What’s the point of any of this?I should just take Gia and leave.

If I remained here, I would be the object of endless gaming and scheming. Though I loved Cas in a way that would never cease, I still didn’t know much about who he’d become, or what he wanted from me. And there was the matter of my longing for another.

“Terra, wallowin’ doesna do much for ye,” Olea said, her hands on her hips and a frown on her face.

I rolled my eyes, and she continued. “How’re ye gonna prepare for the Skøl ef ye jest set here, as a wounded pup?”

“I have no interest in that absurd competition. I will notkilljust for the chance at Cas’s hand.”

She clucked her tongue. “Well, ets lekely there’ll be more death should ye not participate.”

“And why do you say that?”

“Well, accordin’ te tradition, the Skøl es only open te five challengers, should there be a favorite selected by the king. That would be ye, en thes case. But ef there es no favorite, none chosen, well then the competition es open te any Fae female that wishes te join. Ets only happened a few times, the last bein’ Darlan’s Skøl. Ets how he came te wed Agustina, a daughter a’ common Fae. En that Skøl et was about a hundred Fae females that perished.”

The thought of a hundred Fae females fighting to the death for a chance to marry Cas made my stomach drop. “In my case, should I decide to compete I mean, how are the five females chosen?”

“Each High Fae House family submets a female te compete. Ets te show the king’s pick es the best, an’ she canna be outwitted or beaten by even the top a’ each House. The Five High Fae Houses can be traced back thousands a’ years. Te be a’ one a’ them families, well, ets a great fortune.”

I huffed. “Have there always been this many traditions and archaic rules in Viri culture? They areextraordinarilydifficult to keep track of.”

Olea only chuckled. “Yes, mess.”

After Olea gotme out of the bath, I dressed in training clothes, simple, soft leathers that allowed for free movement. And she redid my braids, winding them together in one large plait down my back. I asked her if I could get hold of the blades that I hadon me when I arrived, and while she said she had not seen them, she promised to seek them out.

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