Page 84 of Of Blood & Stone

Damn all this pain she constantly carried. Maybe, just this once, not everything needed to be covered in her blood.

She ripped the blankets off her body, staring at the sheet hanging across their room, so much like the forest keeping his land from hers. A barrier not meant to be crossed, and yet it somehow made everything more desperate. She stood tup, blood pumping fast as she pulled the sheet aside.

Sylzenya stilled.

Elnok stood before her, shirtless, chest heaving. His linen pants hung low on his hips, eyes wild as he drank her in. His hand was outstretched as if, he too, was about to tear down this damned wall she’d built between them.

“Elnok,” she whispered, all breath and no substance as she stepped towards him, “I couldn’t sleep…”

But she couldn’t find anymore words as Elnok grabbed her waist and dragged her against his warm skin, pressing his lips to her mouth. Everything shifted, as if the ground beneath her gave way, falling into something warm and dark, a deep pleasure burning through her skin.

“Sylzenya,” he breathed, his low whisper pulsing against her skin, twisting in between her legs, “If you don’t want this?—”

“I want this,” she whispered, tracing her thumb along his stubbled jaw, “I’m so tired of pain, Elnok.”

He tangled his fingers in her hair, pulling on it, exposing her neck. He trailed kisses along her sensitive skin, his warm, wet tongue marking a trail up to her ear. A cold shiver rushed along her skin.

“You talk so much of pain, but when was the last time you felt pleasure?”

His words brushed along her ear, drawing liquid heat in between her legs. He’d been unraveling her since the moment they’d met, challenging whom she trusted, and inspiring her to choose her own path. He’d pulled a single thread on a life already falling to pieces.

And yet, it didn’t anger her. While her life had shattered around her, this man stood next to her despite it. He didn’t expect perfection from her, didn’t expect her to save him. Didn’t ask her to bleed pain so she could give life.

To him, she wasn’t the holy chosen one.

She was just Sylzenya.

“Please,” she gasped, wrapping her legs around his torso. His hands caught her thighs, a low rumble in his throat as his fingers dug into her skin. “Please unravel every last part of me.”

He laughed, low and deep against her neck, his tongue circling her ear; a moan released from her lips.

“How can I deny such a desperate request?”

Chapter 20

Pleasure & Pain

Elnok pushed Sylzenya up against the stone wall, grateful this inn was sturdy enough to not cause a sound. She’d wrapped her legs around his torso, grinding against him, that damned robe so thin it was as if it barely covered her skin at all.

It’d driven him mad when she’d walked out of her bath wearing it. And by the look in her eyes, she knew it too. She’d wanted him to suffer.

He fucking loved her for it.

But after he’d offered her the salve, her skin so smooth and warm against his touch, his desire rising with each stroke, moments away from kissing her… she left.

It was her right to do so, even though it ached as she backed away from his advances, separating herself from him with that damned sheet hanging between them. He’d meant to let her do as she wished, hadn’t meant to get up and try to win her affections back. He’d stopped himself, counting his breaths, trying to force himself back into his bed…

But thenshemoved the curtain. And as she stood there, heavy breaths and shimmering eyes on his lips, he’d been undone.

And now, as she opened her mouth to his, her tongue desperate for his taste, he had no intention of letting her go.

I’m so tired of pain, Elnok.

Her words had shook him. So much talk of pain, of blood, of sacrifice. Even as he thought of it, his back burned from his scars; he too, was tired of all this pain.

He gripped her curved hips, groaning as the wetness between her legs soaked into his pants, deepening the kiss as her melodic moans sent blood pumping into his cock. She’d asked him to unravel her—every last part—and damn him if her added request didn’t make his need for her become something ravenous.

“I want you,” she whispered into his mouth, “all of you.”

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