Page 75 of The Blood Crown

The thought brought reality crashing down on her—the King of the Void would eventually hunt her here . . . and the Wraiths numbers were too small to fight back against an army. Ven—Karro, Embra, Asher . . . the thought of any of them falling to the same fate as Tanis was too much to bear.

Ven gripped her chin, his face filling her vision, eyes searching her expression and seeing the fear that bubbled to thesurface. “Tonight is not for borrowing tomorrow’s troubles,” he whispered against her lips. “It is forthis—for you and I, and nothing else.”

She placed her palm against his chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart under the hard, unforgiving muscle. Her hand slid to the golden skin of his throat, and he inhaled sharply as she lifted the heavy chain resting there.

Suspended between her fingertips was the small copper disk, imprinted with a crescent and seven interlinked circles. The same gift she had offered a misunderstood creature in a different lifetime.

There were no more secrets between them. Nothing left unsaid.

He reached for the white button-down shirt she wore, hands sliding up her waist. She trembled as his thumbs swept up, brushing the underside of her breasts through the thin fabric before gently tugging the shirt over her head and tossing it to the floor.

His fingertips trailed up the exposed skin of her back as she stood proud under his gaze, seeing the admiration in his eyes as they traced every muscled curve of her body. A body that was capable and strong, that had carried her through harsh stretches of the Shades and fought to help them escape Mountveil. One that was worthy of housing the power that prowled through her veins.

And Ven was looking at her as if he’d never seen anything more beautiful in his life.

Heat bloomed under her skin as she stepped forward, fingertips tracing the muscles down his chest, to the vee at his hips, relishing his growl of desire as she found the laces of his pants and tugged them loose.

Her stare was brazen as she took in every glorious inch of him.

Hers.

His hand threaded through her hair, roughly pulling her against him, the hard planes of his body melting against her soft curves. When he finally pulled away, his eyes were dark with the longing both of them had held back until this moment.

He knelt in front of her, pressing a kiss between her breasts as she traced the swirls of black ink winding across his shoulders, spiraling down the heavy muscles of his arms. His thumbs hooked under the waist of her pants, tugging them down. And then he scooped her up into his arms, leaving her breathless as he carried her toward the water's edge.

The intoxicating scent of him enveloped her, making her head swim with desire as he laid her at the edge of the spring. Pushing a hand against the plane of her stomach, his kisses seared a trail across her bare skin. “This is what I’ve dreamt of for months now,” he whispered against her, a dark warrior kneeling before his queen as his lips pressed lower. Lower still, until she was entirely at his mercy. “Let me worship you.”

The longing in his voice was enough to make her body feel like molten liquid as an aching need pounded through her, mingling with the humming energy of her magick. She gasped as something soft and cool as silk wrapped around her back.

Shadows puddled around her, cushioning the hard surface of the stone as the warm spring lapped at her. Ven's wisps of darkness caressed her neck, her arms. An extension of his gentle kisses as he settled between her thighs, sliding his hands up the backs of her legs and guiding them open.

His breath was hot against her. And the first stroke of his tongue had her entirely at his mercy, his movements languid and unhurried. The fervent demand from before was gone—as if he’d thought of this moment too many times to waste it.

The view of his muscled shoulders, the dark ink spiraling up his arm and swirling across his back as he buried his face inher, was nearly enough to make her shatter. And the heat of his tongue turned her into molten fire as he commanded her with every touch, coaxing and gentle.

He could have asked anything of her, and she would have given it willingly so long as he didn’t stop his delicious torture.

Heat flooded her core as her body spiraled higher, the lightning crackling just under the surface of her skin threatening to break through. Small white sparks leapt between her fingertips as she clawed into the shadows cushioning her, but Ven only splayed his hand wide on her belly, holding her in place. He was unrelenting as she finally fractured, and he gripped the backs of her thighs, drinking down every drop of pleasure as wave after wave crashed over her.

The cavern was bathed in a white haze as Ven lifted himself from the water, rising between her legs. Her fingertips traced the swells of his muscled abdomen, and she savored the shiver she elicited as his lashes fluttered shut. When he opened them again, the crimson of his irises had been swallowed whole—his eyes darkening with desire as she felt him against her.

She’d seen the considerable size of him—but feeling it was something else entirely.

He brushed a kiss across her lips, searching her face, something like disbelief in his expression. “I never thought—” he whispered, silver lining his dark lashes. “I never dared to dream of this.”

She pulled him closer, desperate to chase away that look in his eyes as she kissed him. “You are mine,” she whispered, “and I am yours.” Her fangs grazed his bottom lip, drawing a bead of blood and flaring her desire as she shifted forward.

“Mine,” he whispered reverently, hands gripping her hips as he finally slid into her in a wave of decadent pain. A guttural growl escaped him as his fingers dug into her skin. “Mine,” he murmured again.

Gone was the sadness that had lingered in his eyes, replaced by something possessive, something primal as he pushed into her completely. She bared her throat to him as his hand slid up her waist, a thumb brushing across the hard peak of her breast. And she nearly begged as she felt his hot breath against her neck, the sensation turning her to liquid.

The slight sting was nothing compared to the exquisite rapture as his fangs pierced her throat, the feel of his lips against her skin sending desire pulsing through her.

He thrust into her with every pull of her vein, the water lapping at the place where they joined, until her pleasure coiled tighter, nearly unbearable.

With every retreat, he pushed back in just as slowly—the look on his face enough to tell her that he was torturing himself as well. The pad of his thumb found the apex of her thighs, his feather-light touch making her body sing.

Lightning crackled beneath her skin, her magick wild and unruly under his ministrations—white sparks danced between her fingers, heat branding Ven’s skin where her hands gripped his arms. And a memory pushed into her thoughts of the last time they’d been in this cavern . . . The burns she’d left on his hands, his arms.

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