Page 29 of Beltane

“Princess,” he said once he’d had his fill of the last mark. “You will not do this to yourself again, do you understand?” His voice smacked with the authority of a king, of someone used to people doing what he told them the first time without question.

I couldn’t tell if he meant the scratching or the separation, but ultimately decided on both. I nodded.

“Say it.”

“I won’t do it again,” I told him.

He moaned an appreciative noise, his eyes closing in relief. I hadn’t lied. We’d figure out a way to break this curse, despite what Siobhan said. And even if we couldn’t, I’d find a way to get out of this engagement to Reginald, the prince of Monaco. I wanted to stay. I wouldn’t put us through this again, not now that I knew better.

“You could never hide the darkest parts of yourself from me. I see you, all of you.” He didn’t let me respond before spearing his tongue through my most sensitive skin, drawing it out while he had his fill. “And I’ve loved you anyway.”

“I know.” His deep grumbling moan made me roll my head back on my shoulders, melting into the contact, remembering when Lex had taken me before. Hundreds, if not thousands, of times, and no two were the same. He had always been insatiable for me, just as I had always lusted after him like a lovesick puppy. Now, he held on to me like he was starved, like I’d been denying him a basic need for decades. When I tunneled my fingers through his silky-soft hair, he preened into the touch and glanced up, molten fire swirling in his irises. He let me go with a hard suck,sending a shock up my spine and down my toes.

“Don’t do this to me again.”

“Yes, of course I won’t.” I said the words, but they didn’t give him the same relief as it did before. Now, he seemed suspicious.

“Hmm.” He stood and licked at his glossy lips before leaning in to kiss me, pushing that velvet tongue into my mouth like he was trying to coat the inside with myself. “You taste that?” He did it again, and I sucked on it, swallowing down me and that minty, smoky flavor that had always been Lex Fairfax. It intoxicated me, making my head spin.

“I do,” I said, when he finally leaned back to look down at me.

“That’s what I do to you.Me.”He brushed his nose against mine and pressed his forehead along my temple. “You’remine,and I claimed you in a Scottish cottage when you were eighteen.”

“I know,” I said.

“Don’t ever hurt yourself to protect me again, Miri,” he said, leaning in to kiss me harder. My heart swelled and tears blurred my vision, sliding down my cheeks before I could wipe them away. He brushed his thumbs under my eyes, forcing me to look up at him. “I forbid it.”

“You’re not the boss of me.”

The childish response elicited a brilliant smile from him, and I nearly froze to take it in. He liked the humor, certainly, but he also liked the opportunity to prove me wrong.

He groaned again, wrapping his hands around the backs of my thighs. “We’ll see about that.”

In one quick movement, he lifted me, and I hooked my ankles together at the base of his spine. I hung my arms over his shoulders, grinning like an idiot as I kissed him. He walked us to the back of the plane, depositing me in one of the free beds before shutting the door. I scooted into a more comfortable position while he leaned over me, the tips of his dark hair falling into his eyes.

“Tell me you’re mine,” he said, pressing his lips against me to draw the answer out of the depths of my soul.

“I’m yours,” I said.

I shivered when Lex lowered his weight on top of me and settled his hips between mine, his body so warm and sturdy and safe. He slotted his dick right up against my clit, the thin fabric of his boxers the only thing separating us, and slid a hand over my neck to my throat. Being with him, being with all of them, had banished the fairy king to the furthest reaches of my consciousness, so dim that he became an afterthought. He wasn’t allowed here with my true king, and never would be.

With his lips millimeters from mine, he whispered, “Say it again.”

Hot breath coasted over my cheeks as a chill echoed down my body. He smiled and intertwined the fingers from his free hand into mine to bring it over my head. Our palms brushed up against each other, the thick curves of our matching scars lining up.

Until the end.

It was coming faster than either of us wanted to think about, but those were worries for another time. I needed this reconnection with my prince of darkness. I needed to know he still loved me.

He tucked his face into the space under my ear, biting my lobe as he chuckled softly to himself.

“C’mon, Princess.” He kissed my cheek, my jaw, the corner of my mouth, taking his time to devour me as slowly as he ever had before. “Say it again.”

“I’m yours, Lex. Always yours.”

“That’s right.”

I absolutely loved when he took control, when he cared for me like I was the most precious thing in the world, rolling his pelvis into mine to tease me. Lex could be a cruel, arrogant prick. He’d once delighted in breaking Ivy’s composure on purpose, and I’d seen the marks he left on Carter after their nights together. To watch such a powerful man bring himself to be tender just for me flipped a go switch in my libido—it always had.

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