Page 48 of Three Scorched Kingdoms

We both are.

Still, I don’t stop, my pace relentless now. Sweat coats my skin and hers.

She clings to me, her nails raking down my back as she holds on, her hips moving in rhythm to match me.

Then she whimpers my name, and I feel her entire body go slack as she comes for me. It’s all I need to send me over the edge along with her.

“Mine,” I snarl as I empty myself deep inside her.

12

PAIGE

Aries sighs contentedly as he lifts his head to look down at me. The cave floor is cool beneath me, but I don’t mind it after working up a sweat just now.

“Do you want to shower?” he asks, brushing my hair back from my face.

“Shower?” I blink in confusion.

His grin is slow and lazy. “We can get freshened up before I show you around the rest of this place.”

“You have a shower here?” I ask, not sure whether to be impressed or leery. It is a cave, after all. How nice can the shower really be?

He chuckles. “I’m a dragon. Did you really think I would bring you to an ordinary cave?”

“In that case…” I kiss him quickly. “Can we shower together?”

He grins. “I think we can make that work. Come on.”

Aries helps me up and grabs my hand. We’re both still naked as he leads me through a narrow opening along the back wall. On the other side, I find myself in a beautiful passageway glittering with precious stones inlaid along the walls that gleam in the light filtering in through the cracks far above our heads.

“Wow,” I breathe, admiring the way the passage is open all the way up to the ceiling of smooth stone. “It’s so pretty.”

“We’re not even there yet,” he says with a chuckle.

A moment later, the passageway ends, and we step through another opening. I falter, shocked into silence as I attempt to take it all in.

The cavern is large–much larger than the one we entered from. The temperature is cool but not cold and is well-lit thanks to the light filtering in from above. The far side of the space is piled high with gold coins, jewels, and items made from silver, including a giant candelabra that looks more expensive than my entire apartment back home.

I look at Aries questioningly.

He shrugs. “I’m a dragon; what did you expect?”

I shake my head, laughing as he tugs me to the left.

I turn away from the treasure glinting in the sunlight, and that’s when I finally notice what he referred to so casually as a shower. Except it’s not a shower at all; it’s a waterfall that cascades into a serene pool. The walls on its three sides glow a slightly purplish hue that paints the entire place like a fae wonderland. I walk to the edge and peer down, noting the crystal-clear water that reveals a smooth bottom.

Still, I brace myself for a chill and am shocked when I dip my toe in and find it as warm as bathwater.

“How do you keep it so hot?” I ask, wading in behind Aries.

“This mountain stands atop a hot spring,” he explains. “It’s what regulates the cave’s temperature and keeps the waters so warm.”

“And the purple?”

“Amethyst stones.”

Before I can ask anything else, he dunks himself under the water. With a happy sigh, I do the same. When he re-emerges, heswims to the far end and shows me a small alcove carved along the wall stocked with soaps.

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