Page 134 of Kingdom of Briars and Roses

I squeezed my eyes shut, pushing the thought of tomorrow away, focusing only on the now. The way his lips moved against mine, the way his body trembled as though he, too, was holding on by a thread. I tugged on his tunic, and he lifted just long enough to peel it off. Even in the dark, I noted the symbols etched across nearly every inch of his bared skin. I had no idea what any of them meant, but they reminded me of the one the oracle had given me. The mark of a bargained favor.

Had Rydian promised favors to someone too?

When he lowered himself over me again, I ran my hands over the hardened planes of his chest and found more than a few slashes of raised scars. He shuddered at my touch and kissed me like I was the last breath he’d ever draw. I thrilled at holding such power.

His hand snaked up my thigh, shoving my nightgown to my hips. I tensed, need burning like furyfire inside me. He trailed his fingers across my inner thigh, higher and higher until his thumb brushed over my clit.

I arched my hips into his touch, breathless for more. Instead, he broke his kiss to look down at me with wild, fervent eyes.

“Where are your undergarments?” he whispered roughly.

My lips curved at the desperation in him. And the hardness that pressed against my leg. “They’re uncomfortable to sleep in.”

He barked out a laugh.

“You never cease to surprise me, Furious.” He growled ashe kissed me again, his tongue licking and stroking as his fingers slid through my folds. “So fucking wet for me already.”

He pushed a finger inside me, and I whimpered.

Gods.

I was coming undone.

My nails raked across his back, and he groaned into my mouth, his fingers flexing at my waist as though he wanted to mark me, claim me, make me his. But we’d already been stolen from each other before I’d ever had a chance to belong to him.

Slowly, he drove his finger inside me. Then nearly out again.

I gasped, clinging to him. Kissing him. Opening for him.

“I asked you once how I could please you,” he said against my mouth. “Do you remember?”

“I remember,” I managed, tipping my head back as he trailed kisses along my jaw.

“Does this please you, Furious?” he whispered before taking my mouth again.

“Yes,” I moaned.

He gave a dark, delicious sort of laugh as he increased his efforts.

With his fingers stroking me, his lips left mine, trailing fire down my throat, over my collarbone. “Beautiful,” he whispered, his voice wrecked, reverent.

I shuddered as his breath warmed my skin, my hands slipping into the midnight strands of his hair.

The words were useless, but I couldn’t stop them. “I don’t want to lose you,” I breathed.

Rydian’s head snapped up, his storm-cloud eyes blazing as they met mine. “Then don’t.”

A plea. A demand. A promise.

The world outside these walls was already waiting to tear us apart. Duty would demand that I rise from this bed in themorning and walk toward a future that had never truly been mine. But tonight, in his arms, I was free.

I gripped his arms, pulling him back down to me, silencing any more words with my mouth. This time, it was my turn to take, to demand, to savor. His lips parted beneath mine, and I didn’t hesitate. I kissed him with every ounce of the longing, the anger, the hunger I had been forced to lock away, and he responded in kind.

His hands roamed, mapping the curves of my waist, my hips, branding every inch of me with fire. His lips never stopped moving, trailing from my mouth to the sensitive skin just beneath my ear, down the column of my throat. He kissed me like I was something he had no right to touch, something he would be forced to let go of come dawn.

But I wasn’t letting go.

Not tonight.

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