Page 54 of Wings of Cruelty and Flame

“Yes,” I agreed, breathier than expected. “Stop stalling. Anyone would think you were afraid.”

He laughed, the sound a caress on my skin. “Of you? Always, menace.”

People had been scared of me for most of my life, but hearing Varidian say that didn’t strike me with the same vulnerability. He wasn’t afraid I would kill him. He didn’t fear my power. He didn’t even fear I’d stab him with the dagger still strapped to my thigh. His fear was sensual and playful and for some wild reason it gave me butterflies.

Or maybe that was because he skimmed a knuckle along the sensitive skin of my inner thigh, following the path of stretch marks I’d disliked since they appeared on my body a few years ago. With the way he touched me, the way his eyes devoured the sight of me like he was starving for every glimpse, I didn’t dislike them anymore. Anything that made Varidian look at me like that must have been a gift from god.

My whole body jumped when he traced fingertips over my pussy, a touch as light as feathers at first before he strokedwith more confidence, setting my whole body ablaze. My hands landed on his shoulder, pressing deep. I wanted to grasp his cock again, but I wanted him inside me even more, so I forced myself to resist temptation even when it jolted between us, begging for attention, weeping at the tip.

“So wet for me already,” he said, sounding tortured.

I gasped when his slow exploration found the throbbing nerves at my apex. When his fingers circled, my eyes fluttered shut. “Of course I’m wet. Your kisses drive me to madness. I shouldn’t have told you that, your ego is already enormous.”

But Varidian deserved an ego of that size; his fingers worked magic, casting pleasure with every swirl and stroke. I groaned at a deep pulse of sensation that shot through me. My hand snapped down, finding his cock, needing him in my hand, needing him inside me. I squeezed the way he liked and stroked slowly, wanting him to feel as good as he made me feel.

“I’d joke that it’s not the only thing that’s enormous but my cock is in your hand and we can both see that is untrue.” His words were panting, breathless.

“Thisisn’tenormous…?”

“A little bigger than average, dearling,” he laughed.

My eyes flew wide. Was he serious? His cock was so long I didn’t know where it was going to fit inside me and so thick I struggled to close my fingers around it. “Fuck, how did the women in my books not die?”

His laughter warmed me from the inside out, and my temperature spiked as his lips found the edge of my jaw then kissed lower, shocking me with the wet slide of his tongue over my pulse.

“Have you been with anyone before me?” he asked against the rapid beat in my throat. “I won’t judge you if you have.”

I shook my head, my face as hot as the rest of me. “There’s been no one. Just my own fingers.”

He groaned. “You ruin me with words like that. I want to watch you play, but I’ll die if the hands touching you aren’t mine.”

“Dramatic,” I teased him, then gasped when his thumb rolled my clit, a finger teasing my entrance.

“You’re stalling again,” I complained as he only stroked me instead of sliding inside.

“Forgive me for wanting to go slow and avoid hurting you.”

“No,” I huffed. “I won’t forgive you.”

His laugh hit my skin like a kiss, raising goosebumps. “So impatient and needy.”

I squeezed his cock with brutal pressure.

His teeth skimmed my throat, his breathing choppy. “Ameirah,” he warned.

“Hmm?” I brushed my thumb in a circle around the head of his cock, quickly learning he loved that.

“Damn me,” he hissed, granting my wish with the slow glide of his finger inside me. It felt stranger than I expected, like an invasion, unexpected and unfamiliar. But then his thumb circled my clit and I clenched around his finger, and it felt so good to be filled, even by a finger. I got the sense I would be a little out of my depth but I wanted his cock inside me. I wanted him as close as I could get him.

“Okay, beautiful?”

I nodded, my breath hitching when he adjusted the angle of his thumb. I was so wet his finger slid in and out easily, stroking places I hadn’t found while touching myself. He grasped my chin between his forefinger and thumb, bringing my eyes level with his.

“Okay—yes or no, Ameirah.”

“Yes,” I exhaled, surging forward for a kiss when he stretched me around a second finger, moving them in a way that brushedthe inner spot that always made me come. I sank my teeth into his bottom lip, groaning.

“Such pretty noises you make for me.” He quickened the pace of his fingers until my head dropped on his shoulder and I struggled for air. My hand stilled on his cock, my whole body wracked with tension, with promise.

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