Page 150 of Ash and Feather

I mirrored his wistful expression, thinking of a younger, less burdened version of him sitting here. “It’s a beautiful view.”

“Yes,” he agreed, his eyes fixing on my face, completely unconcerned about the view behind me.

Blushing slightly, I looked back to the fields and forest, letting my gaze travel the roads that wound to and from the palace, watching for any signs of a returning messenger.

Dravyn came to stand behind me, slipping his arms around my waist and nuzzling his face into the crook between my neck and shoulder. His warm breath fanned over my skin, sending tingles down my spine. His heartbeat pounded against my back.

Even with all the things on my mind, I found myself sinking into that beat, wanting to keep time with it and nothing else. The days we’d spent apart seemed vast, suddenly. Too many minutes, too many hours. My body hummed with want at our reunion, eager to make up for lost time.

I settled more completely against him, sinking my full weight into his warmth, his strength. He supported me with ease, absently trailing his hands along the curves and dips of my waist, my hips, my thighs. I shivered as he dragged his lips and nose along my neck, inhaling my scent.

“Did I ever tell you how much I missed you these past days?” I asked, breath catching on the last word as his mouth found my earlobe and claimed it, covering it in kisses before gently sucking and sliding his teeth across it.

“I missed you, too.” His hold on me tightened, one hand dropping to a hip and possessively gripping it. The other traveled up to my throat and splayed across it, the pressure of his fingers increasing until my head tilted to an angle that allowed him to press his lips to mine.

“And I needed you,” he mumbled against my lips. “Wanted you. So fucking badly.”

I twisted more fully toward him. He moved the hand around my throat up to my hair, tangling his fingers in the loose waves and pulling. Slowly, gently…yet firmly in command. He gathered a fistful of hair and used it to tilt my head to the side, exposing the most sensitive, throbbing pulse-point of my throat.

My mind drifted as his lips and tongue worked against that point until my knees felt weak and ready to collapse into total, blissful unawareness.

Heat snaked out from the fingertips pressed against my hip, winding a wicked path around my thighs before pressing into the space between them.

His control over that fire was very…precise.

A second ribbon of heat swept even deeper into my core, and an involuntary noise—something between a gasp, a moan, and a breathless laugh—escaped me. The sound brought my awareness back with it, despite how hard I tried not to let it.

I didn’t pull away from Dravyn, but I did crane my neck so I could see all the guards milling about in the yard below. I wondered if they could see us. Hear us.

“Does it make us poor guests if we distract your brother’s soldiers with our rooftop antics?” I mused.

He laughed. “You insisted on staying the night here,” he reminded me. “And yes…it might be difficult to find a bit of privacy with all of the guards currently locking the palace down. It’s not too late to return to our own palace, of course.”

I cut him a wry look. “You’re still looking for excuses to run away from here, aren’t you?”

“That’s only part of it.” He gave me a roguish grin. “I’ve thought about stealing you away to someplace more private, several times today—that’s true.” The hand against my hip flexed, drawing my body more flush against his. “But then again, as I’ve told you before: I’m willing to fuck you anywhere.”

I no longer cared about any of the guards below, all of a sudden.

“Here on this rooftop or back on our own,” he continued, tracing my bottom lip with his thumb, “it makes little difference to me. I suspect your moans will sound just as sweet anywhere we go. Your taste will still be divine, whatever the realm.”

His mouth returned briefly to my neck—another taste, for emphasis. Then another, and then we fell back into blissful ignorance for a few minutes, lost in one another’s kisses and caresses until we were interrupted by the sound of shouting voices and the echoingclip-clopof hooves.

I reluctantly peeled away from Dravyn and moved to the edge of the roof for a closer look. My body still hummed with desire,but I was desperate to see if those hoofbeats belonged to the horse of a returning messenger.

My heart sank as I took in the scene below—nothing except carts full of supplies being hauled in and unloaded while palace officials darted to and fro, checking lists.

Dravyn sensed my disappointment. Slowly, he followed me and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me against his chest, just as before—but this time I couldn’t bring myself to relax against him; I was too caught up in my worried thoughts to return to that enraptured place of moments ago.

“Have you had a chance to talk to your brother much today?” I asked.

“He’s locked himself in his private residential hall. Doing his best to avoid me, as expected.”

“I think he’s glad you’re here. He just hasn’t figured out how to show it.”

“I’ll continue waiting on bated breath for my proper welcome home party, then.”

“He hasn’t thrown us into the streets yet,” I pointed out. “That’s a good sign, isn’t it?”

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