Page 333 of Kingdoms of Night

Iara keeps glaring, but she doesn't say anything else.

"I'm pained to have worried you," I spell out, because offering a simple apology to the folk is a headache I don't need.

"Worried? I come back and you're gone. Gone, without a trace."

Cass moves to her side and wrap his arm around her shoulder. Then he glares at me, too.

"Out!" Dryan growls, sitting up. "Out with the both of you."

Never losing their scowls, they reluctantly drag their feet out of the room.

I used to resent their presence, but now, I understand that by assigning two guards to me—his own second, and a formidable warrior—he was protecting me. Treating me as something precious. The moment they were gone, I was snatched away and…

I'm not ready to think about the end. What happened to me. How much worse it might have been if Dryan hadn't found me in time. "How did you manage to track me down so fast?" I ask him, moving my head to the crook of his neck and breathing in his woodsy scent.

He laughs humorlessly. "Fast? It took hours. Your scent helped, but Morag was clever enough to mask it with her own."

I was passed out during so much of last night, the timeline is blurry. "Thank you."

Now he's glaring at me too. "How many times do I have to explain that you can't go around thanking a fae? You're putting yourself in my power by doing so."

There are worse places to be. "I know. And I thank you for coming for me all the same, Dryan," I whisper against his chest.

I came to this strange land a slave, but I've never felt freer than in his arms, and I'm tired fighting it. Fighting myself. I am his because I choose to be.

His hand moves to my chin and lifts it until my eyes are consumed by his.

Then he kisses me, taking my mouth like he owns it.

Which he does, again and again.

Weeping is unadvisable while bedding the crystal king. It only makes his cock harder and his relentless rhythm, faster.

He's taken me for hours, demanding orgasm after orgasm. My muscles have long abandoned me, but he doesn't seem to mind: he moves me and pins me in the position he wants me before plunging into me again and again. I think he'd carry on if I pass out. He might still continue if I die.

We might spend days in bed, I wouldn't know. Iam exactly where I need to be. A daughter of the kingdom of silk, surrounded by spiders and made their queen.

The End

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