Page 44 of Love Beyond Words
Machara was crazy, but Raudrich’s heart pounded in his chest as he awaited Laurel’s answer. He hoped Laurel understood just how important it was that she give Machara a convincing answer. He hoped the lass was capable of being a better liar now than she had been this morning when trying to convince him that they’d not touched in his bed last night.
Laurel reached for him. Raudrich let out an uneasy breath as he stepped toward her and she wrapped her arm around his waist.
“My heart belongs to Raudrich, Machara. I give you my word as one woman in love to another. I shall never lay a hand on Nicol. My heart is already taken and always shall be.”
If he wasn’t so worried for Machara’s reaction, Raudrich would’ve swooned at her words. It was convincing even to him.
Machara stayed silent for a long moment as she looked back and forth between them. As she did so, Laurel leaned into him even more, pressing her head into him as her hand came up to gently rub his chest.
When Machara did speak, there was humor in her tone.
“Kiss him, lass. Ye can always tell by the way someone kisses another what precisely is in her heart. Convince me that ye love him. If ye doona succeed, I suggest ye start fearing for yer life. For bound by magic or not, I have ways of ensuring that ye willna be long for this world. Kiss him like yer life depends on it, because trust me, young whore, it does.”
Laurel’s eyes pleaded with him to cooperate as she turned and reached up toward him. When her lips touched his, he crushed her against him, and together they danced for the damned faerie’s pleasure and while he couldn’t speak for Laurel, most assuredly his own, as well.
Chapter 25
While fear initiated our performance, I wasn’t altogether sure it sustained it. The passion with which Raudrich pulled me against him—the heat and the weight of how he pushed me against the back wall of the dungeon—felt very real. And my response to him was no put-on. It was chemical, completely involuntary. I moaned against his lips as his tongue sought entry into my mouth. As his hands roamed down the side of my body and he backed me into the stones behind us, his lips moved to my neck. I let out a shaky breath in his ear that caused him to growl.
He pressed himself into my stomach, and I could feel how hard and ready he was. It was a familiar sensation, one I remembered all too well from only the night before. His hand cupped at my breast and I closed my eyes from the pleasure of it. I was losing myself—quickly forgetting about the evil faerie standing only a few short feet from us.
Then she spoke, and the reality of our surroundings crashed down on both of us as we awkwardly pulled away, both breathless and weak as Raudrich turned from me to look at her.
“I’ll not waste my energy trying to harm ye, lass. Ye are not a threat. If ye are not in love with Raudrich now, ye are well on yer way to being so. My efforts would be better suited to trying to fight my way out of here while The Eight dwindle in number and power.”
“Try as ye might, Machara, ye willna succeed as ye hope.”
Raudrich’s voice was deep and pained. He was still struggling to gain his composure. His response to me had been no performance. I was sure of it.
“Nothing stays buried forever, lad. Each and every one of ye should know that by now. One day I will be free of this cell. When that day comes, ye each shall suffer a fate far worse than Freya’s.”
Raudrich’s left hand clenched at his side. I could see that he was growing angry.
Eager to be away from the smell and the terrifying gaze of such evil, I reached for his arm.
“Let’s go. I don’t think there’s any need for either of us to say anything more.”
Without a word, he took my hand and we turned to leave.
I knew I would hear her laughter in my sleep.
* * *
“Lass…”
Raudrich waited until we were far away from Machara—until we stood in the hallway outside his bedchamber—to say a word.
The hallways were dark, the castle quiet, and as he stopped and turned to look at me, all I could hear was his breathing, still ragged and strained.
“Yes?”
My voice shook as I answered him. The energy that passed between us as we stood facing one another, our chests nearly touching with each intake of uneven breath, was palpable in its heat and need. I’d never been so turned on in my life. I’d never been so confused.
This wasn’t like me. I didn’t do this. I wasn’t the sort of person that got swept away with anything. I didn’t know this man. How, then, could he make me feel so much?
I felt safe, yet scared—curious, but cautious. I wanted to throw my arms around him. I also wanted to run away as quickly as I could. Too many things stirred inside me as we stood in the darkness and silence together. It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but the span of time between my breathless “yes” and his answer felt like an eternity.
“Ye lied to me before. Why?”
