Page 75 of Thorns & Fire
‘I’m sure I could handle it, Bear Slayer.’Wren’s hands went to his belt, the outline of his erection clear beneath his leathers.
But Torj caught her by the wrists.‘You’ve been antagonizing me for days.Punishing me...’His voice was thick with restrainedneed.‘I get it.I deserve it.But I’ve reached the end of my tether, Embers.’He spun her around and bent her over the edge of the tub, so that her backside was on complete display, and he could see the arousal gleaming between her legs.
Wren whimpered as he nudged her feet apart and held her in place over the ledge.She was so fucking perfect, so exposed for him while he was still fully clothed.Capturing her wrists in one hand, he let his other trail down her spine, down over her backside.
‘I’ve been hard for days on end.For weeks,’ he growled in her ear as his fingers grazed between her thighs, just shy of where he knew she wanted him.
‘Torj...’she moaned, her body writhing beneath his hold, her back arching as she sought the friction she was clearly desperate for.
He slid his fingers down her centre, groaning at the wetness he found there.Wren bucked her hips, and Torj allowed his touch to circle her entrance, teasing, dipping in a fraction before retreating to rub her clit.
‘Tell me you haven’t thought about it,’ he murmured.‘Tell me you haven’t been reliving how we fucked...’
She was panting now, rocking back into his hand, looking over her shoulder, craning her neck to watch what he was doing to her.
Torj traced her entrance again.‘Do you remember what it felt like when I was inside you?’he murmured against her ear.‘Do you remember how perfectly we fit?’
Wren tensed, as though she were recalling those very details, the very imprint of him.
Torj’s cock was throbbing, desperate to be freed from the confines of his leathers and seated deep inside of Wren.But this wasn’t about him.It was about the poisoner, who was on the brink of begging...A thought that pleased him to no end.
For a moment, he thought he saw gold spark between them, which was impossible.That connection between them was gone.He’d torn the damn thing apart himself.He’dfeltit rip between them, had felt every ounce of pain.
But there was no pain now.Not as he kissed her shoulder, then the length of her spine, all while she ground herself against his hand, leaving his fingers soaking.
He slid two fingers inside her and she gasped.
‘Do you remember, Embers?’he said, pumping them in and out of her in a torturously slow glide.
‘Yes,’ she moaned.
Gods, he wanted to be inside her.But this was about beating her at her own game.‘Embers...’he said between kisses along her neck, still fucking her with his fingers, drawing out her pleasure, increasing his rhythm.
‘Yes?’she whimpered.
He leaned in close.‘If you’re going to make me suffer, imagining you with no undergarments day in and day out...’
He stilled his hand and withdrew his fingers.
Wren made a sound of protest.
‘Then you can suffer with me.’
Her voice trembled with unmet need.‘What?’
‘You said we weren’t fighting fair,’ he told her, leaving her by the tub and making for his room.‘Two can play at that game.’
CHAPTER 30
Wren
‘The alchemist’s crucible does not replace the healer’s garden – it amplifies it’
– The Green Apothecary: A Guide to Medicinal Plants
THE BASTARD HADleft her aching for his touch, a need that could not be met by her own hand.No answers, no orgasms, which meant Wren was still fuming the next day when she found herself in the healer’s workshop with the rest of her cohort.The irony was not lost on her that today their focus was the creation of contraceptive tonics.Wren had been brewing and taking this concoction since her teenage years, and as such, she was several steps ahead of Farissa’s demonstration.
‘The supply you are preparing today is for the women’s shelter you visited in the city as novices,’ Farissa told them.‘It’s delicate, important work...Though I can see there are some of you who do not understand its value.’
