Page 58 of A Baron of Bonds
“What aren’t you telling me?”
I opened my mouth to start, then bared my teeth. “I—I think they’re actually on their way here.”
His eyes squinted. “And how is that so, Karus?”
“Last night, I was able to get a message to them. I sent Parvus and Rauca back to Felgren with a letter explaining what had happened and about the trial. I wanted them here to help me defend you.”
“And when did you find the time to send a message with the lumens, Karus?”
I wasn’t sure if he pulled my leg higher up his waist, pressing himself hard and warm into my belly, out of reprimand or approval of sneaking out of the castle.
“I…um…” I didn’t know. I didn’t care to remember or I just plainly couldn’t. My mind focused instead on his fingers that traced over the curve of my backside, finding their way to what was slick between my legs with want for him.
“You left your room after I left you, didn’t you, Karus?”
I swear he said my name each time like he was saying what it meant. Like he was sayingbeloved—hisbeloved.
“Yes,” I moaned. It was all I could say, my body taking over all rational thinking as I basked in the light pressure and rhythm he circled over the sensitive skin between my legs.
How many times had we done this since reuniting in the throne room of the castle? I barely remembered even stopping—all I knew was pleasure. All I knew was the shape of his mouth as it opened over my breast, his tongue flicking each peak, causing my pulse to race and my breath to steal time in its rapidity.
We couldn’t stop or keep our hands from each other. It was like those two weeks we spent holed up in our rooms in the Fortress after seven years apart.
“Come here.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I obeyed immediately, letting him guide my hips up and over his face as he wrapped his hands over my thighs and slammed my body onto his mouth. I gripped the headboard and wanted to scream. I wanted to alert the entire city of Hyrithia that this man could do whatever he wanted to me, and I’d be right there, a willing participant.
Yes, he held far more power than the Baron of Felgren.
He held me.
Chapter 33
Rev
Moonlight streamedacross the wooden floor of the room, spilling from the balcony window in a silvery haze.
I sat on the edge of the bed, running my fingers through my hair and gasping for breath. My dreams were not always as pleasant as my waking moments.
Karus said I was still healing, and she couldn’t be more correct. When she had been gone for sixteen days, I could barely sleep. I had kept myself so busy in the search for her that I would pass out in a dreamless doze for only a few hours each day.
Now that I had her back, the nightmares would commence again. They had plagued me for seven years, each one filled with either the terror of losing what was right in front of me, or the torture of having back what I needed most in this world and could lose again.
I rose from the bed, carefully slipping into my pants, not bothering with a shirt. Karus slumbered deeply, her arms still spread in the shape of my body. She had clung tightly to me since passing out after my trek across every one of her curves.
I hadn’t slept long according to the clock on the mantle, the fire below it mere cinders now.
“Incendo,” I murmured, quietly slipping another log into the flames.
I walked to the balcony doors, careful not to wake her, though I knew she slept deeply after the two night we’d just had.
I stepped out into the cool night air. The sweat from my nightmare chilled my skin instantly, and I regretted not grabbing a shirt after all.
But the slight breeze was a welcome jolt back to a place where I could focus my thoughts.
I didn’t know what the Queen would say.
