Page 30 of Trial of Three
Obediently, River stops in place. Faces me. Lifts his chin. “We are heading into an uncertain situation, likely a combat zone filled with fae warriors of the Night Guard. It is my desire that you have access to as many tools as possible during the mission. Have every advantage that might keep you safe.”
“So far, so good,” Tye says slowly. “Have you some secret weapon that she might slip past the runes, or are you here to spout general wisdom?”
“No. Yes.” River spreads his shoulders, speaking to me as if Tye wasn’t there. “No, I have no way of taking weapons into the third trial with us. However”—his face turns a deep red that creeps up to fill the points of his ears—“if Autumn’s supposition is correct, that perhaps there is something to be done to aid you in controlling my power, it could make a significant difference in your defenses. I thought it prudent to try that thing. Or offer you the chance to try it. If you wanted.”
“Do you have any idea what he just said?” I ask Tye.
“Aye,” Tye growls under his breath before glancing between River and me. “Our fearless leader is offering to lie with you.”
20
Lera
My face heats and it’s all I can do not to grab the back of Tye’s shirt to keep him from leaving the room. The silence he leaves behind is deafening. Clearing my throat, I brush down my crumpled uniform and conjure the effort needed to look up at River’s face. He stands tall and straight, hands clasped behind his back. “You want to lie together?”
River nods curtly. “I only suggest it because it may help you control the magic you echo from me. Magic that may prove vital for protecting you this evening.”
I sit on the bed, my legs suddenly giving up on supporting me. “Right now? You want to couple right now?” I sound like a bloody parrot. In my defense, I’ve never discussed this in such transactional terms. I look at River, his broad shoulders and powerful arms making his beautiful chiseled face even more daunting for his hesitance. “With me?”
River runs a hand through his short, dark hair, a tell of his unease. “It was a rash idea. Forget I—”
“No, wait.” I hold up my hand, my mouth dry. The sudden tightness of my thighs alone betrays how much my body wants to lie with River—has longed for it for weeks. As for the rest of me, half of it wants to rip River’s cock off, but the other half... It wants to lie with River for reasons well beyond aiding my control of his magic. Except I know the male would bolt from the room if I uttered as much. If I told him the truth. “I think it’s a good idea. For the sake of safety. And experience. Tonight’s experience.”
River’s shoulders relax. “Yes. For that sake.” He steps toward me with his wide, calloused palm outstretched. “It would be a prudent thing for us both to do.”
I clench my jaw, swallowing the truth as deep as I can. I believe River loves me, but he isn’tinlove with me. Not like he was with Daz. Stars, I’ve not met the female and the burrs of jealousy still cut me deep enough to bleed. For all this, River is offering me the one thing he can.
And if I secretly wish to extract more pleasure from it than River’s intent warrants, it’s only polite to keep that desire to myself.
I brace myself as the male reaches the bed where I’m sitting, his large body shifting the mattress as he sits gingerly on the edge. His gray eyes study me for several heartbeats, straying to where my hands clutch the bedspread to keep from clutching him instead.
The male sighs and reaches forward to brush a stray hair off my forehead, tracing the line from my brow to my cheek tomychin. When the pad of his thumb brushes over my lips, his rough calluses sending tingles of heat through me, I flinch with sudden want. With the need to hide how desperately I long to feel River inside me.
“Are you afraid?” River’s voice is a gentle rumble, his gray eyes flashing with that protective instinct that makes River who he is.
Yes, I’m very much afraid. But not of what he thinks I am.
“I... I know how it’s done,” I say, realizing the stupidity of the statement as soon as it exits my mouth. Between Shade and then Coal, there is very little question as to my knowledge of the deed’s mechanics.
River kneels on the floor in front of me, letting me look down at him instead of towering over my small form. His fresh, earthy scent fills the air between us. “We need not do this, Leralynn,” he says, a gravelly note to his voice. “And if we do, I will go slow. It will... I will do my best to ensure it doesn’t hurt. To prepare you.”
Prepare? Stars, I’m fairly certain that my underthings are damp already. Surely River can smell my arousal.
As if in confirmation, River’s eyes flick down to my thighs, then slide to the door through which Tye left moments ago. His jaw tightens. “You had other plans. Do you want me to leave?”
Instead of answering, I take River’s hand and move it over my breast, trying hard not to melt into his touch.
River nods once and swallows, his hand tightening gently. When I guide his other hand to my chest, something too quick to read flashes in his gaze. Drawing a sharp breath, River stands up quickly, striding over to latch the door.
“All right then,” he says, his broad back still to me as the air’s sudden chill brushes away the heat left behind by his touch. Without ceremony, the male starts to undress himself. Boots. The sash hugging his abdomen. The laces of his shirt collar. Reaching behind him, River pulls off his burgundy tunic in a single motion, the chiseled muscles of his back flexing like wings.
Stars take me. No one should be able to turn the simple process of taking off a shirt into a sex-clenching ritual, especially without even knowing he’s doing it. But it’s always been thus with River, hasn’t it? Forever there, forever perfect, forever out of my reach. Until now. In some form at least.
I’ve just realized that I should probably be undressing as well when River reaches for his fly and all thought leaves my head.Practical,I tell myself firmly, snatching at reason before it escapes me completely.This is a practical exercise.
River turns to face me.
My hands tighten on the edge of the mattress, my body tensing at the sight of his perfect, naked form, a field of muscle narrowing into taut hips and a cock standing erect even now. Yes, of course the male can prepare himself from thoughts alone—more likely than not with memories of Daz.
