Page 77 of The Curse of a Kingdom
“We can talk about it later.” His eyes dropped to her lips.
“Not later.” She half pushed against his chest, not really wanting to get him away from her. “I’m not staying in a place where everyone hates me, where I don’t know what will happen to me. Look at the dress that wench made for me just because I’m a human!”
“I like it.”Off you. Now.
Nava blinked. Were those his thoughts bouncing in her head? It had been a while since she had heard him so clear. Their connection was sharpening as the night grew closer to midnight.
“It itches all over.” The words tumbled out of her lips. She lifted her hands, dropping them on his shoulders, and he stood closer, resting his forehead on hers. “She did this even after you told her to ‘take care of me.’”
“I will deal with her tomorrow.”
“No,just let me complain without murdering someone with your shadow power.”
Arkimedes's eyes danced, and his hands caressed the side of her dress over her rib cage. “My shadow power?” He hummed, and that side smirk was all she needed to forget about the whole queen ordeal.
“What else do you call it? Either way, don’t go kill Marin, please.”
He kissed the side of her cheek with an open mouth, and goose bumps awakened in her body. The arousal that had been simmering under her skin, just waiting to be released, bubbled out on a moan.
What had she been blabbering about? She couldn't think about it with his lips trailing down her neck and with one of his hands tightening on her hips, bringing her flush against his body.
He pushed her toward the hedge. Sticks and leaves dug into her back, and she let her head fall, exposing more skin to him. Their breaths became heavier, and a flow of emotion overtook her. This felt right. She was supposed to be here with him—why was she so worried about everything? She brought her hands to the back of his neck, grasping his hair.
His lips trailed up close to her ear. “When you touched yourself last night, were you thinking of me?” His breath caressed the side of her cheek and down the wet path he had created a moment before.
Nava swallowed as heat pooled in her stomach, growing like wildfire. “Yes.” She tried to get her leg around his hips and groaned at the layers of fabric that prevented her from feeling him pressed against her.
She needed to get this dress off. It was suffocating her. There had been a reason she didn’t want to do this here, but right now she couldn’t care.
Another moan escaped her lips when he traced a pattern over her chest, his knuckles gingerly grazing her nipple.
“Ark . . .” Her voice came as a desperate cry, and his lips crashed over hers in a demanding kiss.
It was wet, soft, and hard all in one. His tongue wasted no time diving into her mouth, claiming her like he had been thirsting for years. He tugged at the collar of her dress, and a rip clamored as the yellow fabric floated to the ground, exposing her under the sheer lace chemise. Arkimedes lost no time, cupping her exposed breast and kneading it with his rough hand.
She had missed him like she hadn’t had him for years, not just days.
He pulled away just enough to drink her in. “You are beautiful,” he said against her lips, and his wings wrapped around them, black like the moonless night, hiding them in plain sight.
“Thanks.” Why was she thanking him? Her mind had the worst timing to come up with the most awkward response known to mankind. She felt her cheeks warm. “I mean, thank you for noticing. I’m ruining the moment. Again.”
He smiled and pecked her lips, meeting her gaze with an expression that had softened. Her heart stumbled in its beats. This was how he had looked at her that last night in their home, right before he’d been taken. Like she hung the moon and the stars above.
The reprieve from his heated kisses lifted the fog that had been in her mind for a while, telling her this was too dangerous. They shouldn’t be exposing themselves like this in the middle of the garden, even if not many came around this place.
His lips captured hers again, and her skin burned under his day’s worth of stubble. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. Whatever magic was running through them was too strong to ignore. His lips trailed down her neck again, across her chest, and closed in on her nipple.
And it felt too good. Why was she so nervous about being here either way? There was no one else around them, not even the creepy flowers. His tongue flicked over her nipple with a punishing pace, and she writhed against him, feeling like she might come apart just from that touch.
She heard the ruffling of leaves and tensed with the noise, the daze clearing from her mind once again. The heat on her skin didn’t subside; it demanded more.
Sensing her sudden change, Arkimedes pulled away, his brow furrowing, illuminated by the light of his gaze. “Is everything all right?”
She nodded but stayed quiet, listening. The breeze picked up, and she heard the sound again, realizing it had been the wind.
His wings shifted, revealing the bright night above. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
