Page 49 of House of Gilded Nightmares

His eyes lock onto mine, his internal torment evident. I pull my tunic off over my head. Bars of moonlight cut through the oaks, illuminating my bare torso. But I don’t feel exposed. I only know I need to be as close to Zyren as possible, to feel his skin against mine in every way. I close the distance between us, pressing into him.

He growls, his inner battle clearly lost, and lifts me into his arms. I wrap my legs around him as he carries me to the nearest oak. He sets me down against it, pulling off his shirt in one swift movement before discarding it in the grass. His chest crushes against mine, and his lips, and his thighs. One strong arm wraps around the back of me, the other winding into my hair.

Zyren kisses me like I am a goddess and he a worshiper at my altar. His fiery onslaught slows, and he twists his tongue against mine in such a tantalizing way that I can feel myself clenching below. He claims my mouth until the meadow spins and my heart feels like it has wings. My magic pulses along my skin, wrapping around us.

As he kisses me, my fingers explore the hard curves of his chest and back. Every scar, every ripple of muscle. Every hard plane and dip. When his lips finally leave my mouth and travel slowly down the side of my neck, leaving a trail of heat and shadow, my fingers move down to the buckle of his pants. We are still not close enough, not by far. I need more. I need it all.

Zyren’s hardness bulges through his pants as I work at them, and he moans as I brush against it. Then I have the buckle free, and his pants fall around his ankles. He steps out of his boots and kicks everything to the side. I press a hand to his chest as he steps toward me again, allowing myself a moment to look at him. A shiver of anticipation moves over me, and Zyren’s eyes have that animal glint to them again, which only makes me want him more.

When I slide my hand around his back and pull him closer, that rock-hard length presses between my legs and heat swirls through me. Zyren takes his time unbuttoning my pants. He undoes only the top button at first, sliding his hand down into the gap. His fingers glide along the secret edges of me, and a gasp escapes my throat when he finds that magical spot and swirls over the top of it. He continues in a rhythmic motion until sounds are coming out of my throat that I don’t even recognize, my whole body shuddering.

And then, when I’m right on the edge of an explosive release, he stops, yanking my pants down the rest of the way and going to his knees to help me out of my boots. A moment later I’m as bare as he is, and there is nothing but the glow of our skin and the light of the moon. Zyren looks up at me, slowly running his hands up my thighs. When he reaches the apex, he guides one long finger into me.

I cry out and arch up off the oak tree as he enters me. He gyrates his finger slowly back and forth, building a firestorm of bliss that begins to ripple through my core. The world spins when he replaces his finger with his tongue and flicks it along my opening. I don’t even notice for a moment when he stands.

Zyren’s eyes hold mine as he steps forward into the circle of my arms. I run one leg up along his thigh and hook my leg there, pulling him even closer. Always closer. The hard tip of him brushes up against my throbbing core, and I let out a moan of longing.

He slowly slides his length into me, and I gasp. One of his hands moves behind me and lifts me up so I can wrap my other leg around his hips. My arms circle his neck as he thrusts into me again, letting out his own moan this time and burying his face in my hair. Here, locked together, bodies entwined, feels like coming home to some place so familiar, so natural, I can’t imagine belonging anywhere else.

Zyren rotates his hips, moving in and out of me in perfect rhythm. He fills me completely, taking me just to that edge of pain before a wash of pleasure rides behind it. I quickly feel myself approaching that precipice again, ecstasy building within me. My magic pulsates in waves, and a cry rips from my throat as it starts to unfold within me. And then it hits all at once, and I am lost, lost, lost…

I quiver against Zyren’s chest as he lifts me off the tree and lays me down in the grass. He trails soft kisses down my neck until I can breathe again. The enormous bulk of him is still hard as iron and pressing into my stomach. My chest flutters, my skin flushed. His fingers slide down the plane of my stomach and dance along the edge of my sweetness, and he moves his mouth to my breasts. His tongue flicks over one nipple and then the other, and I arch against him again.

“You are stunning,” he says breathily, looking up at me.

My fingers stretch down, finding the hard length of him. He shudders as I run my hand along it and guide it to my entrance again. I want him to lose control as I did. I want him to break into a million glittering pieces and come back together inside me. The tip of him enters me, but I keep my hand there so he can’t go in all the way. He pivots his hips, teasing in and out of me until we’re both breathless.

And then that dark soul inside of me rises to the surface, that wild dream self who knows no bounds, instinct taking over. I slide my leg along Zyren’s hips and roll him onto his back so I’m straddling him. He sits up, wrapping his arms around my back. He lets out a low growl, his silver eyes locked onto mine. For a moment, I don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into.

But something in all of this feels like the most natural thing, like we were always meant to join together. I begin rolling my hips, sliding up and down, grinding myself against him. My hands wrap behind his head, fingers weaving into his hair. Zyren lets out a low moan, his breathing growing faster the more I pick up speed. His fingers dig into my back, crushing me against him. He presses his mouth to mine, kissing me furiously, a blaze of wild heat. When he groans again, it vibrates against my lips and I feel my magic spark.

Zyren’s shadows surround us, merging with my golden light, creating a powerful storm. He starts to shudder, and as he does, I feel my own wave of bliss building again. “Sarielle!” he growls, grabbing a fistful of my hair. Then he thrusts up into me with a yell, his whole body shaking from the force of his release. His movement sends me over the edge along with him, pleasure unfurling in wave after wave. We collapse into each other, melt away into nothing, exist as a single soul of magic and darkness and light.

When we’re finally able to straighten, Zyren strokes the side of my cheek, holding my eyes in his gaze. He kisses me softly, tenderly, first on the lips and then along my jawbone. “You are truly my queen,” he murmurs as his lips burn along my skin.

“Nothing matters, just as long as I am yours,” I whisper. “And you’re mine.”

“I will always be yours. I would choose you again and again and again.”

We roll onto our backs in the grass, my cheek resting on Zyren’s bare chest. For several minutes we stay like that, Zyren stroking my shoulders, the rush of the river serenading us. I wish we could live in this moment forever, but I know we cannot.

“What happens now?” I whisper against his skin.

Zyren tenses, his arms tightening around me as if to ward off the future. The inevitable outcome we both know must happen.

“The Obsidian Moon finishes its cycle tomorrow,” he says, his voice low and burning like the dying embers of a fire. “And if you have not claimed your throne by that time…”

He points to the sky above us. There, in the circle of night framed by the oak branches surrounding the meadow, the black disc hangs next to the moon. A perfect circle of pure obsidian, darker even than the starry canvas above.

“I will not fail in my duty.” The words come out hollow, empty, as if someone else is speaking them. “But what of us? If this marriage is purely an obligation, surely the king cannot expect a romantic connection or require me to commit myself to him only. Just as I would not ask him to do the same for me. We are partners in saving Valaron only.”

Zyren is silent for several long heartbeats. The hand stroking my back stops. “I never intended for this to happen, Sarielle,” he finally says. “I have broken my vows, and in doing so, I have betrayed my king. My feelings for you…they are forbidden.”

I go still as stone. “What are you saying?”

Zyren props up on his elbow, looking down at me, face more serious than I’ve ever seen it. “There’s something I haven’t shared with you yet…but now that we…this…it changes things.”

He pauses, his gaze dropping from mine.

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