Page 33 of Burn

Hiking up the stairway, I emerged into a loft with a fox tapestry mounted above a fireplace mantel, sconces flanking a mirrored dresser, and a trunk at the bed’s foot. Beyond that, it was easy to identify the customized touches Briar had added for herself, like the salvaged fabric she’d turned into curtains, antique book covers prominently displayed atop a peg shelf, and a newly painted footstool holding a vase of flowers.

After collecting a towel from the bathroom, drying us both off, and lighting the sconces, I draped Briar along the bed and climbed in after her, gathering the princess flush against me whilst she tented the linens over our heads. Outside, the storm smacked the windowpanes. Inside, I rolled onto my side and watched candlelight seep through the blankets, illuminating the freckles that sprinkled her nose.

There. Now I could count each delectable one.

For a time, we clasped and stared at one another, soaking in the view. Absently, her fingers etched my face, and my hands scorched a trail over her hips and tailbone. Later, I would massage three months of tension and sadness from her bones, then make love to her so intensely, so fucking luxuriously, she would go hoarse. Until then, I traced every inch of skin like a glutton.

Her voice trembled. “You came for me.”

“You led me to you,” I husked, thinking of that last book in her most cherished series. “Your infamous heroine fled to an isolated place of folklore.” I drizzled my black fingernail down one pert breast, enjoying how her flesh pebbled. “And I know my thorn. It made sense for you to go somewhere reminiscent of that setting, however much you fancy realistic texts over fiction. There’s a reason that series was your favorite.”

In fact, I’d retrieved the series from the Royal Retreat and brought it with me to surprise her, which I would do once the moment was right. For now, my voice coasted into the darkness.“From the sacred wild, she will reign.”

“In the hidden trees, is her domain,”Briar finished with a smile. “You remembered that part.”

“With you, I remember everything. And considering you’d just read that passage to me after a bout of sublime fucking, how could I not? Also, I consider myself well-versed in your every motivation. ’Tis my lifelong goal to become fluent in all things Briar. I’d say I’m doing rather well thus far. Someday, you’ll never be able to hide from me, even if you find yourself in the middle of Summer’s raging ocean or at the top of some godforsaken alpine in Winter.”

“I make one brief statement, and naturally you require a monologue to respond,” Briar pretended to admonish. This, despite how her mouth curled upward, fondness softened her tone, and her eyes sparkled.

I repaid her feigned disapproval with a teasing declaration of my own. “Did you honestly expect anything less than excess from me?”

“Your vanity will be pleased to know that oftentimes I keep my expectations rather high regarding your actions. Even then, you exceed them on a routine basis.”

“Splendid,” I gloated, running my digit up and down that breast. “Look at the pains I took to orchestrate this reunion. I used every good ribbon in my arsenal to make that trail.” My lips coiled into a devilish smirk. “The better to see you hunt me down like erotic treasure.”

“And here, I thought it was because you were giving me a choice whether to rejoin you.”

“That, I was. Your jester was merely embellishing.”

Briar imitated a serious expression, playing along with a nod. “Oh, of course.”

Her attention dipped from my eyes to my mouth, then coasted down to my waist. Ah, and then to that deviant part which rose under the weight of her gaze. Seasons, she merely had to look at my cock, and all hell broke loose.

I had spent enough time admiring my endowments in a mirror to know what she saw. Sex in the rain had left me as disheveled as a bedsheet, after a night of tossing and turning. My hair was rumpled, and the kohl lining my eyes had become smudged. Yet the messy sight of me had the most intoxicating effect on Briar’s features. A virginal shade of pink suffused her cheeks, and the pulse at her neck thudded like bait ready to snare me. To say nothing of how her fingertips lulling over my abdomen drove my impulses to the brink.

Fuck me hard. How the devil had I managed to exist for a second without this woman? If not for the electricity that struck me the moment our gazes collided through the tempest, I’d have called this night a mirage. One, in a string of many over the past months.

My voice roughened, heady from the princess’s scent and body temperature. “That said, it wasn’t easy to keep myself from tearing across this place and snatching your body the instant you came into view.” I circled the tip of my finger around her nipple, my mouth watering as it tightened. “You had me so worked up, I could have demolished this forsaken enclave. As such, I should give my restraint due credit. The things I do for dramatics and grand gestures.”

Briar scooted closer, her outtakes growing shallow when my digit rolled over the peak of that nipple. “How …,” she uttered, “how did you know … I would be out there?”

My finger stalled. “I didn’t.”

Her respirations shifted. Those tantalizing breaths paused, as if teetering on a sudden precipice. Urgency claimed her features, the next question vital. I could guess the subject and adored this woman even more for it.

“How is he?” she implored, bunching my hand in hers and pressing them to the breast I’d been fondling. “Tell me everything.”

“Nicu is safe,” I assured her. “He’s under heavy surveillance in our absence, with Aire in charge. Plus, two certain ladies are helping to look after Nicu. Physically, he’s well. Alas, emotionally …” I trailed off, recalling the night when I’d found my son having a nightmare in Briar’s wardrobe. “He misses you.”

Her chin trembled. “I thought of him every moment.” She kissed my knuckles and whispered, “As I did you.”

My eyes squeezed shut, and I nuzzled her palm as she continued, “And Mother? Everyone?”

Shit. What to say.

To tell her about the pain and terror Avalea was going through, how the woman suffered in silence, playing the role of a queen first, a parent second, all for the sake of her nation. If any court had done to Nicu what it did to Briar, I would have skinned every resident alive. In this way, Briar’s mother had more resilience than I did.

As it was, I hadn’t been merciful since Briar left. That was another complicated subject to broach.

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