“Einar,” I said slowly, weighing each word as I allowed them to drop from my lips, “if marrying Prentis is what I have to do to save the world, I’m going to do it.”
He sucked in a sharp breath, and the sound was like a shard of glass pierced straight through my heart. My potential marriage to Prentis had always been the elephant in the room between us, and we’d broken our unspoken agreement not to discuss it tonight. The idea had always seemed so abstract, so far away, but Einar’s words had driven home the reality of the situation. Panic gripped me, and my breaths grew shorter, the edges of my vision growing dark…
“Adara.” Einar’s hands were on my shoulders, and the next thing I knew, he was gently guiding my head down between my knees. “Breathe,” he said, stroking a comforting hand up and down my spine. “It’s going to be all right. Just breathe.”
I sucked in one gulping breath, then another, forcing myself to focus only on the inhalations and exhalations, clearing my mind of all thoughts. Eventually, my breathing returned to normal, and with it, the soothing sounds of the wind rustling and the crickets chirping and the water rushing before us.
Sitting up, I scooted closer so I could lean my head on Einar’s chest. Immediately, he curled the hand that had been rubbing my back around my waist, pulling me in against him. The warmth radiating from his body penetrated all the way to my core, driving out the chill that had nothing to do with the icy air around us, and everything to do with the idea of marrying Prentis.
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” I said, my breath frosting in clouds around us. “If I had something I could use as leverage against Lady Axlya, I might be able to convince her to help us. But there’s nothing, Einar. She holds all the cards.”
“We could go to Mount Furian,” Einar suggested.
“Huh?”
“Mount Furian,” he repeated. “It’s where all dragons go to complete the Umnar, which is our own version of the coming-of-age ritual. We take a special herb that opens our inner eye, then travel to the center of the mountain and tattoo the form of our dragon spirit using a combination of ink and our own blood.”
He took my hand and pressed my fingers to the whorls of the tattoo that swirled from his left pectoral all the way down to his forearm. My breath caught as I traced the lines of ink—I could feel power humming in each one, like tendrils of living flame that had been preserved in ink and blood.
“What are you saying?” I asked, barely able to hear the words over the pounding of my heart. “Are you suggesting we go to Mount Furian, and I tattoo myself there?”
“It’s worth a try,” he insisted. “Especially since the shadow creatures have supposedly vanished. Now is a better time than ever to make the trek to Hearthfyre.”
“We don’t know that the shadow creatures have left Hearthfyre,” I reminded him. “Nox probably commanded them all to retreat, and they’re lurking in the one place in Ediria no fae dares to travel. Plus, what’s the name of this herb, and where does it grow?”
“Esymoth,” Einar said, then admitted, “I think it only grows in Hearthfyre.”
“I’ve never even heard of it, and Mother forced me to study herb lore for years.” I blew out a frustrated breath. “If I thought this was a viable plan, I would pounce on it in a heartbeat, Einar.” I turned into him so I could cup his cheek, wanting him to see the sincerity in my eyes. His stubble rasped against my palm, and the sensation sent a little thrill through me despite the heartache pulsing through our bond. “But traveling to Mount Furian is probably going to get us both killed.”
Einar closed his eyes, turning his face into my hand. “I know,” he murmured into my palm. The rumble of his voice vibrated up my arm and into my core, and I found myself leaning further into him, wanting to feel his mouth on other, less innocent parts of my body. “I’m just being selfish… because I don’t want you to marry Prentis. I want you to marryme.”
His eyes opened, and the blaze of love and desire in them made my heart sing and bleed at the same time. I wished with all my heart that I could say yes. That I could marry Einar instead, and the two of us could fly off into the sunset and leave these corrupt, desperate nobles and their twisted machinations behind.
Tears stung the corners of my eyes, and I shut them as I closed the scant distance between us, pressing my mouth against his.
Einar responded instantly, hauling me into his lap, one hand splaying against my lower back as the other one burrowed into my hair. He kissed me fiercely, and I opened for him, wanting to give as much of myself to him as I could. He tasted like wood smoke and cider and the crackling warmth of a hearth fire, and I clung to him, wrapping my legs around his waist and cradling his face like it was the most precious thing in the world.
His hands slid up the back of my shirt, and I shivered at the feel of his palms splayed across my skin. I could have allowed him to continue, to divest me of my clothes and give me another taste of the pleasure he’d given me in the armory.
But I didn’t want to take. Not this time.
Breaking the kiss, I began to crawl down the length of his body, pulling up his tunic so I could trail a path along his skin with my mouth. Nervous energy crawled through me, making my fingers tremble ever so slightly as I slid them beneath the waistband of his trousers.
“Wait.” Einar closed his hand over mine. His golden eyes glowed in the darkness, desire swirling in their depths, but confusion was stamped across his handsome face. “Are you sure?”
In answer, I slowly pushed the fabric down his hips, holding his gaze the entire time. His length sprang free into my waiting hand, and my fingers flexed around him, harder than I intended as I took in the size of him for the first time. His answering groan of pleasure emboldened me, and I began to slide my palm up and down, exploring the texture, the length.
“How can something be so hard and so soft at the same time?” I wondered aloud, and he let out a choked laugh.
“I don’t know,” he admitted, sounding both amused and on edge all at once. I squeezed him again, and his breathing grew more ragged. “That’s just… how we’re built.”
“Mmm.” I squeezed again, and delight rippled through me as he groaned again. Slowly, I increased the tempo, watching for any signs of discomfort. Though I'd heard the girls in my village gossip about this kind of thing, I'd never actually done it myself before. But though the muscles in Einar's face were taut with tension, fingers digging into the dirt, I could feel through the bond how much he was enjoying this.
“Adara,” he gasped, bucking against my hand. “I’m going to—”
He didn’t even finish the sentence as he exploded, shudders rippling through his body. Watching him surrender like this, his guard down, heart open, was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen in my life, and I wished I could give him more, wished I could give him all of me. Wished I could seal the mating bond between us so we could fully experience each other’s pleasure and emotions, like the spirits had intended for us.
I couldn’t do that… but at least I could give him this. And for that, I would always be grateful.