Anxiously, I scanned my periphery, even tossing a quick glance over my shoulder.
“It’s just us, Ark,” Kieran reassured me. “I promise you, I checked.”
I’d nearly forgotten he could do that. Shadow arcana was such a fascinating, frightening thing.
“And if some poor bastard does come straggling through these woods, let them hear it,” he added darkly. “Let them hear how good I make you feel. Let them hear how you sing so pretty for me whenever I’m inside you. Iwantthem to know.”
“Fuuucking Hel,” I groaned. Not in intentional compliance, so much as I simply couldn’t help myself as he continued to move his fingers in and out, finding rhythm with my hips rocking in the saddle.
“Yeah,” he whispered hoarsely. “That’s more like it.”
Clearly encouraged, Kieran continued his relentless assault, wringing pleasure from my core as if it belonged to him. I let myself lean back, pushing my ass up against his groin and the blatantly hard, twitching length of him.
“Insatiable bastard.”
“Guilty as charged.”
“You’ll pay for this, Vistarii,” I moaned breathlessly, starting to rock my hips on my own accord, seeking even more friction, more pressure,more.
“Go right ahead,” he crooned back. “Drag me to Hel, pretty girl.”
Fuck.
As the trail began a slight incline, Kieran withdrew his fingers—though he took pause before returning his left hand to the reins. I didn’t bother to look, but I heard whispers of the obscenity I knew was taking place before he snaked that hand back around my waist.
“We’re getting close,” he offered in explanation.
Yeah, well. I was, too.
“You never did explain where we’re going,” I replied airily, pretending as though the loss of his fingers left me entirely unfazed. It hadnot,but he didn’t need to know that.
“You didn’t ask,” Kieran replied, just as breezily.
“I did! I askedmultiple times,actually!”
“Hmmm,” he paused, pretending to consider this. “I can’t say I recall. But, either way, we’re going to Lake Eidrytch.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
KIERAN
Over the course of the last few days, I had found there was very little in this life that I enjoyed more than tormenting Arken Asher.
I hadn’texactlyintendedon leaving her all breathless and wanting like that, edging her before we’d even arrived…It just sort of worked out that way.
But I sure as Hel wasn’t about to make her come on horseback if I had the opportunity to do so on the secluded, white sand shoreline of Lake Eidrytch. I was a selfish bastard. I wanted towatchthe way she reacted to me, to bear witness to her writhing beneath my touch. I wanted to see those pretty little tears well up in her eyes when I pushed her to the edge of ecstasy. I wanted to lick them from her lashes as they fell.
Easy, now.
“We’re here,” I announced as we reached the clearing.
Muniin slowed to a trot, blowing and snorting as she sniffed the unfamiliar air. In all fairness, it had been quite some timesince either of us had been here. I hadn’t been back here since I was a teenager.
The decently sized lake had been somewhat lost to the modern world, not appearing on most maps of the Wyldwoods these days. There was only one trail that led to it, often so overgrown it wasn’t worth the effort trying to defy nature’s wishes. The surrounding area was shrouded by dense forestry and jagged outcroppings of silt and stone, making this clearing the only available point of entry.
But the seclusion of this place and its secret, hidden beauties were exactly why I brought Arken here. And the look of awe on her face, taking in our surroundings as we dismounted, only further confirmed my suspicions. Iknewshe’d love this place as much as I did…Or, at least, I’d let myself hope.
From the edges of the clearing where I began tying Muniin up, the waters of Lake Eidrytch were a deep cerulean blue, her gentle waves lapping against the shore. Upon closer inspection, one would find the waters were actually crystal clear and quite warm—it wasn’t a very deep lake, and there were hot springs in nearby caverns that shared groundwater.