I drank in her truth and urged her back to the desk. Her smile grew even as I gripped the swell of her hips and pinned her in place. Candles rattled and books fell to the floor each time my hips bucked forward.
“Promise me I’m the only one.”
“You are. Forever.”
Tension ratcheted up my spine.
When she cried out, and I felt her muscles seize, I chased my own release. Lightning burst at the edge of my vision but I pulled out at the last possible second, spilling onto her glorious ass. I fell forward, bracing my hands on either side of the crooked map.
When my heart finally began to slow, I gathered the curls that had fallen across her flushed face. “You did that on purpose.”
“Whatever do you mean?” she murmured.
I gave her backside a good smack. She yelped a laugh. And feck it all, did that pale skin look even more delicious with my handprint branded upon it. “You know exactly what I mean.” I shifted a cloth to clean us both. Guilt tugged at my core, but I refused to let it settle. Not yet.
Aveen righted herself and pressed a whispering kiss to my lips. “Who would’ve thought such a powerful prince could be undone by a few scraps of silk?”
The flimsy garments may have aided, but the woman who wore them held all the power. I fell back on the chair and pulled her on top of me, determined to revel in bliss instead of letting reality steal my happiness once more. “What am I going to do with you?”
Her laughter warmed my cold soul like a bonfire in the dead of winter. “Bending me over the desk was a good start.”
I held her close, breathing her in, praying we hadn’t just made the biggest mistake of our lives.
17
TADHG
Heavy pounding rousedme from a deep, dreamless sleep. I always slept better with Keelynn by my side. Probably because we wore each other out so thoroughly. I blinked up at the canopy, her soft snores tickling my cheek.
There it was again. A heavy fist against wood, not inside the castle. Too much of an echo.
Keelynn flew upright next to me, dark, riotous waves dancing over her bare breasts. “What’s that?” she asked, her voice thick with exhaustion.
“I’m sure it’s nothing. Go back to sleep.” Good thing I could lie now. No one came to the castle in the middle of the night unless something terrible had happened. Still, I saw no reason to worry her unnecessarily. If we were under attack, the person hardly would’ve knocked to announce his presence. Probably had something to do with that feckin’ blight. Yesterday, I’d spent the entire day shifting cottages and cattle to a patch of land on the west coast far too small to handle the number of livestock the farmer and his family kept.
Keelynnn fell back to the pillow without another word and dragged the coverlet up to her neck.
I rolled out of bed, stuffed my legs into the breeches Keelynn had tossed aside last night, and grabbed a shirt from my armoire. Once all the important bits were covered, I evanesced to the entry hall right as the person pounded again. Rían appeared beside me, his hair looking as perfect as ever, while I imagined I looked like I’d slept in a field.
Neither of us said anything as he reached for the latch and drew the door open.
My mate Lorcan fell into the hallway, his hands and face stained black. The acrid stench of smoke clung to his blackened, torn shirt.
I caught him by the shoulders to help him stand. “What’s happened?”
His golden eyes narrowed as he gasped for breath. “Humans. They torched the feckin’ bar.”
Lorcan and his wife Deirdre owned The Arches bar in Gaul, a rare establishment that welcomed both humans and Danú with open arms. And…shit.
They lived right above the place. My heart slammed against my ribcage. “Is Deirdre—?”
He dragged a singed sleeve across his mouth. “She’s alive.”
Rían shoved my shoulder. “What are you waiting for? Let’s go.” He flicked his wrist, and a pair of boots appeared on my feet. My body moved of its own volition, following Lorcan into the night. Our footfalls echoed off the stone walls as we sprinted for the gates. We cleared the wards, gripped each other’s hands, and evanesced to an alley around the corner from the bar.
Shouts boomed from the street beyond; people darted this way and that, filling the air with curses and cries. Lorcan led the way, shoving past groups of people standing idly by, like this was some sort of theatrical performance for their morbid entertainment.
Smoke clung to the damp, salty air like a heavy fog, burning my eyes. The street where the Arches once stood looked like it had been struck by cannon fire. Not only was the main building gone, but the homes on either side had been reduced to rubble as well. Men in heavy wool coats bellowed from farther down the street, passing buckets of water to try and put out what remained of the orange flames licking at the starlit night.