“Senan,” I moan, begging for the fiery release building in my core, coiling in my stomach.
“Louder,” he rasps, sweat beading on his brow, the muscles in his stomach flexing with each demanding thrust. “Let the stars that have damned us hear you screaming my name.”
I call his name until my throat grows hoarse and the breath evacuates my lungs. When stars burst behind my eyes, Senan follows me into bliss, crying mine.
He falls forward, chest heaving and body shuddering. Here, in his arms, I feel wanted. Loved. Safe. When he rolls onto his back and pulls me into him, my head falls to his chest, and I commit to memory the sound of his heart pounding against my ear.
“That was far better than I remember.”
His chest rumbles beneath my cheek. “How dare you criticize young Senan’s lovemaking.”
“I’m not criticizing young Senan. I’m praising old Senan.”
“You did not just call me old,” he scoffs, giving my hair a hard tug.
“Sire?”
Senan’s head snaps toward the sound of his guard’s call. In a blink, my face is no longer pressed to skin but to grass. Senan grabs his discarded shirt, draping it over my naked form. “Step through that door, Bilson, and your head will be on a pike by nightfall.”
The soft white cotton smells like him. If I could wear this instead of my dress, I would. “You really should be nicer to him.”
There is no trace of amusement on my love’s face when he looks down at me. “No man sees what is mine.”
I would love to express the same sentiment, but now that the fog of lust has cleared, reality is beginning to seep into our peaceful, sunny bubble. Another woman will see what is mine. Senan’sactualwife.
“Sire, it’s almost dinner time. You know what the king will do if you do not return.” Bilson sounds quite exasperated. And who could blame him? Surely he must’ve heard what just transpired in this solar.
My cheeks warm, and it has nothing to do with the sun beating through the glass.
“I don’t want dinner.” Senan glances sidelong at me, those eyes making a slow, careful drag down my body. “Perhaps I’ll tell the king I’ve already eaten.”
He is ridiculous…and I wouldn’t have him any other way.
By the time we dress and pack up our forgotten picnic, the sun is sinking below the far-off horizon. The thought of returning to those dark caverns fills me with such dread. But since that is my fate, I must accept it.
Senan catches my hand. I can’t bring myself to look at him lest he see the misery on my face. “Come to my room tonight.”
And wait in his bedroom like some shameful secret while he dines with his betrothed and the rest of the nobility? I know that isn’t what he means by the offer, but that is how it feels.
I slip my hand from his. “I’m afraid I have plans.”
His face falls, but he does not push. “When will I see you again?”
“I will come to you when I can.” Tomorrow, perhaps. Once I’ve had time to sleep and sort through all these conflicting emotions invading my heart.
Although he looks like he wants to protest, he nods and presses a kiss to my chest, right above my heart. “I will be counting the minutes until then.”
Thirty-Seven
SENAN
By some miracle,I’m going to make it back to the castle on time. Yes, my shirt has grass stains, and I smell as if I’ve been rolling around in a field, but I can see the towers in the distance, silhouetted by the falling sun. And for the first time in four years, I feel genuinely hopeful. I may be soaring through the darkening sky, but my mind is still in that sunny room made of glass and dreams, my body wrapped in Allette’s, a cocoon of heat and skin.
The euphoria vanishes when I remember what the humans did to my mate. My blunt nails carve crescent moons into my scarred palms. How could anyone be so evil? To maim and destroy an innocent woman. She is lucky to be alive.
That body in the shed very easily could have been Allette’s.
And there isn’t a fucking thing I can do about it.