A Queen of Ice (A Trial of Sorcerers #5)

Chapter 25

25

A basket of stars had been overturned and scattered across the pitch canvas of a moonless sky. The moment they stepped beyond the warm glow of the torches that lined the docks, the music fell away. Brisk wind tumbled down from still-frozen mountaintops and ran through the town like the central river. It pinched at her cheeks, bringing a flush to them that Eira couldn’t, and didn’t want to, fight.

Cullen glanced over his shoulder, leading her by the hand back to their collection of houses. Or so she thought. He turned in the opposite direction, crossing the river on a rickety bridge before guiding her into a narrow alleyway.

“Where are you taking me?” There were the edges of laughter between the words. She didn’t feel unsafe in the slightest. In fact, her feet bounced off the cobblestone streets as though Cullen was sneaking bursts of wind underneath her heels.

“Somewhere no one will find you.” He threw a smirk over his shoulder.

“Oh? Sounds dangerous. Should I scream for help?”

Cullen unexpectedly stopped short, the crunch of pebbles on cobblestones under the balls of his feet the only thing that alerted her. Eira nearly ran into him from the momentum. The hand that was holding hers was quick to lace its fingers, moving her right where he wanted—pulling her in close. His other hand tangled itself with her hair, guiding her face to tip up to his and give him full access to her lips.

Her back hit the wall with a soft thud, but Cullen lessened the impact with the positioning of his hands and by easing his body against hers. For a second, he held her. Mouth so close that with a quiver their lips would meet. As if he were savoring every shallow breath.

Then, he kissed her with an urgent need that rendered her breathless. His tongue explored every inch of her mouth in a way that promised to do the same beyond. Eira willingly gave him full access, responding in kind. How long had it been since she’d kissed him like this? Since she’d given herself to reckless passion? Not since the first time they’d been together.

His knee worked its way between hers and his thigh pressed up hard against her center, their bodies completely flush. She could feel every tensing of the strong muscles as she explored every inch of his broad shoulders and back, him pulling her even tighter still. Eira grabbed a fistful of his shirt. There were suddenly far too many clothes. It was suffocating—every hasty kiss more breathless than the last, as if their need was squeezing out room for the air itself around them.

“I need you. Now.” She rasped the desperate plea against his mouth. Half kissing. Half speaking.

A low rumble rose up the back of his throat as an amused hum, suggesting he knew exactly what he was doing to her—as if this was all going according to his plans. “Good. Wait.”

The moment hung for a heartbeat as he pulled away enough to lock eyes with her, his hair mussed from the earlier winds and tickling her forehead. Just when she was about to lean in and kiss him again, he pulled away. A whine of frustration became a yelp of surprise as he tugged her forward.

They were moving again through the darkness. The buildings condensed further around them, as if they, too, were physically trying to squeeze their bodies together. Right when she was about at the point to tell him to take her against the wall if it meant he’d stop stalling, Cullen paused and opened a door, revealing a small, one-room abode that wasn’t unlike the one Eira had selected for herself.

However, unlike the one that Eira had picked, there was a lantern already burning in this room. Cozy blankets had been piled thick on a bed. Everything looked…tidied.

Eira blinked, processing what was before her. Cullen took a taper and lit one end on the lantern, proceeding to move throughout the room to light a dozen candles across the few shelves, the mantle of the hearth, the table that held a pitcher of water and a small bowl of food.

“You…prepared this?” It was the only thing that made sense. Yet her tone was disbelieving of what her eyes showed her.

“Yes.” He didn’t dance around it. “I knew that it was unlikely I would find time with you, alone , for a while. Perhaps as long a stretch as this past time has been.” Cullen paused, snuffing the taper and waving it until the thin curl of smoke disappeared. The room was cast in a rosy light. Bright enough to see by. Dim enough that the harsher details were softened. “If I managed to steal you away, I wanted to make it worth your while. Something you would be…deserving of.”

“Deserving of?” she repeated softly. “What do you think that is for a pirate queen in training?”

He chuckled at her questions. She drank in the sound, as thirsty as a woman lost at sea.

“Yes, a pirate queen ,” he emphasized. Cullen set down the taper, shifting to face her. As he spoke, he closed the distance between them and his nearing proximity emphasized each word more than the last. “You, Eira, are deserving of the entire world. Any morsels I can offer you, I do so gladly.”

She tilted her head, looking at him through heavy lids. He was close enough for her fingertips to skim down the plane of his chest, landing lightly on his belt buckle. “And if I ask you to offer yourself to me?”

“I was yours long ago. All I am, all I will be, I offer to you.” His palms slid around her waist.

“I will take your offering.” Her arms circled his shoulders, nails scratching lightly against his scalp as her fingers ran through his hair.

“Good.” His voice was husky and deep.

One hand ran up the side of her body, tracing every curve. It sent shots of lightning through her that set fires in their wake. The heat threatened to consume her. By the time his fingers curled around the side of her face, she was already tilting her head to offer her lips to him once more.

This time, when he kissed her, it was slow. Languid. He kissed her as though he would have forever to do it. He savored her like a man at the beginning of an epic journey, course charted, yet final destination unknown. A man still getting his bearings and soaking in every last detail so he would never lose sight of where he’d been, or where he was going.

Eira pushed forward. Control ebbed and flowed between them. He took, she gave, and it made her want more and more.

Cullen stepped back, and with her fists curled in his shirt over his biceps, she pulled him to the bed. When the backs of her legs hit the side, she stopped. Their eyes locked and a thousand words went unsaid. A lifetime of yearning, of sweetness and sorrow. Regret and triumph.

They simultaneously drew a shaky breath.

She tugged at his shirt. Cullen raised his arms and allowed her to pull it over his head. She mirrored the motion with her own and unlaced her bustier.

It was the first time he’d seen the mark she’d been hiding. Cullen’s eyes widened a fraction. His fingers brushed along the raised scars, darkened with Allun’s ink. He’d been around Lavette and the others from Qwint long enough to know what their runes looked like.

“What does it do?”

“Makes me stronger.”

His hand fell to the waist of her trousers. “Then you must truly be unstoppable now.”

“That’s the plan.” A smile worked its way onto her face. One that had more relief carved in it than expected. Ultimately, it didn’t matter what he thought. What was done was done, and she wasn’t ashamed. But not having him be repulsed by it was more of a relief than she expected.

The rune was quickly forgotten. There were other new things to appreciate. What difference almost a year made. Their bodies were leaner, harder. The soft glow of the candlelight nearly smoothed out the discoloration of their scars, but Eira could feel them as her hands glided over him. She explored him through touch, and he did the same to her. They mapped out each other’s bodies, relearning every curve. She felt like a general, plotting out every place she would lay waste to before the night was done.

Wordlessly, she sat on the bed, then lay back. Her knees bent, feet pulling up. His chest rose and fell with slow, heavy breaths as he stared at her, completely exposed before him. The man nearly trembled from the tight control he was exerting over his urges.

“That thing you did at Black Flag Bay…” Eira lightly ran her fingertips down her thigh to her knee and back.

“Yes?” The word was nearly a growl.

“Do it again,” she commanded.

He descended on her ravenously.

The moment his mouth closed around her, she let out a delighted sigh that nearly bordered on a squeal. All rational thoughts left her mind. Every urge that wasn’t centered around him—around savoring these glorious feelings that only he had given her—vanished. The currents within her gathered speed, moving deeply. Churning, swelling. Powerful hands slid up her body as he lavished his affections upon every sensitive part of her. Every touch was scorching.

Heavy breaths turned to low moans that rose in pitch until they felt as though they were nearly ripping from her throat as he worked her into a frenzy. He seemed to know every movement to make—as though her body was as much his as it was her own. He pushed her further and further beyond every limit she’d ever relaxed against. The only thing that remained in her mind was to succumb.

All at once, she broke with a cry as it all became too much. Her back arched. But he didn’t stop. He kept going until she physically pushed him away. Cullen kissed up her thigh with the same satisfied grin of a predator that had claimed its prey.

“Don’t you look smug?” Eira panted softly.

“I feel smug.”

“You’ll feel more than that.” She snorted softly and sat. Her quick movement had his eyes widening briefly. Eyebrows rising with an unspoken question.

“Oh?”

“It’s my turn.” She swapped their positions.

It was as satisfying to give as it was to receive. The initial uncertainty in his eyes vanished the moment she claimed him. His head tipped back, exposing his neck. A hand buried itself in her hair, pushing. Demanding more.

She was eager to give.

But, all at once, he was pulling her face away from him. Drawing her up. Kissing her dozens of times over.

“Was it not?—”

He didn’t let her finish. “It was amazing. But I want to savor tonight. I want to feel you in every way you will let me have you.”

She knew his meaning instantly.

Eira positioned herself over him and halted. For a breath, they simply stared into each other’s eyes. Thousands of words whispered against her mind, as though he were trying to tell her something without so much as a sigh. But Cullen didn’t utter anything aloud. His lips parted, but not a sound escaped.

Which left her to fill in the blanks. To question everything she felt and had felt for this confusing and frustrating man who, at times, she wanted nothing more than to be rid of. But…at other times—right now, she wanted to erase all distance between them until nothing was left.

“When morning comes, will you still be here?” she whispered. The words were fragile, still bleeding from the now ancient wound he had inflicted on her heart.

Cullen’s hands massaged her thighs. One released, coming up to her face, thumb stroking her cheek. “I told you, I will be here as long as you want me. Not a second more, or less,” he vowed. “I know I don’t deserve you. But I want you all the same.”

“It’s up to me to decide who does and does not deserve me,” she reminded him. “And tonight, you are all I want.”

“Then all I must do is ensure that remains true every night from now to forever.”