Blood of Two Crowns (Hallowed Fates #2)

Chapter 24

Chapter

Twenty-Four

ZURIE

N ever in my life had I felt so seen. So appreciated. So understood. So loved. At my words, my mouth crashed down to Keres’. I took her lip between my teeth, biting hard enough to draw blood so I could suck it away. Moaning my pleasure as I sucked it into my mouth and released it with a loud pop. She fisted the front of my dress, groaning into our kiss before hastily pulling back. “How much do you like this dress?”

It was perhaps the most beautiful dress Bernard had ever made for me. I grinned against her lips. “Burn it for all I fucking care.”

Keres chuckled against me as she tore the silk panelling in half. My palm-sized breasts jiggled at the sudden motion.

“So fucking perfect,” she whispered reverently as she knelt, tearing the skirting open. Her lips parted in awe as she discovered I’d worn no undergarments. Silk pooled around my feet as Keres’ hands skated up my thighs, and she gently buried her face between my thighs, taking in another lungful of my scent.

“Godsdamnit, where have you been all my life?” she growled.

My heart clenched with an emotion I hadn’t felt since Rumiel.

“Hiding,” I whispered.

Keres looked up then, wearing more adoration then I’d ever seen directed at me. Adoration I hadn’t earned or deserved, but I was too unfathomably selfish and starving to entertain the idea of denying my heart what it wanted.

“You never have to hide from me.”

“I’m a monster, Keres.”

“Oh, but darling, I wouldn’t want you any other way.”

Keres stood, picking me up like I weighed nothing and tossed me on the bed before climbing over me. Fisting my hair in her hand to bare my neck. “I want you to be mine, Zurie. Only mine. Tell me you want the same.”

My heart swelled with so much love for her that it pressed upon my throat. And it was nothing short of terrifying. Anytime I’d ever give my heart to someone, it had only ever ended up broken beyond repair. My voice wavered, and I failed to stifle the tremble of my bottom lip. I’d never felt as vulnerable as I did in that moment.

“I already am.”

Keres searched my eyes as if waiting for a but to follow. I had none. Irrevocably, this female had stolen every wretched part of me, and for the first time in all my years, something new and innocent and beautiful began to blossom.

Her lips upon mine felt like glorious nature reclaiming and infusing new life into the dead and decaying.

Keres willed away the flowing dark red, one-piece silk garment that I’d had Bernard make for her. It had been billowy enough to give the illusion of being a dress but actually had pant legs, as was her preference. I’d instructed him to make it backless and low-cut because I longed to devour her every moment of every day, even if it was only with my eyes.

Most of our joinings had been rough and passionate, but what we shared had turned into something else. Something tender and unspeakably beautiful. Something both of us had always longed for but never had.

Keres’ lips and tongue teased my already sore nipples to needy points as she expertly worked my clit with a teasing caress of her fingers. “My greedy heart wants to hear you say it, love…”

My hips writhed as that coiling, tingling energy approached its peak under her ministrations. “I’m yours, Keres.”

“Such a good girl,” she whispered against my throat as her fangs lengthened to sharpened points. “I’m going to mark you now…”

My orgasm felt like the birth of a thousand stars. “Gods, yes.”

Keres’ fangs sank deep into the delicate flesh of my neck, igniting something deep within my soul.

Each gulp of my blood was mirrored in the pulse in my clit as my orgasm continued to work its way through me. She released her bite only when the last of my orgasm passed, and as its haze lifted, the need to claim her in return burned.

It felt like nothing short of a privilege to push this goddess on her back, to part her thighs, and gaze down at her pink, wet perfection. To witness her vulnerability. To receive her love.

I licked up every drop of delicious arousal dripping from her entrance before gently sucking her clit into my mouth as I slid two fingers inside of her to tease a spot I’d come to know well. I pressed upon the soft area just above her pelvis as I stroked the inner wall parallel to it, and my tongue flicked steadily against her clit.

The soft little cries and moans spilling from Keres’ throat, coupled with the wet noises of my fingers working her pussy was enough to have my own core clenching with need again. In under two minutes, her tight channel was spasming. Fluid rushed out of her, and I drank every fucking drop.

My fangs weren’t nearly as long as hers, but they were just as sharp. Before her orgasm waned fully, I made my mark against the thick flesh of her inner thigh. Keres whimpered as the fierce clenching of her core renewed. “I love you.”