Sapphire Falls (The Lost Realm #2)

51. Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Morgan

N ot a single star shone through the thick cloud cover in the sky. The blackness of the night sent a tingle down Morgan’s spine, reminding her of those dark places that haunted her dreams. The distant beating of drums that had chilled her to the core had stopped only an hour ago. Avery hadn’t come. Tomorrow they would face an attack by Goldoth and her sister hadn’t come to her side. She pushed through the fear, stepping back into her room and toward the silent hallway.

She’d promised herself she wouldn’t be afraid of battle. She had spent the last few months developing the skills she needed to wield her magic, and with Susan at her side, they’d find a way to stop this conflict before it could decimate either side.

But there was this twinge of doubt that kept creeping into her mind. Despite hours of meditation and working through her nerves, Morgan couldn’t get the thought that she could die with Rylo hating her from her mind.

He’d avoided her for days, keeping her at a distance, and choosing his words carefully. His coolness stung her more than she was prepared to admit.

Nobody stopped her as she walked on silent feet to Rylo’s room. Two guards stood outside the door. When they saw her coming, one stepped into his room, no doubt warning Rylo of his guest.

But Rylo didn’t come to her. The guard returned to his post, saying, “King Rylo is occupied at the moment.”

Morgan could hear muffled conversation from his room. Rylo’s slow drawl mixed with a sweet feminine voice. A pang of jealousy stung her chest. Maybe she really didn’t mean anything to him.

“This was a mistake,” Morgan muttered. Rylo’s groan of pleasure came echoing into the hall, and she thought her heart might plummet to her feet.

This was a stupid, terrible idea. Another moan came from his room and she thought she might be sick.

“We have heard what you did to him,” the guard muttered. “Be off now.”

“What I did to him?” Morgan’s voice grew louder than she intended. But even her voice couldn’t muffle the sigh coming from inside the room.

“The bargain. Forcing his hand like that, then leaving Elio for dead.” The guard shook his head in disgust. “You don’t deserve his company.”

At that moment, she heard Rylo’s dry laughter mingled with the melodic laugh of a woman with him, followed by shuffling footsteps along the wooden floor.

“He’s finished,” a woman whispered as she snuck past the guard.

“Good, thank you for your work, even at this hour,” the man said, slipping some coins from a pouch around his waist and handing them to the woman.

The woman had a sweet, heart shaped face and full lips. Her light blonde hair looked slightly mussed and her white wings shone in the soft faelights. She wore a revealing blue silk dress, cut low with a corset that accentuated her slender waist. The woman brushed past Morgan with a wink.

Morgan turned to walk away, her head pounding with emotion. Why did she think he’d even want to see her?

She heard the door open, but she dared not turn around. It was probably the guard going back in. Had she just witnessed Rylo being serviced by a prostitute? It all seemed very transactional. Nausea twisted in her stomach. She picked up her pace on the stone floor, the click of her heels against the stone echoing around her. Everything was so silent, so hauntingly quiet after the Goldoth drumming of the evening. The war drums had ushered in everyone’s greatest fears. Goldoth would attack the Towers and the Latian warriors had abandoned them. Morgan had failed to secure an alliance, and she failed to even see Rylo before tomorrow’s battle.

She felt defeated. She wanted more with Rylo, but had ruined that. She’d failed him when he needed her and betrayed him by forcing his hand.

As she turned the corner, she heard a voice she’d recognize anywhere, sweet as honey, but punctuated by its deadpan tone. “Where are you plodding off to, pet?”

Morgan turned, her foot slipping on the polished floor as she fell on her ass. She looked up at Rylo, golden hair perfectly placed. He was leaning against the corner of the wall, his arms were crossed and his smile was big enough to reveal that damn dimple of his.

She pushed herself up, but she noticed her dress was torn and her ankle stung.

Great. Not only had she been caught loitering outside his room while he paid a woman for sex, but now she was battered and disheveled before she even set foot on the battlefield.

“I wasn’t plodding!” Morgan seethed at him. “I was just passing through.”

Rylo walked over to her, his fur-lined slippers silent on the floor “I think you’re telling lies again.” He pulled her up from the floor and into his arms. She winced at a sharp pain in her ankle and failed to disguise the discomfort from her face. “Come into my room. You took quite a fall there.”

Her heart thrummed in her chest as he looked down at her with golden eyes. No, she couldn’t go in there. Not after what she just heard.

“I’ll be okay. Thanks though,” she said, disentangling herself and taking a step back from him.

Rylo reached out to her and tugged her close to him. She was close enough to feel the heat of his very bare chest.

“Don’t go yet.”

She tried to pull away, the heat of her embarrassment probably visible on her cheeks. “I’m okay, really. Just out for a late night walk.”

“Morgan, look at me,” he said, gently tipping her head up toward him. His voice was smooth and he smelled like clean skin and spice. How did he smell so damn good all the time?

“I was just thinking of you. Please join me in my room.”

Morgan flinched and felt herself make a face in disgust.

“Gross. Please don’t tell me you were thinking of me when you had a prostitute visiting you.”

Now it was Rylo’s turn to make a face at her. He wrinkled his nose and frowned. “A prostitute? What are you talking about?”

“I did lie. I came here to talk with you because, well, against my better judgment, I’ve missed you. But I could hear the noises you were making in there. Then I saw the woman that the guard paid. It was obvious what was going on.”

“Goddess alive, woman! I was getting a haircut and a shave!”

Morgan snorted. “I don’t know anyone who makes sounds like that during a haircut! And who gets a haircut in the middle of the night?”

Rylo pressed his fingers to his temples. “The noises? I admit I can be loud at times when I get a neck and scalp massage. She added that last because I told her I was struggling to sleep tonight.”

She watched as he shivered. The Sun King shivered . It couldn’t be from cold, not with the essence imbued in the Towers keeping the building at a toasty temperature, despite the cold dreary weather outside. Was he scared? Is that why he shivered?

Rylo reached for her hand, and she let hers slide into his. “Will you please come with me?” he asked.

“Fine! But I still don’t understand why you were getting a haircut right now.”

Rylo barked a laugh. “The stylist said the same thing. If you must know, I couldn’t sleep, and the thought of dying tomorrow with stubble and mussed hair was the tipping point. That at least felt like something I could control before going into battle.”

Morgan’s heart sank. He was afraid. Afraid and alone and seeking something to grasp onto that he could control.

They walked into his room together. It was warm, the bed neatly made like he hadn’t even tried to lay down for the night yet. As she walked, her ankle burned with discomfort. She didn’t think it was broken, probably not even sprained, but it was definitely bruising.

“You’re limping,” Rylo observed as he steadied her.

“I’ll be fine.”

Rylo shook his head and moved closer to her, filling the distance between them. “Don’t do that, pet.”

He was close enough that she found her hands drawn to his bare chest, absorbing the heat of his skin and the hardness of the muscles underneath. Close enough that she could feel the warmth of his breath on her eyelashes.

He knelt before her, moving so quickly she couldn’t stop him. “May I look at your ankle?”

Morgan gave her consent, slowly lifting her foot up to his outstretched hand. His hands trembled a bit as he traced his fingers along her ankle. With quick fingers, he unlatched the strap on her heel, letting it fall to the floor. His hands drifted upward to her calf.

“Rylo?” she whispered as he continued his exploration of her leg.

“Yes, Morgan?”

“What are you doing?”

Rylo let out a wicked laugh. “I’m making sure my kingslayer is in working order.”

“You don’t need to do that, really.”

He worked his hands back down to her ankle, carefully tracing the purple bruise that was already appearing before going up going higher and higher until he reached the tear in her dress. “I can’t risk you fighting on an injury, can I?”

Her breath shuddered as he examined the shredded dress, kneading his hands along her exposed thigh until he caught sight of the scrap of gold lace hidden beyond her dress.

He lightly blew a breath of sun-kissed air against the lace. Morgan’s skin prickled and a tingle shot through her core.

“Tell me, do you wear undergarments like this daily or was this bit of fabric specifically for this purpose?” he said as he began unbuttoning her shirt.

Morgan bit her lip, her voice came out husky. “It’s for you, Rylo.”

His smooth voice roughened as he said, “I hoped so. It would be a pity if I’d been missing out on this each day.”

Morgan’s hands shook slightly as she placed them on Rylo’s shoulders. “There’s a chance we might die tomorrow. I couldn’t die regretting never feeling you inside me.”

Rylo’s hands gripped her hips. “And have you had that regret for long?”

Morgan closed her eyes, as she breathed in deeply.

“Yes. Yes I have.” She exhaled as she tugged the ties on the back of her dress, letting it fall in a pile of silk on the floor.

Rylo’s eyes roamed over her skin. She felt wanted and alive and she wanted him to never stop looking at her like that. “You wicked, beautiful woman. Why have you been avoiding me?”

Morgan looked down at him kneeling before her, hands gripping her hips. “Me avoiding you? You have been so angry at me, and I know I deserve it.”

“I hate so much of what you’ve done to me. You are my undoing. My weakness. And never is that more obvious than when I am pining for you to give me even a morsel of your attention.”

The honesty on his face stung. He was speaking the truth. Free from games and tricks.

“Rylo,” she whispered as she tugged on his shoulders, pulling him to his full height. “I’m so sorry I’ve hurt you.”

He pressed his thumb to her lips, tracing the shape of them. “I have never tolerated such insolence in anyone,” he said, shaking his head. “That is what makes you so dangerous.”

He parted her lips with his thumb and she sucked it into her mouth, gently biting the tip.

“Abyss damn me!” Rylo rasped as he wrapped Morgan into his arms and brought his mouth to hers. His warmth and tenderness took her by surprise. She came here expecting anger, teeth and tongues clashing. A violent need that fulfilled her deepest desires for him. Instead, he kissed her with such a softness that when his tongue glided to hers, it was a pleading invitation to accept him.

Rylo lifted her into his arms before he placed her into the soft folds of the bed. He stood over her, a heated gaze taking in her body in the diminishing fae lights. “Kingslayer. That’s what you are, you know? Slaying my worthless heart into shreds for you. It may be the worst punishment I could receive.”

“Do you really hate me? I never meant to do that to you,” she said in a whisper.

Rylo began making small circles along her arms, working toward her chest. “My hate for you is deep, but it’s nothing compared to my need for you. My need for you, pet, is a bottomless sea of desire.”

He worked his nimble fingers over the lace that clung against her breasts, nipples already peaked from the fire set by his touch, his gaze, and his words. His hot hands on her cool breasts made Morgan suck in her breath and lean greedily into his touch. The friction of the lace on her skin felt delicious.

“Maybe your desire will go away after you’ve fucked me. Then you can just hate me,” Morgan taunted, but it was just empty words. She didn’t want that at all.

Rylo smiled, that kissable dimple shining. “No Morgan, I fear this may be a lifetime affliction.”

He let his robe slide off, revealing his sculpted chest and narrow waist, his legs covered by loose-fitting pants. How does a man who spends most his day reading and drinking tea even look like this?

The bed shifted with his weight as he slid beside her, leaning down and pressing his lips to her breast. His tongue teased and sucked through her lingerie, increasing the friction against her skin until she was moaning with a desperate need for him to touch her at the aching place between her legs.

Rylo looked up at her with a knowing grin as he slid his free hand down, skimming across the delicate fabric. He grasped the scrap of lace at her mound in his hands and ripped it in two, just as he lightly bit down on her nipple. Morgan cried out, the edge of pleasure and pain mingling. Cool air hit the heat of her core, but was replaced by Rylo’s hot hands grazing her entrance.

“Ah,” Rylo said, propping himself on his elbow. “I believe I’ve found the only hot place on your body.”

He sunk his fingers into her depths, as Morgan closed her eyes and moaned out, “Don’t tease me right now, Ry.”

“Ry?” he said, the word husky on his lips. His fingers filled her with a steady, tantalizing rhythm that had Morgan squirming under his touch. “I wouldn’t dream of teasing you. No, I want to unravel you and break you down just as you’ve done to me.”

At that, he pressed her thighs further apart and angled himself between her legs. All the time, he continued drawing his fingers in and out, in and out of her, as she barreled closer to her release. With a wicked grin, he brought his lips down to her clit and sucked hard enough that it sent her spiraling over the edge. She came so hard that her shadows bucked out of her with her release, writhing and twisting around Rylo, his wings outstretched, shielding them from the darkness overhead. She screamed Rylo’s name so loud it was probably waking the entire Towers up. Rylo didn’t relent as he kissed and licked her most sensitive places, his clever fingers working in tandem with his tongue and teeth.

Finally, so agonizingly slow, the crescendo of her pleasure began to retreat, her shadows fading and she felt like she could finally speak again.

“Congratulations. You’ve unraveled me,” she said, breathless from the pillow. He let out a huff of a laugh as he sat up between her legs.

“Oh pet, we’ve only begun.” He slipped off the bed, leaving her exposed and boneless on top of the covers. She watched as he worked the ties on his low-slung pants, his cock tenting the front and the V of his abdomen making her bite her lip.

When his pants fell to the floor, Morgan couldn’t stop the purr that escaped her lips. His body was like a marble statue, all hard edges and rippling muscles, and his cock—Morgan had never given much thought to what a truly beautiful cock would look like, but this was it. Thick and just the right length to make her mouth go dry with need.

She sat up, pulling the torn lingerie over her head and letting it fall to the floor. Rylo came to her side, palming her breasts.

“Is this really what you want? To feel me inside of you?”

“I came here with that as my sole objective,” Morgan whispered.

Rylo kissed her neck, working up to her jawline and over the scars on her cheeks to the corner of her mouth. “And if I had rejected you?” he asked against her lips.

She sucked in a breath at the heat of his lips, the warmth of his sun-kissed skin against her cool flesh. He was going to make her catch fire, to burn to ashes with his touch.

“You would have broken me, but I would have deserved it,” she said honestly as her heart thundered. He still could reject her. If his goal was to make her ache, make her feel his hatred, this would be the way to do it and she wanted him to know that truth. To give him that option. After all, hadn’t she been taking his choices from him over and over again? She needed him to know that she’d accept his rejection, if that is what he really wanted. “Isn’t that what you want to do?”

He pressed her flat on her back, her head sinking into the soft pillow behind her as he kissed her with a smoldering heat that threatened to consume her. “If only I could let my anger win against my desire. But, that is not what I want. I want to be your flame. I want you to burn for me and only me.”

“Then consume me, Ry,” Morgan rasped. Her words seemed to spark something feral in him, the permission he’d been waiting for.

He positioned himself between her legs, the tip of his broad length against her entrance as he entered her slowly, working himself in and out as her inner muscles burned and stretched around his cock. His length slicked out of her, nearly leaving her empty and writhing for him to come back before he drove into her again, this time hard and fast. He looked at her with claiming determination.

“You’re mine, pet. Don’t doubt it.” His voice was rough and his face was agonizingly beautiful with desire.

“That’s all I want.” The words escaped her lips and he smiled at her like she’d given him a precious gift.

Over and over, he set a rhythm that made Morgan cling to him, dragging her nails across his back and pulling him closer to her.

The heat of his body against hers was so intense, she thought she might combust from it. His skin faintly glowed as his essence escaped him in his pleasure. She let her shadows pool out of her and wrap around him, bringing his face to hers. She kissed him in a crushing embrace, her tongue sliding in and out of his mouth to the beat of his thrusts. Her inner muscles began pulsing with the need to reach her release.

Rylo reached between them, stroking her throbbing clit as he growled into her ear, “Come for me, Kingslayer.”

Morgan cascaded into her release, and Rylo followed, growling out her name as they were both consumed by the flame that had been fanned into a firestorm between them. The heat of his release filled her quivering inner muscles and she let her shadows wrap around them, plunging them into darkness.

Rylo’s forehead pressed against hers as they slowly came down from their climax. He pushed her sweat-soaked hair from her face and slid out of her, the slickness of their release sticking to her inner thigh. Rylo turned her onto her side as he stared back at her.

The mask he wore so often was gone, and Rylo’s expression looked soft and sated. Morgan traced the pointed tip of his fae ears before tracing her fingers down his jawline to his beating heart. She pressed her hand against his chest, feeling his heartbeat beneath her fingers.

“This damn heart beats only for you, pet. I tried to stop it from happening, but I am yours,” Rylo said dryly.

Morgan quirked a smile at him and wrapped her leg across his hip. “This didn’t relieve you of your need for me?”

She felt him growing hard again—so soon—against her inner thigh.

“No, Morgan, as I said, my need for you is a lifetime affliction.” He pulled her on top of him, letting her enjoy every inch of his gorgeous body at her own leisurely pace.

She stayed with him that night, as they explored each other's bodies and drifted into sleep, only to repeat the process again and again. By the time Morgan slipped out of his room, drum beats had begun to sound across Nephel.

War was upon them.