The Half King

27

The group traveled for two more days, following their tracks back down the mountain until they reached the supply wagon they had previously abandoned. Half of the oats and all of the rendered fat had been eaten by desert creatures, but the sacks of horse feed and the satchels of herbal tea were more or less untouched, and for that, they were grateful. With a wide, even trail ahead of them, they hitched the wagon to Daerick’s mare, and the caravan continued for three more days.

Cerise spent each night in her tent with Blue, missing Kian’s company and his touch. As much as she wanted to follow him into the shadows, she had made a vow to protect the blade, and in order to do that, she had to remain inside her physical body. But that didn’t stop her from looking for ways to spend time with him. At each camp, she searched for a stone slab entrance to the Below, like Nero had shown her. She eventually found one, and the next morning at sunrise, she handed Kian a pair of linen pants, led him away from the sleeping camp, and then used her blood to transport them to the enchanted caverns Below.

Kian braced himself on his knees, winded from the transfer. After he caught his breath, he peered in wonder at the glowing walls and the moss-carpeted floor. “You described it well,” he told her. “I still can’t believe this has been here for a thousand years—a whole separate realm that nobody knew about.”

She understood the feeling. The umbra sangi were good at keeping secrets.

“How slowly does time pass here?” he asked.

“Hours in the Below are like moments Above.”

She reminded herself of that as she patiently waited for Kian to take in his surroundings. She had fantasized for so long about bringing him to the cavern, about lying on the cool, mossy ground and feeling him inside her again, and now it was all she could do to stand there and not shuck the pants right off of him. She unstrapped the Petros Blade from her chest and rested it on the floor.

“Then we can stay as long as we like?” he asked.

She nodded.

At that, his thoughts seemed to follow hers. He grinned as something wicked gleamed in his eyes. “How shall we spend our time, my lady of the temple?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” she said, sliding her hands up the length of his bare chest and clasping them behind his neck. She stood on tiptoe and angled her mouth toward his.

“Not so fast,” he whispered against her lips. “Remember our rule. Nothing happens unless you command it.”

She hadn’t forgotten. In fact, she had already decided what her first command would be. But for now, she only wanted to kiss him, to reconnect after nights apart, and so she rose higher onto her toes and brushed her lips against his. They melted into each other, tasting and exploring until their breaths turned choppy. When she caught herself straining her hips against him, she broke the kiss and lowered to her heels.

“Here’s my first command,” she said. “I want you to teach me.”

“Teach you…?”

“Everything there is to know about the act of love.”

He released a breathy chuckle. “We might need more than one lesson for that. There are so many acts of love that a person could spend a lifetime learning them all. And I’m afraid I don’t know the half of it. I’m still a novice.”

She arched an eyebrow. A novice? She didn’t believe him. There was nothing amateurish about what he had done with her on the morning of her Claiming Day.

“Truly,” he insisted. “Books have been written on the subject—hundreds of volumes in multiple languages.”

“Is it really that complicated?”

“Not complicated,” he said. “Diverse. Just like there are different ways to enjoy an apple—my favorite is baked in a pie—there are many ways to please each other.”

“Then show me one,” she said. “Show me your favorite.”

An immediate smile appeared on his face, as if he had been waiting for her to ask. “As my lady commands.”

He lowered to the ground and indicated for her to join him. Atop the soft moss, they stretched out on their sides and traded kisses for a while, building back up to the same breathlessness as before. She was more than ready when he slid his fingers beneath the waistband of her pants. She rolled onto her back and parted her thighs for his touch, and luckily, he didn’t make her wait. He used his thumb to trace circles over her while his index finger dipped inside. She spread wider, arching her back, silently begging for more. Then he slid his finger deep inside her and found an erotic spot she hadn’t known existed. He massaged it while her toes curled, and an animalistic moan rose from her throat.

“I love that sound,” he murmured in her ear. “But I love this sound even more,” he said, and he added a second finger to amplify the noise of her arousal. “Do you hear how wet you are?”

She nodded, rocking against his hand.

“The body doesn’t lie,” he said. “When you’re dripping into my palm like this, I know that you want me more than your next heartbeat.”

He was right. Her body craved nothing except him.

“You asked me to show you my favorite, and this is it.” He withdrew his fingers and sucked them clean. “The taste of you, the slippery feel of you. I want to drown in it. I’ve been dying to do this ever since the first time I kissed you.”

She didn’t fully understand what he meant to do until he removed her pants and began kissing a trail from her navel to her thigh. Then, with his face between her parted legs, he began using his tongue in the same way he had used his fingers. She tensed at first. But as she relaxed into him, she found that she quite enjoyed the sensation of his tongue. He licked her softly, teasing her delicate bundle of nerves to a stiff peak and then lapping at her with more pressure. He kept repeating the cycle, raising her higher and then bringing her down again, intensifying the ache in her core. When he paused for a moment, she remembered to command him.

“More,” she murmured. “And use your fingers inside me, too.”

He did as she asked. Nothing could have prepared her for the pleasure of his deep, stroking fingers combined with the lapping of his tongue. She groaned and let her knees fall out to the sides.

“Don’t stop,” she told him, though the tension was quickly growing unbearable. He kept working her, taking her body higher. Then he drew her into his mouth with a light pull of suction that felt so good she forgot to breathe. It was almost too intense. Just when she was about to tell him to quit, he twisted his fingers around to find that same magical spot, and all of the pressure inside her burst in release. She felt her inner walls tighten around his fingers as waves of pleasure washed over her. The fire in her blood seemed to surge. She couldn’t find the words to command him anymore, but somehow he knew exactly what to do, how to lighten his touch until the final quake had passed.

She lay on the ground with her heart pounding. If he was truly a novice, she couldn’t imagine what he would be capable of as an expert. He placed kisses on the insides of her thighs and stretched out beside her. She recognized the look of pride on his face, but there was something else behind his smile—a longing for the same touch that he had given to her.

She knew what her next command would be. “Lie back. I want to taste you, too.”

He didn’t need to be told twice.

She tugged his pants down the length of his legs and tossed them aside. Then she took a moment to admire him: the muscular planes of his chest; his round, strong shoulders; his lean core; and the dark hair that encircled his navel and led to his unmistakable desire for her.

“The body doesn’t lie,” she repeated as she curled her hand around him.

He was already rigid, but when she stroked him up and down, she felt him grow even harder. A single bead of liquid rose to the surface of him. She used her thumb to spread out the bead and found it slippery, much like her own arousal. She wondered what it tasted like, so she leaned down and licked his velvety tip.

He must have liked that, because he released a groan that echoed through the cavern. The taste of him was salty yet clean. She loved how his body responded to her, the way his muscles tensed with each swirl of her tongue, the guttural moans he released as she stroked him up and down. She had him writhing in pleasure, even though she had never done this before, and that made her feel more powerful than the fire inside her veins.

It also sparked a new ache between her thighs. She wanted him again—all of him this time. A quiet voice warned that it would be greedy of her to take more pleasure so soon, but she silenced the voice. She was in command now. For once in her life, she would take what she wanted and feel no shame about it.

“I’m not done with you,” she said as she tugged off her shirt. She repositioned herself astride his hips, and then she slowly glided her wet, aching core along the length of him.

The rumble in his chest told her he didn’t mind. “As my lady commands.”

She braced her hands on his shoulders and leaned down to align herself with him. Then, one gradual inch at a time, she sank onto his length until she was seated. The fullness inside her was as exquisite as she remembered, but now there was no pain to hold her back. And so she rocked against him, gently at first, testing the way each movement and angle changed the sensations in her body. She discovered that she liked it best when she leaned forward, and even better when she undulated her hips as though she were in the saddle.

Kian gripped her backside. She liked that, too.

“Grab me tighter,” she told him.

He did as she asked, all the while clenching his jaw in a struggle for control. His fingers bit into her flesh, but he didn’t try to change the pace. He let her experiment with him until she found a natural rhythm, and from there, she let her body take over. She rode his hips faster and increasingly harder. When she craved more pressure, she pushed against his shoulders for leverage, but it wasn’t enough.

“Harder,” she commanded him.

Their eyes locked and held. She saw her own need reflected in his gaze, the same raw desperation for closeness, as if to collide their bodies into one. He gripped her hips and thrust up from the ground while she sank onto him with all her weight. The impact was exquisite. She crashed into him again, and then again, watching his gaze go wild. With one last thrust, the tension broke, and they cried out together. She tipped back her head as chills cascaded over her skin and pure energy surged in her veins.

Nothing in her world had ever felt so incredible.

Afterward, she lay atop his chest and listened to his heartbeat while he held her in one arm and used his free hand to trace her spine. She waited for his breathing to slow before she propped up her chin and said, “I’m ready for my next lesson.”

His chest shook as he chuckled. “My lady of the temple, you can’t be serious.”

She wagged her eyebrows at him. “Maybe a little bit serious.”

“If you have the energy for another lesson right now, then I must not have done my job properly,” he said. “You should be spent. I know I am.”

Strangely, she wasn’t the least bit drained. If anything, she felt stronger than before. The fire in her blood seemed to respond to pleasure, maybe even increase from it. But then again, she had only made love twice. She had no way of knowing if the energy pulsing in her veins was permanent or temporary or related to the act of love at all.

She would need more experience to test her theory.

Biting her lip, she glanced again at him. “I’m ready when you are.”

He answered with a weary groan but shifted his weight and rolled her onto her back. He settled above her as a crooked grin formed on his lips. “As my lady commands.”