KLARA
What is happening? I thought, feeling my core throb and heat as want and desire rode me hard.
I heard Feranos’s quick retreat from the stairwell and knew that Sarkin and I were alone in Lishara’s temple.
“Sarkin,” I cried as a wave of punishing lust rippled through my body, leaving my knees shaky and me panting. The trigger had flipped in me so quickly it was frightening.
Elthikan magic was once the most powerful thing in existence, Sarkin had told me.
I felt it now. I believed it. Only I hadn’t expected to feel it in this way.
I heard a growl, dark and rumbling. It sounded animalistic, like it rumbled from Zaridan instead of the Sarrothian male who, I realized, was now my husband.
My mate.
For a lifetime. Because nothing would break these bonds now—only death.
The thought should’ve sobered me, but all I felt was pulsing anticipation as I watched Sarkin stalk toward me. I felt every step reverberate in my chest, even as fear stabbed inside like a dagger.
I felt the heat of his body before he ever touched me, and I nearly cried out in relief when he did.
His hands slid over my body, and I arched into him shamelessly, like I was a puppet and he was controlling my strings. I had no experience with males…not like this, though I’d devoured the erotic books in the archives. There was a whole tome written about sex and how it celebrated our goddess Kakkari. There were instructions inside, sketches and drawings, and I’d brought it home too many times to count in my endless curiosity, feeling an exciting thrill every time as I’d pored over the delicate pages.
He was my husband now. I figured I might as well explore this new, enticing sensation with someone. And since he’d demanded it be no one else, it would be him .
Underneath his ceremonial vest, I knew there was endless bronzed skin, hot and carefully crafted and forged like a weapon. I nearly whimpered, my fingers going to his vest, wanting to see it. Needing to. I imagined digging my nails into him, liking the idea of marking him. Mine.
“ Aralye , listen to me,” he rasped. His hands came into my hair, and I swore I could feel his touch in every last strand. My scalp tingled, then my neck, a whole body shiver racking its way down my body until it vibrated between my legs.
I squeezed them together. “Is this…is this normal?”
“We can fight this,” he told me. The words seemed plucked from him, harsh and guttural.
“Gods, no!” I thought, a scream in my mind, only it took me a moment to realize I’d cried it out loud. The room echoed with it. The damp, stone walls of Lishara’s chamber seemed to pulse like it was a living thing. The heartstones glowed brighter until everything was cast in a soft, ethereal blue. “Don’t ask me to. Please. I can’t.”
“You’ll hate me for this,” he argued. “After.”
I was shaking my head, desperation nearly making a sob rise in my throat. “I won’t. I promise ,” I pleaded. “Touch me. Gods, Sarkin, please !”
Sweet relief burst inside me when his hands slid from my hair down my neck, his thumbs brushing over the thunderous pulse of my neck. One moved up to rub against my bottom lip, and my tongue darted out, catching the edge of his warm skin, eliciting a low, rumbling groan from him. Heat flooded between my thighs, the dress I was wearing felt so heavy, it was suffocating. The texture across my skin was becoming unbearable. It scratched and raked against me.
Too sensitive, I thought. Need it off.
I gritted my teeth when Sarkin dragged his hand down the length of my side, and I gasped, arching into the stroke of his touch across my breast. When had they ever felt so sensitive? I thought I might be able to come just from him petting them.
“ Fuck, ” he hissed, feeling my nipples pebble against the material. His thumb dipped on the underside of one, thrumming it upward, and my legs shook. I was wound up so tight, too tight. His head dipped, and my eyelids fluttered close, a shiver racing up my spine when he rasped into my ear, “I can’t decide if I should try to have at least some restraint with you. But I fear it’s too late for that, princess.”
“I’m firmly against restraint at this point,” I gasped out.
I heard his whispered curse in my ear. He spoke something in Karag, something I couldn’t understand. Then I felt the bite of his teeth on the sensitive flesh. My hands flew to his shoulders, just as his felt like they were everywhere. All at once.
“ Lysi, ” I cried, the word echoing around the chamber. Yes in Dakkari. “ Hanniva. ”
Please.
“You’re going to make me come with those sweet little words, aralye ,” he hissed. “Say it again. Beg me again.”
“ Hanniva, ” I whimpered. “ Hanniva, rei kassi. ”
Please, my mate.
I felt something unleash within him at the words, which I knew he understood. This was what I’d never experienced before. Had I ever thought I would beg a lover to touch me? Had I ever thought to hear Sarkin rasp those naughty words across my skin?
No. And yet it felt natural between us. There was no shame in this. Only want .
His hands flashed to the straps of my dress, and he snapped the thin, delicate chains with little effort.
“I have thought only about doing that since I first saw you in this damned dress,” he grated.
He tore at the dress, but luckily whatever material it was crafted from—and I strongly suspected they were a kind of dragon scale—it was durable and strong. He didn’t rip it in his ferocity, but he did pull it off quickly, tugging it over my hips with a swift jerk. It pooled at my feet, leaving me naked and exposed.
Sarkin’s nostrils flared, those dark eyes skimming over every inch of me. He went behind me, his hand drifting across my waist. I heard his whispered curse, coupled with a soft groan. I sighed when I felt his hands stroke down my bare back and then bit my lip when they cupped my rounded backside, when they squeezed in appreciation.
“Perfect, aralye ,” he murmured into my ear, pulling me back against him. Against my lower back, I felt the unmistakable outline of his cock, hard like Dakkari steel and impossibly hot, even through his trews.
The heat between my thighs was growing unbearable as impatience nipped at my spine. Sarkin seemed to feel it too because his touch grew even more possessive, his fingers digging into my hips hard as he brought me back to rock against his cock.
Against my back, I could feel his heart. It matched my own thunderous beat.
He spun me around, and the intensity in his gaze was nearly a glare. His motions were quick and purposeful, his hands beginning to tug and untie the laces of his trews.
“Get my vest off,” he growled. “Need to feel you against me.”
My fingers flew to the silver catches, but my hands were shaking in my need. I only got two undone by the time Sarkin kicked off his boots and pants. He was silent as he ripped at the material, the silver clasps flying across the stone. My hands were on his chest before he even shrugged off his vest, fingers digging into the solid, warm muscles of his pectoral. I brushed them over his hardened, flat, dark nipples, eliciting a sharp inhale from him.
Then my hands were everywhere, roaming, exploring. My inner thighs were still wrapped, but the tops of the bandages were getting soaked with my need.
I moaned when I felt his fingers brush my sex. It was like a zap of lightning went through me, and I nearly drew his blood when my fingernails dug into his skin.
“ Fuck. You’re dripping for me, Klara.”
I couldn’t say anything but “ Yes. More!”
My hips rocked against him as he touched me. My face lifted, wanting to feel him everywhere. His eyes were watchful though wild. If I didn’t know any better, I would say he even looked furious in his intensity.
“That feels so good,” I moaned, drunk on his gaze.
Sarkin’s gaze flicked to my lips. Just as his thumb brushed over my sensitive clit, making me jump and gasp, he took advantage. His head lowered and he captured my lips in a fierce kiss.
His lips were soft and warm. My head spun. I breathed into him, feeling his tongue stroke against my own, a deep groan building in the back of his throat. His hard cock was pressed against my soft belly, his hand between my legs, playing and strumming me like an instrument, and I felt thoroughly claimed by his kiss.
My knees gave out, but he caught me, holding me up with little effort, and before I knew it, I was up in his arms. His lips never left my own though I felt the loss of his touch between my thighs.
When my back met stone, I realized he had me propped up against one of the heartstone pillars. The trickle of lake water ran over my body, little tendrils that felt like faint touches, stroking over me. A stream spilled over my shoulder and ran over my nipple, making me squirm against Sarkin.
He released my lips, biting his way down my jaw and over my throat. He sucked and kissed me there, and a shiver raced up my spine, the chamber spinning. How could I be so incredibly sensitive there?
I was loud, crying out uncontrollably from his wild kiss, one of my hands gripping his shoulder and the other diving into his thick, wavy hair, the strands silky and surprisingly soft.
I want to feel it tickle between my thighs, came the wanton thought, and even more arousal dripped from me. There had been a salacious image in my book of just that. I’d been curious ever since about what that must feel like.
His lips trailed down my neck and went straight for one of my nipples, sucking on it hard, making my back arch off the pillar. He lapped at the heartstone water that skimmed off my nipple, his tongue darting out to flick the sensitive peak. Around the room, I could hear the whispers, the beat and pulse of them growing louder and louder.
It might have been Lishara’s presence here…or it might’ve been Kakkari’s.
Maybe they are one and the same, I thought.
“Gods,” I breathed, my brow furrowing, looking down at Sarkin with a half-lidded gaze. I wasn’t scared or frightened of what would come next. I didn’t care if there was pain. All I knew was that I needed him inside me. I needed to feel him, hard and possessive and wild, joined with me in the most primal of ways. “ Hanniva! ”
I felt the press of his cock between my legs, the slick head brushing over my entrance.
“Wrap your legs around me. Tight,” he growled, his voice dark and deep, nearly unrecognizable in his lust. His hands came to my waist, hitching me up and holding me securely as my legs wound around his hips, my ankles locking around his back.
I was shamelessly exposed, and when I looked between us, I saw his cock. My lips parted, the first pinprick of doubt going through me, wondering if we would fit. A moment later, I realized it didn’t matter. We needed to, or I would die from this agony, this “blessing.”
The head was bulbous and slick. With parted lips, I saw a bead of shimmering pre-come push from the slit at the tip, and I nearly whimpered as it rolled down the side. His shaft was impossibly thick, but it was the heat that radiated off him that surprised me the most.
Just like full-blooded Dakkari males, I saw his dakke . The swelled bump above the root of his cock. I wondered how that would feel when we were joined, pressed and pulsing against my clit.
“ Sarkin, ” came my needy voice.
“Is this what you want, aralye ?” he rasped, running his slick tip over my clit.
Stars burst in my vision, the back of my head hitting the pillar, my neck exposed. I felt his mouth go to my nipples, and when there was a telltale flutter between my legs, I thought, panicked, I’m going to come.
“Yes!”
I felt the burning sear of him as he pressed into me, my eyes flying open at the sudden pinch.
How will he ever fit? I lamented.
“Tight,” he said in a low tone. “Too tight.”
“Don’t stop,” I begged when I felt him retreat. “No!”
“Believe me, princess, there is no threat of that ever happening now,” he grated. The muscles in the column of his throat were stretched tight, his jaw gritted, his body shaking with the needful energy I sensed just under the surface. Untapped. Waiting to be unleashed.
I gasped, feeling him push back inside.
Too much, too much, I thought silently, feeling when he met the burning resistance of my inner muscles.
He retreated again.
“You’ll have to take me, Klara,” he rasped, looking into my eyes, one of his hands lifting to grip the back of my neck.
His lips pressed against mine, and I kissed him back eagerly, becoming addicted to his taste and the sweep of his tongue. The back of my throat tingled with the sweetness of it.
“I’m sorry,” he breathed into me.
With that, he pumped his hips once, hard and swift, until he was seated fully and deeply inside.
I tensed around him, but my need drowned out the retreating pain. Lishara’s blessing had softened the edges of pain already—I hardly felt my rider’s burn or the ache and pull of my muscles. Nothing else mattered except this. Us. Right in this moment. I would handle the consequences later.
Sarkin’s groan reverberated into my chest, as closely as we were pressed together. I’d hardly dragged in a deep breath before he pulled back…thrusting even more deeply again. His dakke pressed against my sensitive clit, and I gasped. I could feel the pulse of his heartbeat there, the sensation indescribably intimate.
My teeth chattered together, feeling only a brief bloom of pain that slowly melted into heat, spreading between my legs. I felt so full of him. That strength and unleashed power between my legs felt incredible .
And when he unleashed it? When a warning growl ricocheted up his throat, momentarily drowning out the whispers I heard in the chamber and I felt his pace begin to quicken between my thighs?
I didn’t know if I would ever be the same.
There’s no going back now, I thought.