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I notice there’s only a handle on the door.
“No lock or key?”
I look up to see him watching me and I sense the most important part is still to come.
“It won’t open for anything but my true name, said aloud. That way only I can use it and the treaty remains unbroken.”
I still. I can’t believe he’d bring me here—show me how close I am to freedom—and then leave it at that. But I also can’t believe he might actually have decided to give me what I want.
“Why are you showing me this?” It comes out as a whisper.
“You make me want to…be different, Ella. To believe that people will do the right thing if you let them. If you let them in.”
“They will,” I eagerly agree. “They can.”
“Then prove it. Show me that my old doubts and suspicions are wrong. You know the way out now, and I will give you the key.” He pauses, and his eyes shine in the darkness. His next words come out tight, as if they’re painful to him. “Then we’ll see if you’ll stay to help me and my kingdom.”
I don’t say anything, afraid I’ll break whatever spell I’ve managed to cast. It seems impossible I’m about to get what I’ve wanted for so long—a way out. But something else I’ve yearned for too. Him treating me like an equal, a partner. Something I could never truly be as long as he held the power of the deal over me.
“Eleanor Thorn, my true name is Solskir. In the old tongue, it means Shield of the Sun.”
It’s grand, fitting for him, I think, though I don’t fully understand what it means. As he speaks it though, a light breeze ruffles the tops of the flowers and I hear the thunk of the bolt sliding back in the door’s lock. Something’s changed and I wonder if it’s the shattering of the magic that lay between us—the deal which tied us together, now binding us no more.
I look at the handle. Just one small motion, and I’m home. I hear Ruskin’s breath hitch as I reach out and turn the knob, letting the door creak open an inch. I can see a sliver of sky, the dim light quite different to the colorful sunset surrounding us. A cool breeze dances through the crack, calling me.
But no matter what it means to me, I made a promise, and I have to show Ruskin that vows made without trickery or deception are worth something.
I pull the door shut and drop my hand. I hear the lock once more clicking back into place as I turn to him.
“Tomorrow I’ll start looking at those rings of Cebba’s. She protected them for a reason, and a few experiments in my workshop might?—”
I’m silenced by his mouth against mine. His hands pull me to him, his lips insistent, as I recover from my surprise and begin to kiss back. I stroke the back of his neck, deepening the kiss. I want him close, to let him in as he has done for me, with our bodies joined along with our hearts and minds, inseparable, not an inch between us.
“I want you inside of me,” I murmur against his mouth.
I feel his already growing erection harden further against me. A whirlwind of movement and we’re in his bedroom, the bed stretched out before us in invitation. I feel myself flush with anticipation. I’ve hungered for this since our frantic encounter in the library, but things are even better now. Now I can give in to this without the bite of doubt curbing my pleasure. I trust him so much more now, and I know it will make this moment all the more perfect.
This time, there’s no frenzied undoing of fastenings and half-undressing. Instead, he gently slides my dress from my shoulders. He kisses the place where the strap of my slip widens into the delicate lace covering my breast, signaling with every touch that this will not be fast. We will savor this.
Good.
I follow his lead, slowly sliding his shirt up over his head. My arousal at seeing his bared body again, welcoming it under my hands, has me squirming with anticipation. But I have to wait, as much as I want him bringing me to the edge. I need this to mean something—everything that’s passed between us.
I press my mouth across the smooth planes of his chest, and he lets out a sigh like a man coming home after a long day. I undo his pants and push the fabric down, reveling in the beauty of his naked body, the way my hands get to touch and stroke every area of toned muscle, and wrap my palm around his hard, ready cock.
We’d argued about me being on my knees once before, but I gladly drop to them now. The power play between us is long since over, isn’t it? Washed away. Which means that now I can do this and it’s simply about me giving him pleasure.
He moans at the sight before I’ve even got my mouth around him, a sound that turns into a delighted hum as I lick and suck, studying the grooves and texture of him with my tongue.
“Ella…” The roughness of his voice pleases me. I’m obviously doing something right. But he cups my chin in a gesture for me to stop, and I look up with a question in my eyes. His own are only filled with fire and determination.
“I need to taste you.”
The words send a rush of sensation between my legs. I let his strong hands guide me to the bed and remove my slip. The fabric of the blankets is gloriously soft against my skin, and I’m fully naked and splayed out before him as he pulls me closer and spreads my legs.
A high-pitched gasp rips from my throat as he lowers his mouth to me. This is so much more intimate than what we did in the library. It feels like being plunged into the ocean, with dark, fathomless depths.
His tongue expertly teases me, lapping against my sensitive flesh, bringing me to completion. Now, lying on my back, I look up to see the enchanted ceiling is alight with swirling nebula, but my wonder at the sight is soon stifled by a crescendo of sensation. A shower of shooting stars flies across the magical sky as I begin to quake beneath him. The orgasm rolls through my body and he holds my thighs flat against the bed, weathering the storm, devouring me until my muscles cease spasming and my nerves can scarcely take any more. Only when my screams of pleasure have dulled to happy whimpers does he lift his head.
