Page 157 of Crowned By the Fae King

Silence fell across the table again. In the sagebrush, wrens sang to each other, claiming their territories and wooing their mates. The salted breeze swept across us, carrying the scent of summer.

"Can I think about it?" Ace asked at last.

"Of course. You can have a year and a day to decide," Cass said. He flashed Ace a smile and slid the ring back onto his finger. "How long do you think it'll take the hunting lodge to be prepared?"

He blinked at the sudden change of subject, frowning slightly. "Perhaps as few as two days or as many as six, your splendor."

"Lovely. Send the palace a flicker-bird when it is." Cass stood and stretched his wings.

I followed him up with a bemused smile. "Ready to leave already?" I asked him, leaving my half-finished glass on the table.

He held out his hand to me, his eyes warm. "We've traumatized Vaylir enough, don't you think? We might as well let him enjoy the rest of his afternoon."

"I'm not traumatized," Ace protested, rising to his feet in what looked like automatic politeness. "Stunned, perhaps, but not traumatized."

I grinned at him. I appreciated his willingness to engage. "'Til next time, honored enemy."

He gave me a helpless-seeming smile in return. "Until then, your splendor."

Four days later, sprawled out naked on the gorgeous black-sand beach of Karaja Cove with my soulmate's wings reflecting blinding light back up at the sky, I asked, "Do you think he'll say yes?"

Cass laughed. "Are you really thinking about Vaylir on our honeymoon?"

I rolled over and propped myself up on my elbows to grin down at him, looking at him upside-down. It wasn't like I wanted to be anywhere near those frying-pan wings right now. "To be fair, we're at his hunting-lodge."

"Hmf." He pushed himself up only far enough to steal a kiss, bliss stealing through me from the light caress. "I think he won't be able to resist being the sovereign of his birthright any more than I can resist touching my soulmate," Cass said in a low purr. His hand reached up and cupped the back of my head, tugging me down towards him. "Can we forget about him, now?"

A slow smile spread across my face. "Maybe you should make me forget about him."

His ears canted forward and expression sharpened. "On the beach? That seems unpleasant."

"Don't do it on the beach, then." I dragged my eyes along his body, feeling his desire sparking in my blood as I did. I bit my lip, letting my gaze linger on his tense abs, the furrows of his hips, the shape of his cock as he started growing hard. "Do it in the sea," I said, sending him my imagination of it as I did—

(waves crashing against us, the sea cold and the heat between us sizzling),

"—do it in the sky,"

(his wings driving against the wind as his cock drove into me, my legs hooked over his thighs and his fingers digging into my bare back and ass),

"—fuck, do it in Vaylir's bed—"

(sheets tangled and the sunlight spilling across my sweat-sheened skin)—

Cass snarled and shoved himself up, sending sand flying. He was on his feet in a heartbeat and I was off mine moments later, and then we were in the air, Cass' sun-hot wings clawing for altitude as he drove for the sky with me in his arms. "Cruel woman," he growled, eyes fixed on the hunting lodge. "I'm fucking covered in sand. I ought to rinse off before I enjoy myself."

No sand on your tongue, I crooned back, mind-to-mind.

His eyes flashed. Don't tempt me. An image of me shoved against the shower wall with my legs hooked over his shoulders and his face between my thighs flashed into my mind.

I leaned up with a shiver and ran my tongue along his salty skin. "Such promises," I said in a purr. "Better fly faster, Cassie. Your Queen doesn't like to wait."

He bent his wings to the task—and his hungry Queen smiled.