"Who said you couldn't respond? You could’ve killed her for all I care."
I duck my head under the water finally to wash the oils out but not before I see her startled look, her brows pinching in andshe doesn't notice or react to my approach as I swim closer to her, happy to take the opportunity.
When my head breaks the surface she says to me, calm in her tone but her face still scowling sternly. "You spent weeks convinced I was here to kill all good and noble high fae and now you're standing there telling me I should’ve killed that female simply for being everything I'm not? My concerns for the kingdom are returning by the minute."
She’s naked and glowing under the moon, smelling like home and all the fantasies I’ve gone to bed with a dozen times, scowling at me with the promise of a fire trapped within that I want underneath me more than I want air. The fact we’re talking about another high fae is intolerable, and when she opens her mouth again I reach her my hand, clasping the side of her neck again. A gasping sigh eeks out of her as a pull her into my chest, her hands flattening against my skin and pressing there just as the long lines of her body press against me. So much skin; all of it mine to taste, and covet, and savor.
I pull her closer, my head dropping down until my lips get within a whisper of hers and my breath fanning over her skin. She lets out a low moan drenched in longing against my lips and my palm squeezes at her throat gently, my fingers flexing and enjoying the rise of her magic under her skin as it squirms within her.
"You’re nothing like any high fae, not like anything I once thought I wanted; you’re more, so much more that I couldn’t have hoped for the Fates to bless me with a mate like you. You could kill any high fae now, such is my trust in you. I’m the one who can't be trusted, because the thought of my cousins, who I would kill and die for, standing in your presence makes me crave their blood. The goblins are now our greatest ally and our only chance of gaining the throne back and every smile you've given Prince Gideon makes me want to peel the skin from hisbones. The idea of another holding your attention, let alone your affection, fills me with a fury that could rival the Fates. The mere mention of another wanting you back in the Northern Lands has me prepared to march over there the moment Kharl Balzog falls dead by my sword."
Her whisper is instant, breathy and drenched in disbelief. "My sword; the Fates command it so."
With a growl, I lean forward until our lips touch, my fury whispered into her skin, "And I’ll resent the Fates until the end of time for giving this task to you instead of me. For giving you any of these tasks, not because I think you can't but because I don't want you to. I don't want the soldiers looking at you; the respect they show you and the admiration, it should fill me with pride and yet all it does is ignite the possession within me. I'm going to hate every fucking second of this, and the moment our fates are complete, I won't be turning my back on you or our marriage. I'll be taking you far away from every other fae until I can bear you in their presence again. I expect it to take a century or two."
Her mouth opens but I swallow whatever words she had to give me, surely a protest and I’m done with those. Moaning as she kisses me back, she pushes up to her toes as she drags me closer to her body, kissing me as though she feels every bit of the consuming possession writhing within me. As though meeting that female tore her mind in half just as surely as my uncle’s taunts of the High Commander ruined me.
My fingers flex at her throat and another moan slips from her lips, her body surging in a wave towards me as the hard length of my cock presses against the soft skin of her lower belly. The tip brushes against her scar, a firm ridge of friction, and another growl rumbles in my chest. When my other hand gets a handful of her perfect ass she gasps as I lift her, moving us over to the rock wall between the two pools. I set her on top of it, both of myhands moving down to wrap her legs around my waist, my cock finding the heat of her pussy and sliding through her lips as my hips jerk forward. She moans, the sound like a drug, and I curl a fist into the wet tresses at the back of her head, tilting her head to deepen the kiss and taste the wanton hunger in her.
I take every one of her reactions gluttonously, hungry for more and my hips push forward again desperate to sink inside of her. Her hands grasp my arms, locking around the muscle there as though she needs to be anchored in place or else the pleasure will sweep her away. I pull away to bury my face in her neck, licking and sucking the soft skin there as she pants desperately, moaning and squirming against me until I lift my head again.
There’s a sultry look in her eyes as she meets my gaze, unblinking as she glances down between our body and her hips pushing forward as though she craves the hot length of me inside of her just as surely as I do. I follow the path her gaze and a groan tears out of me. Pushing her back with my chest, I all but crawl over her body to taste more of her skin, sucking one of her nipples into my mouth as my hips push forward again, the slide of her pussy down the length of my cock a sweet torture after centuries of waiting.
She writhes on the stone wall, her hips wriggling despite the weight of my body trapping her and more gasps wrench out of her lips with every little movement. I’m determined to taste every inch of her skin, laving her with my tongue and leaving a trail of bite marks as the sharp points of my teeth pressing against the softness of her skin.
When she shifts her hips again, I assume she’s looking for more friction something to get her closer to the peak of pleasure, but her hand slips between us and wraps around my cock. My teeth to dig a little further into her skin as groans wrench from both of us, the taste of blood blooming in my mouth. Runningmy tongue over the pinpricks left behind, I jerk away and look down to find a sight impossible to look away from.
She has no trouble gripping a sword but my cock is thicker than her wrist, reaching past her scars and her belly button beyond. She makes a breathy noise as she squirms against me, and all I can think about is having her squirming like that while she's impaled on my cock.
Betrayer.
My arms snap around Rooke, pulling her closer to my chest as she freezes, her eyes flying open to stares up at me. I can't hear anything, the forest empty around us up to the boundary of the camp but as I scowl out at the darkness beyond the trees, it whispers again,Betrayer’s.
With a snarl, I lift Rooke off the wall back up into my arms and stalk to the edge of the hot spring, my body curling around her protectively. Her eyes flash white as she lets her magic pour from her body to plunge into the ground, her arms tight around my neck as she allows me to haul her around while she figures out how close to danger we are.
When I step back onto the rock ledge, I set her back down onto her feet and she murmurs, “Raving witches.”
She swipes a hand down herself and instantly a clean set of fighting robes appears on her body. Reaching out to her pack, a pop of light flashes and it disappears while I’m furiously tugging clean clothes on at her side. She slips a fresh pair of socks on and shoving her feet back into her leather boots, and as she buckles her cloak over her shoulders she murmurs to me, “They’re traveling at the edge of the forest; they've already lost numbers trying to gain entrance.”
Furious at the interruption and the idea of Kharl Balzog's armies touching Brindlewyrd soil, I can only jerk my head into a nod as I get my own boots on. I shove my cloak over myshoulders, cursing the damned thing, but it’s the only thing that can cover the evidence of my desire for my Fates-blessed mate.
Rooke reaches a hand out and puts my pack away in that same holding space, the languid and sultry look gone from her eyes. Even though I’m furious at its loss, I know it’s for the best; those eyes are for me alone and if either of the goblin princes or their soldiers catch even a glimpse of her, all our work to build trust would be gone in an instant.
Rooke doesn't comment on the malevolence thickening the air around me or the firm grip of my fingers at her elbow as we make the precarious path back to the camp, but I can’t stop until she’s back within the protection there. Pouring my magic into the land, the forest shows me a far greater number of raving foot soldiers than I was expecting; thousands streaming around and their direction impossible to discern now they’re desperately trying to gain access to the forest but finding themselves denied. The other goblin soldiers haven’t reached the far side of the forest yet but their numbers are still far greater, and there’s no need to ride out after them. We’re safest staying within the protection of the trees for the night.
When we reach the sentry, Prince Gideon stands with him scowling furiously and relief in his eyes when he sees the two of us. Rooke pauses to murmur reassurances but I only endure enough to know Gideon isn’t riding off after his soldiers before I drag my Fates-blessed mate back to our tent. Nudging her in ahead of me and snapping it closed behind me, I let out a long breath to soothe some of my anger but it only takes my next breath in to be hit with Rooke’s scent still clinging to me to set my mind spiraling back into violent plans.
Some of this anger is directly from the trees, the connection to the land siphoning it into my mind, but the melding of it with my own has created an unwieldy beast to tame. The tent isn’t secure or private enough, even with the band of Rooke’smagic circling it, and it’s almost impossible to calm the enraged Unseelie high fae need within me that demands I kill every male in the camp just so I can taste her without risking another seeing what’s mine.
Rooke stretches out her hand and our packs appear in the corner before she lays down on her bed roll easily. It takes me countless deep breaths to be able to do the same but when I finally do, she moves until our arms press against one another. It’s intolerable and impossible to be so close without demanding more, tugging her arms until she’s laid across my chest and though it doesn't fix the burning fury that the Betrayer’s would come here again, it pushes it far enough to the back of my mind that I can attempt to sleep.
Though she settles against me easily, there’s a twitching energy that doesn’t ease in Rooke and it takes until enough of the anger has burned from my veins before I can think clearly enough to push at our mind connection. She hesitates, still unsure of keeping it open, but slowly eases the wall down. She’s calm, sure in our protections, and ready for the journey home, even if we’re forced to cut our way through Kharl Balzog’s grotesque armies. There’s no sign of the unease keeping her from sleep— except one thing.
Glancing down the length of the bodies, I send through to her,take your boots off.
She tenses a little, a flurry of new emotions moving through the mind connection too quickly for me to get hold of them, but when I move like I’m going to sit up and remove them— because I am— she finally sighs and does it herself. Her toes wriggle in her socks as she lies back down, settling herself on my chest again, and her eyes close with far more ease.
She’s asleep almost instantly.
