She bit her lip, her cheeks blooming pink. Ducking her head, she let her hand fall between our plates.
I sat beside her, brushed her fingers with mine.
“Do you want to visit?”
“I know it well enough,” she said, flashing a smile toward someone across the way. “But I’d like for you to see it. You’ll never get another chance.”
I nodded as a servant placed a bowl of chowder in front of me—steam rising, broth thick with fish and spice. “Then we shall go.”
The evening unfolded easy as breathing. Nienna chatted with her family, her fingers sketching patterns on my hand—the same ones I’d drawn across her skin the night before, once hunger of another kind had been sated.
My mouth curved as she traced an infinity loop on my palm, her focus on her mother’s words. I wondered if she realized she was doing it—or if echoing the motion came naturally.
After the plates cleared and the lights burned low, I stood as Chief Jehoikim approached.
“Congratulations are in order, King Kallias Sunspear,” he bellowed, dragging every pair of eyes at the table toward us. I caught the guarded glances and the polite strain behind tight smiles. No one liked him. But everyone tolerated him.
I squared my shoulders and leaned in, letting my height press into his space. “Thank you, Chieftain.”
He spared Nienna no such courtesy. From the way his gaze skimmed over me, bounced to her—I would wager he thought I got the better end of the bargain.
He wouldn’t be wrong.
“She’s going to be a fiery one,” he said with a low, ugly laugh, patting the sash stretched tight across his bulky chest. “Is your kingdom ready for her?”
“She is exactly what Radaan needs,” I replied, my voice steady and measured. I eased a step forward, cutting him off from Nienna. “A queen with claws and fangs. I would have no other.”
And a passion bright enough to burn away the darkness.
“She could be what your kingdom needs, but I’ve been hunting for the time to discuss what your people mightwant.”
I nodded through his posturing, grunting at the right moments—appeasing the man’s desire to debate trades. Radaan had no use for pearls or crystal trinkets, but my ports remained open. I watched Nienna finish her bowl as he rambled on.
She placed her spoon down, and her eyes swept my frame, snagging on the apex of my thighs. A blush bloomed across her cheeks, and she looked away, tucking loose strands of hair behind her ear.
Pride surged through me. I knew exactly where her thoughts had gone.
“More pearls,” Ronan slid between us, voice cool, gaze colder, “mean more Vessels from Draconia.” He tossed a glance at Nienna, then let his eyes trail down me with open disgust before dragging them back up.
“I grow weary of trade,” I said, slapping a hand on Ronan’s shoulder with a smile.
His expression soured, jaw clenched, fingers whitening around his glass.
“Perhaps the prince would be more helpful. He knows what Draconia can offer, and what the Kulletti might share with Radaan in return.”
I took my leave without waiting for their response, returning to Nienna’s side as she stood. My hand found the curve of her back, and I guided her away from the table, my grip tightening around her waist.
The room. I had to make it to our room. I couldn’t take her against a wall like some feral boy who hadn’t known a woman.
My lungs burned for air. Control frayed with every step. Her head lowered, her knuckles brushing my thigh again and again.
My lips were on hers before I kicked the door shut. Greaves blurred to the edge of my thoughts. I shoved my hunger aside all day, caged it like some wild animal, and now it broke free, savage and immediate.
She moaned when I spun her into the wood, her back arching as she pressed into me, lips parted, neck offered.
“The bed is right there,” she gasped.
I nipped down her throat, trailed soft apologies over each mark I left. She wasn’t wrong. The plush mattress and blankets waited across the room—but it might as well have been miles. My body screamed for releasenow. Was this a side effect from being celibate for so long—or justher? My body’s reaction to her taste, her passion?
