"Fuck." His voice is shredded. "Your mouth. Gods, your mouth."
I take him deeper. He’s thick and hot against my tongue, the taste of him salt, skin, something distinctly Kaelren. I move slowly, using my hand with my mouth. He lets me. For about thirty seconds, he lets me. His fingers tangle in my hair, hips shifting restlessly, curses slipping under his breath with each stroke.
Then his hands close around my upper arms and he hauls me up.
He lifts me off the floor and into his lap in one motion, turning me so my back is against his chest, my legs draped over his thighs. He pulls me closer, and his mouth finds my ear.
"You will never bow to me," he says. The words are rough, absolute. "Not to me. Not to anyone. Not to any creature in any realm. You kneel for no one, Elle."
"I wasn't bowing, I was giving you a blow job."
"And you were doing it on your knees, and I won't have it." His hand slides up my stomach, between my breasts, and closesaround my throat. Not squeezing. Holding. "You are already my mate. You have been since before I even knew the word for what you are to me." His voice drops lower, and the dark edge softens into something that sounds almost reverent. "And when this is over, when we've survived this, I am going to marry you. Not because I deserve you. But because I have been yours since the moment I saw you, and I will spend the rest of my life proving that I was worth the choice."
My heart slams against my ribs so hard he can probably feel it through his hand on my throat.
"That was significantly better than 'the universe can adjust,'" I manage.
"I've been practicing." His hand leaves my throat and slides down. Over my breasts, palming each one, his thumbs circling my nipples until I arch back against him. Down my stomach. Lower. His fingers find the wet heat between my thighs and press, and I gasp.
"You're already soaking," he murmurs against my ear. "I haven't even started and you're dripping for me. Were you thinking about this on the way here?"
"Yes."
"Tell me what you were thinking about, Wife."
My breath hitches at the term. "You. In that chair. With your shirt open."
"And?" His fingers slide through my folds, spreading me, circling the spot that makes my breath stutter. "What were you going to do about it?"
"Exactly what I did."
"Get on your knees for me?" He slides two fingers inside me and curls them, and my hand flies back to grip his hair. "I told you. The only time you'll be on your knees for me is when I've earned it." He pumps his fingers slowly. "Have I earned it, Elle?"
"Yes," I breathe.
"Not yet." He pulls his hand away, and I almost scream. "But I will."
The chair shifts beneath us.
I feel it happen. The living wood responding to him, to the intent behind his words. The armrests widen. The back rises higher, curving upward, the smooth pale wood thickening and broadening until the carved chair isn't a chair anymore. It's a throne. A living throne grown from the Verdance itself, high-backed and wide, vines curling along the edges with pale blossoms that pulse in the low light.
He stands, lifting me with him, then sets me on the edge of the throne. He steps back and strips.
Slowly.
He shrugs the open shirt off his shoulders. Unclasps the locket and sets it carefully on the desk. Unbuckles his belt and pulls it free. The pants follow.
He stands before me in the dim light, fully bare, and the sight steals the air from my lungs.
Corruption marks trace the length of him. Down his arms, across his chest and stomach, branching over his hips and thighs. Lean and hard, every line sharp. Abs carved, obliques defined, power in every inch.
He’s fully hard, thick and flushed, and he doesn’t hide it. He just stands there and lets me look.
Then he walks forward, takes my hand, and brings my fingers to his chest.
"Feel this," he says.
He guides my hand down. Over the hard plane of his chest. Down his stomach, my fingers tracing every ridge of muscle, every corruption line. Past his navel, down the dark trail of hair, and lower, until my fingers close around him. He wraps his hand around mine and holds it there.
