His hand traces down my cheek and cups my chin.
“I was sick earlier,” I warn him.
There’s an amused look in Roiven’s eyes. He ignores me, and bends his neck to press his lips against my closed mouth. Then my cheek. I shiver delightedly and let my eyes fall shut, and his lips ghost gentle kisses on my eyelids, so delicate I barely feel his touch.
He kisses slowly down theline of my neck.
“Do you still hate me for tricking you into being my wife?” Roiven asks.
“Right now, I can’t be bothered.”
“I want to be with you,” Roiven whispers against my skin. “After everything that happened tonight, I don’t want to fightmyself, too.”
“Then don’t fight. Just give in.” I stroke my hand down his back and Roiven shivers against me.
Before this, it was easy to just call my desire lust. I hated him so strongly there was no room for anything else. But maybe, as that hatred ebbed, something unnoticed grew to take its place. Roiven can say he planned everything all he wants. I don’t believe it’s the full truth.
No matter what he says, I’m certain it was real when he held me after the Governor’s ship sank. When he sat with me after my nightmare in the village, and when he took me riding on Sava’s back in the middle of the night. It was more than lust, the way we took comfort in the warmth of each other’s bodies. It was a closeness. A connection and a trust. Just like he says the bond is.
“Roiven? You said I didn’t ask the right question. What was I supposed to ask?”
He tenses, then exhales slowly.
“Whether I’d still choose you as my wife, if I had no other reason to,” the Witch King rasps.
“...You couldn’t possibly.”
“I’ve never wanted someone the way I want you.”
I let go of him and peel his hand off my waist. Roiven steps back an inch, and I feel his uncertainty, wondering if I’m telling him to stop.
But I lace my left hand together with his.
“Then don't trick me like a coward. Claim me outright.”
His fingers are tight around mine for a moment. And then he lets go. He reaches down, grabs me around my waist, and tosses meup. My legs wrap around his hips as Roiven holds me up against him and against his hardening length. His mouth finds my neck again as he carries me towards the rock wall of the hidden cove. Every kiss he presses to my skin sends a splinter of lust through me. He’s offering me an escape right now, and I need one.
I open the barrier between us and let him feel how I want him. How I crave him.
The way he wants me back nearly shatters me apart without him having to touch me at all.
My back presses against the hard stone wall. When Roiven’s hand lets go and reaches between us, I unhitch my legs and let them fall to the ground. His hand slips beneath my waistband, rubbing over my undergarment. I draw a sharp breath through gritted teeth, my hips canting towards his hand, and try not to let the feeling overwhelm me.
“Don’t hide from me,” Roiven says. “Show me how good that feels.”
My left hand holds onto his shoulder, keeping me upright when my legs just want to buckle and collapse. I reach for him through the bond and let him feel every ounce of pleasure he’s giving me.
His finger slides beneath the fabric. Roiven groans.
“Don’t take your time,” I tell him. “I want all of you. Now. Please.”
He exhales hard, and draws his hand back. Roiven peels my trousers down around my thighs, and then shoves down his own. His heavy length swings free.
He hauls me back up against the wall. And then he pushes my knees up against my chest, holding me by the hips, and rubs himself against my entrance. I bite my lip, eyes squeezed shut.
“Look at me,” Roiven demands. My eyes flutter open and he exhales sharply. “Keep those eyes on me, majesty.”
Lined up, he drives inside me. In this position, with my legs pinned up against my chest and kept tight by the trouser waistband still around my thighs, it’s almost unbearably tight. I gasp as hepushes deeper, my body stretching to accommodate his girth, the pressure overwhelming.
