“It’s over, Rhydian. All of it. You saved me.” She kisses my cheek. “You were so brave, my love.”
The breath stills in my lungs. Bloom’s smile is beautiful if a touch shy. Pink colors her round cheeks.
“Of course I love you, Rhy. You are everything to me.”
“I love you, too.” My bloody hands cup her perfect face. “I had to kill him. For what he did to you—to my father. Me. He had to die, Bloom.”
“He did.”
My mouth finds hers. I pour my love into it. Our tongues twin together in a familiar dance. The knowledge that I’ll get to spend forever kissing her makes me deepen our current one. With the demon of the past dealt with, I surrender to my future. To Bloom.
To love.
“I’m coming to Dew Hollow with you.”
I kiss her mouth again.
“I’m going to marry you.”
I kiss her cheek, tasting her tears of joy.
“I’ll help your father. And we will have a family of our own.”
“Yes.” She pulls me down on top of her. “Yes to all of it, Rhy. Yes to—ouch!”
Bloom lifts up from the floor. Beneath her is a woolen sack. Scrambling back, she braces herself on her knees before opening it.
We both gasp at what’s inside.
“He wasn’t kidding when he said he set off immediately once he went to see my father.” Bloom reaches into the bag and allows the gold coins to shift through her fingers. “The tithes.”
“We have to return them. Use it as evidence of Pyke’s crimes.”
“We do,” she agrees, before grinning up at me. “In the morning.”
I return her smile.
“In the morning.” Glancing down her blood-stained body, I wrinkle my snout. “We should bathe.”
Bloom nods as I help her to her feet.
Padding to the small bathroom, I refill the tub with warm water. Never have I been more grateful for my magic. Helping Bloom over the side, I settle in behind her and pull her flush to my chest. Picking up a bar of lavender soap, I suds it up and begin washing her clean.
The soap slips from my hand as they stray to her breast. I gently massage the supple mounds and tease her pert nipples. Bloom moans as her head falls against my shoulder. My hands drift lower, over her stomach and into the valley of her thighs. Even in the water, I find her slippery.
Her thighs fall open as I tease her clit. Bloom’s moans rasp against my ear.
Turning in my arms, her hands bracket the sides of the tub. The curve to her lips is pure wantonness.
“We got interrupted before.” She reaches beneath the water to stroke me. “It would be a shame not to finish. We should savor all the alone time we can get.”
Taking her mouth in mine, I swallow her gasp as I rise from the bath with her in my arms. Water slides down our bodies as I navigate us into the bedroom. Sitting on the edge, Bloom groans as she settles atop my lap. Together we place my dripping cock at her soaked entrance.
She sinks down on me slowly. Her tightness makes my head swim. Wet and snug and all mine. Once I am fully sheathed inside, we share a content moan.
The bed creaks as she rises up on her knees and lowers herself. It takes her a moment to find her rhythm. My fingers dig into her hips before straying to her ass. I play with the supple mounds, working her faster. Her breasts jostle with each impale.
“You’re so deep,” she moans.
