Page 240 of Split or Swallow

Rowe did not want to yield. The strain from resisting Caspen’s order was evident on his face. His body was rigid, his muscles tensed to the point of exertion.

But Caspen was the future king. He had won the favor of the council and his power was the strongest it had ever been—even now, Tem could feel it vibrating off of him, clouding her vision with stars.

Finally, as if compelled by an otherworldly force—and perhaps that’s what Caspen’s power was—Rowe’s hand went slowly to his cock. He wrapped his fingers around the base and began to pump. He finished pathetically fast; it took three strokes before his head arched back with a tortured grunt. He palmed most of his cum, but Tem saw a single drop fleck onto his foot. She stared at it as Caspen said:

“Refer to her by anything other than her name again and you will no longer have a cock to stroke. Do I make myself clear?”

Rowe nodded, his eyes still glazed over with orgasm, his chest covered in sweat.

“Say it,” Caspen ordered. “Say her name.”

Rowe blinked, his eyes focusing on Tem.

“Temperance.”

There was no mistaking the hot thread of hate in his voice.

“Good. Now get out.”

Rowe didn’t need telling twice.

The moment he was gone, Tem looked back at Caspen.

“You made him angry,” she whispered.

“He made me angry.”

Caspen’s tone was so forceful that Tem swallowed the rest of her thought, which was that Rowe was not a good enemy to have right now, especially when they needed his support. Humiliating him in front of the council could bring nothing but trouble. But before she could worry about it, Caspen spoke again:

“Everyone out,” he said, his eyes never leaving hers.

Tem didn’t even hear the rest of the council leave.

She only felt Caspen’s hands on her waist as he lifted her, turned her in midair, and pulled her straight down onto his cock.

She gasped at the sudden fullness, her hips moving against their own accord, her body craving him just as surely as he craved her. Tem grasped his shoulders, using them to steady her as she took exactly what she needed from him. When their lips met, Caspen groaned, and Tem knew he liked her best when she was just like this: naked on his lap. He squeezed her ass. Then her throat.

Tem didn’t stop riding him. She needed what came next—needed to feel that ultimate release. Smoke was rising from Caspen’s torso but she no longer feared it. Something in her called to it—something in her wanted more. Sex with Caspen felt different now that they were engaged, now that she knew who she really was.

Come for me, Tem. I need to see you come.

Tem was already coming. She threw her head back as her orgasm hit her, blossoming in her center and spreading up her spine. An overwhelming wave of approval washed over her, and she knew it was Caspen’s. He loved seeing her this way—messy and sexy and free—coming for him exactly when he told her to. And Tem loved being this way for him.

Now she understood how she could share her body with another, but only belong to him. How they were fated—beyond comprehension, beyond logic, beyond reason—their very matter intertwined in an impenetrable thread. They would not be broken. Ever.

Between the orgasm Rowe had given her and the one she’d just had, Tem felt as if she were made of sunlight.

Caspen pulled her off his cock and set her on the edge of the table, his face between her thighs. For a singular moment, he simply looked up at her, and Tem was reminded immediately of the first time they met, when she’d touched herself in the warm darkness of the cave, and he’d touched himself in return. She’d been so naive then.

Caspen lowered his mouth.

It was one thing for Rowe to taste her. It was quite another for Caspen to slip his tongue inside her, to show her without a shadow of a doubt that she was his—that they belonged to each other. His tongue traced slow circles around her clitoris, just enough to make her arch her back, but not enough to make her come again. When his fingers entered her she moaned, grabbing the back of his head and holding him against her. He licked her willingly, deliciously, the way every girl wanted to be licked—like she was the ultimate prize and the man between her legs was so lucky to have won her. He licked away all of her wetness from the orgasm she’d just had, and by the time he was finished, she was wet again from what he was doing now. The marble table was hard beneath her ass. But it didn’t matter. What he was doing felt so good that Tem could have stayed here all night. Just when she was moments away again, he stood, slid his cock inside her, and thrust until they finished together.

Tem rested there, her legs wrapped around him, their chests pressed together, their hearts beating in unison.

That was some council meeting.

Caspen laughed, the sound vibrating against her.