Page 84 of Storm of Ink and Blood

“Good,” he said with a feral smile. “Because I haven’t even started yet.”

TWENTY-NINE

Rabin scooped Zarya into his arms. She looked radiant, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes glazed over with lust. He buried his nose into the curve of her neck, inhaling deeply. She smelled like fire and shadows and blood. The taste of her was the sweetest, most decadent flavor, and he’d known from the moment he’d touched her that he’d never get enough.

He ignored Abishek’s chastising voice in his head. He’d given a direct order, but Rabin was too wrapped in her to pay it any heed. If she would have him, then no one would keep them apart.

They made their way through the manor, the hallways quiet, just the way he preferred at this time of night. By now, the staff would be comfortable in their own homes. He didn’t need tending at all hours of the day and enjoyed the solitude after the sun set.

This also allowed him to enjoy every inch of Zarya in complete privacy.

“Where are we going?” she asked as he veered down a hall leading away from the bedroom they’d shared last night.

“Someplace special,” he said. He’d rarely felt the urge to smile in his life, but around her, he couldn’t seem to contain it. He loved the way she looked at him with wonder, those bright eyes brimming with curiosity.

He swept them down the wide staircase to the main floor and then towards a wall made of vines. As they approached, they began to move, slithering over one another to create an opening and revealing the enchanted garden at the center of the house.

“This is so beautiful,” Zarya breathed as he set her on her feet. The smell of a thousand blossoms filled the air, mingling with the fresh, sweet scent of the tiny ponds dotting the space.

“Come,” he said, taking her hand and dragging her down a path covered with soft moss. Dragonflies, fireflies, and butterflies swooped around them, along with the hundreds of peri who made these trees their home.

When Gi’ana had destroyed the fairy grove all those years ago, they’d also destroyed the peris’ only natural habitat. With the seeds he was able to scrounge from the salted earth, he rebuilt this magnificent grove to rival the one they’d lost where the peri could thrive safely forever.

They entered a clearing bordered by high hedges scattered with a rainbow of flowers. In the center sat a large wooden platform surrounded by curtains of sheer white fabric. On it was a massive bed draped in white sheets and a mountain of silver pillows.

Zarya came to a stop, her hand pressing to her chest. She looked up at the sky and the stars visible overhead. He’d left it open to the elements so the birds and peri could come and go as they pleased. The natural rain also helped keep everything nourished.

“This is… I don’t have words for any of this,” she said as he drew her up the steps of the platform and tipped a smile. “You should understand how rare that is.”

Rabin laughed as he drew her towards him, wrapping his arms around her waist. Laughter wasn’t something he was used to, either, but it was easy when he was with her.

“I love your words,” he said. “Every single one of them.”

She snorted a laugh and looked around them, her eyes wide with wonder. He still had to earn back her trust, but she was giving him this chance to start proving himself.

She turned to him, and their gazes met before he leaned down and kissed her. Their tongues slicked together as she melted against him. He pulled her tighter, wishing he could just keep her here forever. His cock throbbed painfully as she pressed against him. He wanted to consume her. Be consumed, but he was already drowning.

He felt for the tie of her dress and tugged as the fabric slipped apart. He kept waiting for her to stop him. For her to realize she was far too good for him. For rightfully never forgiving him for the lies he’d told.

She pulled away and looked up at him, stepping back and opening her dress before letting it slide off her shoulders into a puddle at her feet. He stared at her, taking in every line of her body.

The curves of her strong thighs and arms. Her perfect rounded breasts. The gentle slope of her toned stomach and those planes of muscle running down each side. She was a warrior from head to toe, forged in the acrimony of her loneliness. A lesser person might have broken under the weight of all she’d been through, but it had only made her stronger. It had turned her into this flame that sparked against the darkest night. A star exploding across the heavens.

“Are you just planning to stare at me all night,” she asked as his eyes dragged up to her face with a smirk before he once again perused her from head to toe, his gaze lingering on the space between her thighs as his mouth watered for a taste. He wondered how wet she was. How it would feel entering her tight pussy as it swallowed his cock.

“I guess I have to do everything around here,” she joked as she sauntered over and reached for the laces of his pants. He snatched her wrist and then dragged her towards him with an arm around her waist, crushing her breasts to his chest.

“I’m the one in charge here, Spitfire,” he growled, causing her lips to part on a small gasp.

“Then prove it,” she whispered.

Snaking a hand up the back of her head, he tipped it back and devoured her mouth, tasting the wine she’d been drinking and the sweetness of her breath. She was addicting. He became a helpless heap of nothing in her arms. Her willing servant, falling to his knees with a single look.

She rubbed against him, seeking the friction of his cock pressing against her cunt.

“Take it out,” he ordered, and her lips parted as she licked her lips and nodded, truly at a loss for words this time. Her fingers danced along the waist of his pants, gently scraping the muscle and tracing the dip of his hips before her slender fingers slipped lower.

She peered up through her lashes before reaching down to wrap her hand around his cock. “That’s it,” he urged, his entire body reacting to the cool contrast of her skin. “Just like that.” She squeezed him with the perfect amount of pressure as he continued encouraging her efforts. Faster. Slower. Tighter. He grew harder and harder under her touch, his stomach pushing in and out with the force of his gasping breaths.