Page 80 of Tale of the Heart Queen

“I know.” I place a hand on his chest. “But let’s return to ‘enjoying’ for a minute, please?”

He growls low in his throat and kisses me as his hands smooth over my thighs and stomach, slipping over the water and soap in a way that feels decadent. His hand moves between my thighs, and my legs fall open as his gentle fingers slide along my core.

“Mmm,” he murmurs into my throat. “I’ve missed this. Feeling how wet you get for me.”

He circles my clit, and I gasp, my arm reaching around to grab behind his neck.

“It was less than a week,” I say, and he laughs low and dark.

“It felt longer for me, and even a moment without you is too long. Don’t you know that by now?”

His fingers continue to tease, dipping into me and then back out as circling around.

“I missed you too,” I say. “Every single moment, I only wanted to get back to you.”

“When I couldn’t feel or hear you anymore—” He breaks off with a shudder. “I was sure she was preventing it.”

“Maybe it was the Evanescence,” I say. “What if it cuts people off from the surface?”

A moan slips from my lips as he touches me, his fingers plunging into me with a thrust.

“Maybe,” he says. “All I know is I never want to go back there. At least not until we decide we’re done with this life. Together.”

I exhale a breathy whimper as he drives his fingers in again.

“Fuck,” he says. “That sound. It makes me so fucking hard. I need to be inside you, Lor.”

“Yes,” I gasp as he fingers my clit again. “Please.”

I flip around and straddle his hips, kissing him. Bending his head back and just devouring him. I want to taste him and feast on him. Soak up his essence and every piece of him until he becomes a part of me. We kiss, and we kiss like the world is ending, and maybe it is, but if we don’t survive, then maybe it will have all been worth it because at least we had this. And that’s all I ever really needed.

“Lor,” he moans into my mouth. “I don’t know how I lived before you or how I’ll ever live without you.”

My hips rock into his, the hard length of his cock rubbing against me with the most delicious friction.

“You never will. From now until the sun burns out and the mountains crumble into the sea, I will be yours, Nadir. This is my promise.”

I’m not ready to tell him yet what fate might await me, but I will tell him after this. He deserves to know. None of it changes how I feel, and if anyone can help me sort this out, I know it’s him.

He stares into my eyes, and I see the promise written in them. We were nearly lost. The Aurora King almost broke us one more time, but never again. Zerra tried to keep us apart, but nothing and no one will ever find their way between us.

“I don’t know how I got so lucky,” he says.

“I might say the same thing.”

Then I reach between us and guide the head of his cock into my entrance, slowly, so slowly sinking down as he clings to my hips like he’s being shredded apart bit by bit.

I take my time, savoring the stretch and the way he fills every inch of me. When I’m fully seated, I wait, remembering the first time we did this. Remembering when I’d fought so hard against it but then I finally fell, and the plummet was the greatest feeling of my life.

“Are you okay?” he asks, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear and trailing a finger along my cheek. There’s so much concern and love in his expression that my heart expands in my chest. This cruel prince who kidnapped me and tied me to the foot of his bed while he threatened to feed me to his pets. This cruel prince who isn’t so cruel as long as he loves you. The prince who took my heart and held it in his hand and forced me to see him. But who would have handed it back to me if I’d asked.

“I’m okay,” I say, and then I lift up and drop down as we slowly churn together, our breaths mingling and hearts aligning in this divine bliss.

“I love you,” I say. “I need you to understand just how much I love you.”

He quirks a smile, and the sight makes my heart seize in my chest. “I know, Lor. I know you didn’t want to—”

I cover his lips with my finger.