Page 88 of Tale of the Heart Queen

“This is . . . good,” I say.

“What else do you want? What else would ease this stress, Gabriel?”

“I want to touch you.”

She looks at my hands sitting obediently on the cushions, and laughs. This woman is pure sin and seduction. Even her laugh shoots straight to my stomach, stirring up wells of emotion I thought were long dead and buried.

“Then touch me,” she coos. “Wherever you like.”

I don’t wait to be told twice, my hands clamping on to her thighs as I slide them down. She’s just as soft and warm as she looks.

“Sit down,” I tell her because her pussy is just barely touching my now throbbing cock, and it’s making me crazy. “I need to feel you.”

She laughs again, but she obliges, heat spreading through my groin and over my hips as we both sigh. Her eyes twinkle. “I’ve wanted to do this for a while.”

Those words surprise and thrill me in equal measure.

“Me too,” I say, and she leans in close, pressing her breasts to my chest.

“Where else do you want to touch me?” she asks. “Surely my knees aren’t the subject of your fantasies?”

With a grunt, my hands slide back up, settling into the creases of her hips.

“Do you need me to draw you a map?” she teases.

I growl low in my throat. “I assure you I don’t need a map.”

“Then what are you waiting for, Captain?”

My inhale is ragged as I slide my hands inwards, my thumbs sweeping over the damp fabric of her underwear. She lets out a breathy sigh that nearly makes me come in my pants. Fuck. I’m like a horny teenager.

I tease the edge of the lace as she starts to squirm, creating excruciating friction. My chest loosens, and I let out a sigh weighted with relief. This was what I needed. A bit of skin and someone who doesn’t expect me to be anything other than who I am.

My fingers slide under the fabric, where I find her molten heat, and I let out a shudder that makes gooseflesh erupt over my entire body. She peers down at me, licking her lips as I circle her clit, drawing out a breathy moan.

“Sir!” An urgent voice blasts through my thoughts.

We both look over at the interruption. A guard stands in the doorway, and his eyes widen before he looks down with his hands behind his back.

“Captain, I was sent to find you,” he says to his feet.

“What is it?” I snap. I can’t get a fucking break around here.

“Captain, the low fae have breached the palace walls and demand an audience with the king.”

“Great,” I mutter.

Hylene slides off me and retrieves her robe before we rush through the hallways as thunder claps overhead. Clouds roll in, the weather changing swiftly. I try not to take that as an ominous sign.

We emerge into the front courtyard, where torches illuminate the darkened evening, casting the world into razor-sharp shadows.

The kind where demons lurk and the ruin of a kingdom waits.

Hundreds of people gather outside the palace walls, chanting into the night. Dozens more have flooded through gates ripped off their hinges, pressing against the line of Aphelion soldiers attempting to hold them back. They’re calling for the king, their voices high and fever pitched, their arms stretched towards the palace as if trying to brush it with their fingertips.

The sight is chaos, bodies churning and writhing, and for a moment, I can’t move. I can’t breathe. My training never prepared me for anything like this.

I catch sight of two guards parting to let someone through before Erevan stumbles past the line. My jaw clenches. I should have known he was responsible for this.