Page 88 of Crown of the Dunes

I dragged the stone in a second long stroke across the sword, and a vibration sounded in my head from a plucked string of magic. I glanced up to find Keera contemplating my gloved hands as they moved on my sword.

The flow of her feelings was odd, hesitant in a way her emotions rarely were. Where they were usually so strong and unapologetic that I had to brace myself from being bowled over by them, they now shot down our bond in short spurts, as if she were trying to contain them. As if she were… embarrassed.

I raised my brows, and although she could not see the expression, I knew she sensed my question.

Keera sighed, folding her legs in and wrapping her arms around her knees. “Is it wrong that I think I missed the gloves… and the mask?”

I paused and looked down, flexing my leather-clad fingers. I had found myself missing the safety of the Viper’s disguise more than I should have, even as I had been trapped behind it. But the words surprised me coming from Keera.

“What did you miss about them?” I asked.

“I miss”—Keera chewed her words, but I waited patiently—“the way things seemed simpler, when I wasn’t a queen and you were not a man, but a symbol I was supposed to hate.”

Slowly, I set my sword and stone aside and reached out. So lightly I barely touched her, I ran my finger across Keera’s bare forearm, where she had rolled up her sleeves.

“But you knew I was a man. Did you hate me?”

A faint shiver ran up her spine, and she closed her eyes and shook her head. “No.”

The word was barely a whisper, but I heard it clearly.

“Even when I didn’t want to, I could see your face under that mask. And I understood why you wore it, even before I realized I did.” Keera’s face twisted. “Now, I wish I had a mask.”

My fingers went from stroking her arm lightly to squeezing it. “Tell me.”

Keera screwed her eyes shut. “I was named the Champion of Kelvadan because I was supposed to give the people hope, but the same power that allowed me to give them that belief in me makes them fear me. I lost control at the Trials in our duel, and I saw the way the people looked at me after I ruined the crops and nearly split the throne room in two. The archons judge my every decision. Even out here in the clans, my blood rises and I break bones when I’m meant to be keeping peace. Just like my own parents thought I was too dangerous, the people of Kelvadan are starting to see the disadvantages of my passion. I’m not a good queen. I’m too… too much.”

My blood rose in a whirlwind. I rocked forward onto my knees and reached for Keera’s face, cupping both her cheeks in my gloved hands. Her eyes snapped open, bright in the dim light. After a day of sun and exertion, her cheeks were darkened with the beginnings of sun burn, like the desert had kissed her skin, and I was almost jealous.

“The desert doesn’t apologize for what she is, and I would never want her to. Her harshness is her beauty, and those of us that love her adore her all the more for it. Do not make yourself less for lesser men.”

Her hands reached for my face, and she didn’t bother removing my mask, just pushing it up so her lips could find mine. I opened to her immediately, letting her exploring tongue lick into my mouth and tangle with my own.

My hands traveled to her waist as I sat back, hauling her into my lap as I went. She came willingly, straddling me on our sleeping mat. Even through all our layers, I could feel the heat of her body—her core as she pressed herself against me. My blood rushed to the spot where her weight pressed down on me so fast, I could hear it rushing in my ears.

The first time I had ever touched Keera like this, I had spilled in my pants with my desperation—and if she didn’t stop making those delicious noises into my mouth, this might end the same way.

I used my hand at her jaw to separate her lips from mine, the other hand coming to pull my mask the rest of the way off. I met her eyes, bright as she panted, the black in the center nearly eclipsing that molten gold.

“Don’t apologize for who you are,” I murmured, inches from her lips. “I never want you any less than I have you now—than I had you the first time.”

Keera sighed, letting her head fall back as I traced my fingers across her collar bone and let them dip into the hollow of her throat.

“These clans and their lords,” she breathed as my hands drifted lower. They brushed over her breasts, which jolted as she inhaled sharply. Already, her nipples poked the thin fabric of her tunic, and I teased them by tracing circles just around the edges with my thumbs.

She swallowed, trying to regain her words, and I resisted the urge to cut her off by covering a breast with my mouth right through the fabric of her clothing.

“They look at you like they believe in you to set things right. The archons don’t look at me like that. They and the ambassadors watch my every move like they are waiting for me to fail. Maybe you were meant to be king.”

I growled, my hands tightening around her rib cage. “The only part of being a king I would ever want is with you as my queen.”

I pulled the neck of her tunic to the side roughly, exposing one of her breasts to me. Satisfaction rolled down my spine at the sight of the flush spreading across her chest. I leaned forward to trace it with my tongue, groaning in satisfaction at the salt and earthy taste that was just Keera clinging to her skin.

I reached her nipple and pulled it into my mouth. A choked whimper escaped Keera, and one of her hands flew over her mouth to muffle the sound. I hummed in satisfaction, the vibrations making Keera jerk in pleasure. I released her breast with a pop, letting my opposite hand give the other attention.

“Maybe I should make you make more of those noises, so everybody in the camp knows that their Lord Viper serves the Queen of Kelvadan,” I rumbled, reaching for the edge of Keera’s tunic and lifting it over her head. “I could spread you open and lick you until you scream so loud that the desert herself knows I kneel before you.”

Keera licked her lips and stared at me through hooded eyes as her chest heaved. Hunger coursed up my spine and pooled in my cock. I tipped her back and cupped the back of her head as I laid her out beneath me.