Page 78 of Bride of Ash & Dust

Zarek gives me the most wicked smile I’ve ever seen, and some part of me knows I’ll see that smile in my dreams. And every time I bring my hand between my legs and try to replicate what he’s doing now.

“Just a minute,” Zarek replies, as his fingers drive into me.

I collapse on the bed, my entire body trembling beneath his hand. Zarek leans down, pressing his lips to my ear.

“Quiet, Princess,” he whispers.

I’m gasping. I’m shaking. I never dreamt anything could feel like this, and my gods, if he ever stops, I’m going to burn the world down. I close my eyes as the room spins, dimly aware of the voices on the other side of the door, of the way Zarek’s breath catches in my ear.

“Don’t stop,” I gasp. “Don’t— Gods, don’t⁠—”

There’s another loud bang on the door. My hips rock against the bed, rising to meet Zarek’s hand, the place where his fingers are making my entire body burn.

“I said,” Zarek calls, as he makes my body dance, “just a minute!”

“No,” I whimper. “No, don’t stop, no⁠—”

He can’t stop, can’t ever stop. This feels too good, it’s too much. I’m burning, I’m drowning, I’m going to⁠—

“Godsdamn it,” the voice on the other side of the door growls. “We gotta move.”

The door rattles.

And I explode.

Zarek presses his lips to mine, swallowing the sounds I make as my body comes undone. For the second time this morning, I think I’m dying. Zarek kisses me as I slowly come back to the world. The mattress under my back. The warmth of Zarek’s body next to mine. The first pale light of the rising sun streaks the wooden beams above the bed.

The mattress shifts as Zarek rolls out of bed, and I’m dimly aware of him pulling the covers over my body. I watch in a numb sort of haze as he walks to the door. There’s a click as he undoes the lock.

“It’s about fucking time,” the voice on the other side of the door grumbles.

Zarek slips through the door, then closes it behind him. I hear the click of the lock again.

My body sinks into the soft mattress as the room slowly fills with light. Rain brushes the window in little bursts, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt as good as I feel right now. So that’s what all the songs are talking about, I realize as I close my eyes.

That’s what I’ve been missing.

Chapter 43

Zarek

WHY WE’RE HERE

“We’re stopping here?” I ask.

Lyam just grunts. The de facto leader of our little group, at least until Prince Syvan returns from wherever in the hells he’s gone, Lyam seems especially on edge today. They were in a rush this morning, shoving us out of the mayor’s house without the customary lengthy diplomatic breakfast. I was surprised Syvan didn’t appear overnight, and Lilias kept turning back over her shoulder to look at the road behind us. She’s probably watching for Anura, who should be returning with Lilias’s forgotten cloak.

There’s more to that little story, I’m sure of it, but now isn’t the time for me to pry. Not when we’re surrounded by soldiers in the middle of the mountains that split the kingdom of Marion from the kingdom of Ethiria.

The time to ask would have been last night, if I hadn’t gotten drunk like a complete asshole. Or this morning⁠—

I shift in the saddle as my cock remembers this morning. My horse snorts, reminding me that he does not like me and he will not hesitate to throw me. I lean forward to pat him on the neck as his ears tilt back.

Lyam dismounts without answering my question. A pair of servants emerges from one of the canvas tents set in this little valley. It doesn’t look like a particularly good place to spend the night. We’ve spent the day climbing higher and higher into the mountains, and now we’re almost to the top of a low-slung ridge still dotted with patches of snow. The wind blowing down the mountains is cold, and it makes the walls of the tents billow like sails. They look about as cozy as an empty barrel on the side of the road.

If we’d stopped an hour earlier, before crossing one of the many rivers that braid their way through these mountains, we would have been protected from the wind. Or, hells, if we keep going and cross the ridge tonight, we’ll be more sheltered and more comfortable on the other side.

Instead, we came through the woods and found these two tents already fully set up, with servants bustling around the perimeter and the gaudy flag of Vsenrog rippling in the cold wind.