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He didn’t say a word, but his face must have been enough to send his message across as she gulped and led him there. They navigated the dwindling crowd, then opted for narrower pathways until they found a shortcut leading to the other end. The space she was talking about was dark and slightly cramped, but there was a portion at the back where they could move around.
He backed her into the wall and kissed her more passionately than he had outside, letting out what he had been keeping from potential spectators. She responded in kind, her muscles relaxing as she sank into the kiss, but her hands ran busily all over his body. Every touch ignited fire until he was burning all over, and there was only one way to quench the thirst.
“I can make you come now with my fingers, and we can finish it up in the castle,” he grunted, already finding her wet and unable to stop his gentle thrusting. But she stopped him, hand tugging insistently on his wrist as she tiptoed to whisper.
“I want you inside me. Please.”
Maybe he could have resisted the request, but the please did him in, melting all defenses as his hands got busy, too. An unzipping here and a lift of dress there was the only thing they needed as he positioned his cock at her entrance and didn’t wait to make its push. Blue eyes darkened when he was halfway in, then dilated when he was buried to the hilt.
“You are so big,” she whimpered, but there was no protest there.
He gritted his teeth, stupefied at the tightness that just kept going. Then Nate was hitching her up and moving his hips to seek more of that heat she offered, unable to get enough. She moved in time with him like they had been doing this for years, a rhythm that beat down his core and danced in his heart. When she moaned, he placed his fingers over her lips and cursed when she closed over his thumb and sucked. The strong, steady thrusts stuttered, but they still made her moan.
“Close?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, then a series of more yeses fluttered out of her lips. He kissed every one of them as he hefted her butt, seeking more. She understood and wrapped her legs around his waist, held on to beams above them for purchase, and gave him the most mind-melting, spearing look there was. “Hurry.”
The woman was determined to make him lose semblance all the time, but he didn’t mind—not when it felt this good. He poured his energy into his pounding, crazed over the taste of her mouth and the feel of her clenching, determined to give her whatever she needed. When he sensed her restlessness, he shifted the angle a little and watched as her expression blossomed into disbelief, then a pleasure so raw that he could taste it.
The triumph of finding her best spot raged over him as he repeatedly hit her there and witnessed Winter’s climax taking over in the form of a molten gaze, mouth parted, and the sweetest cry releasing from her lips. He swallowed that cry with his tongue and kept up the pace until he could feel his balls tingling, too, then ringing with so much force that it bordered on painful. At that point, all bets were off and he drove with abandon, using her body as much as she used his, seeking that final snap. Then it happened, and he could only hold on as he shuddered his orgasm out and into her.
Like all of their moments coming together, he slumped into her, stunned at how good and intense it was each time. But something was different now, and a look at her sated, vulnerable features told him why.
“You didn’t bite me.”
The craving for blood had been there, lurking at the surface. But the need to please her and just be inside her had been the center of his being when he had fucked her…no, when he had made love to her. Because this was no longer just a random attraction, but a woman he had fallen in love with.
Dumbfounded, he could only nod his head, hesitant to say the words that churned in his system. She wanted to travel to the Otherworld. She wanted to be free from this world,hisworld—and wasn’t it his duty to keep to his promise when the time came and let her go if he did love her?
Even if it meant his heart would break just a bit.
“I can do it later. In the castle.” Nate attempted a smile. “Come on. Let’s go back and check on House Rue.”
They were more careful on their way back to the castle, with him trying to shut off his mind—and heart—to face what was ahead. They managed to sneak back in with no one the wiser, the smooth travel assuring him that the rest of the night would be smooth, too…until he took his first step inside.
An off feeling penetrated his calm before his heart skipped a beat. It had him walking faster and Winter calling his name before they stopped in their tracks at the ashen-faced, quivering servant ambling toward them. The man wasn’t even looking where he was going, and the vampire beside the man looked like she was ready to faint. Recognizing the latter, he strode forward but was halted when Winter took his hand with a soundless gasp.
“Winter?”
He watched her face drain of color and her head shake frantically. Then he looked at other vampires leaving their house areas and gathering as they murmured to each other in the distance…and his heart felt like it would rip in two when he finally caught wind of what they were saying.
The king is dead. Murdered in his room. He’s dead.
Chapter 11
It felt like Winter was stuck in a dreamlike state as she shadowed Nate in his haste to get to the main area of House Hendricks, where a few houses had already gathered and were being waved away by the guards. They listened to the command and backed away while Nate glissaded forward, unseeing of the crowd parting for him. Her head throbbed at the great number of clashing energies pushing into her, cut off only when they entered a grand room and the doors were closed. Inside, the queen had her hands covering her face, Nicola was openly crying, and Nicholas was sitting at the side and peering over the glass window.
When Nate went for Nicholas, Winter blocked his path and gave him the deepest warning sign she could without saying a word. His lips flattened, appearing calm, but the grief and rage thrumming in his eyes were a dead giveaway to how he felt. When she shook her head, he grunted and approached his mother instead.
“Mother, tell me what happened.”
“He was murdered. Your father was murdered.”
Helena’s hands trembled. Before any of the siblings could comfort her, guards barged into the room and circled them, their golden seals glimmering. The clash of energies returned, distracting Winter as she rubbed her head, but it was the gush of hate directed towards her that had her gulping down the pain and searching for its source. Half of the guards were looking at her with accusations on their faces, but it was the severe look from the queen that had dread sinking in her stomach.
“Arrest them,” the older woman ordered.
Nate’s head snapped up. “What?”
