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Valerian’s eyes darken as something sensual and raw takes hold of him. It seeps into the air of the hedge maze, charging it with tension. A predatory intent that should scare me, but doesn’t. “Lie down.”
“What?” I squeak.
“Princess, I may possess enough willpower to resist claiming you, but you’re my mate, and there is zero chance that I’m letting you leave this maze until I’ve satisfied the restless hunger I feel inside you. Otherwise you’ll never sleep tonight.” One side of his mouth twitches. “I might also have an ulterior motive. Once I’ve shown you the perks of being my mate, you won’t be able to resist consummating the bond.”
I snort. “Arrogant much?”
“I am arrogant because I can be. You’ll understand in a moment. Now, lie down.”
And . . . this is what it feels like to blush from head to toe. My body manages the feat of feeling both numb and exploding with sensation as I do as commanded, resting on my back, knees bent.
The ground is wonderfully soft, the thick carpet of grass strewn with fallen honeysuckle buds and dew. For a breath, the raw scent of the earth and crushed petals trigger a strange sensation deep inside me, as if my slumbering Fae has woken from a long slumber.
Valerian is quiet. He stares down at me for a moment with that wicked smile and those glittering Fae eyes. “I’m going to undress you now, Princess.”
A puff of air flees my lips as he crouches low. When his fingers curl beneath the waistband of my pants, his face softens, becomes almost vulnerable as he hesitates—making sure this is what I want.
It’s this very moment, as he lets me beyond the teasing shield to the real Valerian, that I know I’ll never doubt his love for me again.
He undresses me slowly. With purpose. As if every item of clothing he removes is a declaration of his love for me. When everything but my underwear is gone, moonlight casting soft shadows along my curves, turning my skin almost iridescent, his lips stretch into a cat-ate-the-canary grin.
Except I’m the canary. And I’m so here for it.
Those same lips crush against mine. As soon as I open my mouth for him, his kiss turns surprisingly gentle. Soft. Teasing. A promise that he can be both wild and tender, savage and kind. A promise to never hurt me.
“Is this what I have to look forward to?” I quip. “A lifetime of kisses?”
A low snarl builds in his throat. “Where would my mate like to be kissed?”
“Surprise me.”
He chuckles. “As you command, Princess. But first, a bargain.”
I stiffen. I’ve had my fill of Fae bargains. “What did you have in mind?”
“If I can make you utter a single sound in the next hour, you must tell me what ILB stands for.”
“And if I don’t?” I challenge.
“Then I will spend the next few weeks learning how to remedy that failing.”
Oh, Lordy. He takes my silence as a yes. The stars appear above me as he drags his attention from my mouth to my throat, strands of his silky hair tickling my jaw. He nips his way down to my stomach as his hands slide beneath my thighs, positioning me so that . . .
Sweet mother of Fae and all things holy. The stars momentarily black out. My back arches against his surprise. My legs tremble as a live wire of heat shoots through my middle over and over and—
I bite back the rush of sound ripping up my throat. Heat consumes my body. A deep, aching heat that can only be quenched by Valerian. Every laugh Valerian utters as he works to undo me, every stroke of his fingers against my feverish skin, every piercing, consuming, mind-blowing shard of pleasure that swells my center until I’m certain I’ll shatter—all of it confirms what I must have known all along.
What some quiet, buried part of me has always known.
Valerian, this imperfectly-perfect Fae prince, is my mate.
As the stars fade in and out of my vision, blurring with the fireflies, and my voice builds in my throat, scrambling for release, I can almost imagine a future for us.
Human and Fae. Mortal and immortal. Summer and Winter.
All at once, the pressure releases, and the air violently explodes from my chest, snapping my lips wide . . .
Damn. My arrogant, smarmy, beautiful mate lifts his head to meet my gaze, eyes victorious, and says, “You lost the bargain, very loudly and adorably, I might add.”
