Dragons Against Them (Kingdoms of Fire and Ice #2)(27)
She wrapped her arms around her waist and hugged herself. “And the wizard responsible for my kidnapping? What became of him?”
“He died not long after.”
“Oh. Do you think the wizard who replaced him hates me as much as his predecessor?”
At that, Zayne couldn’t help but grin. He pulled his distraught betrothed gently into his chest and placed a kiss upon her fair head. “Neither man hated you, my lady, only your irrational father. But from what I understand, Forath’s high wizard, Haelan, has become a close advisor to the king. I highly doubt he is planning to steal you away again. Or anyone in our kingdoms, for that matter. To everyone else, you are the lost child who has miraculously returned home, no longer a pawn in some ongoing battle to gain power.”
She remained silent for a long moment, her arms drawn tight around him. When finally she spoke, her words were barely a whisper. “But what if you’re wrong?”
“I will allow no harm to come to you, Adelaide. On my life I swear it.”
The urge to protect her flared within him, instinct attempting to eclipse logic. He clamped his eyes shut and drew in a breath to calm himself, to lull the beast back into its dormant state. But his intake of breath brought with it her scent, and the dragon within began to demand a different kind of release. As both man and beast felt the same desire for the woman in his arms, Zayne knew it was futile to suppress the fire now coursing through his veins. He wove his hand up into the back of her hair and bent to kiss her cheek. Then her chin.
“I believe you.” She tipped her head back, offering him a better view of her beautiful neck.
Submission. The beast within him purred with delight.
Zayne pressed his lips to hers and delighted when she responded by deepening the kiss, pressing her body into his. But there was far too much fabric between them. He swept her from her seat and moved toward the room’s lone bed, hungry with the need to see her naked beneath him, to feel her cool center welcome him as the two became one.
Zayne laid them down, him atop her. She squirmed beneath him as though her conscience had suddenly grown wise to his intentions. Addie turned her face to break free from his kiss, but he was not to be refused. While she drew in a ragged breath, he placed a trail of kisses just beneath her jawline.
He nipped her earlobe while pressing his hardened length against the V of her legs. She let out a small mew, stoking the flame of desire within him further. He bent to kiss his way down her neck to nip at each of her peaks. Sharp intakes of breath greeted his ears at each taste, but rather than continue to squirm in an attempt to escape him, Addie arched into him, eager for more.
Zayne drew back to free himself of the clothing now restricting him so. Addie propped herself up on both elbows and arched a brow at him. It was a look she gave him often, one full of challenge.
“What if we get caught?”
He kicked his clothes aside and pushed her skirts up to expose her undergarments—which he quickly removed. Zayne lowered to his knees beside the bed and pulled her close, answering not with words but with a lap of his tongue. Addie drew in a sharp breath beyond the mountain of fabric that was her gown. She tasted as sweet as ever. Perhaps sweeter from the oils and herbs with which her royal maidens had bathed her.
His length hardened painfully, demanding entrance and release. But he refrained, wishing to please his Adelaide before seeking pleasure himself. She clawed at the quilt beneath her, writhing and mewing beneath his laving tongue. He held her in place, unwilling to free her from this most intimate of kisses. Her body began to grow more and more rigid beneath his hold, and when the time was right, Zayne eased two fingers into her cool, wet core. With a muffled scream, her climax came swiftly, her center pooling from the release.
As she worked to catch her breath, he kissed each of her thighs and the soft patch of blonde locks above them. But his own need was too great for further delay. He eased her body toward the center of the bed, then lifted both the backs of her knees in his hands and savored the view as his length slid into her cool wetness.
A throaty moan escaped her lips, and his gaze found hers. He drew back and slid in farther, eliciting another moan. A quiver rippled through her, momentarily tightening their connection, and Zayne nearly came undone. But he held back and maintained a slow, easy pace, wanting to savor the moment, the feeling, the view.
Lord, that view. Her smooth, pale skin flushed with desire. Her lust-filled, heavy-lidded crystalline gaze. Her glorious peaks, her silky golden locks. If he lived to be five hundred, never would he tire of any of it.
“Oh God. Yes. Faster, Zayne. Faster.”
He did as she asked, his desire intensified by the urgency in her voice. Addie closed her eyes, brows furrowed in concentration. She moved with him, hips undulating and hypnotizing. All too soon, she was biting back a second cry and Zayne felt her tighten around him. As the second climax ripped through her, it pulled him over the edge into sweet oblivion as well.
Spent and sated, he lay beside her and pulled her close, determined even now to ensure she felt safe. Protected. Loved. For to lose his Adelaide, to allow fear to drive her back into her other world, would surely kill him. As she curled into Zayne, her soft body a perfect fit to his, he silently vowed to do everything in his power to ensure she remained here—no matter who or what might stand in the way.
Chapter 13
Rosalind followed a stone-faced Jaxon through the halls of his mother’s…home? Castle? What should she even call this place? Each room they passed held an interior different from the last, some looking more like the forest that surrounded their village than the residence of its leader. Rather than comment on the uniqueness of such a place, she held her tongue, sensing the frustration that rolled off her escort in waves.