The Centaur Queen (The Dark Queens #7)(47)

“You’ve had sex with others before me,” I said, trying to understand why it was that I continued to fight this as I did. Why couldn’t I accept her words as truth? Why was it so hard for me to believe her?

I stared at the beauty in my lap and understood why. Nymphs were lovely and carefree and fun, but Tymanon was an angel. She was everything I never thought I could truly have and never known I’d wanted.

Until now.

She sighed. “Sex, yes. And it was awful.”

Her hands were hot and gliding as they moved over my shoulders, down my arms, and up my back. If I hadn’t already been sitting, I might have collapsed under my own weight. This woman had broken me completely.

“They rutted me from behind like a beast, grunting and groaning, and it was over almost before it’d started.”

I chuckled. Her description did sound terrible. “So you’re with me for my magical cock. You wouldn’t be the first, my álogo.”

She snorted, the sound vaguely horsey, and my soul soared.

“While your cock is magic, it is not why I choose you. I choose you because you make me feel inspired. You make me have all these wonderfully insane feelings that make me feel sick and wondrous and weightless and desperate.”

She had just described my own feelings, and I huffed. “Gods above, I love you, female.” The words just tumbled out of me.

She beamed, seeming almost to glow. “I know. You just need to accept that I feel the same.”

And then she lowered herself onto my aching cock, slowly sliding down inch by inch. Neither of us thought about what awaited us tomorrow. Right now, I had my woman right where I wanted her. I made love to my centauress until she screamed my name to the heavens.

How could I ever let her leave me? How could I ever walk away from her after this?

I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. Somehow, someway we had to make this work. Somehow, someway I had to convince her for the rest of our long lives that she’d chosen right when she’d picked me. I would work to make her love me always.

She was mine. This lovely, shy, intelligent female was all mine. And I was hers.





Chapter 14


Tymanon

We made love all night long, stopping only to rest for an hour or so before one of us rolled over and initiated it all over again.

I looked at him now, asleep on the mat beside me, the one he’d crafted for me inside the games. Every thoughtful gesture and deed he’d ever performed for me, I thought about now.

True enough, Petra would never be considered a great beauty, or even ruggedly handsome. But I’d never cared much for the outer shell. I’d always looked at the heart and judged. And in that, he was far more beautiful than anything or anyone I’d ever met before.

I bit my bottom lip as my gaze raked over him. His nose was slightly crooked. He had freckles everywhere. His hair would never be anything but messy. I smiled. I was so unbelievably in love it bordered on the obscene.

With a soft laugh, I trailed my fingers down the crook of his nose, hoping he’d stir, look up, and grab me again. I sensed he might still be holding back during intercourse.

It was good. Better than good. It was amazing. But Petra was unbelievably tender with me, almost like I was made of glass. There were times I’d see a glow in his eyes, something wild and feral. It’d scared me the first time I’d seen it. But now, I found myself growing curious, wondering what it would feel like if he unleashed that tempest on me the way he surely had with his nymphs.

I jutted out my jaw, determined to make him completely lose himself with me. I wanted to feel his fire, feel his burn. Petra feared he wasn’t my equal. Well, I feared he’d think the opposite someday too.

I wasn’t delicate. I wasn’t scared. I wanted his animal, wanted him to know it was safe to play with me however he wanted to. I bit the corner of my lip.

“I love you, you bloody, stubborn fool,” I whispered, and still he didn’t stir. He slept the sleep of the dead. Yesterday had been trying for us both. Soon the Fates would arrive, sending us on our next challenge.

There’d be no more lovemaking, at least not for now. I tried to squelch my disappointment, but couldn’t hide the frown on my lips. I was insatiable for this man and doubted that would ever change.

“Centauress, queen of nothing.”

The voice was deeply feminine, and I twirled on my seat, staring directly into the milky-white eyes of Lachesis, the Fate of the present and measurer of the golden thread of life. She was the middle sister of the three sisters, and yet yesterday, I’d sensed it was she who made the final decision in a predestined matter.

She was dressed in a deeply v-cut robe of such brilliant white that it moved like freshly fallen mounds of pristine snow behind her. She looked older today, less maiden and more mother, with a few smile lines around her eyes and mouth. Her skin was still the same shade of golden bronze, but her hair was as white as her gown. The tri-tipped crown of stars rested upon her lovely head.

I glanced over her shoulder, noting the absence of her sisters. Lachesis had come alone. Why?

“Is the challenge to begin already?” I asked, thinking we had more time.

She shook her head. “No.”

I lifted a brow but said nothing, waiting for her to say what she’d come here to say. Her look was penetrating. Blind as she was, I knew she could see me. She held her shoulders erect, the pose almost arrogant. But I sensed no threat from the Fate.