A Throne of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales #2)(88)

He reached down at lightning speed and caught my arm. I squealed as he pulled me up and dragged me in front of him.

“You have revitalized them. Now it’s time for me to revitalize you,” he growled, kicking forward toward Hadriel and Hannon, who were walking down the way with empty mugs in their arms. “Hadriel, take Hannon back and head for the castle. Tonight is the lull. I’ll be spending it with Finley, as previously discussed.”

“Yes, sir. Of course, sir.”

Maryanne trailed after them, her eyes wide and mouth agape. She gracefully fell to a knee.

“Your highness, it is an honor. Thank you for bestowing your royal healer on us.”

“You have her to thank for that, not me. Take her pot. We must be going.”

“Yes, sir.” She rose and reached for it eagerly.

With a scowl, I handed it back, looking at Hannon. “I’ll see you soon, okay? The other villages will likely need looking after as well. Tell the others I said hi.”

He nodded at me, then tilted his head at Nyfain in hello.

“You will definitely see him soon,” Nyfain said as he kept the stallion moving. “The other villages are much like this one. I asked for a tour of the hardest-hit locations. It was…eye-opening. I hadn’t realized it was so bad. I’ve failed them.”

I leaned back into him, resting against his chest. He held the reins with one hand and wrapped the other around me.

“You didn’t fail them, Nyfain. You protected them from the monsters all this time, and you helped me find a cure. It worked again!” I put my hands on his strong thighs. “I have it, I really do. I brought one guy back from the brink of death. I helped several more who were a month or two out. It works!” I beamed, so relieved. “We used all the crowded plant I had dried. I’ll need to harvest more. I might need to pick from other fields, since we have a short supply of crowded plants.”

He squeezed me as we left the perimeter of the village and entered the wood. “You’re the miracle these people needed.”

“I couldn’t be the miracle alone. We did this together.”

He slid his lips down my neck and over my shoulder, applying pressure with his teeth, and a thrill arrested me. I groaned, wanting to be closer. Wanting his skin on mine.

“How did it go at the other villages?” I asked in a breathy murmur.

“I lost my cool a few times. At each village. I have a few triggers, it turns out.”

I smiled, rubbing my cheek against his jaw. “What are those?”

“I don’t much like when people call you common. Or when they say you don’t have enough experience to be valuable—it was the ‘valuable’ part that set me off. Or that you’re incredibly beautiful. Or that people from your village aren’t to be trusted—”

“So all your triggers involve disparaging remarks about me.”

“It seems so, yes.”

“Except the beautiful one…”

“His eyes flared with lust. I didn’t much care for it.”

My animal purred in delight, and it felt like she stretched out through the bond to connect with his dragon. I reached back and hugged a hand around his neck.

“That must’ve been the guy I met in the wood after you drugged me and left my house in the middle of the night.”

“Yes,” he growled, obviously remembering the exchange in the village.

Ask him how he handled it, my animal goaded me. Ask him what he did.

I rolled my eyes, pretending the little thrill was all hers, and relayed the message.

“The reactions varied relating to what they said. Tables were flipped, chairs were thrown, doors kicked in… I didn’t have a firm handle on things.”

“And the guy?”

He growled and raked his teeth down my neck and across my shoulder. Pleasure curled through me, and the thrill from a moment ago intensified. Suddenly my every nerve was firing electricity. It felt fucking amazing, like I’d just gotten a shot of adrenaline and energy and power and lust all at the same time.

“I threw him across the room,” he said, his power pulsing, taking on a keen possessive edge.

I fluttered my eyes shut and leaned my head back and to the side, exposing my flesh for another bite. His intensity curled around me, and a delicious feeling crept across my skin, like claws made of velvet.

“Why does that turn me on so fucking much?” I asked huskily.

“Because you want me to claim you,” he whispered against the shell of my ear. “You want me to dominate you and take you as mine. You want me to fill every hole you have and leave my mark all over that tight little body.”

I groaned as he said it, suddenly incredibly wet, my pussy begging for his hard shaft pounding into it.

His hand drifted up my chest and cupped my breast. He pulled back on the reins and let go for a moment, reaching around me and unbuttoning my pants.

“I’m not sure this is possible, but we’ll give it a try.” He pushed down the zipper before suddenly swinging me down from the horse.

I gasped as my feet hit the ground.

“Lose the pants,” he commanded.

I wasted no time, peeling off my panties as well. He laid them in front of him before undoing his fly and pushing it down as much as he could, pulling out his large, hard cock. He put out a hand, and anticipation and excitement tore through me.