Radiance (Wraith Kings Book 1)(60)
He froze. “Forgive...”
“Nothing to forgive.” She tore at the lacings on his tunic, loosening some and knotting the others. Her mewl of frustration drew a chuckle from him.
“This is when claws come in handy, wife.”
He made short work of the tunic, splitting it down the center with one swipe of his hand to reveal a sculpted chest that made Ildiko breathe an admiring “oooh.” He didn’t stop there, and soon their finery hung off them in sliced ribbons.
Brishen’s chest was hot against her breasts, the room’s air chilly on her back. He’d rucked up her long tunic to her waist and shoved her silk trousers below her hips. His own clothing was equally twisted and shoved aside.
Ildiko arched her back and gasped Brishen’s name when he thrust inside her. Every muscle clenched, eliciting a low growl from him as he clutched her hips, braced himself against the door, and set a hard pace.
“My gods, Ildiko,” he managed to gasp out between thrusts. “You’re a hearth fire. Were you like this downstairs?”
She wondered vaguely how he could possibly remain coherent. She was reduced to mewls and moans. “Yes,” she said. “Needed you. Need you now.”
She punctuated her demand by scoring the corded tendons of his neck with her teeth. Brishen’s knees buckled, and he nearly dropped her. Had he done the same to her, he would have laid open her jugular. Her teeth, though, were no danger to him. She wasn’t Kai and heartily glad of it.
He employed the trick he discovered when they first lay together, angling his pelvis so that every thrust rubbed in just the right way. She climaxed in his arms, uncaring that her guttural cries likely carried down the corridors and all the way out to the redoubt’s defenses. A few more deep thrusts and Brishen joined her, his own moans low, almost bestial.
They sagged against the door, Ildiko boneless in Brishen’s grasp. He rested his forehead on her shoulder, breath hot as it gusted across her breasts. He finally straightened and staggered to the bed, careful not to trip or lose his hold on her.
Their clothes landed in a heap on the floor, and it was only moments before she welcomed him once more into the sanctuary of her body as well as her heart. Afterwards, they lay together, pressed skin to skin from shoulder to ankle.
Brishen picked a broken strand of beads out of her hair and tossed them to the floor. “Your hair—”
“Is a mess,” she finished for him.
“A spectacular mess,” he said. “Your maid has her work cut out for her later.”
Ildiko took no offense. If being loved like this by her husband meant a ruined coif, well, there were some things worth sacrificing. She pulled the edge of one of the sheets toward her and paused at the sight of the jagged rents. She frowned. “You have to stop destroying the bed linens.”
He shrugged, blithely unremorseful. “Only when you stop destroying me.”
They exchanged slow kisses while sunlight seeped through the partially open shutters and bathed their bed. Brishen started to untangle himself from Ildiko to rise and close the shutters.
She stopped him with a hand on his hip. “Wait. I’d like to see you in the sunlight.” He’d had the advantage of twilight’s gloom and the full dark of night to see her—naked, vulnerable, undeniably human. It was only fair that she see him. Naked, never vulnerable, undeniably Kai.
Brishen paused to stare at her for a moment before relaxing into the mattress and rolling on his back. He covered his eyes with his forearm. “As you wish, wife.”
Ildiko peeled the sheets away from where they gathered at his shins. He was completely bare to her, painted in daytime’s golden light.
Beautifully made, lithe and powerful, he reminded her a little of a cat—all sleek muscle beneath skin gray and smooth as the dolphins that rode the bow wave of the Gauri merchant ships sailing into harbor.
“I am no friend to the sun, Ildiko.” His voice was tense, his body as well as he stretched out on the bed.
“That’s unfortunate,” she said softly. “It’s certainly a friend to you.” She traced a line of muscle from his knee to his inner thigh and felt him shiver under her palm. Sunlight filled the room. Ildiko took mercy on him, leaving the bed long enough to close the shutters and pitch the chamber into its usual candlelit-shadows.
Brishen enfolded her in his arms as soon as she returned and rolled her beneath him. Even with most of his weight on his elbows, he pressed her into the mattress, heavy on her. “And what do you think of your dead eel in the daylight?”
Ildiko brushed a feathery strand of his hair away from his eyes. “He pleases me greatly. The handsomest of eels.” His high cheekbones angled sharply under her palms. “So says this hag.”
“Who is most beautiful in the darkness.” Brishen kissed her then, lingering on her mouth for several moments before bestowing more of the fluttering caresses along the edge of her hairline and over the bridge of her nose. He murmured something else against her cheek.
Caught up in the languorous sensations, Ildiko almost missed what he said. She blinked. “Pardon?”
Brishen tucked his head down to nuzzle her cleavage before answering. “If you’re up to it, we will journey from here to Halmatus township tonight. Remember the jeweler I told you about?” She nodded. “He will repair your necklace, and you can see more of my lands than just Saggara and the lake. Some of Serovek’s as well. High Salure is the fortress, but his territory runs a fair length alongside mine.”