A Kingdom of Stars and Shadows

“Touch me,” I begged him as I reached forward and tried to close the space between us. “Please touch me.”

“Princess.” He sighed, and I could see it on the look on his face. He was going to deny me. He had every reason to. I was being irrational and absurd, but I couldn’t explain it. I couldn’t control the urge that raced through me.

“I feel like I’m going to die if you don’t touch me.”

His gaze slammed into mine. I had barely wanted to be around Evren only moments before all this happened, but now? Now, I wouldn’t dare pull away from him.

His magic crept along my neck, and I let my head fall back as I felt the power of him against me. His hands moved down my sides, stopping along my breasts, and his knuckles skimmed the sides of my sensitive flesh. Even through my shirt, his touch was overwhelming.

“You are so damn perfect, princess.” His hand pressed fully against my breast, and he ran his thumb over my sensitive nipple. “I will forever be in your debt for what you did.”

“It was nothing.” My breath rushed out of me, and I pushed my chest forward, silently begging him for more.

“It was more than anyone should ever ask of you.” There was a slow caress down my spine, and I couldn’t tell if it was his hand or his magic. “It was far more than anyone should ever take.”

I didn’t want to think about that. I didn’t want to remember the way Gavril had taken from me or the way Evren had watched. Remembering that made me hate him, and right now, it was the last thing I wanted to do.

“I should kill my brother for what he did to you. I wanted to spike his head on that gate, just like all the others who had hurt you.”

I blinked my eyes open just as his hand kneaded my breast harder, and a soft moan escaped me. “You are loyal to your brother.”

“I am loyal to no one who hurts you, princess. My loyalty broke the moment I walked into that room and saw him wiping your blood from his deceitful mouth.”

His words ricocheted through me, and I tried to turn them over in my mind, but all I could concentrate on was the way his hand slowly slid down my stomach until it met the top of my trousers.

“My loyalty to my brother broke the moment he hurt something that is mine.” He shoved his fingers into my trousers, and I gasped as he met my wetness.

“Godsdamn, princess,” he cursed and pressed his forehead into my neck. “I feel so damn crazy for you.”

His fingers began working against me, moving the moisture and sliding it over my sensitive nub again and again. I could feel myself breaking apart before he had barely even touched me, and the feel of his magic continuously wrapping around me, getting to know every inch of my body, was more than I could handle.

His tongue lapped at my neck before his teeth grazed over the sensitive skin, and my hips surged forward in his hand.

“Please, Evren.”

“Let go, princess.” He kissed my neck over and over, making his way up to my mouth. “Let my magic that flows through you give you exactly what you need.”

I cried out as he spoke, my body thrumming with need and overwhelming pressure, and when he pinched my nub between his fingers, I fell apart with a scream.

Evren’s magic caressed my lips, muffling the sound before it was quickly replaced with his mouth, and he slowly brought me down with his fingers and his lips against mine. My body felt heavy, impossibly so, and I pressed my weight into him as I tried to make sense of what had just happened.

Even now, even sated as I was, every part of me still longed for him.

“Come, princess.” He pressed his mouth to my forehead. “The forest isn’t safe.”