It would also give me the opportunity to fact-check Govam and his resident demons. Finley had a hard-earned trust with them, I knew, but I wanted to test them for myself.
I let myself into our collection of rooms, utterly drained from dealing with my mother. It felt like my heart had been torn out of my chest and all that remained was a ragged hole.
Finley glanced up from a circular table in the corner where she was organizing a stack of books.
“Hey, baby,” she said, wearing the shapeless slip I’d helped her into earlier. “I stopped by the library for us. I was thinking an action-adventure for you and a mystery with romance in it for me, and then we can switch and talk about them. If you hate that idea, though, I got a couple other options—”
She paused when she looked at my face and then down my nude body. I wasn’t adhering to the rule of always wearing clothes within the castle. I didn’t give a fuck.
She put the books down without another word and turned to me.
“It’ll be okay,” she said softly, and I knew she was reading me perfectly. She knew what I was going through and why. “There will be an explanation, I know there will.”
She reached for me as I came close, cradling my cheeks in her hands, her eyes supportive but fierce. Soft but full of fire.
I didn’t tell her about the gold. I didn’t tell her about the demons. I didn’t want to talk at all. I just wanted to feel her body envelop mine. I wanted to lose myself in her.
I ran my hands up her sides, lifting the fabric as I did so.
“I spoke to Hadriel,” she said, and now I felt her pain. She was worried she’d lose him.
I was determined not to let that happen.
So I shook my head and captured her lips. We’d worry about this shitstorm of a kingdom later. This was a time to express love.
I opened her lips with mine, swiping my tongue through, and then lifted the slip over her head. I tossed it to the ground and walked her backward. She looped her arms around my neck as I ran my hands down her supple skin. Her nipples budded under my fingers, and she sucked in a breath as I gently rolled the pads of my thumbs over each of them.
Once in the bedchamber, I walked her up the couple of steps leading to the bed until the back of her legs bumped the mattress. I bent to run my tongue over the peak of her breast before sucking it in. My hands drifted lower, moving across her fevered flesh and settling between her strong thighs. I ran my fingers over her wet pussy before dipping them inside her, teasing out a little feminine mew. I curled my fingers, rubbing as I circled her clit with my thumb. For a moment I pulled my fingers out again, running them up and along her clit before pushing them back inside her, getting everything slippery.
“You are a blessing in my life, Finley,” I mumbled, my heart full to bursting in a way that eclipsed my pain and anxiety.
I cupped her cheek and took the weight of her head as I ran my lips down her neck and over my mark. I kissed and flicked my tongue across it, feeling the ache to mark her again. Again and again, I doubted I’d ever get enough of doing it.
I sucked in her flesh as my fingers worked, rougher now, feeling the fire of her in my blood. And then, when I couldn’t help myself anymore, I bit down into her flesh and cut the skin. She sucked in a breath and then moaned, jerking her hips in time with my fingers.
Her dragon fed us power in a gush, wanting it harder. Wanting me to dominate. She seemed to love the force it took me to make them submit. To crave the evidence of my strength and power.
I fisted her hair and yanked, pulling her head back and kissing up her exposed jugular while I finger-fucked her harder, keeping pressure on her clit. The sounds of her moans and wetness filled the room. I sucked in a nipple, hard, and she jolted. Her groan was long and rich, and her cunt clenched around my fingers in her first release. It was so easy with her. So gratifying.
After straightening up, I slowed my fingers, still within her, now dwarfing her with my height and size. Angling her head with my hold on her hair, I forced her to look up at me.
“I didn’t say you could come,” I told her with extra gravel in my voice.
Her eyes flashed fire and a challenge. Anticipation curled through the bond.
“I do what I want,” she replied, and a shock of pain lanced through my middle. I gasped and stepped back, loosening my hand in her hair so I didn’t jerk her neck and hurt her.