56. Affection

Affection

I made it through dinner via sheer force of will. Cass didn't stop touching me, and that helped: his leg against mine, his hand on my back, his fingers laced through mine. I learned the boundaries of my confinement quickly, and kept myself contained. I'd gotten so used to there being no distance between the two of us. Being cut off from him felt a whole lot like getting dumped into Faery for the first time, with an impenetrable barrier between me and my family.

It fucking sucked.

We stayed the requisite amount of time, eating dinner with our honored guests and retiring to a fancy sitting room to drink dessert wine and play games. Pelleas and Yllana drifted off first, with the excuse of needing to work on my dress; Ace left soon after, looking thoughtful. By that point, Tarra was straddling Tech off to the side, and Cass didn't have a lot of tolerance for one-on-one with Talien even when our duke didn't have a collar of opals around my neck.

After one barely-disguised barb too many, I begged off, letting Talien kiss my knuckles with a laugh before Cass swept me back to his staging room through a magic palace door.

Cass peeled the opal necklace off of me the instant we crossed the threshold. He dropped it into the laundry bin with a sound of disgust and shucked his fancy jacket in after it, shrouding the necklace from view.

I started laughing, which only seemed to make him more disgruntled. He stripped me of my dress without so much of a by-your-leave, leaving it in a heap on the ground, and carried me into the bedroom like he was a caveman and I was his stolen bride.

"Really, Cass?" I said, naked save for the knives and laughing so much I could barely get the words out.

He dumped me onto the bed and flopped down after me, hitting the mattress so hard I bounced. A second later he had his heavy thigh slung over me and the rest of his body wrapped around me. He even had a wing dropped over me like a shield, hiding me from sight.

"I hated that," he growled. "Seeing you in those. Feeling nothing where you're supposed to be."

I wiggled back up against him. It took me a moment to relax back into the magical rapport we'd built. My instincts kept expecting the cold vampirism of the opals instead of the warmth of my soulmate, but inch by inch, I crept back into him.

Cass shuddered, hard, and then relaxed, all the tension running out of him like water. There you are , he whispered into my mind.

Total relaxation came with the sound of his voice. He was there. He'd always been there, on the other end of the line. It had only been a bad connection, like a phone call cutting out in the mountains.

H-I , I wrote on my arm.

His hand splayed across my stomach. The back of his thumb grazed the underside of my breast, sending a spike of lust between my legs to make my clit throb with demand. "Hi," Cass said in a low voice, his breath scudding across the shell of my ear. His tongue followed his breath in a hot stripe.

I gasped from the touch, my back arching and hips pressing back against his stomach. He sprawled closer, putting his stiffening cock up against the back of my thigh.

"Oh," I breathed. All my attention fixated on the thick bar of his erection as it pressed against me. "Oh, holy fuck, Cass."

He rumbled his pleasure, a sound more akin to a happy tiger than a man. He nuzzled closer, his lips brushing against my throat, and swept his thumb across my peaked nipple. It shot another jolt of pure lust straight to my groin.

Cass shifted, settling himself more firmly against my thigh. "I wasn't intending to be so flagrantly needy twice in one day, but after that trial, I'm feeling inclined to indulge," he said. His warm mouth pressed against the soft skin beneath my ear in a gentle kiss. "How do you feel about some romantic cuddling?"

"Are you going to tell me how wonderful I am?" I asked, trying not to pant. I was not successful.

"It would be my pleasure," he said in a low murmur, rolling his hips against me with slow deliberation. "My hungry Queen. Slender as a reed, and yet as vicious as a warhound when the mood takes you." He slid his warm palm down along my front, his other hand cupping my breast. "Lovely. Strong."

Teeth caught my earlobe, sending a jolt of pleasure down my spine that met the rising heat from the way he kept grinding his cock against me.

So willing to step into the breach , he purred into my heart. His fingertips dipped into my navel; traced along the bottom of my stomach. Proud, and worthy of it.

"Cass," I said, gasping out his name. I grabbed his wrist like it was a lifeline. I couldn't seem to do anything else. My pussy spasmed with pleasure. Every slow movement of his hips felt like he was stroking his thumb across my clit—felt better than that, the raw desire and perfect sensation of his cock rubbing against my thigh conspiring with his reflexive amplification of pleasure to turn everything into aching, swimming heat.

"You're a treasure," Cass said, his voice rough. One hand found my thigh and dragged me closer. The other squeezed my breast and switched sides, finding my peaked nipple and rolling it between finger and thumb, tingling pleasure racing through me. "I didn't deserve you. I still don't. You're clever and sharp-edged, and as beautiful as a masterwork blade." His words came faster and faster, almost a rush. "You're such a vivid light. Brilliance in my darkness. I am so deeply grateful to have your sunlight in my life."

Cassie , I moaned through our bond. I couldn't manage anything else, my heart pounding from the unfamiliar adulation and from the wonderful feel of his body against me.

He let out a panting breath, grinding closer. "Black night," he groaned. He kept moving, like he couldn't stop, his fingertips rubbing across my nipple and his hips rolling faster. "Gods, you're so perfect and wild. I was going feral seeing you caged. I want— I want— fuck ." Cass snarled, driving his hips up against me. "I want to be under your fucking skin , want to feel you, I— I'm— oh, I'm—identifying a problem, with this," Cass panted out, his open mouth against my throat. His hips jerked hard, digging his cock against my thigh.

I gasped, arching back into him, the tension in my core winding tighter and tighter, the throb of my own desire fanned into taut need from the feel of his want pouring into me. "Yeah?" I got out. My fingers dug into his arm and thigh as if I could anchor myself. "What's wrong?"

Cass let out a harsh breath that broke into a moan. His cock twitched against my leg. My pussy clenched in time with the movement, the slick between my legs wetting my thighs as his precome soaked into his pants. "Positive—feedback," he said. He kissed my throat again, a helpless motion, tongue pressing against my skin. "Fuck. If I don't—don't control it—fuck, gonna come—"

"Not allowed," I gasped back. I couldn't stop shaking, the force of our combined want so much more than either of us alone. My nails dug into his skin hard enough to draw blood. If I let go, holy fuck, I was going to have my fingers on my clit in a heartbeat, and that would be the end of my willpower.

"The coming?" he asked desperately.

I whimpered, my core fluttering, on the edge of orgasm. "The control—"

Ecstasy hit us both in the same eyeblink, a crash of need that blinded me. Cass cried out and sank his teeth into my bare shoulder. His hips drove up, grinding his shaft against me. My world became that bite and that cock and the vivid pleasure of the earthquake leveling my soul. Wave after wave of it, my body gripping on nothing, swollen and needy and holy fuck I could feel his orgasm , the come pumping through his cock and the wet soaking into his underwear and the throbbing need for pressure—

It felt so good —fuck, he was amazing. I was fucking shaking from it, writhing back against him, wanting to make it last forever.

Bliss sank into us, a paired sensation that heated my blood and made me melt into his touch. All the fight went out of me, leaving me boneless in my soulmate's arms. I tried to say something and only managed a low moan.

Cass groaned and started kissing and licking my neck, holding me close. "Gods, Quyen, you're so wet for me. I want to feel you on me so badly—you're taking me apart at the fucking seams ." He shuddered and buried his face against my throat. His cock pressed against my thigh, no less hard than it had been before he came. "Gods. I wanted to go slowly. I feel like I'm fucking this up—"

"Shh, shh, don't be ridiculous." I peeled my hand off his leg and reached up to pet his hair, still with aftershocks zinging through my core. "Still counts as slow."

"How?" he said in a low moan. "Can't… can't even have you like this without fucking coming . I didn't even last a minute ." His tongue pressed against my throat again, running along my pulse.

"So?" I asked, clinging to the conversation to keep from focusing on his touch or the wet of his come against my thigh. "It's not like we're jumping straight into fucking. We're figuring it out. What it's like to cuddle, and kiss—"

"And have spontaneous orgasms?" he finished, sounding rueful. "If I'm not controlling it, I… fuck, sunlight, I come faster than most virgins . That's not exactly slow ."

I snorted, and kept rubbing my fingers through his hair. "That's not what I meant, and even if it was, I'm not sure that matters when you're still rock-hard, sweetheart."

He groaned again and stroked his fingers across my stiff nipple, the movement sending a sharp jolt of pleasure through me. His hips canted up against my thigh. "Don't remind me. You could wring me dry and I'd surely still be hard for you if you were wanting me. Once the bliss wears thin, if we're still like this it's probably going to happen again."

I filed away "wring me dry" for future investigation.

"'The coming,' huh?" I said, smirking when he made a low sound of protest.

"There's no need to tease me, my Queen. I'm well aware of the way my brain turns off when I'm facing down ecstasy." Cass nibbled my earlobe and shifted slightly, running his heavy leg along mine. "Besides, when have I ever needed to learn physical control? My magical control over my body is excellent." He let out a contented sigh. "Are you certain you want to be here with me a few minutes from now? I'm surely just going to fall apart again from feeling you enjoying having my hands and mouth on you."

I leaned back against him, closing my eyes to focus on the feel of his skin against my back and the sparkle of pleasure from his fingers as they caressed me. "Then fall apart," I said.

Cass pressed his warm mouth to my pulse. "As you command," he replied, his voice low and rough.