Chapter 24

Béke Day Six

Iawoke with my mate in my arms.

She had accepted the bond.

I still could not believe it, but there it was, a solidified thread that was so potent I could feel its each and every shift between us as we dozed in our bed at Roc Palace, hidden away from the world. The first hints of light peeked through the heavy black curtains, and an idea formed in my head – one that I could not wait to carry out. Even though we had only gone to bed an hour before, I had to wake Izidora.

"Sprite," I murmured in her ear, planting a gentle kiss on her still-damp hair.

She grumbled incoherently for a moment before releasing a long sigh.

"I have somewhere I want to take you."

A yawn nearly unhinged her jaw, and she blinked blearily at me through the fog of sleep. "Where?" Her voice was thick and hoarse from how I'd made her scream my name over and over the night before.

"You'll see. Get dressed, and we can take a nap when we get back," I promised, running a finger along her bare shoulder.

"Ugh," she moaned, reaching her arms overhead and stretching like a lazy cat before bringing her balled-up fists to her eyes and rubbing.

I stroked her long locks one last time before throwing the covers back, earning my usual string of curses as I exposed her to the cold. Rushing to the closet, I threw clothes her way, and she dutifully pulled them on beneath the righted covers before slipping from the pile of blankets.

Before she got far, I wrapped her in my arms and uttered the spell that would bend space to move us to the shop of my favorite jeweler. He sourced the purest stones from the mines buried deep in the mountains of the Iron Realm, and no one could match his skill in crafting the finest jewelry from them.

The shop was among dozens of others in the lavish part of Radence, where the richest of Iron Fae and Félvér lived and purchased their necessities. Each storefront gleamed as if it had been recently polished, and not a hint of ice coated the stone beneath our feet, already cleared for the patrons that would not arrive for hours.

"I never got you another ring after the one–" My teeth clenched around the words, as guilt and shame rendered me voiceless and unable to finish the sentence.

But my mate was more than aware, and I felt her concern and forgiveness down our bond. She spun in my arms, chestnut hair spilling down her back as she tipped her head up to look at me. Our gazes collided with the force of an avalanche, and I saw the truth of the words she whispered in my mind in her shining eyes.

"I am so glad you allowed me the space to make my decision. That was what ultimately led me back to you. You have never truly trapped me, not since the first day."

"You are too fiery to trap. I could never have broken your spirit. It would have killed me to do so." My words held as much truth as hers, for I didn't know the meaning of love before she burst into my life with the ferocity of a wildfire, sucking all the oxygen from my lungs in her inferno. After seeing her shine so bright as she fought with me, still wearing that glamorous gold dress, I knew, deep down, that there was nothing that would please me more than watching her help me burn the world down and rebuild it anew.

I guided her to the lacquered red door of the shop, then rapped sharply on it, waiting patiently for my jeweler to appear. The male, still dressed for sleep, opened it with a huff.

"Ah, King Ruslan, please come in," the male bowed, his irritation melting away as he held the door wide for us to enter.

"Thank you for waking so early, Ambros," I greeted him, gesturing for Izidora to walk in front of me. Her jewel-like eyes went wide as we entered the male's cave of glittering gems.

"Anything for my best customer," he chuckled. "Now, what can I get you today?"

"Another ring for my mate." A smile tugged at my lips as she wandered to a shelf filled with deep red rubies. The entire shop was a veritable mine, with rough-hewn stone walls, wooden shelves holding gems of all colors, shapes, and sizes nestled in finely crafted settings. Ambros's work was not gaudy and over the top, as many jewelers defaulted to with gems of these sizes; he preferred a more delicate touch that allowed the stones to shine through.

Ambros winked at me. "Are you certain she does not have Dragon blood?"

"I must be rubbing off on her." I couldn't contain the joy that sparked through me, and my usual ruthless, cold countenance was nowhere to be found as I leaned casually against the counter, crossing my arms and waiting.

Ambros joined my mate in perusing the shelves of wares until she held a small fortune's worth in her hands. Watching her eyes light up as he explained the properties of each stone was worth every piece of gold it would cost me. I was lost in my adoration of her, and it wasn't until she nudged my mind that I focused on the words she spoke.

"I can't decide which one I like best. Can I have them all?" Her laugh shone brighter than all the stones in this shop.

I feigned chest pains as I gaped at the pile in front of her, but then I grinned, "Anything for my sprite."

On tiptoes, she kissed my cheek, and Ambros set to work, Izidora watching in fascination as he manipulated stones and metal with magic, weaving and binding and bracing them together until seven rings lay on a purple velvet cloth in front of him.

I selected a rectangular ruby surrounded by a halo of pointed diamonds and slid it onto my mate's finger. "This is my favorite."

"Then I will always wear this one." She beamed up at me and I captured her mouth with mine, inhaling her rosy scent, laced with a hint of plum. Her lips were soft and pliant against mine, and we melted together like it was more natural than breathing.

There was no way I could love anyone else as I loved her.

Ambros cleared his throat, interrupting our moment. Glancing up from my mate's flushed cheeks, I fished out a bag of gold for my favorite jeweler, and then he handed me a velvet-lined case holding all of Izidora's new rings. "Come back soon with your mate, King Ruslan. She has good taste."

"Expensive taste, too." I winked at her, and she rolled her aquamarine eyes, though she didn't bother denying it.

"See you soon, Ambros," Izidora threw over her shoulder as I tugged her along behind me. His chuckles followed us into the frigid morning air, and once we'd cleared the door, I pulled her flush, my hands all over her body, needing more of her, needing her closer. The fresh mating bond called for me to fuck her into oblivion, to erase every other male from her mind.

She gripped me with the same fervor, fusing her body with mine in every way, and I wasted no time moving us back to our bedroom at Roc Palace. The bed had not even cooled from our earlier departure, and with one powerful throw, she was on her back on the soft mattress, a breathy laugh escaping her.

Propping herself up on her elbows, she bit that damn bottom lip and raked her gaze over me. I popped open the case of rings, the precious stones glinting in the low light. "Strip then hold your hands out," I commanded.

With heated eyes, she rose, reaching for the buttons of her jacket and undoing them one by one before tossing it aside. Only then did her fingers brush the bottom of her tunic, and with the speed of a fucking turtle, she lifted it over her head, revealing inch after inch of her beautiful skin. The lace covering her breasts did not hide the peaks of her nipples, and my attention snagged on them before she trailed her hands over her flat stomach and to the waist of her pants. She shimmied them over her hips then laid back on her elbows again, lifting and pointing her foot in a clear indication that she wanted me to remove them for her. With one hand I tore the first leg off, then the second, until my mate was only covered in scraps of lace that looked so fucking delicious on her.

But she wasn't prepared the way I wanted her, not yet at least.

"Hold out a hand," I instructed, plucking one of her new rings from the box. She obliged, and I slipped them on one by one until her hand was heavy with stones. "Now the other." I snatched her closer once she proffered it to me, dragging a gasp from her throat at the sudden movement. Her nipples brushed against my shirt as I slipped the remaining rings on her petite fingers, and then I closed her hand and kissed the back of it before letting it fall to the soft blankets.

"Don't move," I purred, backing away slowly, drinking in the sight of Izidora's heaving breasts straining against the lace and flaring my nostrils to inhale the sweet scent of her arousal. Disappearing into the closet, I searched my treasury for the pieces that would look fucking fantastic falling down her chest and wrapping around her waist. Laden with priceless chains, I returned to the bedroom, finding my mate exactly where I had left her.

"Good girl," I praised, and a flush crept up her chest and to her cheeks. "Turn around."

She did, slowly, showing me her shapely ass as she flipped to her hands and knees before sweeping her hair over one shoulder. I closed the distance between us, letting the cool metal caress the skin of her back before wrapping the necklace around her pretty throat. The moan she released made my cock throb against my pants, borderline painful. Once the clasp was secured, I pulled her long locks free and braided them loosely down her back. "You're going to drip for me in more ways than one, mate."

A delicate chain glittering with star-shaped diamonds slid off my forearm and into my hand, and I brushed it along her bare waist before wrapping it there.

"Oh," she gasped, her skin shivering at my touch. Every stroke of my fingers was like tracing a line of fire over her body, and it took every ounce of my self-control to draw out dressing her the way I wanted.

I leaned down, placing my lips against the shell of her ear and ghosting my hands over her arms, between the jewels cascading down her chest, and finally settling them just above the lace covering her core. "I love you, mate. Turn around so I can see you decorated in my treasure."

The space between us was painful as I stepped back, but when she sat on her knees and faced me, the pain was utterly worth it. "Fuck," I swore, dick throbbing in the best kind of way. "I might have to add you to my treasury too. Because there's nothing more precious, more rare, or more exquisite than you right now, Izidora."

The smile that she wore was sultry, and she cocked her head to the side. "Perhaps you should put me on display for the whole realm to see. For all the realms to see. Show them who I belong to."

Fuck.

I groaned, long and low, and approached my mate, images of me fucking her in front of the other monarchs making me harder than the diamonds wrapping around her throat. The tendrils of gems that dripped from the collar joined even larger ones that lay against her chest, some balanced on her breasts, others dipping between where they strained against the lace confining them. The string of them wrapping around and around her waist made her shine with the brightness of a thousand suns, and I nearly fell to my knees at the sight of her.

My inner Dragon purred with delight.

"I think you need a few more pieces," I rasped.

She raised a heavy hand to my chest and flattened it across my racing heart. "Not until I get to see you," she said, her voice both soft and heated. Her fingers bunched up my tunic until my abs were revealed to her, and she drank in the sight of them and the tip of my dick bursting from my waistband. Once the fabric reached my chest, I tore it over my head, revealing every inch of my chiseled, tattooed torso. Her nails raked across my skin, tracing every line until she found the ones that led right to my cock.

"Fuck, sprite," I swore as she ghosted her thumb over the beaded tip.

"Were you going to get something else?" she asked sweetly, as if she didn't know exactly what she was doing to me.

Dragging in a ragged breath, I regained some semblance of control and with one swift movement, I caught her braid and tugged her back, bringing her hands away from me. "I am. And when I return, I want you playing with that pretty pussy for me."

The fire in her eyes flared as I stepped away and forced myself to return to the closet for the crown that would complete the ensemble. Teardrop diamonds perched atop rows of round and square gems, forming spikes that were as formidable as they were beautiful.

Just like Izidora.

I brought it on the velvet cushion that housed it all these years for her. Before I returned to the bed, however, I stalked to the windows and threw back the heavy curtains, letting the morning sun spill into the room.

When the light fell across her, my mate fucking glittered. She braced herself on an elbow, the other hand dipping between her spread thighs and stroking. The reflection of the thousand gemstones scattered across every inch of her, and I circled to her side with the crown in my hand, not wanting to cast a shadow on the most brilliant sight I had ever seen.

"On your knees," I croaked, unable to tear my gaze from the sight of her stroking lightly over her own skin. With teeth digging into her bottom lip, she returned to her earlier position, and I gently placed the cushion on the bed beside her. "Dip your chin."

She did, but the entire time, she watched me from under thick lashes. My nostrils flared as I tried to breathe at the sight of her submitting to me as I lifted the crown to her head. "My sprite. My mate. My future queen." The piece settled across her head like it was always meant to be there.

And when she lifted her chin and gazed up at me with those aquamarine eyes that held so much life even after all she had suffered, the entire fucking world fell away. My mouth crashed against hers, tongue insistently parting her lips and tasting her. She groaned, hands slamming into my chest as I pulled her closer.

"Fuck, sprite, I love you so much," I said in her mind, unable to release her mouth for a second with the force of my need.

"And I love you, always."

Her nipples brushed against my chest, and I reached between us to cup her breast, running my thumb over the peak and pulling a groan from her throat. I rolled it again and again, pinching as I dragged out what was certain to be the most incredible sex of my life. Her hands trailed down my sides, and when one wrapped around the outline of my cock, I growled a warning.

"I want to savor every second of this, sprite, and if you keep touching me there, I won't be able to control myself."

"Then lose all semblance of control. I want you inside me."

Not even a heartbeat passed in the time it took for me to release her and rip off my pants. In another, she was flat on her back on the bed, spun so that the sun still spilled across her gem-coated skin, and the lace covering her center was pulled aside. She was so slick already, wetness dripping from her and pooling on the sheets beneath her.

"I told you that you would drip in more ways than one," I groaned, grasping myself and sliding up and down her slit, stopping to tease her clit before dipping down again.

"So you did," she whimpered, arching toward me, and trying to get me to sink inside her.

"Use your words," I chastised, stilling my movements and loving the noise of protest she made.

"I already did," she huffed, continuing to grind against me.

"I know. I want to hear it again," I smirked, leaning forward and bracing my free hand beside her head. "I want to hear how much you want me, how much you need me, every day for the rest of our lives, mate. I want you to scream my name as you break beneath me, loud enough for all the realms to hear. Because you are mine, and I am yours, and nothing will ever change that."

"Oh Goddess," she breathed, reaching around to grasp my back. "I want you, Ruslan. I need you, Ruslan. Make me come."

She tugged down the moment I pushed in, and we groaned in tandem. Nothing was better than being joined to my mate this way, making our bodies one, closer than any other possible way. We were one soul, one mind, in two separate bodies, except in moments like these. Our breaths synced as I began to move, stretching her out easily with how slick she was. The feel of her warmth around me, tightening down with each inhalation, was better than any wine, any herb, any feeling in this fucking world.

"Ruslan," she whimpered, digging her nails into my back.

My other hand slammed to the bed on the other side of her head, hips driving into hers and making her body shake with the force of it. The gems covering her bounced with the movement, catching the sun and scattering light all around us.

"You look like a fucking goddess," I rasped, reverent eyes sweeping over her. "My fucking Angel."

Her lashes fluttered against her cheeks as I moved. "Eyes on me," I commanded, and they flew open, locking with mine as I seated myself to the hilt. They widened at the depth, sun spilling into them and making them sparkle too.

"If I'm your Angel, then you're my Dragon, guarding me like these precious stones caressing my body," she breathed, mouth popping open as I dragged my cock all the way out, then slowly sheathed myself again.

"Can't forget that I'm also part Demon," I ground out, willing my movements to slow, to tease.

"There's only one Demon I don't mind haunting me," she said, head falling back as I hit that part of her that made her legs shake.

"Fuck, sprite." Her pussy clenched around me, and I rocked back and forth in that spot, wetness coating my thighs as she dripped – flooded – me with her arousal.

"More," she begged, and when she asked with that desperate noise following it, I had to oblige. I leaned back, digging my fingers into her hips to keep her in place while I fucked her, captivated by the way her breasts bounced every time I sank in deep, the way the crown on her head prevented it from falling back completely, and the way she fucking shone.

My abs tightened, and I ground my teeth and tried to breathe through the need to come. But her core throbbed, tightening over me, and I was nearly gone from the sensation alone.

I hiked her legs up over my shoulders, taking her deeper, and she gasped, mouth popping open as I climbed onto the bed with her because my sprite needed a little pain with her pleasure, just like me. "It"s too bad that the collar is taking up so much space around your throat. I know how much you like when I take away your air."

"Oh fuck," she whimpered, and I leaned forward anyway, wrapping my hand over her throat and stroking my thumb across her lower lip.

"I'll have to settle for other methods," I purred, tugging her lip before releasing it and finding her breasts. I slipped the lace away from them, forcing them higher and exposing her nipples. My hips worked again as I leaned down and sucked one into my mouth, eliciting a cry of pleasure from her.

"Yes," she groaned, her breaths short and staggered, and she laced her fingers in my hair, guiding me to her other side. I rolled it around with my tongue before nipping it, then closing my teeth over it and dragging them back. "Oh, Goddess!"

I did it again, shoving myself to the hilt at the same time, and she ground against me, brushing her clit over my groin for some friction. "Touch yourself." She did, slipping a hand between us and circling her fingers while I continued sucking and biting her nipples, bringing her pleasure higher and higher until I knew we were both so close to breaking. "Come for me. Scream my name and I'll scream yours."

"Oh fuck," she whimpered, hands and hips moving faster until her walls clenched down and she cried out, over and over and over. "Ruslan!"

I held on as long as I could until the force of her orgasm yanked mine along with it, and with a roar, I exploded. "Fuck, Izidora!" My cock twitched and throbbed inside her, and I dropped to my elbows on either side of her, letting her legs fall with them. Breathing hard, I tried to regain a sense of time and space that had disappeared while we moved together.

"My mate." Izidora's words filtered through my mind, and when I lifted my head, the love in her aquamarine eyes amplified the feeling down our bond.

"My mate," I echoed, loath to remove myself from her. But somehow, I managed, removing the crown and setting it aside before unclasping the necklace and waist chain from her limp and spent body. Once she was fully bare, I cradled her against me, tracing swirls over her skin until her heart slowed and her breathing evened out. I turned over, hating that I had to release her to reach our two books, and then handed one to her, slotting myself as close as I could so we touched from head to toe while we read. She was utterly spent from the last few days of competition, our foray to Vasvain, and accepting our bond, so she snuggled into me and released a long sigh as she cracked open the pages.

Izidora was everything to me, and I vowed to do everything in my power to protect her without smothering her flame. I would take care of her, treasure her, pleasure her, and love her until my dying breath, and perhaps even beyond that, should we be so lucky as to perish together.

Whatever lay ahead of us, I knew one thing with absolute certainty – I would never be alone again.