47. Gwyneira

47

GWYNEIRA

B yron reached out, his fingers brushing my cheek. “Would you do me the honor of staying the night with me, my beautiful treluria? Of allowing me to worship every inch of your beauty?”

His words made my core quiver. But still I stared up at him, searching his green eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay?—”

“Without question.” His brow rose. “Are you?”

I nodded quickly, and his lip twitched.

“Before we go any farther, though, I want to say something.”

Apprehension made me tense.

“It’s nothing bad.” His hands rubbed my arms. “It’s simply that, as you could probably guess, I…” His brow rose and fell. “I’ve never lain with anyone before. To be honest, I never understood how others craved the experience. Being close in that way…” He gave a tiny chagrinned scoff. “It held no appeal.” His green eyes locked on me. “Until I met you.”

He took my hand. “What I’m trying to say is that I love you. I’ve loved you since before I could admit the words. Since before I even understood what I was feeling. You’re the only one for me, Gwyneira. And even if my body betrays me by coming too quickly to bring you pleasure this time, I swear I want to do this again and again until I can spend hours making you scream my name.”

Gods. “We… we can start slow? Give your body time to?—”

He shook his head. “I’m done with slow. I’ve spent my whole life thinking, analyzing, staying controlled. I don’t want that with you.”

Confidently, he pulled me against him. The hard length of his cock pressed to my stomach, making my breath hitch and my insides turn molten.

“I’ve studied countless books and scrolls, princess. But I can say with utter certainty that you are what I want to study for the rest of my life. How to bring you joy. How to be what you need in bad times and good.” He smiled. “How to make you fall apart with pleasure… starting now.”

Bending down, he crushed my lips to his.

Holy …

My body pressed to his, melding against him. My fists clenched on his sweater while he slipped his hands down my sides, feeling me through my clothes. He nipped at my lips, urging me to open to him and then devouring me when I obeyed.

Tingling need coursed through my body, bright like pinprick stars dancing in my veins.

His magic…

I gasped as he broke from my lips, his mouth exploring down the side of my neck. I could feel his power like a cool breeze pulsing around his skin. My own rose instinctively to meet it, tangling with his until I couldn’t tell where one of us ended and the other began.

Frost shimmered in the air around us like diamond dust beneath moonlight.

My eyes widened. “Byron.”

He paused, catching sight of the display. A smile lifted the corners of his lips. “We were made for one another, even in our magic.” He looked back down at me. “My treluria.”

“You… you felt that about us?”

He nodded.

“Is it why you called me Snow when Ignatius asked for my name?”

A hint of embarrassment crossed his face. “You’ve always felt like snow and starlight to me. And in old Aneiran, white snow is the etymology of your name, so it… fit.” He hesitated. “Did I offend you?”

I shook my head. “I like it.”

Relief took the place of his chagrin. He drew me to him once more. “Then I’ll call you that, even if just between the two of us. My beautiful Snow.”

He bent lower, gently exploring my lips, my neck, and the gap where my blouse was unbuttoned at the base of my throat. “I confess,” he murmured between kisses. “I do have a question, though.”

Making a noise of encouragement for him to ask, I fumbled to unfasten my blouse, my pulse racing.

His lips ghosted across my collarbone. “You’ve read so many love stories. But I have not. All I know of how to please you is what little I saw in your memory. So tell me, princess. What would the heroes in those books say to you now?”

Confused, I paused with my fingers on a button. “What?”

He drew back, his eyes like molten emeralds. “Let the books you love be my teachers. Tell me what they say. What dark and delicious things you read that make your beautiful body tighten with need.” A decidedly wicked smile pulled at his lips. “I want to know what fantasies those books gave you. What secret desires live in your incredible mind.”

Holy gods above…

My body lit on fire and my mind went blank as the snow for which Byron had named me. I didn’t know what to say, strange embarrassment turning my cheeks red.

Was this really happening? My younger self never would have dreamed I’d have the love of men like Byron and his friends, let alone that I could give voice to the fantasies from my books.

His smile softened. “Think on it. I want to make all of them come true with you. But for now, just tell me something they would say.”

“Perhaps…” I wetted my lips. “Perhaps that they liked to kiss me… down there?”

I twitched my chin toward the apex of my legs.

“Mm.” Nodding thoughtfully, he kneeled. His fingers found the ties of my breeches. “And would they say that your beautiful cunt is the altar at which they’d worship until the day they died?”

My jaw went slack with surprise. “I?—”

I gasped as cool air brushed my wet center when he pulled my pants away.

A hungry, needful sound escaped him. Gently, he traced his fingertips down the crease of my hips, making my skin pebble and my core throb. “Rose petals,” he murmured.

I started to ask what he meant, but then his fingers brushed across my clit, making me buck against the bookcase at my back. My hands gripped a shelf, holding me in place while his thumb circled my sensitive flesh again.

Gods, I was going to come from this alone.

Carefully, he slid a finger into me, rocking it in and out as if testing the feel of my channel and then crooking it gently. Pleasure thrummed through me in time to his motions, and my legs trembled. “Byron…”

He didn’t take his eyes from my sensitive core. “And what else would they say?”

“Th-they—” Gods help me. “They’d say how they liked my, um… my breasts?”

His other hand slid across my abdomen and up beneath my blouse. But his motions weren’t quick or rushed. No, he guided his palm along my torso like an explorer mapping every inch of my skin, until at last his fingertips traced over the curve of my left breast.

My nipple hardened, and I whimpered with need.

He made a pleased sound. “And would they say these gorgeous peaks are more beautiful than any mountain? That you are all they want to come back home to every day?”

Any attempt I could have made at a response was lost as his hands began working in tandem, his finger crooking inside me while his other hand tightened around my breast and pinched my nipple tightly. Staring down at him, I couldn’t even find words to plead for release.

He watched my desperation intently, a red-haired devil with eyes like dark emeralds. His gaze lingered on my face like he was drinking in what he did to me, before tracing over my body again like he was noting every reaction. “And tell me, princess. Would they taste you?”

I nodded. “Y-yes.”

Humming thoughtfully, he leaned closer. His tongue slipped between my folds once. Twice.

A groan escaped him. “Would they say that the nectar of the gods could never taste as good as you?”

Without waiting for my response, he returned to my core like a man possessed. Fervently, his tongue delved between my folds, flicking and licking at my sensitive flesh while his hands and fingers never stopped their movements.

I gripped the shelf so hard, I felt the wood crack. Pleasure coiled hot and tingling between my legs, nearly stealing my balance. My head fell back against the bookcase while my hips rocked into him over and over, totally out of my control. “Oh gods , Byron…”

A cry left me as I came, my core clenching around his fingers. Keeping up his motions, he didn’t stop until I sagged against him, my body shuddering with the aftermath of my orgasm.

“You…” I swallowed hard, trying to find my voice. “You’re a quick study.”

He looked up at me, his face wet with my slick, and he grinned. “I’ve always been a good student.”

Breathlessly, I laughed. “I’ll say.”

His grin turned hungrier. Rising to his feet, he kissed me, the taste of my release on his lips.

And gods, that was arousing.

He drew back again. “I need you, Gwyneira. I’ve needed you my whole life, and I was just enough of a fool to think I could live without you.”

My heart tumbled over itself. “You have me.”

“Not yet.” His grin returned. “May we see how long I can last in that intoxicating cunt of yours, my treluria?”

I managed a nod, my clit throbbing with desire. “Please.”

Swiftly, he shucked his breeches. Taking my hips, he hefted me up like I weighed nothing, hoisting me above his cock.

My legs wrapped him on instinct. Between my thighs, I could see his length, thick and veined, ready to enter me. Shivers of need went through my core as his tip hovered at my entrance.

When I looked back up, wonder filled his eyes. “Gods, I love you,” he whispered.

I started to respond, only to cut off with a choked gasp when he lowered me down and my pussy stretched around his thick cock.

He froze, tension flashing over his face. “Are you okay?”

I nodded fast. “Yes.” Wiggling my hips, I tried to take more of him. “More, please. Please. ”

Chuckling, he smiled. “Greedy girl. What was that about going slow?” He sank in deeper and groaned. “Fuck…”

“Yes,” I begged. “That. Now.”

A huff of amusement left him, but when I succeeded in pushing my pussy farther down, it quickly turned into another groan. “Berinlian save me.”

With a grunt, he pulled out a bit and then drove himself back into me, deeper.

I moaned as he began thrusting into me. Gods, he was so big, I could feel every inch of his cock. My body burned with the delicious pleasure-pain stretch of taking him. Over and over, his thick girth stroked across my inner walls, stoking my need higher.

But when I leaned back to see his face, his eyes were wide.

“Are you—” I started.

“Fine.” Breaths came fast through his nostrils. “Who…” Another choked huff of amusement came from him. “Who knew the… focus techniques… of the Order… could be used to last longer… for you?”

My mouth moved in surprise. But my words turned into a startled whimper when his hands clutched my ass, crushing my clit against him.

“Gods…” he groaned. “Fucking gods…”

I nodded. “Remind me—” I bit back a moan as he rocked against my clit, “—to thank you for studying those focus techniques.”

He gasped out a short laugh. His thrusting sped up, making my spine bump the bookcase. But before I could hit it again, he spun me away, supporting my weight while his thick cock kept pounding into me.

I clung to him, every nerve in my body lost to what we were doing. But gods, why hadn’t we stripped down completely? My breasts were scraping against my blouse and not his chest. My hands gripped his sweater and not his skin. My flesh burned with the desire to be completely naked with this amazing man.

Because once, he’d been so restrained.

Now he was ravenous.

“Tell me.” His fingers teased at my back entrance as he kept thrusting into me, sending whole new waves of pleasure coursing through my veins. “What do you need? What does this beautiful body crave?”

My muscles tightened, my entire being chasing a release just beyond my reach. “You.” My head fell back. “I… I need you.”

“You have me. Forever.”

The word stole my breath. I squeezed my eyes shut against the burn of tears of relief and desire.

He grunted with desperation. “Come, princess.” He shifted his grip on me, shoving one hand between us and flicking my clit. “I want to feel you… when I…” A choked groan escaped him as his hot cum hit me deep inside.

Fire roared higher in my core. It tangled between my legs like a ball of lightning and exploded in a rush of sheer ecstasy. My legs clenched around his hips. My hands and pussy clamped down on him at the same time. In a white-hot rush of pleasure, my release washed over me, blinding me to the world.

Rivers of light coursing beneath us. More rivers in the distance, but dark vines wrapped them, poisoning them.

And the dark vines were starting to head this way.

I lurched back, my eyes flying wide. The vision faded, leaving only my shaking body and the feeling of Byron gripping me while my pussy milked his cock of the last of his cum.

His eyes found mine. “Did you?—”

“See that?” I finished at the same time.

He nodded. “The queen’s magic is coming.”