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48. Reina

Chapter forty-eight

Reina

J asper watches me hungrily for the rest of the day. We play classic palace games like wicket ball, egg pass, and hoops, but then we play new ones that Scarlett learned from her time in the Underbelly. Those games are more fun, with a lot more cheering.

As the sun descends from its apex toward the mountains, the mead flow changes to wine, and the games shift to something bloodier. Brawls. Scarlett crosses her arms and looks on with disgust as people shout out bets for their favorite fighter. They display their magus abilities without hesitation, revealing themselves to us as if we're safe to reveal these things to.

I suppose we are.

We are their lords and ladies, the ones running the war. Knowing their combat prowess will be essential to saving as many lives as possible in the coming conflict.

"Hush, this isn't the time," Alyse reminds me.

Why don't you mind your own business, I snark back at her.

We share a conspiratorial look and a smile.

It's not frightening to me that Alyse can hear all my thoughts. I have none I need to hide from her. Well, except perhaps Jasper's hands slithering into tentacles as he presses me against a tree and—

"Right, I'm buggering off, I promise," Alyse says in my mind, and I sense her watchful presence disappear.

I grin widely and Jasper catches my gaze. "What has you so happy?"

"Oh, just scarring my sister with thoughts of your octopus form," I say.

He pouts a little.

I lean into him. "Specifically, your tentacles writhing inside me."

Jasper groans and his hand clenches on my thigh under the table. "Can the sun not set any faster?"

"We could always start early," I reply and his eyes flash with desire. "Do you already have the spot picked out?"

He nods eagerly. "It's been warded around the boundaries. A good few miles."

"Well, what are we waiting for?"

The space between his brows wrinkles in frustration. "Sunset is…tradition."

"Then you'll just have to wait," I say, sitting back in my chair.

He sighs and sits back to watch the ongoing fight. Two women exchange swift blows between bouts of magic, bright flashes of light that attempt to disorient and surges of silver waves that confuse.

Jasper leans forward, his eyes locked on the bit of sunlight filtering through the open doorway as it changes from yellow to orange. I've been watching it, too. He shoots up from his chair and offers me his hand with a feral smile when the light begins to fade.

I take his offer and the dining hall devolves into wild cheers, whistles, and whoops. Tension ratchets in my gut as he leads me down the steps of our raised table and through the blood-splattered center of the brawling ring.

Scarlett, Zane, Lily, Alastair, Alyse, and Kazimir all follow behind us. When we reach the door, Lily steps in front of me with a mischievous expression.

"Wear this. You'll need it." She holds out her hand, a plain black ring in her palm. "Unless, of course, you want to freeze your naked little arse off in the Fynish mountains."

I slip the band on my thumb, the only finger it'll fit, and chuckle. "I'd rather not."

She pats my shoulder. "We'll be keeping an eye on things, so don't worry about our bitch mother interrupting."

I smile, my heart warmed. She remained sober on my wedding day so she could protect me. I look back at my family gathered behind us. They're all sober, eyes sharp and watchful.

"Thank you," I say, reaching out for my sisters. They descend on me at once, wrapping me in a tight, safe embrace, our heads leaned against one another.

"I want all the details after," Lily whispers.

I laugh. "Absolutely not."

"Oh, come on! I'll tell you all about Alastair's monster co—"

"Lilianna!" Alastair snarls in a demonic voice that makes me jump.

"—conquering techniques!" Lily finishes with an impish grin.

Alastair grabs her by the back of the neck and pulls her into his chest, his eyes glowing red. He whispers something in her ear that makes her blush.

That makes her blush…

Scarlett settles under Zane's arm and Alyse folds back against Kazimir as he wraps both arms around her shoulders. Jasper grabs my hand and I look at him standing in the open door.

The fading light of the sun casts an orange halo around his dark, curly hair, turning it golden. He smiles at me, and I leave the others behind without a backward glance.

Outside, Jasper's shape contorts, wrapped in black lines of zipping power until he's the wolf beast, standing on all fours beside me. He lowers his front half and looks at me expectantly.

I reach out tentatively, watching his black fur jump and skip, like lightning moving from cloud to cloud. I run my hand across him and static ripples down my arm, raising my hairs. But he's soft, like the warm waters and fine sands of the beaches in the south.

I grip a fistful of his fur and mount his shoulders. My wedding dress pools around my legs and my bare cunt—courtesy of Lily removing my underthings when she was transfiguring my dress—zings with electricity as I settle on him.

He takes off at a trot and I adjust my grip on him, squeezing my thighs and bending closer to his neck. People jump out of the way as Jasper picks up speed, hastening us to the place where we'll perform his people's ceremony.

The way the bumps of his spine rub against my clit pulls a gasp from me. I'm so tightly wound by the idea of what's to come, I could burst from this little bit of friction. Jasper snorts and growls, the vibration of his voice heightening the tension and anticipation in my lower belly.

Houses disappear and the forest opens before us, but the chill of the air can't penetrate the excited heat glowing inside me. I fist his fur harder, leaning into him as I urge him on. "Hurry, Jasper, I'm so needy for you."

He whines in a cute, pathetic puppy-dog way, and then lunges forward. Crimson leaves crunch under his beating paws as he dashes through a newly worn trail into the mountains. With the sun's light disappearing, and our altitude climbing, the chilly air turns positively frigid in my lungs as I breathe, but there's a shell of heat around my body that keeps me warm.

Magus lights glow in the distance between the trees. My heart flutters at the sight, fear and eagerness winding through me. Jasper slows and then the black fur is whispering past my skin, disappearing. I wrap my arms around his shoulder as he stands upright and walks as a human the rest of the way toward the clearing.

Runes are etched into the trees flanking the entrance. They stretch around the site to the left and right, farther than I can see, marking the boundary of safe territory in which we'll perform the ritual.

"This must've taken ages," I say, awestruck.

Jasper hums. "All night with twelve Spiders and Alastair helping. Your family is very devoted to you."

He kneels and releases my legs, letting me slide down until I land on the soft blanket laid out on the forest floor. Several bottles of different-colored liquid and a stack of empty bowls surround us, and I know what we'll do next.

I circle Jasper, running my fingers across the straps and buttons holding his suit in place. He's panting hard through his nose as he watches me, only his eyes moving as his shoulders heave. I flick loose the top buttons on his chest and then work my way down with trembling fingers.

When his shirt parts, I run my hands across his burning chest and push the cloth off his shoulders. He drops his arms and lets the garment slide off him, and then his hands are on me.

He pulls the pins holding up my quickly tied-up hair until my golden locks brush my bare shoulders. His fingers scrape across my scalp. I close my eyes, sighing into the attention. He moves down to my shoulders, then my chest, until he reaches the front of my dress. He pauses for a moment, then moves to the back of my dress. He grunts in confusion and lifts my right arm, then my left.

I open my eyes and look down to see that Lily didn't install any way for the wedding gown to come off gracefully. Jasper's eyes glow with hungry frustration. He digs his fingers into the front of the bodice, and I feel his sharp selkie nails extend.

I gasp. "Don't you da—"

Riiiiiiiiiip.

My body jerks as he tears open my dress and shucks it off me. His gaze devours my naked form and black fills the white spaces of his eyes.

"Lily is going to castrate you," I say as the cold air whispers against my bare skin. I unbuckle the belt of his trousers and pull it off with a snap that makes Jasper grin wildly.

"No, I think this is exactly what she wanted."

I laugh as I grab the edges of his pants around his button and yank hard, snapping it off. He's not the only one who can ruin clothes. This only makes him hungrier, handsier.

He's touching my shoulders with rough, needy caresses as I pull his pants all the way down to his feet. He kicks off his shoes, and then steps out of his clothes. I stand up slowly, letting his hard cock brush against my lips, chest, and stomach as I move. His breathing is deep and heavy, eyes not straying from me in the slightest.

We stand in the dimly lit clearing fully bared. Our bodies lean into one another as if we've never touched. The thrilling thought of the ceremony makes me shiver, and he grabs my hips, dragging me closer. His cock presses against my lower belly, making me yearn for it to be buried that deep inside me.

"Are you ready?" he asks, his gaze molten.

"Yes," I breathe, barely a whisper.

He drops to his knees, pulling me down with him.

"Underwater, I would've painted you with colored clay," he says, pouring the contents of one of the bottles into a bowl. It's a bright blue liquid, thick and creamy.

"We would've mashed shells, coral, and other ingredients with our closest confidant, keeping the colors a secret." He pours another bottle of silky-looking red.

"Then we would give those pastes to each other to apply in any pattern that pleases." He pours another bottle of glittering black, and finally, one of opal white.

He grabs the bowl of red and holds it out to me. "Ohksana'amai, will you paint me?"

I dip two fingers into the cold, red paint and press them to his lips, then drag them down over his chin, coating his stubble, all the way to the top of his chest. I make two more lines from his neck across his collarbone to his pecs, stopping just above his nipples.

I trace the hard planes of his hips and then draw a sharp point up to his belly button, getting lost in the primal sensation of marking him in a way only I can mark. I coat the fingers of both my hands and swirl them over the tattoos on his shoulders. I slide down his arms to his elbows where I encircle them, leaving his forearms unpainted. I stop there, feeling that the red is complete, and look up at him. He sets the bowl of red down and grabs the white.

I cup his hands, bringing the bowl up to my mouth. My lips touch the cold, creamy liquid and I smear it around until I'm satisfied. I look up at him, white dripping down my chin, and then lean forward.

He sucks in a deep breath as I kiss his neck, just under his jaw on the left side, and draw a line with my lips toward the red on his shoulder. I do the same on the right side, and delight in the way his cock jolts between us.

I wet my lips again and lean down to his lap. I open my mouth all the way and take him in, then close my lips around his shaft and drag. Jasper shudders and groans my name. His tip is salty with precum, and I lap it off him, swirling my tongue around until he's clean.

With the white applied the way I want, I stop and look up at him. His eyes are glowing with unrestrained magic as he watches me. He sets the bowl aside and waits for me.

I grab the blue, holding it up to him. "Ohksano'amai, will you paint me?"

Jasper wets two of his fingers and then smears the blue across his other palm and fingers. He does this again until his hand is coated, and then he gently grabs my throat. The pressure of his fingers leaving paint on me in that possessive hold has my clit throbbing. I watch his face as he holds me there, owning me.

Finally, he peels his hand from my neck and dips his knuckles in the paint. He puts two dots below my eyes, then drags a line from the top of my forehead down the bridge of my nose. He sits back on his heels and looks at me, his work with the blue completed.

I grab the black next and offer it to him. He cups his blue-painted palm and then swirls his black-tipped fingers through the paint until they've mixed, creating a dark, sparkly navy. He draws soft, swirling lines up from my belly button and around my breasts, spiraling tighter and tighter. The sensation of him edging my nipples has them hardening to stiff points that ache for his affection.

Last, he draws long, thin patterns down the outside of my thighs, and stops there. I put the bowl aside and we stare at one another for a moment, taking in our work splashed across each other's bodies.

"Rise," he says, his red-stained lips taut with desire.

I stand on shaking legs, looking down at him. He inhales deeply through his nose and closes his eyes.

"I can smell how wet you are for me," he purrs. "You're not going to be able to hide, Reina, so you'll have to be fast."

My palms and feet tingle with anticipation and my breast shudders with my thudding heart. I've never wanted something I feared so desperately. My mouth is dry, and my weeping cunt is aching.

His eyes snap open, fully blacked out and glowing with opal magic. "Run."

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