16. Amber

Chapter sixteen

Amber

W hat was I thinking, lunging into that kiss? I had never done that before, with anyone. But there also had never been anyone that I wanted this much.

Yes, he was an elf—I never liked elves. But…Eldrin wasn’t elves. He was Eldrin. He had saved me and protected me and helped me find joy in this realm that I had never wanted to see, much less live in. He was the one thing here that made me smile, that made me look forward to waking up.

I had been kidnapped and bitten and blackmailed. I had been taunted and mocked and trapped. But as I was pressed against his chest, his arms and hands holding me tightly, I realized that something good did happen despite everything. I had found the one person I was starting feel like I couldn’t be without .

While we walked through the woods and into the glade, I wanted Eldrin—to touch him—so badly that it stung. I wanted him in a way that was getting impossible to ignore the longer we spoke. So, I dared. The worst that would happen was that he’d push me away and that would be that. And I wouldn’t spend the rest of my life wondering. I wouldn’t look at him, at that painfully beautiful face, and forever wonder—what if?

Hell, Eldrin could kiss. His lips took their time exploring mine, his fingers gripping me in conjunction with his movements. Now and then he stopped to nibble on my bottom lip and let out a soft groan. He wanted more, and the realization made me heady with excitement. Slowly, his hands explored my back, tracing a path of fire in their wake. I wanted him to touch me—everywhere. Now.

I didn’t care about anything else—the poison, the barrier, Vanir. There was just Eldrin. His hands moving over me, chastely exploring each inch, even as I felt the urge, the extra friction that hinted at his yearning to go further. A sweet heat pooled in my core. His powerful form towered over me, and for the first time I truly noticed the size difference between us. He wasn’t human, no matter how easy that was to forget sometimes.

I took his hand in mine—his skeleton hand. The bones were hard and strangely cool against my skin, but the fingers were deft, nimble. It responded to my touch as any other hand, his grip intertwining with mine. This hand was part of him, and I wanted everything.

And then he pulled away, leaving me breathless.

“Do you know what the consequences of being unfaithful to the king are?” Eldrin asked, gasping for air. His eyes narrowed, hinting at the seriousness of what he was telling me.

“No.”

“The consequences to us both.”

I didn’t know for sure, but I had read enough about Henry VIII to have a pretty good idea of what disgruntled kings could do to wives.

I wiped my face slowly, out of reflex to steady myself and not to wipe off Eldrin. Wipe away Eldrin? He barely touched me and that was all it took to make me crave him. No one I had been with before triggered anything close to that sort of reaction, where the more I touched the more I wanted.

He was like the most intoxicating elixir that I would desire forever, no matter the ruin.

“You will not marry him,” Eldrin suddenly announced, though there was no audience to hear.

“What?”

“I mean it—you will not marry him.”

“We’ve discussed this—I can’t say no. You’re the one who told me I can’t say no.”

Eldrin took a few measured steps, slowly pacing the flower-covered ground. “The festival is in two weeks. A little more than fourteen days. If you perform well, you can declare to Vanir that you are overjoyed with being in these lands, and will bind with the barrier with or without his hand. He will be pressed to step aside and let you be free.”

“He will?”

Eldrin nodded, the light catching his gorgeous silver eyes. “Yes, we have the perfect opportunity in front of us. The festival is a holiday where unmarried women are given a lot of leeway when voicing their opinions. A lot of engagements are made that day—and broken. And the king marrying a human woman isn’t popular in the first place—you’ve seen it yourself. If you can convince the people that you are so overjoyed to be here that marrying him is unnecessary, then it will be hard for him to disagree. It will give him an opportunity to set you aside gracefully and keep his court happy.” Eldrin placed a hand on his hip, and nodded. “I think he will do it.” I couldn’t tell if Eldrin was trying to convince me, or himself.

Did Siliana know about the dance, how it was a chance for me to escape everything? Was that why she was trying so hard to prepare me for it? Resting everything on this—on a dance and the king’s favor—seemed risky, but Eldrin knew the customs. He knew his brother. And he wanted me.

Despite everything, my heart soared. He wanted me.

Eldrin took a few steps closer to me and wrapped me in his arms, placing a kiss on my head. I melted against him, a deep sigh escaping my lips. I could stay here forever, being held by him, breathing in his scent, feeling the thick panes of his chest under my head.

“Keep everything between us,” Eldrin said softly, “and do as well as you can at the dance. That’s all we need to do.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“But what if I want…” I leaned my head back and kissed him again, nibbling on his bottom lip in a way that made him groan.

“Not yet,” he said once he broke away. I felt him pressed against me, a silent reminder of how much it must have pained him to restrain himself. “Wait. We have to hide everything, but not forever. We can do this.”

“Yes,” I said. “I can.”

I hoped.

“Come,” Eldrin suddenly said, gently guiding me out of the glade, though his gaze now carried a heavier meaning, a secret longing now shared between us. “We won’t be alone for much longer. Tell me about your favorite city.” When I raised a questioning eyebrow he continued, “I’m asking something very ordinary so that when our minders find us—and they will soon—they won’t find anything wrong. Because we are doing nothing wrong.”

Fair enough. Eldrin wanted me to move on to an ordinary topic and forget the way that I wanted nothing more than to lay with him in this field? To take him for myself and feel every inch of his bare skin against me?

Alright then—Eldrin was going to hear all about the virtues of Las Vegas.