Page 73 of A Kiss of Flame
The monster she had become, she wanted to say, the creatures she had summoned. ‘I know,’ she whispered. ‘And I understand.’ She stepped back, withdrawing from him. If he needed to leave so be it. She couldn’t ask him, someone with his faith and belief, to stay with her now, to help her, someone who had willingly surrendered what the Aurum gave him in order to serve it, to accept how she used its power.
‘Do you?’ he sounded incredulous. ‘Because I don’t. But we would have died in there without you. So would the queen and any number of my brother knights. I know that much. Is Anselm… is he…?’
‘He’s sleeping,’ said Hestia, coming to the door behind them. ‘And you’re all making far too much noise.’ But as she noticed Olivier, she hesitated, reading something on his face. ‘We can move him to a bedroom now. I’ll have the servants see to it. Go with him, if you must, Paladin, but he needs to rest. Can you supervise that for me? Watch over him?’
‘I’m not a Paladin,’ Olivier replied, almost automatically.
‘Oh but I think you are,’ said Hestia firmly. ‘Both of you. And now he needs your care. You have my word as to your princess’s safety. And that of Prince Finnian, of course.’
To his credit, Olivier hesitated, looking towards Wren. He had sworn to protect her, had given Roland his word. But clearly Anselm was all he could really think about.
‘I’ve got her now,’ said Finn and relief spread over the other knight’s features.
‘Thank you,’ he murmured to them, and made for the door, both of them forgotten.
‘Poor boy,’ Hestia murmured as he vanished inside. ‘The Aurum is a cold and hard thing to follow. He would be happier without it. Then he could be what he was meant to be and love freely where he wanted.’
‘He can love where he wants,’ Finn replied in curt tones but she shook her head.
‘Can any of you really? So many strictures. The Aurum took the magic he was born with, didn’t it? It would take everything. What do any of you know of freedom? Come, let’s get a room sorted for them. And send word to the palace that you are safe. Otherwise we’ll be accused of kidnapping Wren to compound all of this.’
Finn wrapped his arms around Wren and held her close, long after his cousin was out of sight.
‘You must be exhausted,’ he murmured, but Wren shook her head. ‘What do you need? We can supply anything. You’re our honoured guest. More than that.’
We, she thought. Our. He was even sounding like an Ilanthian.
‘I need you,’ she told him and pressed her lips to his, like she might somehow be able to claim him back.
CHAPTER 39
WREN
It had been too long. Finn was her addiction, the one thing she craved more than anything, more than air. Wren was hardly aware of the two of them moving, but everything was suddenly a rush of motion. He took her hand in his, and they all but ran up the grand staircase in the centre of the house.
Wren had no idea where they were going but Finn moved unerringly, without hesitation. They fell through a doorway into a stately bedroom and she was in his arms again, right where she wanted to be. He kicked the door shut behind her and brought his mouth down on hers, kissing her with a degree of focus and determination that would never be rivalled. She returned that kiss with a burning need of her own.
There was no one like him. There never would be. Great light, she had missed him. It had only been a matter of days, but it felt like months.
Wren buried her hands in his hair so she could pull him to her, hold him. His own hands were busy with her clothes, pushing back her boyish garb to caress the soft skin beneath, revealing each inch like it was a precious gift. She shuddered against him, and gasped as one questing hand curved around her breast. The pad of his thumb brushed against the sensitive skin of her nipple, which tightened, aching for him. She gasped out loud and let her head fall back as the warmth of his mouth closed over it and that deep drawing heat shot through her with each stroke of his tongue.
In moments she was pressed against him, crying out her need, and Finn didn’t pause, not for a moment. She could feel his erection through his clothes, trapped between them, his cock hard as steel. He was as determined as ever, dedicated to their mutual pleasure but focused in the first instance on hers alone.
He walked her back until she came to the bed and kissed her body everywhere he could as she lay back on it, hands and lips exploring, as if he would claim her by touch and taste alone.
Wren’s desire pooled inside her, rich and intense, driving any other thoughts from her mind. His scent encircled her, tangled itself with hers, a rising musk of desire and need. They were together and that was all that mattered. All efforts to drive them away from each other, and to keep them apart, had failed and there was a sense of triumph in that.
His clever mouth and artful fingers brought her to ecstasy, arching off the bed, crying out his name heedless of who might hear. It didn’t matter and she didn’t care, not this time. She wanted the world to hear, to know.
Finn was smiling down at her, watching her with those beautiful eyes as she came back to herself.
‘What is it?’ she asked, a little wary.
He shook his head. ‘Nothing. Just… just wanted to see your face.’
‘I think you can see a lot more than that,’ she teased, reaching for him. He was still clothed. ‘You have me at a disadvantage. You really need to take these off.’ She tugged at his shirt, pulling it from his belt so she could slip her hands beneath it, eager to touch him.
The necklace with that peculiar pendant fell out from beneath the material, and hung between them, swinging like a pendulum. The wave of cold that came off it made her freeze. It was dark and she felt that unpleasant shiver like something shadow-wrought had pressed to her skin.