Page 43 of Wings of Snow
A low growl came from Norivun, but the fatigue lining his eyes and lack of pounding aura told me he needed nourishment more than he needed me.
“Do you have enough in your reserves to mask my appearance for a few minutes?” I nodded toward my black hair and white wings.
His eyebrows drew together, and then the feeling of a light mist drifted over me before it extinguished.
Before my eyes, my hair turned silver, and my white wings, visible in my peripheral vision, took on a black leathery form.
I gave his hand a squeeze of thanks, then opened the door to see Sandus standing watch and a middle-aged female—similar in age to King Novakin—holding out a full tray of simple food. “T’was told to pack enough food for ten, ya? ’Twill be enough, ya think?”
Her uncertain look and lack of fancy fare told me the food scarcity had drifted this far south, and the simple sustenance presented to me, consisting of hot broth, salted meat, pickled beetroot, and dense bread dotted with forest berries—something commoners typically foraged in forests and added to their baked products when wheat ran low—told me their selection was as sparse as what Cailis and I had been used to.
I took the tray, giving her a grateful smile. “This is perfect. Many thanks.”
She dipped her head, her uneasy smile disappearing before she sauntered down the hall.
“Have you eaten?” I asked Sandus.
He shook his head. “The boys are saving me my share once my watch is done, love.”
“Would you like some of this now to tide you over?”
Sandus held his hands up. “No, of course not. The prince needs that more than me.”
My expression softened. Sandus hadn’t hesitated, not even for a moment, before he’d given his reply. “Thank you for everything you do for Nori.”
A warm light entered the guard’s eyes before he said gruffly, “It’s my honor to serve him.”
And maybe it was because so much had been asked of the prince by his tyrant father, or maybe it was because much of the continent feared and hated my mate, but seeing that unwavering devotion in his guard—his guard who trulyknewwho Norivun was—made tears form in my eyes.
Sandus chuckled and gave my shoulder a squeeze. “None of that, love. Warriors don’t cry.”
I rolled my eyes and blinked back the tears. “I’m fairly certain I saw a tear in your eye when you were looking at your niece in a looking glass last week.”
A soft laugh came from the room, telling me Norivun had heard that comment, but Sandus merely shrugged. “I probably had something in my eye. It happens often when Harpelin’s telling me something in her baby gibberish.”
I pressed my lips together, holding back a smile. “Whatever you say, Sandus.”
The guard gave me a knowing wink before I closed the door.
Alone with Norivun in the room, I set the tray on the bed. “You need to eat.”
He prowled toward me from across the room, and even though his aura wasn’t filling every inch of space around us, it didn’t detract from his overwhelming presence.
“I can think of something I’d like to eat a lot more than what’s on that tray.”
His husky words lapped at my insides, and my lower belly tightened. “But your magic?—”
“Will be replenished by tomorrow after that tray is consumed and I’ve had a full night’s rest. But right now...”
The prince’s illusion cracked around me. My true hair color and wings appeared again, and then the prince was there, his arms going around my waist as his mouth found mine in a hungry kiss.
Before I could breathe another word of protest, my back was to the wall, my new wings involuntarily spreading wide as he hooked my legs around his waist.
Heat instantly flooded me as the prince’s chest pressed to mine, and he nestled himself between my thighs.
Our tongues danced, and his hands gripped my hips, before he settled my core right on his cock. His length strained against his trousers, and my pulse leaped as that aching sense of wanting him,needinghim, began to overwhelm me.
For so long I’d craved this male. I’d ached to have him inside me. He was mine. I was his. And I’d always known that on some level long before I ever fully recognized the mating bond.