He felt his eyebrows go up. “And if either is at odds with what you need or want?”
“You mean if he hurts me?” She dropped her hand to his thigh. “There are protocols in place. Spells that would trigger before he could do permanent physical damage. I might get a little bruised, but I’d heal. There’s always some risk in what we do, Rais, but nothing as dangerous as fighting on the front lines.”
That all depended on the submission those warriors demanded, and the toll it might take on Avani’s mind and heart before it hurt her body. “Nothing as dangerous as that,” he agreed, “but more insidious.”
She studied him with a tiny frown. “You think I should leave.”
He tucked one arm behind his head and sighed. He couldn’t tell her Celine planned to have her leave after her next birthday, not before he’d given her his own proposal. Doing so would be tantamount to emotional blackmail. “What I think is that you should consider me.”
“Consider you for...” Her voice faded and he felt the prick of her fingernails as her hand tightened on his leg. “Do you want me? Or do you pity me?”
“Why do you ask when only an idiot would answer that in any way but one?”
“Because only an idiot would lie to a woman with her knee this close to his cock.”
Rais easily flipped her over on her back and sat up beside her. “Are you going to rant and scream and throw things at me if I say it’s a little of both?”
Her cheeks flushed, probably at the reminder that Rais had been witness to one or two of her more spectacular bouts of temper. “No. But I’m not going to run off with you, either.”
“That’s the last thing I’d ask, especially considering my remaining months of service.”
“So what do you want?” She reached out and stroked her fingers up his side, the touch feather-light. “You want no one else to touch me?”
He caught her hand. “Will you wait for me?” The words seemed so innocuous, but it was a question that couldn’t be asked--or answered--lightly. “It’s not long now, Avani.”
She didn’t reply at once. Her hand felt delicate until she curled her fingers around his in a surprisingly firm grasp. “I could be convinced to consider it.”
No, she wasn’t the kind of woman who’d thank the Goddess and her lucky stars that he’d chosen to focus his attentions on her. “Convinced how?”
“Call me when you can. Learn to know me as a woman. Fall in love with me. Make me fall in love with you.”
A courtship. Rais had never thought of it, had never had to. Kings didn’t court women; they simply chose whom they pleased when they pleased. “I don’t have the luxury of courting you, Avani. I’ll be on the front, in the midst of heavy fighting, and I don’t know how much reliable communications contact I’ll have.”
Avani closed her eyes as a hint of color deepened in her cheeks again. “The wishful thinking of a girl who’s always had a little bit of a crush on you, I suppose. I’ve been spoiled. Many men would do whatever it takes to marry into my uncle’s family.”
“Of course they would.” He touched the curling end of one blonde lock of hair and hesitated. “You weren’t raised to settle for anything less. I understand.”
“Do you, though?” She curled onto her side and nuzzled his fingers before brushing a kiss to his palm. “Do you have any idea how easily you could break me?”
His chest ached, and he sank his fingers into her hair and held her so her gaze met his. “That’s the last thing I want, Avani. You deserve better than that, from me and everyone else.”
She wet her lips with a quick dart of her tongue, her gaze never leaving his face. “I trust you. I trust you to do everything you can to keep from hurting me. So tell me what you want, and it’s yours.”
The readiness and sincerity of the vow startled him. “Put it out of your mind.” He kissed her chin and traced her lips with his tongue. “Don’t worry about it.”
Her lips parted. He felt the teasing brush of her tongue as she made a soft noise of pleasure, her earlier eagerness returning redoubled.
Rais lay down and pulled her on top of him again. “Not tying you down this time,” he murmured against her mouth.
She just laughed and bit his lower lip before squirming down his body. Her teeth scored his collar bone before her tongue darted out to trace over his chest. “You shouldn’t promise that before you see how badly I intend to misbehave.”
“I have better ways to keep you in line.”
“Do you?” She inched lower, not lifting her mouth from his skin until his c*ck rested in the valley between her br**sts. “I find myself intrigued.”
Rais arched an eyebrow and cupped her br**sts, squeezing them around his shaft. She moaned and rubbed against him, and he had to bite his tongue to hold back a groan. “I can’t tell you what they are.”
She smiled, that wickedly teasing glint in her eyes so much more dangerous now that she was a woman. “Not unless I earn it?” she asked, her voice warm and amused. She didn’t wait for a response, just dropped her mouth and took the head of his c*ck between her warm lips.
This time, he couldn’t stop the groan that ripped free of him. “Can’t tell you because you’d try to get me to spank you.”
The wet heat of her tongue teased over him as she hummed her agreement before lifting her head. “I’d beg you for it,” she whispered, her breath skating over him. “If you’d gotten me in the traditional way you’d know that. My profile indicates a decided preference for games of dominance in bed.”
“Your profile?” He drew his fingers slowly through her hair and clenched his fist in the silky locks. “You’re right. I’ve never seen it.”
“Too bad.” She dragged her tongue up the length of his shaft. “You’ll just have to figure it out on your own.”
He pulled a little, then harder when she moaned. “You think I haven’t figured it out already?”
“Maybe...” Her gaze found his as she licked his head. “You do seem very clever.”
He could stop his h*ps from thrusting a little toward her mouth. “So do you.”
She watched his face for one tense, teasing heartbeat, then wrapped her lips around his c*ck and began sucking him in earnest.
It was sloppy, unpracticed. That soothed his possessiveness, but it didn’t explain why it still felt so damn good. Better than anything in recent memory, with the exception of being inside her. “Fuck.”
Her moan shook through him as she clutched at his h*ps and tried to take him deeper. She seemed eager, almost desperate to please him, the feeling coming not just from the wet heat of her mouth, but the needy grasp of her magic.
Rais pulled her head back gently. “Give me more, Avani. Ride me.”
She let him guide her up his body, until her h*ps sat poised over his. She rubbed against him, grinding her cunt down on his cock, and tilted her head back as a moan of pleasure escaped her. “I’ve never spent this much time on top of a man before.”
She’d probably never had a man comfortable giving up any control. “Just a little...” He slid inside her with a groan. “That’s it.”
Both of her hands landed on his chest. She stared down at him, eyes wide and glazed with pleasure, and took another few inches of his c*ck into her body with a sharp moan. “You fill me.”
“Take it.” He arched up, driving against her. “Deeper.”
Her throat worked and her nails pricked his chest as her cunt clenched around him. “By the Goddess, Rais...” She dropped her head forward again, her hair tumbling around her face as she slammed down with a cry.
Pleasure rippled up his spine, and his rested his hands lightly on her hips. “Stop.”
She stilled obediently, though her body trembled. “You feel so good inside me.”
“Don’t tell me.” He took one of her hands and guided it down to her clit. “Show me.”
“Oh...” Her breath hissed out as her fingers moved under his, rubbing in tiny, slow circles that made her spasm around his cock. “I--I can’t do this for long or I’ll come.”
She was gripping him tightly and growing wetter by the second. He started rocking slowly under her. “What about this?”
Avani cried out, and he felt her grip on control snap when her magic did. Giddy, joyful power rose in the room as she started to rock, jerky, tentative movements that grew fluid as she found the rhythm.
“Slow. Like that.” His balls tightened as she drew him deeper with every roll of her hips, and he watched her, fascinated. “Just like that.”
“Yes.” Her voice had dropped to a throaty, pleasure-filled whisper. When she spoke again it was his name, over and over in a trembling chant between panting breaths. Climax built slowly in her, stealing over her in a visible wave as color rose in her cheeks and her eyes clenched shut.
She’d reached it, the plateau of pleasure where the slightest touch could set her off, and Rais meant to keep her there. He moved her hand and replaced it with his own, and began to stroke her cl*t with quick flicks of his thumb.
Her mouth fell open. Her fingernails scraped along his arm as she flung her head back and came. She was so tight, so wet, that he almost followed her into madness. But he gritted his teeth and kept caressing her, his control nearly in shreds. “Don’t stop, Avani.”
“Oh Goddess, yes...” The rhythm of her h*ps faltered and she clutched at his arm with a frantic whimper. “I can’t--help me, help me move--”
He flipped her onto her back without withdrawing and stretched his body over hers. “Hard?”
“You.” She reached her arms over her head and arched her neck, giving him her submission. “All I want is you.”
All he wanted was for the pleasure of being inside her to never end. “Slow, then.” He eased back until his c*ck was barely in and rocked into her again.