Vesryn’s hands slid torturously slowly from her neck to her hips. His fingers cinched against her leathers, digging into her curves in a possessive way that sent Serenna’s heart thundering.
The prince must’ve sensed her desire rising because his mouth abruptly turned feverish, a wild clash of tongues and teeth as he battled to kiss her senseless.
A moan slipped past Serenna’s lips when he ground the evidence of his hardened body against her stomach with a savage thrust. Vesryn growled into her mouth in return as she eagerly rolled her hips against his, knotting her fingers against his scalp, dragging him closer.
“Vesryn,” Serenna pleaded in a voice pitched embarrassingly high, hoping she didn’t need to say anything else. Their bodies writhed together against the wall as a throbbing ache for more built urgently between her thighs.
The prince pulled away and Serenna caught her ragged breath with him. Head spinning, she untangled her fingers from his hair, counting her heartbeats as she anxiously waited for him to make the next move.
The prince studied her through hooded lashes, lust pitching his voice low. “I don’t want my duty to the realm—that absurd engagement—to taint this magic between us.” Vesryn cupped her face, thumbs sweeping over cheeks. His gaze shifted to rake a trail over her body, heating Serenna’s skin like he dragged her over coals. “I don’t deserve another bond, but if the stars gave me a second chance, I’m not denying this power.”
Serenna’s heart clenched against a sliver of confusion, questioning if he only wanted her for the bond. The desire she sensed from him ignited something in her chest, even if she couldn’t decipher if his feelings extended further.
But in this moment, perhaps there was an irrational part of her that didn’t care. She had him to herself and the realm couldn’t snatch that away. We all might be dead if the wraith return, so what does the future really matter?
Serenna squeaked when Vesryn suddenly hoisted her in the air, fingers squeezing the backs of her thighs. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he walked them toward the bed. The prince tossed her in the middle of the mattress and she bounced with a squawk. Kicking off his boots, Vesryn smirked before joining her on the covers, prowling over her.
Hooking her arms around the prince’s neck and her ankles over his legs, Serenna yanked his body on top of hers. Demanding everything he’d denied her in the dungeons, she arched up to him, crushing her body into his.
“So greedy,” Vesryn chuckled. His mouth pursued hers as he settled in the cradle of her thighs.
A sweeping wave of his hips thrust Serenna deeper into the bed. The rigid length straining against his trousers drove into her, the fires of the prince’s hunger incinerating her mind. Riding every roll of his hips with mirrored urgency, Serenna writhed against him, desperate to feel every honed inch of muscle.
Her pulse scattered when Vesryn slid a hand between them, squeezing her waist with a tantalizing grip. Warm and firm, his fingers spanned across her leathers, gliding down her body with a purpose.
Serenna’s breath came in rapid bursts, requiring more air than his mouth allowed. Clinging to his arms, she whimpered as he circled dangerously close to her core.
Finally reaching where she wanted him, the prince cupped her center, swirling his fingers. The pressure from his palm built an exquisite riot of sensations, flooding her with heat from the inside out. As he rubbed the outside of her leathers, a delicious ache began to pulse. Serenna rocked her hips against him, chasing the offered friction.
Needing more of him, Serenna quested lower, seeking the hard ridge concealed by his trousers. When she reached him, Vesryn’s body jerked as he cursed. Serenna shuddered at the primal way he grunted approvingly against her mouth. Running her hand down his solid length, her core clenched when he bucked into her palm, urging her on.
Curling her fingers around what his leathers permitted, Serenna squeezed with a slight pressure as she stroked. The prince growling into her throat sent her into a lust-fueled frenzy. She mindlessly grabbed at the clasps and laces of his trousers, her teeth scraping into his as she furiously sparred his tongue with her own.
“Easy,” Vesryn rumbled against her.
Serenna huffed a laugh against his lips at his ridiculous warning but didn’t slow her efforts in untangling the ties. A pulse of magic drew her short.
She couldn’t move.
Serenna’s eyes flew to the prince’s face as he pulled away.
Tendrils of shadows streamed from Vesryn, spiraling around them to halt her progress. For a terrible moment Serenna wondered if he wanted her to stop. Her flash of fear quickly rearranged, sensing the pacing beast of his caged desire.
Propping himself on his elbows, Vesryn hovered above her. The heat in his gaze and the hunger echoing through the bond kindled the flames he’d already stoked low in her belly.
“Let me go,” Serenna demanded, squirming against the torrent of darkness, only able to shift her head. “I want…” She swallowed, catching her breath. “I want more.”
“I can tell,” Vesryn said, breaking into an aggravating grin. “Just tell me to stop and I’ll release you.” Serenna stilled, ceasing her efforts with struggling as he sat up, shifting to straddle her thighs. “But if you want to play…” His gaze suggestively drifted down her body and then back up to her eyes.
“I don’t want to play,” Serenna hissed with as much dignity as she could muster, helpless and bewildered under his magic. The prince slowly unweaved the ties to her bodice. She refused to whine. But if he wanted her to beg, she was halfway there. “I want you to keep kissing me.”
Serenna gasped, squeezing her eyes shut when Vesryn did just that, pushing her clothes out of the way to drag his mouth along her stomach. His teasing tongue swirled around her navel as he finished freeing her from her tunic. The prince hauled her shadow-shackled body up to tear the remaining chemise layer over her head.
Sitting back up, Vesryn flexed his fingers. “And what I want,” he said as darkness danced across his knuckles, “is for you to break out of this body lock.” Wisps of shadows coiled around Serenna’s wrists, steering her arms up to the headboard, completely exposing her bare chest to him.
Serenna glared at the restraining magic looping around her, caressing her breasts, furious with herself for giving Vesryn the satisfaction of trembling in the bindings. Her blood surged under the rending’s unexpected tingle—a pleasure with an alarming, silent threat of pain. But she knew the prince wouldn’t harm her, even if she refused to participate.
Like a vile bird, Vesryn tilted his head. As if perching across her lap was exactly where he wanted to be. Leaning forward, strands of silvery hair spilled over his shoulders. “It’s time you learn how to channel your power regardless of the…distractions.”
Serenna’s voice came out more shrill than she would’ve liked. “I can hardly summon Essence without my emotions and now you’re expecting me to harness my magic with distractions?”
“You mastered breaking out of a body lock weeks ago in class.” The prince skimmed a callused palm up her stomach, tormenting fingers lazily winding up to her chest.
Serenna shivered in anticipation, her skin pebbling under his touch. She flailed in the shadowy bindings as he circled a finger closer and closer around the peak of her breast.
“Vesryn.” Serenna battled for breath in frantic bursts, every fiber of her awareness honed in on the prince’s fingers skating over her naked flesh. “I can’t even think about my power with you on top of me!”
Chuckling, Vesryn rolled her nipple in between his fingers before dropping his mouth to her chest. Serenna released a ruptured moan when his tongue flicked out, lips clamping around the bud, shooting a flood of heat straight to her core.
After dispensing the same attention to her other breast, Vesryn’s voice was husky and low. “We haven’t even begun, Princess.”
Serenna blinked as the prince tucked his fingers into the waist of her leathers, balling the material into a fist. Grazing her hips, the bond’s current zipped under his touch.
Aroused alarm had Serenna’s voice half strangled. “What are you doing?”
“Summon your power,” Vesryn instructed, his other hand gripping her thigh.
Power? Serenna’s thoughts dispersed the closer the prince’s fingers roved in between her legs. She trembled when he unraveled the ties cinching her leathers together.
