A curtain of water roared from the portal opened above the peak of the Spire. The flow cascaded past the balcony, captured by channels and pools below. Serenna’s middle lurched from the height but settled back into place when the prince’s mouth crashed back into hers.
His hands circled her waist, their tongues returning to dance in the space between their breaths. Fingers roving over Vesryn’s leathers in return, Serenna cursed the concealing material, desperate for the touch of skin.
The fading sun splashed warmth over her already heated body, the breeze winding around the tower doing nothing to cool her off. Serenna’s heart battered against the confines of her ribs, every beat pounding with a strange mix of nervousness and excitement.
The prince suddenly spun her around. Gasping in surprise, Serenna caught herself on the stone parapet, eyes flying open to the horizon.
Driving his hips into hers, Vesryn pinned her to the ledge. Demand fueling her desire, Serenna arched against him, their leathers too restricting as they slid together.
Chest pressing against her back, fingers locking around the front of her throat, Vesryn dragged his mouth up the curve of her neck to the point of her ear. Lashes fluttering, Serenna squirmed against the prince as his teasing lips swept back down to that sensitive spot where her shoulder dipped.
They were doing this. At the peak of the Spire. Overlooking campus. Serenna’s head spun at the thought of them exposed at the top of the island, but was relieved that the waterfall and height obscured them from any potential observers.
Closing out the world hundreds of feet below, Serenna leaned into the prince, angling her neck to give better access to her throat. She shuddered when Vesryn’s hands began mapping her body, skimming down to her curves, sliding across her stomach, drifting up to land on her chest.
A wildness reared its head as Serenna felt the swelling outline of his arousal pressing into the base of her spine. Their leathers created a dreadful distance, taunting the needy ache throbbing between her thighs. Keenly aware that Vesryn was riveted on her reactions, Serenna silently begged for more, tugging on the bond.
The prince must’ve registered her near-frantic desire, because his hands roved lower, quickly unraveling the laces of her trousers. He was nothing but efficient. Before Serenna knew it, Vesryn had her leathers and undergarments shoved down to her ankles. Skin bared, curls of mist from the crashing waterfall beaded on her thighs.
Not wasting any time, the rustle of leather behind her signaled that the prince had freed himself in the same way. He prodded her legs apart with a knee. Core tightening from the silent command, Serenna opened for him, as far as the restricting uniform allowed.
Vesryn’s breath was uneven and rough against her neck as he planted his boots next to hers. “That’s it,” he panted, wrapping his callused hands around her hips.
Wishing the prince would’ve sacrificed seconds to shed the rest of her clothing, Serenna nearly unlaced her bodice herself—until a deep groan reverberated from his throat.
Her priorities quickly rearranged when Vesryn slid the rigid length of his arousal between them. Serenna sucked in air through her teeth as their hot flesh merged, the unyielding hardness of him gliding along the slickness of her.
“Fuck,” the prince growled, the word butchered along its journey from deep in his throat.
Rocking back and forth against her center, the tip of his length teasingly sank into exactly where she needed him. The tantalizing pressure he swirled around her entrance before retreating promised more.
Driven by a mirrored desire, Serenna rolled her hips with a whimper. A wordless demand. Like the prince, she wasn’t interested in waiting and reached for him behind her back. Wrapping her fingers around his solid length drew out a satisfying shudder and a hiss against her neck.
Vesryn breathed a husky laugh. “I can feel how much you want me.”
Senseless now, Serenna pumped him from root to tip, guiding him closer. She wasn’t the only one gasping and trembling when she pushed herself on her toes to line him up.
The prince needed no further encouragement. One hand braced against her waist, digging in his fingers, he seized a fistful of her hair, arching her spine. His hips stroked forward, sliding into her a fraction. Serenna released a moan as the first inch of him stretched her in all the right ways. Still teasing. Still not enough.
She cried out in protest when Vesryn withdrew. He rubbed the length of his shaft against the seam of her body. Back and forth. Sliding a palm to her core, the pads of his fingertips circled that pulsing bundle of aching nerves.
Tightening his grip in her hair with the slightest sting prickling her scalp, Vesryn’s voice was a rasp in her ear. “The stars made you for me.”
Serenna’s breath hitched as she writhed under his hand, smothered by the flames of passion scalding her through the bond. The prince’s lips clamped around the point of her ear and Serenna grabbed the parapet before she collapsed, nearly undone.
Fingers strumming against her center, Vesryn delivered the pressure she needed, cresting her pleasure alarmingly fast. Indecision had Serenna snagged somewhere between seating herself fully on that length he was tormenting her with or greedily leaning forward to grind into his palm.
Mouth returning to her throat, the prince’s arousal nudged her entrance again, the tip dragging through her drenched flesh before diving further. This time, he didn’t hold back. Vesryn rammed his hips into hers, claiming her with one savage thrust.
The blissful stretch had Serenna’s head falling back into his chest when he released her hair. Her body melted around him, absorbing every offered inch.
Breath shuddering against Serenna’s neck, the prince grunted as he plunged deeper, pinning her against the balcony’s ledge until he buried himself to the hilt. For a few fleeting heartbeats, they both stilled, gasping for air.
Vesryn suddenly retreated and then snapped his hips forward, sheathing himself again with a vicious lunge. Catching herself on the parapet’s ledge, Serenna’s fingers splayed as she braced herself against the stone. Fractured whimpers escaped her as the prince set a demanding pace. He bucked, driving into her again and again, each brutal slap of their bodies coming together harder and faster than the last.
Vesryn’s hand cinched against Serenna’s hip, crushing her body further into his while the other continued to coil that sensitive spot between her thighs into a blissful knot. Heartbeat racing nearly to the point of detonating, her world faded into oblivion under his expert strokes.
Somehow, the prince plunged even deeper, dragging out a sound between a shriek and a moan from Serenna’s throat. The noise only seemed to encourage his punishing rhythm, delivering blow after blow.
“Come with me,” Vesryn growled in Serenna’s ear, his hand continuing to build that knotted bliss between her thighs.
While sooner than expected, the order still made her core clench. The prince’s fingers swirled and strummed, dragging out spine-tingling rapture. Knees trembling, Serenna ground herself against his palm, meeting every one of his erratic thrusts.
A collision of sensations exploded through the bond. The prince barreled over the edge, his arousal jerking and throbbing, spilling himself inside of her. Vesryn swore against her neck, delivering one last wicked stroke with a guttural groan.
Something about the prince finding his release crested Serenna over the final swells, losing control of her movements as she climbed the same peak. A tremor shuddered from her toes straight to her core as Vesryn’s hand drove her body to the brink.
Serenna’s inner walls fluttered, clamping down. Climax crashing over her, light streaked across her vision, sending her spiraling into a free fall. Despite the wind whirling around them, she couldn’t catch enough air as she finished panting the prince’s name.
Vesyrn’s fingers found Serenna’s face, tilting her head back toward him. Lips meeting hers, this time he delivered a softer kiss, long and slow. Heartbeat calming, she settled back down somewhere between the clouds and the Spire.
Serenna gasped against the prince’s mouth, severing the kiss when he suddenly pulled out, the absence of him evoking a different kind of ache. Turning back to gaze across the island, she peeled her fingers away from the ledge.
I suppose there’s no graceful way to do this. She clumsily hauled up her leathers, hearing the rustle of Vesryn doing the same. Thinking about how she was going to clean herself up, a nervousness began to root until the prince spoke behind her.
“You can help yourself to the bathing chambers.”
Twisting around, Serenna met his satisfied smirk. The expected awkwardness from the moment vanished. “I can’t say you’re a poor host.”
