Page 138 of Onyx Cage: Volume II
There was no more talking after that. Not when I practically kicked open the door to our rooms. Not when I marched her tothe canopy bed, throwing her onto the mattress and climbing on top of her perfect, perfect body.
I didn’t bother denying either of us exactly what we wanted any longer. My mouth crashed against hers with all the pent-up urgency from our time apart.
I parted the seam of her lips with my tongue, tasting and biting and devouring her with an intensity she reciprocated just as eagerly.
Her long nails raked over my scalp before she fisted my hair to pull me closer.
A growl rumbled through me and I rocked my hips against hers, suddenly despising every layer of fabric between us. Moving away from her mouth, I carved a path with my lips and tongue and teeth from her jaw down to the base of her neck.
She let go of my hair long enough to grab the hem of my shirt to tug up over my head. Her lips parted, a breath escaping her as she raked her gaze over my bare chest.
A feral grin tugged at my mouth. At the desire that blazed in her eyes at my form, the same exact way it had on our first wedding night. And before that, if her jokes about the sauna could be believed.
I tugged the black lace of her gown away from her shoulders, not hesitating to break the silver chains at her back when they tried to slow me down. Rowan let out a gasp, her teeth grazing her bottom lip in a way that told me exactly how much she appreciated that decision.
My eyes widened, every one of my muscles going taut as I freed her body from the black satin and lace. Each inch of her I revealed was nothing but pale, creamy skin.
Except for one thigh, where a black leather garter held an all-too-familiar jeweled siren dagger.
My gaze raked over her, from the smooth calf in my hand, up her delicious thighs, to the gentle slope of her belly and theample curves of her breasts, her lips, then finally, the green eyes that had haunted me every day since the moment we met.
“Der’mo,” the word escaped me, and she smirked in response.
She moved her arms over her head, arching her back just enough to showcase her curves a little more. My mouth went dry.
Stripping away the rest of my clothes, I wasted no more time before worshipping her body with mine.
With every breath, every kiss, every caress, every arch of her hips and moan I pulled from her lips, I found the redemption my soul had been craving.
Her body was my reprieve, my absolution.
And the release I offered her—the one I found in her—began to wash away some of the darkness that had slowly been consuming me since the day I’d been forced to leave her behind.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
“Are you going to tell me where we are now?” Rowan’s lips moving against the skin of my chest were enough distraction that it took me a moment to answer.
“Our room,” I told her.
“I just assumed we would move into your rooms,” she said, looking up at me.
I could usually read her fairly well, but her tone wasn’t betraying whether she was disappointed or merely curious.
“These are bigger,” I said evenly. Then, forcing myself to give her more truth than that, I admitted, “I thought...we could use a new start. In a space that’s ours.”
At least, I could.
I didn’t want to stay in the rooms where I had spent two months after she left wondering if I would ever see her again. The rooms where I had almost watched her die.
Rowan surveyed the room thoughtfully.
There were several extra sets of suites since the castle had been built to house lords and their families, but this one gave a stunning view of the mountains she spent so much time looking at.
Sure enough, her green eyes sparkled in the light of the low lantern when they landed on the windows.
“It’s perfect,” she said, looking back at me. “I love it.”
“And I love you, Lemmikki.” I tried to focus on the simple perfection of this moment, not this persistent, portentous feeling of waiting for something to go wrong.