C4

“My pendant,” I whisper.

“Thought it would be so easy?” His voice hardens.

“But—”

In a motion too swift for my mind to follow, he pushes me to the ground and rolls over me, propping himself on his elbows. He gazes down at me, his blue braid slipping over a shoulder to curl on my chest.

“Did you like what I did to you last time?” he whispers, his voice a low growl that I feel slide over my skin, into my body. “You shook in my arms. The sounds you made…”

“Stop it,” I breathe.

“Are you sure that’s what you want? Do you really want me to stop? Your scent tells me otherwise. You’re aroused.”

“I’m not.”

“Let me check, then.” His hand shoves my gown up and yanks my undergarments down. It smooths along my thigh, then moves between my legs. “Hm…”

“What are you doing?”

“Checking.” He grins down at me, his long fingers trailing now over my bare skin, over my inner thigh, inching closer and closer to my center, and I’m aching there, needing him to touch and press and do something to make it better. “It’s as I thought.”

“What?” I whisper, shaking, clamping my lips together to keep quiet as he finally reaches the top of my thigh and…

Oh Gods…He strokes me right where the pressure is gathering, then lower, pushing a finger into me, and it shouldn’t feel so good, so utterly, impossibly delicious but… He’s watching me and I can’t stand it, the pleasure, it’s mounting and mounting and becoming too much…

He crooks his finger, strokes me deeper, then adds another, and I cry out as the pressure breaks.

Like last time, I think, stunned and trembling with the force of it, like last time but better. They say a man puts his cock into a woman and pleasures her that way. I always thought it was a tall tale but now… The thought of it makes me moan.

“What are you doing to me,” he breathes. He’s still stroking me. “By all the Gods…”

Me?Tohim? What about all that he’s doing to me?

Finally, he pulls his fingers out, brings his hand to his mouth and licks them clean. What is he doing? Why does he groan as he does that, eyes half-closing, as if it gives him pleasure?

He trails his wet fingers over his chest and bends over me again. “Selina…”

I’ve never found myself in such a position, I think dazedly, and he feels good, pressing down on me, his handsome face so close, dark lashes like lace over those amethyst eyes, mouth wide and finely shaped, cheekbones broad and high in cheeks of polished marble.

He’s the one doing things to my senses, things that I’d never imagined were possible. He’s messing with my mind. A typical Fae thing to do, and yet…

And yet when he covers my mouth with his again, all rational thought flees, and I part my lips for him, to taste him again, to feel him. Feel his hard chest pressing down on my breasts, feel the tickle of his soft hair against my cheeks.

We kiss and kiss, the soughing of the wavelets on the shore fading away, the chirping of the birds falling into silence, the cold seeping into my skin replaced with heat. Wantonly, I bend my knees on either side of him, pressing myself harder against him, needing to feel him.

Pleasure and more pleasure course through me, just from feeling him so hard between my legs, just from feeling him tremble, from swallowing his moan.

I want to touch him there, where he’s so hard. When I shove my hand between us, when I find his cock and wrap my fingers around it, he jerks.

This time he’s the one who breaks the kiss. Grunting, he pushes himself off me, muscles flexing in his powerful arms, to look down where my hand is curled around his thick, hard rod.

His face is taut with tension. He’s not breathing, as if waiting for me to make the next move. His chest and stomach muscles are clenched, harsh planes and valleys.

When I move my hand up, tugging a little on his cock, he lets out a broken sound, like a bitten-off groan.

His cock seems to swell in my hand, growing hotter. I stare at it, fascinated, at the beads of clear fluid emerging from the small slit on the flushed head, running down, coating his length. Now when I tug, it’s easier, the slick skin letting my fingers slide.

“Princess,” he hisses when I do it again, and again, feeling too hot myself at seeing how this affects him.

And then he gasps and his cock jerks in my hand, shooting ropes of white all over his chest. I gasp, too, taken by surprise, and his cock does it again and again.

“Maab,” he grunts and I realize that his face has relaxed, though he’s panting. “It’s been too fucking long. Haven’t come so hard in ages.”

I made him come.

Pleasured him.

It takes a long moment for my senses to return.

When they do, they slam into me like fists. I release his now limp cock in a hurry, trying to gather my thoughts.

Oh Gods, what am I doing? Lying in the mud with this monster, kissing him and rubbing against him like a cat in heat. Letting him put his hands on me, in me, touching his cock…

Wanton. The word echoes through me, embarrassment flooding me.This isn’t like me.

Fascinating, another voice whispers in my mind and it sounds a lot like mine.Hot.

No. No…

“I have to go,” I whisper, dragging myself back and away from under him with my hands, pushing with my feet, scrambling up the slight bank.

He seems distracted, brows heavy over his eyes. His reaction is too slow when he makes a grab for me. “Selina…”

No, no!Twisting around, I get on my feet and run.

I run through the woods, not even looking back in case a Faerie is following me, not even caring that my hair is flying behind me, my clothes soaked in mud and water, my only goal the palace and its safety.

Not sure, though, that within its walls I’ll be safe from my own mind…

SELINA

“Have you decided on the gown you’re going to wear?” Lily is in my room again, rummaging through my closet, chattering away like a crazed parrot. “Prince Iason is arriving tomorrow. This is insane. How about the pink one with the roses? It suits your colors so well. You’ll look like a rose. Tell me that you thought about what to wear tomorrow?”

“Lily…”

“How about the golden one? It’s more formal but you’ve only worn it once a year ago at Saimon’s birthday ball. You have the matching slippers and the hairnet. It makes you look older, which is good. Makes you look like a woman.”

“I am a woman.”

“As opposed to a girl. You know what I mean. You look younger than your age, and he’s looking for a wife who will run his household and bear his children. Therefore, looking a little older would be a good thing. Yes, I think the golden gown is the way to go…”

“Who says I want his children?” I blurt out, walking over to the window to check on my flowers in their pots. I touch their petals and try to let go of this irrational anger.

“If you cared for him, you would have noticed the pendant missing from the start.”

Lily laughs. “Of course you want his children. What’s gotten into you? You’ve been talking about nothing but prince Iason for months now.”

“Maybe it was a way to pass the time,” I whisper.

“You’re so lucky to have his attention. Such a good family, such a steady kingdom, stable financially and without enemies at its borders. Not even that many Fae there, I’m told.”

“What’s wrong with Fae?”

“Very funny,” Lily mutters.

I’ve always loved having her in my room but right now my head aches and there’s another strange ache in my chest… which seems to spread into my belly and lower when I think of the merman.

The memory of Adar’s kisses makes me long for something I can’t name. His touch, I think, that’s what I crave. I need him to touch me, to kiss me again. Press down on me, as he’d done this morning, groan like he had. Look at me with that hot darkness in his eyes.

Lily turns around and puts her hands on her hips. “Selina Elizabeth Thornton. What’s the matter with you today? It’s been getting worse and I don’t know how to help you. Don’t tell me you have changed your mind about Iason?”

“What if I have?”

“He’ll be here tomorrow! It’s too late to backtrack now.”

“Why? I haven’t received any marriage proposal from him yet. Haven’t accepted one, either.”

“But you took his token.”

“I’ll give it back!”

“Oh Gods, you’ve lost your mind. All the rest of us are jealous of your good fortune and you want to throw it all away. What for? Wait…” Her eyes narrow. “Is there another man?”

“No. It’s not that.” I fidget with the cuffs of my sleeves. “Look, I’m tired. I would like to lie down for a while. Please, go.”

“Not before I understand this. It’s about your happiness, don’t you see? Whatever temporary madness has gripped you will release its hold if we get to the bottom of this.”

“There is nothing to understand.”