Forged by Malice (Beasts of the Briar, #3)

“You are more beautiful than all the goddesses in the Vale,” he breathes and kisses me, pressing our bodies together. My breasts push against the rock-hard planes of his chest. Then he leans me back, hands easily gliding down my slick body.

My breath catches as I realize he’s leaning me over the side of the bridge, nothing between me and the open air but his hand on my back. But I’m not afraid. He won’t let me fall.

He drags me back up, and I gently touch his jaw, the beautiful square shape. He’s so masculine, but at the same time, there’s a sculptured beauty to his features.

“What did you think the first time you saw me in the hot springs?” I ask.

“That you were the most beautiful person I’d ever seen.”

“Be serious.”

Dayton’s hand slips between my legs, and I cry out. He rubs tenderly, and my core clenches. So good. His touch feels so fucking good. “I am being serious.”

“I was just some human.”

“Come on now.” His fingers lightly dance over my molten core. “You were never just some human.”

“Day,” I moan, my hair catching in the wind.

He tucks a curl behind my ear and flashes a crooked smile. “Meanwhile, you thought I was just some staff member easy enough to manipulate.”

“That’s not—” My words are stolen when Dayton dips his head, kissing my breasts. He takes a nipple between his teeth and bites.

The smirk still plays on his lips when he lifts his head. “I get it. You were desperate to save Fare. Your bond must have been calling out to him even then.”

Frustration pushes through my pleasure. This isn’t about Farron right now, and I wish there was a way I could make the stupid Summer Prince see that.

“Dayton.” I drag a hand down his chest, feeling the muscles ripple beneath my fingertips. “You were the first of the princes to kiss me, you know.”

He bends to bite the point of my ear. “I was the first to taste you, too, if I recall,” he says, rubbing my pussy harder as if for emphasis.

I bite my lip, savoring the exquisite waves of ecstasy. “I’d never felt anything like that in my entire life. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“That I’m good at making you come?”

I let out an annoyed breath and take his face between my hands, forcing the stubborn prince to listen to me. “You were the first person to show me what love is supposed to feel like.”

He stills his hands, his breath. The only movement is a slight quiver in his lips.

Can you feel it now?

“Are you asking me if I love you?” he says. Says as if he heard my every thought.

I don’t answer because it is what I’m asking, and he knows it. He grips the back of my neck and pulls me into a deep kiss. He tastes like salt and sun. I feel like I’m drowning, but I don’t need air. All I need is him.

His wet mouth slides to my ear, where he whispers, “Come in my arms, Baby.”

Wordless whimpers escape me. I shake, then he slips a finger inside, and I’m lost. “Dayton,” I moan. “Please.”

He slips a second finger inside of me. I’m so wet. Pleasure spirals out of me in waves.

“Not yet,” he says, and places his thumb over my clit. “Not until I know you’re completely mine.”

“I am,” is all I can gasp.

He rubs me and I feel that delicious pressure building. I’m so close, so damn close.

“Look at you, outside on the bridge.” He strokes faster. “Naked and mine.”

Tears well in my eyes and I claw at his shoulders, as wave after wave of pleasure begins to wash over me, dragging me under. I can’t breathe, can’t think, can only feel. He keeps rubbing, keeps pushing me higher and higher until I’m shuddering and moaning and crying out his name.

“That’s it, Rosie,” Dayton says. “Come for me.”

He slides a third finger in, and I climax hard against his hand. The orgasm rocks through me, body trembling. Dayton doesn’t stop, doesn’t let me come down. He just keeps working me, his fingers thrusting in and out until I’m nothing but a quivering mess.

“Don’t stop,” I gasp.

“Never.” He kisses me. His mouth is relentless as he licks a path down the curve of my neck. His fingers continue to pump in and out of my aching pussy as my orgasm finally slows.

“Day,” I murmur against his lips. “Day, Day.”

“I can’t wait. I need to be inside you.” He pulls out and begins to work furiously at his pants, dropping them to reveal his massive cock. Dayton looks magnificent on a good day, but having him standing before me, wet and wanting …

Wanting me.

“I’m yours,” I gasp. “I’m yours, Dayton.”

He raises a dark brow and chuckles. “Well, that’s splendid, love, because I think it’s obvious how much I want you.”

I grasp his cock, not able to fit my fingers all the way around it, and stroke. “Thank the gods,” I say, adding a lilt of his accent and deep voice to my own, “because this is positively the most glorious cock that ever did hail from the Summer Realm.”

Dayton grabs a knot of my hair, tugs. “Are you making fun of my cock, Blossom?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Good.” He draws me closer until his lips are by my ear. “Because this cock is going to fucking claim you, going to make you scream my name, going to fill you with so much cum it’ll be leaking down your legs, and there won’t be a soul in the Enchanted Vale that won’t recognize my scent on you.”

I whimper, completely and utterly melting for him. “Yes, yes, I’m yours, I’m yours.”

“Spread your legs.”

I do, and he stares at me for a moment, sizing up how to best claim what belongs to him. It bursts in my chest, this part of my heart that has always been his.

“I need you now, please.”

“Rosalina.” Roughly, he grips the back of my neck and pulls me into a kiss at the same time he enters me. But he does so gradually, and I moan against his lips as his length pushes slowly, so slowly. I let out a groan as I feel my body expand to accommodate his size. “More, please.”

He takes my lips between his teeth. “Patience, Blossom. I don’t want to hurt you.”

I give a little whimper of protest but allow myself to enjoy the utter bliss of this sensation, of finally being this close to him. He stares where our bodies meet.

A deep growl rumbles in his throat as he pushes in the last few inches, sheathing to the hilt. And I scream, scream at the sensation of being filled so completely, my body already clenching around him, never wanting to let him leave.

“Fuck,” he growls, holding us tight, not letting either of us move. His lips dip to my neck. “You feel so fucking good, Baby, do you know that? You’re so soft.”

“Do I feel as good as I taste?” I smirk.

“The gods themselves will have to pry me out of you.” He gives a little pump, not fully leaving, but enough to jolt my whole body with white-hot heat.

I moan, and he moves his hand to rub my clit. My core tightens, nearly coming with the sensation. I wiggle on his cock, needy for friction. As if he can sense my desperation, he begins to move, holding me tight by the waist at the edge of the railing as he pumps in and out.

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