Vhalla’s breathing was uneven, hitching at his words and his movements. She clawed in desperation at his clothes. A groan of frustration resonating from her throat was quickly swallowed by his mouth.
There should have been little surprise for Vhalla, but as his hand shifted to the back of her head, she was truly shocked at how badly she wanted him. She had never felt desire before, Vhalla was forced to admit. This was beyond the play or curiosities she had engaged in the past. This was a want that had taken root deep within her. A need that would only be satiated by one thing and would continue to multiply until it was had.
“Do you have any idea how difficult this is for me?” he asked, his voice deepening with every breath.
“Difficult?” Vhalla’s lips were swollen from their heated kisses and his eager nipping.
“Being near you is more than difficult.” A hand drifted from her thigh upward, long fingers working their way under the hem of her shirt. Vhalla pressed her eyes closed, the feeling of his skin on her bare flesh sending lightning through her. “Agonizing, suffocating, overwhelming, oppressive.”
“Then let me ease your pains,” she replied as she ran her palms up over his chest, savoring the curves of his lean shape.
Neither the prince nor the Windwalker was thinking of anything other than the overwhelming need for the other. As they approached the bed, Vhalla’s mind was overtaken by the raging fire of something she had no hope of extinguishing now. It had consumed her too perfectly.
Her head hit the pillow in a daze as his warmth surrounded her from above. Aldrik’s lips did not return to hers, and she gasped softly as he kissed under her chin and down her neck.
“I want to mark every inch of you as mine,” his voice rumbled across her like low thunder, gooseflesh rising in its wake. There was a predatory growl that punctuated his decision—an animal on the hunt, about to gorge himself on the savory heat building between them.
Vhalla sighed softly, tilting her head to expose more neck for his waiting lips. “Aldrik ...” she pleaded as his mouth reached her collarbone.
“My lady.” A kiss. “My love.” Aldrik whispered over her skin between heavy lips.
Vhalla’s hand found its way into his hair, shamelessly tousling it as she grabbed. He was always the paragon of perfection. The imperial crown prince, buttoned and shined into an untouchable idol. She wanted to wipe it all away. She wanted to have the man beneath. Vhalla wanted to bring out the rough edges of her prince and rub herself against them until they fit hers flawlessly. She wanted to make him hers.
His hands were all over her, as though he was molding and shaping her form from clay. Vhalla pressed her eyes closed, giving into the new sensations. Every prior experience with men became hazy shadows. Aldrik’s every movement was as much for him as it was for her, and when his hands pulled away, Vhalla couldn’t suppress a groan of surprise and frustration.
“What?” she said, breathless. Had she done something wrong? Her hands hadn’t yet wandered anywhere too forward, at least nowhere his hadn’t been exploring on her.
“You are divine,” Aldrik revered before glancing away ashamed. “And I want you.”
Vhalla swallowed. “Then have me.”
Aldrik tugged away from her groping with a shake of his head. “No, I... You deserve better than this.”
“It is not up to you to decide what I deserve, that’s my choice,” Vhalla observed. “I want you, Aldrik.” Somehow he had the audacity to appear surprised at her confession. “I need you. I love you. You love me. That’s exactly what I deserve.”
Vhalla left the other truths surrounding them unsaid: the fear of her own mortality, of having almost lost him. Any day could be the day this beautiful yet fragile thing they were creating could break. The number of things trying to pull them apart was daunting, which made every heated desire to come together even stronger.
She felt the same way she had at the gala, what seemed like a lifetime ago. Vhalla wouldn’t let him be taken from her, in any capacity, without really knowing him first. She had wanted him for so long without realizing it, and now she had. She was going to be lost if she wasn’t able to use his skin as a roadmap back to sanity.
“I don’t want you to be some cheap camp whore on the wrong side of the sheets.” Aldrik’s thumb stroked her cheek.
“Then have me as your lady.” Her soft laughter turned into a cooling sigh as she relented to his protests. “Aldrik, if you don’t truly want—”
Vhalla tasted the kiss he gave in on. She felt the final scrap of his self-control dissolve and his hands were moving once more. They were hasty and desperate to cast aside the last of the physical and mental barriers that separated them.