high-fae

I couldn__ talk about it, about them__ot yet. So I breathed __ater_ and hooked my feet around his legs, drawing him closer. I placed my hands on his chest, feeling the heart beating beneath. This__ needed this right now. It wouldn__ wash away what I__ done, but _ I needed him near, needed to smell and taste him, remind myself that he was real__his was real.__ater,_ he echoed, and leaned down to kiss me.It was soft, tentative__othing like the wild, hard kisses we__ shared in the hall of throne room. He brushed his lips against mine again. I didn__ want apologies, didn__ want sympathy or coddling. I gripped the front of his tunic, tugging him closer as I opened my mouth to him.He let out a low growl, and the sound of it sent a wildfire blazing through me, pooling and burning in my core. I let it burn through that hole in my chest, my soul. Let it raze through the wave of black that was starting to press around me, let it consume the phantom blood I could still feel on my hands. I gave myself to that fire, to him, as his hands roved across me, unbuttoning as he went.I pulled back, breaking the kiss to look into his face. His eyes were bright__ungry__ut his hands had stopped their exploring and rested firmly on my hips. With a predator__ stillness, he waited and watched as I traced the contours of his face, as I kissed every place I touched.His ragged breathing was the only sound__nd his hands soon began roaming across my back and sides, caressing and teasing and baring me to him. When my traveling fingers reached his mouth, he bit down on one, sucking it into his mouth. It didn__ hurt, but the bite was hard enough for me to meet his eyes again. To realize that he was done waiting__nd so was I.He eased me onto the bed, murmuring my name against my neck, the shell of my ear, the tips of my fingers. I urged him__aster, harder. His mouth explored the curve of my breast, the inside of my thigh.A kiss for each day we__ spent apart, a kiss for every wound and terror, a kiss for the ink etched into my flesh, and for all the days we would be together after this. Days, perhaps, that I no longer deserved. But I gave myself again to that fire, threw myself into it, into him, and let myself burn.

Lucien studied the wine in his goblet. "You don__ hold on to power by being everyone__ friend. And among the faeries, lesser and High Fae alike, a firm hand is needed. We__e too powerful, and too bored with immortality, to be checked by anything else.

Tamlin__ arm tightened around me, and he kissed the top of my head. I pulled back, looking up at him.The gold in his eyes, bright with the rising sun, flickered. __hat?___y father once told me that I should let my sisters imagine a better life__ better world. And I told him that there was no such thing._ I ran my thumb over his mouth, marveling, and shook my head. __ never understood__ecause I couldn__ _ couldn__ believe that it was even possible._ I swallowed, lowering my hand. __ntil now.__is throat bobbed. His kiss that time was deep and thorough, unhurried and intent.I let the dawn creep inside me, let it grow with each movement of his lips and brush of his tongue against mine. Tears pricked beneath my closed eyes.It was the happiest moment of my life.

Because all the monsters have been let out of their cages tonight, no matter what court they belong to. So I may roam wherever I wish until the dawn.

I reached up to touch his mask. It was so cold, despite how flushed his skin was just beyond it. My hand shook, and my breathing became shallow as I grazed the skin of his jaw. It was smooth__nd hot.He wet his lips, his breathing as uneven as my own. His fingers contracted against the plane of my lower back, and I let him tug me closer to him__ntil our bodies were touching, and the warmth of him seeped into me.I had to tilt my head back to see his face. His mouth was caught somewhere between a smile and a wince.__hat?_ I asked, and put a hand on his chest, preparing to shove myself back. But his other hand slipped under my hair, resting at the base of my neck.____ thinking I might kiss you,_ he said quietly, intently.__hen do it._ I blushed at my own boldness.But Tamlin only gave that breathy laugh, and leaned in.His lips brushed mine__esting, soft and warm. He pulled back a little. He was still staring at me, and I stared right back as he kissed me again, harder, but nothing like the way he__ kissed my neck. He withdrew more fully this time and watched me.__hat__ it?_ I demanded, and he laughed and kissed me fiercely.My hands went around his neck, pulling him closer, crushing myself against him. His hands roved my back, playing in my hair, grasping my waist, as if he couldn__ touch enough of me at once.

Every gift comes with a price._ I frowned, and he grinned. __ kiss.___bsolutely not!_ But my blood raced, and I had to clench my hands in the grass to keep from touching him. __on__ you think it puts me at a disadvantage to not be able to see all this?_____ one of the High Fae__e don__ give anything without gaining something from it.__o my own surprise, I said, __ine.__e blinked, probably expecting me to have fought a little harder. I hid my smile and sat up so that I faced him, our knees touching as we knelt in the grass.__hat about your part of the bargain?___hat?__e leaned closer, his smile turning wicked. __hat about my kiss?__ grabbed his fingers. __ere,_ I said, and slammed my mouth against the back of his hand. __here__ your kiss.