All the King's Men (26 page)

She looked up in time to see the gauzy strips of material
bordering the platform being drawn. They fell closed in rippling waves around
them, sealing them in a private enclosure away from prying eyes.

Oh she knew that if those assembled cared to continue
watching, they could. She could still see the council members or rather shadowy
shapes of them through the fabric. But the impression of privacy was so
complete, she didn’t care who stayed behind to find pleasure in their joining.

Vida had said the Trial of Release wasn’t a test at all. It
was a union of two souls who learned to find pleasure in one another. For her
and Kirel, there was no doubt this would be a Trial they could easily pass.
She’d never known another man who could bring her to the pinnacle of ecstasy
with nothing more than a simple well-placed kiss.

Kirel pressed his face against the skin of her belly and
caressed her navel with his lips. The sensation sent a shudder of pure pleasure
down her spine.

“You forgive me then?” he asked, so softly for a moment she
thought she’d imagined it.

“For abandoning me?” Nelina threaded her fingers in his
hair. He ducked his head, not meeting her eyes. “You had no choice. As a child
of Aris, one meant for greatness, there wasn’t anything else you could have
done.”

“I wasn’t—”

“Of course you were. You didn’t know it but your heart did.
You love this planet more than anyone else. You’d have given up everything to
stay behind and ensure your king’s wellbeing and the continued prosperity of
our people. How could I fault you for that when those same traits will make you
such a great king?”

He lifted his face then and gave her one of those crooked
grins she used to recall in her dreams. It made his face look boyishly charming
and she couldn’t resist reaching out to touch his cheek.

“I love you,” she said, meaning it. After all this time,
she’d thought she knew what it meant to love, but she hadn’t—not really. Not
until that moment when she looked into his dark eyes and saw her future
reflected there.

A future no one could take away from them.

“Why didn’t you just say so?” She caught the teasing note in
his voice as he echoed words she’d once said to him.

She laughed, the sound drifting languidly up through their
intimate enclosure. “Because I didn’t want you to know. I thought… I thought if
you did, it would give you too much power over me. I worried my broken heart
couldn’t take it.”

He moved with quiet grace to hover over her. Sliding one
knee between her thighs, he parted her legs. She opened to him without protest,
her pussy already thrumming with renewed arousal.

“And now?” he said, sliding his cock into her fluttering
channel.

She sighed and wrapped her arms around him. Drawing him
close, she matched his rhythm as he began to move inside her.

“Now…I’m no longer worried about you breaking my heart.
Because if you do…” She raised a shoulder nonchalantly and lifted her gaze
skyward where the faces of the Fates were silhouetted against the shadowy
precipice of the vaulted ceiling. Nelina thought she could almost make out smug
smiles as they watched the union unfold. “You’ll have to answer to them.”

Also by Lacey Savage

Fighting Chance

Wed and Wanton

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