That would take him away from her. As if he belonged to her.
As he did. “To make certain no one brings Khides’ gauntlet back to Solegius.”
Her lips parted. “Khides’ gauntlet is the relic they seek? My mother told me the legend of that weapon and of the brothers who broke the world. If it fell into the hands of a tyrant such as Solegius…”
Jalisa trailed off, as if every word she would choose to describe the horror of that was simply not horrific enough.
“Strax and I are bound by a blood obligation to see that no one unworthy ever wields it,” he told her. “And the gauntlet’s location is well-guarded…but I have to be certain none of the contestants wins the gauntlet and brings the weapon back to that sorcerer.”
“And so you must go,” she whispered thickly.
Throat constricted, Aruk nodded.
Through her lashes, her downcast gaze shimmered as brightly as the waters when she hesitantly said, “When you are certain the gauntlet is safe, warrior…would you return to Savadon?”
Hoarsely he admitted, “I know of nothing that might keep me away. Though more than a year might pass before I can return. The keep where the gauntlet is held lies six months’ journey away.”
A shuddering breath left her. As if in pain and relief, her eyes closed and the tears slipped over her cheeks. “I do not care how long it will be.”
Aruk did. Because every moment apart would be agony.
But these moments they had.
He surged through the water and eagerly she met him, lifting her mouth for his kiss. Catching her, Aruk hauled her up against his chest, her face level with his and her legs circling his waist. Salt from the sea and her tears flavored his first taste of her, then only her sweetness and heat as he licked his way past her lips. Her fingers tangled in his hair and fiercely she returned his kiss, his princess taking something for herself.
Aruk would give to her all that he had. Hungrily he consumed her mouth, slanting his lips over hers again and again until the low moan in her throat was a constant refrain. Greedily she met his kiss, lick for lick, then broke away, her gaze searching his as her heaving breaths swept over his lips.
Shakily she whispered, “I want more than one night, Aruk. I want every night until you have to leave.”
Nights not spent as payment or fee but in shared need. No sacrifice would it require. Only when it was over would they bleed.
“You will have every night,” he vowed harshly and began carrying her toward the shore. “And the days, too. Every moment that remains, I will have you so hard and so long, you will still feel me within you when I am gone.”
The word gone seemed to pierce her through. A gasping sob escaped her and she kissed him again, deep and hard, hands fisted in his hair. Branding herself on him. Sinking so deep under his skin. So that he would always feel her, too.
Aruk wouldn’t feel anything but her. Nothing but the way she filled his heart so full.
Beyond the waves, his feet sank into warm sand. Urgently she moved against him, stiffening his erection to throbbing steel. So hard he meant to fuck her. But no pleasure would she know with those rough grains abrading her every soft and wet crevice. Yet if he didn’t ease his need before taking her to the hut, their first time would be over the minute he sank his cock into her scorching embrace.
So hot she was. And so blessed he was, to ever know her thus.
Lowering her onto the silk shift she’d discarded on the sand, Aruk followed her down, and a tortured groan ripped from him when she eagerly spread her thighs to make room for his hips. His body shook with the need to accept that blatant invitation. Molten seed overfilled his sac, burning up the length of his shaft and dripping from the crown.
But only a small taste would he take now. Only a small taste.
Her cunt glistened with her arousal, tight and pink and lush. Braced above her, Aruk fisted his aching length. Through her sultry folds, he slicked the head of his cock up and down, teasing her entrance before pressing forward through her cunt lips and over the top of her cleft, his long thick shaft riding over her clit. Beneath him, Jalisa cried out in frustration, her hips angling upward as if to draw him down to her entrance again.
So that he might sink his cock into her, again and again.
Not yet. His mouth claimed the wonder of hers as he stroked again over the slick heat of her cunt. Faster, over her clit with each thrust. Soon she no longer tried to lure him inside but moved with him, legs tight around his waist and her body arching beneath his. Sobbing gasps of pleasure she breathed into their kiss, then all at once she threw her head back and cried his name, her slim torso a quivering bow with plucked string.