The Consort (Tellaran Series) (13 page)

“Sure.” He glanced toward the garden doors; the moons had long since risen. “It’s actually getting pretty late. We should probably turn in if you want to make an early visit to the palace.”

Alari waited in their bed for him, plucking at the bedclothes with her fingers. When Kyndan finally came from the bathing chamber, he wore only loose sleeping trousers. He took the time to extinguish the lights as he came and he avoided her gaze.

Drawing the covers down he climbed in to bed. She could feel the warmth of him beside her, remembered how it felt to have him pull her against him in the temple district, remembered the tremble of hunger in his body as his mouth hovered over hers.

After a long moment he met her eyes. “We should probably get some sleep.”

Her throat tightened against disappointed tears.

Kyndan hesitated then caught her chin to press a kiss so light and soft he barely brushed her mouth. “Good night, Alari.”

Suddenly the frustration, the
unfairness
of it, was too much and her hands curled into fists.

“Do not do such,” she said hoarsely.

He pulled away instantly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“Do not treat me as if I am broken!” she said, her voice low and fierce. “Think you I am so despoiled by
him
?”

“What?” He reared back. “Alari, I don’t think that at all. I just—”

“I want to be like your other girls, Kyndan!” she cried, gripping the sheets. “I want you to
see
me the same! I want you to
treat
me the same as you did them—not as if I am damaged!”

He shook his head. “That’s not what I was—”

“I know you are thinking of that—of what
he
did!”

“No! Actually I’ve been thinking of—well, Lashima.”

She stopped short. “What?”

“You know, how Ren’thar won over Lashima. Because he was so gentle and, uh—” His face colored. “Patient.”

Alari’s brow furrowed. “I do not understand.”

“
The Thousand Nights of Tenderness
.” He gave a frustrated gesture. “Well, gods, you’re
Az-kye
, Alari! I thought—I mean, I figured that’s what you’d
want
.”

“You read
The Thousand Nights
?” She blinked at him.  “To learn how to rouse me?”

“Well, not
all
of it. It’s pretty long. After the Circle I asked Tedah to get me a copy but I didn’t have a lot of time so I kind of skimmed till”—he gave a sheepish half shrug—“I got to the good parts.”

She searched his reddened face. “
That
is why you have not—?”

Surprised, touched, and giddy with relief, Alari burst out laughing.

He slumped back against the carved headboard, his color high. “Not exactly the ecstatic response I was going for.”

“Oh, Kyndan,” she said, smiling and shaking her head.  “You are so pleasing to me I cannot even speak to it!”

Alari moved so she was on her knees facing him. She nipped her lip and studied him for a moment. His face was flushed, his blue eyes chagrined, his warm brown hair charmingly rumpled.

Alari drew a deep breath and seized her courage, lightly brushing his full lower lip with her fingers. He blinked and she traced the scar he had earned for her then the line of his jaw, feeling the roughness of tiny stubble. She rested her fingers at the hollow of his throat for a moment before skimming the warm lightly furred skin of his chest.

His eyes widened when her touch trailed lower still, the muscles of his stomach tightening under her fingers. She watched his breath quicken; he was fully roused now, tenting the soft fabric of his sleeping trousers. His mouth parted in a shaking breath as her hand ran over his hardened length. 

Her fingers went to either side of his waist, edging the waistband lower. He held her gaze searchingly and after a moment lifted his hips so she could pull the fabric down. She watched as his shaft sprang free and found that he was different from men she had seen only in how beautifully he was formed. He made a soft strangled sound as she closed her hand around him, marveling in the velvety smoothness of his skin. Her fingers, wrapped around his staff, didn’t quite meet as she caressed him.

“Gods . . .” His mouth parted, his breath ragged, his eyes half-shut as he watched her stroke him and pressed his hips toward her. His large shaft grew still more taut in her hand. A bead of moisture appeared at the tip and she rubbed over the slickness with the pad of her thumb.

“This is what I want, Kyndan,” she said huskily. “I want you so roused you are wild for me.”

His hand came up swiftly to cup her cheek then, his blue gaze fevered.

“If you want me to stop,” he said hoarsely, “
any time
you tell me to stop, I will. You just tell me. All right?”

She nodded and in the next moment his mouth was on hers, hot and demanding, his palm at the back of her neck to press her closer.

Alari caught her breath at the heat of it and if she thought his earlier hesitation due to inexperience or reluctance she was completely mistaken. Kyndan was confident and skilled, his tongue just tracing the inside so her upper lip for a moment before he deepened the kiss.

Her center tightened at the heat in his eyes as his fingers traced along the sides of her neck, to her shoulders to slide down the straps of her nightdress. The linen fell away easily and she swallowed at the anxiety at being so exposed to him.

His gaze went to her breasts, his eyes softening. “You’re so beautiful . . .”

He wet his lips, his hand warm and gentle as he cupped the fullness of her breasts. The lightest touch of his thumb over her nipples sent a shock of tightening pleasure through her. In a quick, startling movement he caught her by the waist. He swung her around and she thrilled at the forcefulness, rejoicing at how unafraid she was of his eagerness. Then the softness of the bed was against her back and he was kneeling between her legs.

His fingers trembled a little as they hooked the edges of her underwear and Alari felt a cool rush of air over her center as he pulled away the last of her garments. She was naked now, his eyes hot and hungry as his palms against the inside of her thighs eased her wider. His shaft jerked a bit as his gaze went to her folds and it roused her more to be so open and exposed to him.

“Gods,” he said raggedly. “I’ve wanted this so much.”

Alari wanted to ask if he was as pleased by what he saw as she was but the light caress of his fingers starting at her knee and sliding up her inner thigh took her breath from her.

“Just to be able to
touch
you . . .”

Her center tightened sharply as his fingers brushed there and she closed her eyes briefly, lifting her hips toward him slightly. His smile was almost feral as he took in her reaction.

“Oh, no. I’ve wanted this too much to rush, Princess,” he whispered huskily, his touch skimming over where she was most sensitive. “That was just a taste.”

His touch went up over the dark hair curled between her legs, over her belly and between her breasts.  He leaned forward then, his hand bracing the bed next to her as he lowered his body to hers.

Her mouth parted at the wonderful shock of skin against skin. His body was very warm, beautifully muscled, and Alari’s hands went to his back as he settled over her, the heat of his shaft against her center as he brought his mouth to hers.

He caged her body with his arms, lazily kissing her, and his hard body over hers, the tantalizing touch of his hardness against her center, made her lift her hips to rub against him.

He made a soft sound then, between a laugh and a groan.

“You’re not making it easy to go slow,” he said thickly.

His legs were hard with muscle against the inside of her thighs; a quick lift of his hips and his hot hardness would be plunging inside her.

“So do not go slow,” Alari urged breathlessly. “You have given me enough of a taste now.”

“A taste. . .
there’s
an idea . . .” His head bent to catch the tip of her breast, the moist heat of his tongue on her nipple making her lips part.  Her fingers ran through the soft waves of his hair as he drew the tip into his mouth with gentle suction.

He turned his attention to her other breast and he shifted a bit so, while his shaft was still heavy at her thigh, there was space between their bodies. His palm smoothed over her ribs, waist, and lower belly to her center, lightly tracing the folds there.

“Hmm,” he murmured approvingly at the sound of her moan. “I like that. Be even better when I bring you to your pleasure . . .”

It was maddening how his fingers barely skimmed over her nub, his touch sending every nerve through her belly, thighs, center, and buttocks tingling. She clasped the flesh of his broad shoulders to press him closer, to urge him on.

“So impatient,” he scolded hoarsely and grasping the dark hair there, gave a gentle, possessive tug that sent her arousal soaring. “You don’t know what it’s taking for me not to spread you wide, not to be inside you right now.”

She rocked herself against his hand. “Kyndan, please . . .”

“My sweet, impatient princess.” His touch changed to circle where she was most sensitive, taking her between his thumb and finger. Her eyes shut, her mouth parting at the waves of sensation as he stroked her.

Keeping his thumb circling against her, he slid a finger, then two, into her slickness.

“Gods, so wet . . .” he groaned against her mouth.

He was above her now, one elbow braced beside her head, the hot tip of his shaft positioned between her lips. His blue gaze met hers and then he was entering her, clasping her hip to hold her still.

He was thick, stretching her fully, and he searched her face, the question in his eyes.

“Gods,” she cried, her hands going to his hips to urge him on, trying to move against him. “Do not stop!”

A hot smile flitted across his face then his gaze dropped to watch himself as he filled her. His shaft hit her most sensitive spot with every movement as he pulled back and again as he filled her.

Kyndan held her steady, his fingers pressing into the flesh of her buttock, every thrust driving her higher, bringing her nearly to the brink. He was rock hard inside her now, his body taut, curled toward her, the muscles of his stomach trembling as he drove into her. She was so close and Alari’s hands went to his hips to press him deeper. She cried out as her climax hit, contracting hard around him.

Kyndan made a strangled sound at her release and his rhythm changed, his strokes faster and harder now. He thrust deep, then again and it was a thrill to sense him at the end of his control. He stiffened, shuddering, and she felt the throbs of his shaft as his seed burst deep within her. 

Gasping at his release he collapsed against her, their bodies slick with sweat, His head came to rest at her shoulder, his mouth parted against her throat, his breath hot and moist against her skin.

Still trembling, Alari wrapped her arms around him, the waves of his hair soft against her cheek.

As if his body felt too heavy for movement, he lifted his head to meet her gaze. He quickly searched her eyes, the slightest crease in his brow, but whatever he saw in her gaze instantly melted his concern away. He gave her a quick smile.

“I must be crushing you,” he mumbled, sounding chagrined and still a bit breathless as he slid away from her.

“I do not mind,” she protested, but he was already collapsing beside her on the bed.

Her flash of disappointment at the loss of contact only lasted a heartbeat; in the next moment he gathered her against him. He cradled her, one arm around her, his hand holding hers at his chest.

He gave a soft laugh. “Sorry, looks like Ren’thar’s got me completely beat on patience.”

Alari rubbed her cheek lightly against his shoulder. “I thought perhaps you did not want me.”

He gave a disbelieving look. “You had me stiff and throbbing just by taking enough pity on me to change my bandage.”

“I did not mean to embarrass you then.”