Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 105132 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105132 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
He felt her stiffen in his arms and realized she had felt the sternness of his command and most likely thought he was reprimanding her.
He wiped at her wet cheeks again and shook his head. “No more tears.”
He did not like, not at all, that he had made her cry and he did not like how much her tears tore at his heart. Women had cried in front of him before this, but their tears had not mattered to him.
Adira’s tears mattered.
The problem was… he did not understand why.
With a hand to his chest, Adira pushed herself to sit up.
Dravic let his arms fall away from her, then he sat up as well.
Adira quickly began to gesture. She was desperate for him to understand she was sorry for overstepping her bounds. And that she would not do it again.
It took Dravic some time to understand what she was trying to tell him, her gestures quicker than usual. And when he finally did, he shook his head.
“You cannot think this is your fault,” he said, and she wrinkled her brow.
“She cannot hear you,” he reminded himself and began to gesture.
It took some doing but she seemed to finally understand, though what she gestured in response made him think otherwise.
Adira used her fingers to demonstrate shearing her hair from her head just like what had been done to Eunice. She had caught a glimpse of her being led out of the village barely any hair left on her head.
Dravic narrowed his brow and then he realized what she had been saying all along. She thought she had done something wrong and would be punished for it.
He shook his head and, not knowing how to explain it, he copied her… his fingers chopping away at his hair.
Adira was startled, realizing he blamed himself for the kiss. She was quick to gesture, pointing to him, tapping her lips, then patting her chest. After doing so she wondered if she was wrong in letting him know she liked the kiss.
Dravic was not sure if he understood or perhaps he did understand and that was what surprised him. Was she telling him she liked his kiss? Enjoyed it?
Before he could respond, she gestured again, tapping her lips and shaking her head.
It was obvious she was saying he could not kiss her again.
She was right, of course. So why did it anger him?
And why did a single tear slip down her cheek?
He was king. He did as he pleased. At least that was the reason he gave himself for what he did. It had nothing to do with how rapidly his heart began to beat or how suddenly he ached to kiss her again.
He leaned his head toward her. Her eyes widened some, but she did not pull away. Nor did she pull away when he took hold of her chin before he captured her tear with his lips.
The tear had fallen far too close to her lips, and he was far too eager to kiss her to ignore it.
He brushed his lips over hers, telling himself one kiss, one last kiss before he never kissed her again. A kiss he and she would always remember.
It started gently, a slight press of lips, a warmth spreading through him and he could feel that it spread through Adira as well. They lingered in its innocent pleasure, and then… it changed.
Dravic wasn’t sure if it was him or Adira, or if they both felt it at the same time, that the innocent kiss wasn’t enough. It became more demanding, hungrier, needy.
Not thinking, just responding to a sudden ache she could not explain, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and his arms went around her waist, and he tipped them to the side, shifting her body just enough so that he came to rest over her as they landed on the pillows.
Adira clung to him, a feeling of such pleasure overwhelming her that she never wanted to let go of him. It spread through her, warmed her, opened her to feel in ways she did not understand but completely embraced.
His kiss, to her, was magic.
Never had Dravic experienced a kiss that so overpowered him, he feared he would get lost in it. It tore through him with an intense pleasure he had never known. Or was it that he finally felt… felt everything.
Her pleasure and his own.
A wicked wind suddenly howled down the chimney, sending the flames soaring, sending a brilliant light into the room.
Dravic’s lips left hers and he turned, shielding her with his body, without thought to his own. When the bright light faded, he turned to see nothing amiss in the room.
Had fate made its hand known?
Adira could not be anything more to him than a trusted companion. One he could talk to and never worry she would betray him. Would always be there for him no matter what. With Adira, he would never be alone. And he could not lose that.