Page 163 of The Witch Queen

It takes her a long time to answer.

“Yes,” she says, her voice barely above a whisper.

That ancient part of my heart pulses. “Then why didn’t you?”

“Because I’m a fool,” she says, attempting a smile. Then, “Because…I was afraid of you.”

“Afraid? Because of Malum? But you said you couldn’t sense it.”

“No,” she says, shaking her head. “Because of the way you made me feel. Like I could be my own person, away from my mother and the rest.”

“You’ve always been your own person,” I argue wryly. “That’s one of the reasons Mother hated you so much.”

“I haven’t been,” she insists. “And if I’m being perfectly honest, when I learned that you were here and what you’d done, I was…jealous.”

Even Nettle trills at that.

“Jealous?What for?”

“Because you accomplished all this,” she says, indicating my chamber. “Alone.You didn’t bow to your mother or the Heirs, or to anyone. Youstayed.It’s not a cowardly thing, Ayleth. You’re the strong one. You always have been.”

I hardly know what to do with that.

“I don’t feel so strong now,” I admit. “In fact, maybe I should have listened to you. Gone off and led some other life.”

“Listened tome?” She laughs, but it’s hollow. “Look at everything that’s happened. I ruin everything I touch.”

“Everything?” I ask. “Including me?”

She holds my gaze for what seems an eternity. Then, so soft I almost miss it, “No.”

That connection—that thread—tightens between us. Pulling us together. That abandoned chamber of my heart pulses and I can’t helpbut notice how her own breathing quickens. The elegant line of her collarbones. Places I have touched. Craved.

Do not,that voice warns.You know what will happen.

Maybe. But perhaps I do not care anymore.

I close the distance between us in two strides, earning a startled meow from Nettle as she leaps away. My hands tangle in Jacquetta’s hair as my mouth crashes onto hers. Jacquetta kisses me back, both of us holding on to each other like we might slip away at any moment. Our kiss deepens, and I forgot how she tasted—like roses and something that is inexplicably her. Likehome.But not a home I ever thought I’d find my way back to.

My frantic hands yank at the laces of her dress, ripping her sleeves off, then her bodice, unable to get to her skin fast enough. My lips find hers again, rough and bruising. I feel the same pressure in Jacquetta’s touch—her fingers roving in places that make me ache with desire. Jacquetta yanks her shift over her head and then there is nothing clothing her but firelight. I linger over every detail: the dip of her waist and the ridges of her shoulders and the curve of her hips. And it’s only now that I realize how much I’ve missed her.Neededher.

My heart beats impossibly faster as, never taking her gaze from mine, Jacquetta drops to one knee and then the other. I let my fingertips travel the column of her throat to settle on the rabbit-quick pulse between her collarbones. A moan escapes me as Jacquetta kisses my legs, her lips working their way up the inside of my thigh, gentle and possessive at once.

I gasp, reaching for the bedpost as her mouth finds the soft place between my legs. Sparks dance through my blood as her tongue works, tantalizingly slow at first. Then faster and faster, until the feeling crests, leaving me spent and trembling.

Jacquetta rises, her mouth meeting mine again. We tumble onto the bed. It is not a gentle coupling—not tender and cautious as we have been in the past. This is like lightning in a storm, each of us claiming the other. It’s only when I pin her beneath me that I slow. With one hand, I hold her wrists above her head. With the other, I letmy fingertips explore the length of her, skimming over her breasts, her stomach.

“Ayleth,” she breathes, her hips moving against mine. “Please.”

At long last, I settle on the velvet softness between her legs. She gasps, her back arching as I tease her there, slipping my fingers inside her. I increase my tempo, harder and faster, until Jacquetta cries out. She relaxes onto the bed and I sink down next to her, my face resting against the curve of her neck.

We lie like that together for a long time, drinking each other in. And I know in that moment that, no matter what path we take, we would always find our way back here—where we were supposed to be all along.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Ayleth

The smell of juniper wakes me.