Page 41 of Fae's Mate
“Seki I…” he pants against my neck.
I’m just about to squeeze him again when a familiar smell fills my nose.
Shit.
My hand leaves his erection and I pull his hand away from me. The absence of his touch is almost too much, but I know that smell. I would know it anywhere.
Scrabbling out from under him, a look of pure confusion on his face, I lunge towards the oven, where smoke is already billowing through the cracks.
“Shit,” the High Lord mutters behind me.
I grab a cloth from the bench, ready to pull the burning pie from the oven. When I open the door, flames lick at the influx of air that seeps into the oven. With a squeal, I fall back, just as the High Lord curses again.
Before I can do anything else, the flaming pie and the entire oven is doused in water. I spin my head to see the High Lord with his arms outstretched as if had thrown the water himself. Then realise he had. He used his magic to put out the fire.
He’s by my side in an instant, cupping my cheek, and turning my face towards his.
“Are you alright?” he asks, his voice tight.
“I’mfine,” I smile, still panting.
“You didn’t get burnt?”
His gaze travels over my face quickly, looking for injury.
“I’m fine,” I insist, pressing my palm to his cheek then kissing him softly.
“The pie, however, did not survive.”
He chuckles, the sound deep and sonorous, as it vibrates through my chest and sets my toes curling.
He stands, holding his hand out to me, and when I take it, he hauls me to my feet. When he releases my hand, he reaches for the laces of his trousers, and quickly draws them closed, adjusting his still semi-hard arousal, and tucking in his shirt.
I can’t help the pang of disappointment I feel that the moment is over as I zip my jeans back up. The button has indeed been ripped off. Then the reality of what we were about to do hits me and I feel… I expect to feel guilty, but I don’t… I still only feel disappointed.
The High Lord takes a step towards me, tucking an unruly strand of hair behind my ear tenderly, his fingers brushing my cheek.
“I have some duties I need to attend to, including speaking with my brother.”
“Oh,” I say, unable to hide my disappointment.
“I will see you later,” he promises, ducking to kiss me softly before leaving the kitchen.
I stand there for a moment in the kitchen alone, feeling strange. His exit felt somehow rushed… had I offended him? I don’t know the fae ways of lovemaking. Perhaps I did something wrong?
I resolve to ask him next time I see him, then set to cleaning up the mess in the kitchen. It will be a long afternoon, and an even longer dinner, as I anticipate what we will do when the sun goes down.
Chapter 24
High Lord
I try to remind myself that Seki does not know fae ways as I pace towards the dungeon. What she asked of me, what she wanted… When she had told me she wanted me inside her, I had assumed she wanted my fingers again. But I had been wrong, and part of me is glad the pie caught fire, to halt our interaction, because I’m not sure I would have had it in me to deny her.
The first time we join should be when we accept the bond. I have had plenty of lovers over the years, but laying with your mate is different. It is sacred. Not only that, but if I lay with her… and then she still decides to leave… it would destroy me. I can’t do it. Once with Seki will not be enough, and I would rather not torture myself with knowing what it is like to be with her, only to have her torn away. I would rather never know the bliss of losing myself in her entirely.
As I descend into the darkness of the dungeon, I push thoughts of my mate aside. I do not think of what she would feel like bare against me, the sounds she would make as I claim her…
A loud drip echoes through the dungeon, and the scarce candlelight casts eerie shadows in the crevices of stone. As I round the corner to my brother’s cell, I suck in a breath.
