Page 152 of North Queen
He made it all right, and she nodded.
Her body relaxed, and slowly, he began to move inside her. It wasn’t long before the burn subsided to an ache, and the want returned. Feeling him inside her, filling her, brought a new wave of sensations. She rocked her hips, and he moved faster. His breaths quickened, and she watched him. Her fingers moved along the lines of his body—feeling him, learning him.
Intimacy with Mikael was not as she’d imagined;hewas not as she’d imagined. She tightened her thighs to slow him and moved her hips to push him faster. Where she led him, he followed. She needed control, and he gave it to her. He gave her power. And she gave herself back to him, because what she wanted in that momentwashim.
The muscle under his skin hardened as he reached his own release, and he buried himself deep within her. She took him; she wanted him, all of him—his body, his being. Everything else fell away.
They lay unmoving as the air quieted around them. Norah closed her eyes and waited for her body to come back. His frame engulfed her, holding her, keeping her safe, and then, ever so gently, he pulled himself from her.
She winced, and he nuzzled the side of her cheek, his breath warm against her ear. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “Are you all right?”
She couldn’t answer. Was it all right that she didn’t want this time with him to be over? That he’d made her forget everything else, and she didn’t want to leave him? That she wanted to kiss him again? A longing stirred deep within her. Was it all right she wanted more than an alliance between them?
“Salara?”
Norah opened her eyes to find large pools of black brimmed with concern staring back at her.
“Say something,” he pleaded.
“How long before you can do that again?” she whispered.
The corners of his lips turned upward. He slipped his arms underneath her and laid his head between her breasts. “What are you doing to me?”
A smile crept across her lips, and she drifted into the sweet arms of sleep.
Chapter forty-four
Norahwokewiththemorning sun, her eyes hazy with sleep. She stretched languidly and sat up, alone in the bed. It had been the most restful night she’d had since arriving in Kharav. The warmth of Mikael’s body next to hers lulled her into dreaming; his skin brought the sweet scent of comfort.
Vitalia swept in. “You look like you had a very good night,” her maid said with a grin as she piled the mix of clothes together that had been cast to the floor.
Heat flashed across her cheeks. It was strange to think of it as a good night. But it felt good between them, her and Mikael. More than good.
Vitalia poured a cup of water, set it on the side table, and laid out a new dress across the bed.
“Where is he?” Norah asked.
“He left early to go see the lord commander. He said to let you sleep a while longer.”
The windows let the sun pour in, and Norah smiled under its beams. Everything felt in its place.
“How long will you stay here before you move to the wives’ villa?” Vitalia asked.
Norah jerked her head up. “The what?”
“The villa, where the king’s wives are.”
Her heart stopped in her chest.
“What wives?”What wives?
Vitalia looked at her in surprise and then backed up slightly.
“What wives?” Norah asked again, her voice shaking.
Her maid swallowed. “Salar’s wives.”
Horror flooded her. This couldn’t be true. “He has other wives?”
