Page 95 of War Queen
From around her waist, his hands ran up her back and then down again, curving around her buttocks through her riding gown as he walked her backward toward the bed. “It will take them some time to get here.”
Gods, she missed this man. Perhaps her own important things could wait just a little longer. “They could be at our gates,” she warned playfully.
He didn’t stop his movement toward the bed. “Did you see them when you came through?”
She bit her bottom lip and shook her head.
“Then we have some time yet.” His voice came lower now. “Kiss me before I go to battle.”
Hunger radiated off him, and the muscle tightened under his skin, but before they reached the bed, she put a hand on his chest to still him. “I need to clean up.” And calm things down to tell him about the visions of Alexander.
He slowed but didn’t stop. “I’m not waiting.”
“Mikael, I’m so dirty.”
“Then we’ll both be dirty.” They reached the bed, and he pushed her back onto it with his frame, but his arms supported her, and he lowered her gently to the furs.
“I smell like… I’ve been on a horse for weeks—”
“I like horses.” He lowered himself over her.
Norah couldn’t help a laugh. He moved his hips between her thighs.
“I need to talk to you,” she said.
“After.”
The air changed, and she quieted. The dark pools of his eyes traced her face, moving from her eyes to her hair, then back down to her lips.
He was quiet.
And then he wasn’t.
An urgency came to him, and he reached underneath her skirts. Need trembled through him. She shifted her weight, helping him free her of the riding breeches and undergarments. Mikael stripped them both of everything that kept their skin from touching, everything that kept them apart. Grasping, pulling, tearing. He moved with a feral need, violent but not hurtful, and they became one as he sank inside her.
A calm returned, and he stilled. He buried his face into her neck, and the heat of his breath licked her skin. As they lay quietly, he trailed kisses along her jaw.
Her eyes narrowed. “You’d better not be finished.”
He chuckled. “No,” he said softly. His flesh pulsed inside her, hard and thick, offering proof. He lifted himself to look at her again, and his eyes shone bright, but there was a seriousness to them. “I just needed to be close to you right now.”
She tightened her thighs around him. “Is this close enough?”
But he shook his head slowly. “Nothing with you is ever enough.”
Norah reached up and softly scored her fingertips through the short cut of his beard. “I’ve missed you,” she whispered. She had missed everything about him—his touch, his voice, his love, the way he needed her.
“I’ve missed you too.” And he lowered himself back to her waiting lips.
Morning brought the sun, and Norah walked to the dining hall. Mikael had left early to see what unimportant news the messenger from the day before had delivered. It gave her a moment to get her thoughts in order. She reached her hand inside the pocket of her gown and clutched the small vial. She’d show it to Mikael today. Or maybe she shouldn’t. Maybe she should just tell him about it, and not show him. What if he told her to call Alexander? What if he wanted to see for himself? Would it work this far from Mercia? It had been a month since she’d received the vial and had last seen Alexander. Would it work at all? Or would its power fade with time? It wasn’t like normal blood—it didn’t clot or separate. Perhaps something had been mixed with it. Or perhaps it wasn’t normal blood. She mocked herself. Obviously it wasn’t normal blood.
Soren fell into step beside her, and she jerked her hand from her pocket.
“Did you tell him?” he asked.
About the visions. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye as she kept walking. “Not yet.”
His eyes burned into her, but she avoided them. “Why not?” he demanded.
