She swallowed past a lump in her throat, her nervous excitement ramping up a notch. This was so much more than any of the other times she’d been with men. She wasn’t entirely sure how she knew it was, but she felt it in her bones. This was special. This could very well be forever.
Soft kisses on the inside of her ankle chased all her thoughts away. The higher up her leg Drey got, the less coherent her thought got, even to herself. Her breathing became ragged, and she was vaguely aware of her chest already heaving. If this was the effect anticipation was having on her, what would happen when he actually got to the act itself.
She could hardly wait.
She didn’t have to.
Drey pushed her legs wider apart, looking up at her as he did to make sure she was still comfortable. Or at least, that’s what she hoped he was doing. Though he might have just been doing the same she did, and was enjoying the sight of her completely at his mercy.
He lowered his mouth to her, and she lost herself in the sensations that his tongue and lips were causing, a stream of unintelligible words and whimpers escaping from her. Including some begging, she was sure. But she also didn’t care. Even if she hadn’t won their game, she didn’t think she would so long as he kept going and really didn’t stop.
Deliberately slowly, probably to tease her more, Drey slipped a finger into her, and she cried out, her body beginning to shake and shudder. He had to know she wouldn’t last long now. She should be strong and tell him to stop, like he had with her. But she didn’t. She couldn’t.
The pleasure became too much, and she arched up into him, screaming out as it crashed through her.
It took a few moments for Aledwen to regain control of her thoughts, and she wasn’t surprised to see Drey leaning over her, a satisfied grin on his face. He leaned down and kissed her chastely.
“Take me,” she murmured.
“Are you sure?” he asked with a slight frown. But he didn’t seem very convinced of his own words. She wasn’t surprised. She couldn’t say she was particularly convinced by them either.
“Yes. You said I could choose.”
“Here?”
“Now,” she replied. Really she was beyond caring on the exact location, so long as she could feel him moving inside her.
Seeing he wasn’t going to do anything herself, she reached down and took him in her hand, causing a hissing moan to come from Drey. She smirked. That sound was worth it all.
She drew him to her, and then he took over, entering her with one firm thrust.
That was fine by Aledwen. Drey felt good. He felt right. Like they were both exactly where they were supposed to be.
Eleven
“You have to place your hands on the stone.” Her mother scowled at her, and Aledwen just about managed to refrain from rolling her eyes.
Believe it or not, she got that she had to place her hands on the damned stone, because that’s what she’d been doing for the past hour. “I am doing.” She tried to sound as sweet as possible, aware that anything else would just rile her mother up more.
“You can’t be doing it right. Step aside.”
Hanging her head in shame, she backed away, her hands trailing from the stone and dropping to her sides. Dejected didn’t quite cover how Aledwen was feeling right now.
Her mother placed both hands on it, and a soft green glow filled the room. “It’s not broken then.”
“I know it isn’t,” Aledwen replied. “But it wasn’t working for me.”
“Try again.”
She sighed. There was no arguing with her mother when she was in a mood like this. She’d keep going until there was nothing else on either of their minds. It drove Aledwen mad. Even as a child. She needed gentle persuasion, not pushing to the point of exertion.
Even so, she placed her hands back on the stone, hoping for a miracle, but unsurprisingly not receiving one. How on Earth was she going to perform the Birth if she couldn’t make the stupid stone glow. The ceremony required her to pull the power through herself and then do...something. She wasn’t quite so sure what though. Over the years, when she’d seen her mother performing it, she’d glowed green and then it had just faded.
But her mother didn’t really want to give up the power. The only reason she was passing the reins to Aledwen was because she had to. Tradition dictated that the Fae Princess of Spring took over following her eighteenth birthday. Now that had come and gone, there really wasn’t anything that could be done. Not when it was a law written as far back as anyone could remember.
No one broke those rules.
Or no one that lived broke those rules.