My question brought a grin to Evren’s face, and he slowly lifted his hand and moved my hair over my shoulder before letting his fingers fall against my neck. “Are you going to let me touch you again?”
“No,” I said the word without any authority, and Evren knew it.
He grinned harder as his hand pressed against my neck and his fingers dug into the soft flesh of my hip.
“You say one thing, but your body says another.” He leaned forward and pressed his mouth against my jawline. It wasn’t quite a kiss, but like his lips were trying to discover who I was simply by the curve of my jaw. “You don’t need to be ashamed of wanting me.”
I swallowed hard as I took in his words. “A moment ago, you were ready to kill me.”
“I’m still ready to kill you, princess. You put yourself in real fucking danger tonight, and you could have been killed.” His hands tightened further as if he was trying to control himself. “But my anger with you does nothing to extinguish my want. If anything, I somehow want you even more now. I want to mark your beautiful skin with proof of my touch so everyone knows that you belong to me.”
“I don’t belong to—” My words were cut off as his teeth grazed over the sensitive skin of my neck. I inhaled deeply as I reached out and grasped onto his forearms for support. My chest heaved against his, and I could feel his heart racing.
“Don’t say shit like that to me tonight,” he growled. “It already took everything I had not to bend you over that throne and fuck you until no one was confused about the fact that you were mine. Not whoever tried to harm you, not the queen, and definitely not my fucking brother.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to remind him that his brother was exactly who I belonged to, but when I looked at how possessively he was looking at me, all I could do was attempt to press my thighs together as moisture gathered there.
“And now?” I asked hesitantly.
“And now I’m kneeling between your thighs that are marked with a mix of your magic and my own, and I am still desperate to mark you with my fingers just as harshly. But you already have enough to hide, princess.” His fingers tightened once more before he slowly stood before me.
I looked up, searching his face for what he would do next.
“You need to sleep.”
I looked down at my bare thighs before us. “Am I to head back to my room like this or are you going to allow me to borrow some of your royal trousers?”
He chuckled low and soft before reaching down and wrapping his arm around my middle. He pressed his knee into the bed between my thighs before his grip tightened, and he quickly lifted me and dragged me to the top of his bed along with him.
My head hit his pillow, and the scent of him overwhelmed me as if I was smelling it for the first time. Evren laid at my side with his head propped onto his hand, and he stared down at me for a long moment before pulling his bedding up over our bodies.
“Tonight, you sleep here. My guards will bring you clothes to change into, and we’ll get you back to your room before sunup.” He dropped down beside me, and I could feel his breath against my cheek.
“I should go back to my room tonight.”
“No.” He shook his head against me before lifting his fingers, and the light slowly drained from the room. “Tonight you stay with me.”
Evren wrapped his arm around my middle and tugged me into him until my back was pressed against his chest. The warmth of his bare chest seeped into me, and even though I knew I shouldn’t, I let a deep breath fall from my chest as I settled against him.
He pushed his knee forward between my thighs and ran his nose along the back of my neck as if he was breathing me in.
“Sleep, princess. Everything else can wait until morning.”
His request felt impossible, but as his warmth surrounded me, my eyes fluttered closed and I slept more deeply than I had since I had arrived in this kingdom.