Forbidden Craving: The Nymph King / The Beautiful Ashes. Gena Showalter
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Название: Forbidden Craving: The Nymph King / The Beautiful Ashes
Автор: Gena Showalter
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Современная зарубежная литература
isbn: 9781474068710
isbn:
Behind them, someone cleared his throat. “My king?”
Shaye heard the voice distantly and despised the interruption. More kisses. She wanted more of Valerian’s kisses. And he very clearly wanted to give them to her. Wicked intent gleamed in his eyes.
“I’m so sorry, my king,” the voice said. “The fight...”
Valerian’s fingers clenched on her hips. “I don’t want to stop hating you,” he said softly, the words nothing but a growl.
Saying “You must” almost killed her.
He brushed his nose against hers. “Must hate you?”
“Must stop.” Never stop!
He ran his tongue over his teeth. Then his nostrils flared, as if her taste lingered there. “For now,” he stated. “I will.”
She gulped. She’d never been kissed with such passion or fervor. As if the man claiming her lips truly savored her and would be utterly destroyed without her.
He’s dangerous, her mind whispered. He made her hope, even though there was only one way the relationship would end. Painfully.
All relationships ended. Period.
But going from the beginning to the end will be worth the heartbreak later on, her body responded.
She tugged from his embrace, suddenly cold and empty. Hollow, as she’d been through her entire childhood.
His eyelids compressed to tiny slits, his thick lashes nearly intertwining top with bottom. “You melted for me. That isn’t reason to withdraw from me, Moon. That’s reason to rejoice.”
“Valerian,” yet another man called. Joachim, this time. She recognized the deep baritone, now filled with impatience. “Have you decided against fighting me? Do you concede the victory to me?”
Shaye drew her arms over her middle, tamping down a tremor of dread. “No,” she said. “He doesn’t.”
Valerian cupped her cheeks. His gaze searched hers. He had to wonder why she’d protested the fight before but supported it now.
The answer—whatever he’d decided it was—didn’t please him. He scowled.
Did he think she wanted him to lose now that they’d kissed? Now that fear held her in an obvious choke hold?
“I will never concede,” Valerian said, the words more lethal than the sword strapped to his back. His eyes never left her face. “Never.”
VALERIAN REELED, HARD, as he peered at the exquisite Shaye. Her eyes were wide and haunting—haunted—her lips puffed and red, and a pulse hammering at the base of her neck as she struggled to catch her breath. If he hadn’t already known she belonged to him, he would have known the moment, the very second, he tasted her sweetness. Nothing and no one had ever affected him more profoundly.
I’m owned. She owns me.
Joachim—the man who had interrupted Valerian’s first kiss with his one and only mate—awaited him.
Wrong phrasing. What he and Shaye had done had been more than a kiss. Joachim had interrupted Valerian’s first consuming with his one and only mate.
Yes. Better. They’d consumed each other.
He wanted to consume her again.
My cousin’s death warrant has been signed, sealed and soon, delivered.
Looking away from a female had never been difficult, but fury seethed and bubbled in his veins, a rushing river of acid, giving him the strength he needed to glare at Joachim.
“You will pay for this,” he snapped.
“Only if you beat me,” Joachim replied, smug expectation coloring his face.
The man truly thought to win and become king.
“I’ve changed my mind about the fight,” Shaye muttered. “He deserves a royal spanking pronto.”
Valerian reached back, palm extended, waiting for her to willingly place her hand in his. To his delight, she laced her fingers with his without a moment’s hesitation. Her hand was soft and delicate, the bones fine, the skin smooth. Her perfectly rounded nails were painted the color of coral shells.
One day, he would suck them into his mouth.
She tightened her grip, and his delight only magnified. Was she offering him...comfort?
Was she coming to care for him?
Perhaps, perhaps not, but he had made progress with her. Never had a woman reacted so passionately to him, erupting from ice-cold to white-hot in seconds.
I’ll have that—her—again, he vowed. Soon.
“I’m waiting,” Joachim said, tapping a booted foot.
“So ready to die,” Valerian snapped.
His cousin ignored the threat. “Unless you’ve decided to challenge me to a staring contest?”
Valerian lifted his chin. “Come,” he said to Shaye. As he ushered her down the rest of the hallway, determination fueled his steps.
He barreled past Joachim, shouldering the foolish man out of the way. Such disrespect would only ever be met with pain—more than the warrior had ever before experienced.
By the time their private war ended, any other male who’d ever harbored thoughts of taking the crown would apologize.
A thought occurred to him. Should he have Shaye escorted to his chamber rather than take her with him, allowing her to watch the fight? If she bore witness to his most vicious side, the animal inside him...an animal that maimed and conquered...
She might grow to fear him.
The thought of her cowering from him...
It was more than he could bear.
But already she doubted his ability to win. Let her see the true depths of his strengths and know beyond any doubt he could take care of her at all times, in all ways.
“Um, I feel silly saying this, but it’s got to be pointed out,” Shaye said. “He’s wearing armor. You’re still shirtless.”
“I know. He is such a fool,” Valerian replied.
“He’s protecting vulnerable organs, and he’s the fool?”
“Have you ever been in a sword fight?”
“Metal, plastic or lightsaber?”
There were other kinds of swords СКАЧАТЬ