Total pages in book: 208
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
I felt tears welling in my eyes. “My king, you really must—”
“And you found it in your heart to forgive me. I spoke cruel words, lashing out in a way that was worse than feeling the tip of a whip. Unforgiveable. But you did not make me go to the ends of the earth to prove my remorse. You did not make me shower you with jewels and gold. You did not force me to my knees and make me beg and kiss your feet. You took yourself away, as I deserved, and gave yourself back, because your heart is just that kind.”
Now I’d definitely could take no more.
“Please be quiet, my husband, and—”
“I will hunt no more whale, for they are your friends and you please me so much, my queen, I would never harm a creature who is friend to you.”
I stood frozen in his arms, staring up at his beautiful face.
He took one hand from about me in order to cup my jaw and he dipped his head close to mine.
“Would you like more?” he queried.
I could not imagine he had more.
I did not mention that.
I asked, “You will not hunt the whales?”
“It will be added to the proclamations. It will be forbidden. No one will hunt the whales, for they are Companions of the Queen. If they do, they’ll answer to the King of the Sea.”
I could not believe he was saying this, and it meant so very much that he was, I felt a tear trace down my cheek.
Aramus captured it with his thumb and dipped his face even closer.
“You could never not please me, Ha-Lah, that’s how much you please me,” he whispered.
“Do you love me?” I asked.
“I did not know it, until recently, but I fell in love with you kneeling at your side in the sanctuary of Leuthea. I fell more in love with you when you appeared before me in your wedding gown, so regal, it was not like you were not yet queen, but you had been for centuries. And I fell more in love with you later, when you were standing by our marital bed and you stated your case with passion and strength, utterly unafraid of me.”
I stared up at my husband.
He grinned. “Though, I would have preferred you stated your case in the morning over breakfast after we’d had a night where we were both very naked and we did very pleasant things to each other while were that. Not to mention, done it in a much quieter tone.”
I felt a tremulous smile hit my lips.
Then I admitted, “I’m falling in love with you too.”
His head dipped that much nearer so when he said the words, “Thank the gods, I know,” his lips brushed mine.
Another tear traced down my opposite cheek as a frisson chased up my spine.
“Let us make magic together, wife, aboard The Finnie,” he whispered.
I nodded, and with us so close, my nose brushed against his.
That was when my husband kissed me.
It was gentle, and it was sweet. He took a great deal of time exploring my mouth, then gave more, allowing me to explore his.
The taste of him…
Sublime.
Then he turned us, so I had my back to the bed, and slowly he lowered me there, lowering himself on top of me.
His weight was like the heavens had landed atop me.
He rolled us though, so I was on top, as if he feared his weight would frighten me.
I showed him by kissing his mouth, his jaw, his neck, his throat that I was not afraid.
But kissing his mouth, his jaw, his neck, his throat, I smelled the salt of him, the aroma of sea and man and husband.
And I tasted the same things too.
Therefore, when I kissed his mouth again, I tried plundering.
It worked.
I was rolled, and my efforts ceased for my husband was plundering me with mouth and with hands.
That frisson I had felt strengthened. My skin felt strange. Needy for his touch just as my hands itched to give the same to him.
I pulled at his shirt to free it from his trousers in order to find skin.
Stymied by his waistcoat, I mentally cursed it, planted my foot in the bed and heaved him.
Now I was on top and he was on the bottom. I shifted to straddle him, but my damnable fingers did not work for desperation at trying to release the dratted, confounding buttons.
“You wear too many clothes,” I complained.
“You wear just enough,” he murmured, his fingers gripping my short gown and pulling up, my arms going with it.
Leaving me in nothing but panties.
He tossed it to the floor, his eyes hit my body and grew hungry.
Thus, there I had it.
He very much liked what he saw.
That expression on his face, I felt a spasm at the core of me, and I grew wetter.