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Chapter Nineteen
Before I knew it, the familiar sight of the castle loomed ahead, standing on its hill, lonely and forlorn. I remembered the first time I’d seen it, terrified that this was to be my new home. Never did I think I’d be happy to be returning some day.
Wicked flew up the switchback, through the courtyard, and slammed open the door to the small room. He set me down, tossed off his cloak and moved to the kitchen. The sight was so familiar and comforting; it fired an ache in my chest.
Well, familiar except for the fact he’d just dropped the heart of an ogre into a massive stockpot. He said nothing as he worked, boiling the organ and tossing in ingredients for some kind of stew. As I watched him quietly, I got the sense he needed a moment to collect himself.
After all these years, what did it feel like to finally arrive at this moment?
When he was done, he filled his bowl and set it on the table, meeting my gaze with a resigned look. Facing down the bowl like it was the firing line at his execution, he sank into his chair and began eating. We said nothing as he swallowed the contents, one fateful bite at a time.
When he was done, he pushed it away and while he stared at the table, I stared at him.
“Did it work?” I asked, and he shook his head.
“I don’t know. I don’t feel any different.”
“Should we go outside? Test the boundaries of the trees?” I asked, just as I noticed the markings on his face were moving. They swirled like a painter mixing them on his palette. “Your tattoos,” I gasped. They morphed into a shapeless blot and then slowly dissolved, leaving nothing but a blank canvas of Wicked’s smooth olive skin. “They’re gone.” I stood up and tugged open the collar of his tunic to find more unmarked flesh.
“They’re gone,” he echoed, his voice hollow, his eyes distant. I stepped away, wanting to give him space. He planted his elbows on the table and dropped his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking. I slid into the chair next to him, watching as he collapsed with the burden of the years.
“Wicked?” I placed a soft hand on his arm. “Tell me what you need.”
He lowered his hands and turned to me, his knees encasing mine and his eyes lined with silver.
“Did you mean what you said out there? You would have stayed here with me? That you...” His voice was rough, dulled to a jagged edge of hope.
“Yes,” I whispered. “Of course, I meant it.” I leaned closer, pressing my hands against his chest. “Don’t push me away.”
“I don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve you,” he said as though it were an absolute chiseled into stone.
I shook my head. “That’s not true.”
“I took you away so I could use you as bait. You can’t love me.”
I let out a breath through my nose. “You did, but you were desperate. It was wrong and you shouldn’t have done it, but I forgive you. I forgave you the night you told me why. I love you. I want to stay with you.”
His hands gripped my elbows as though he could save himself from falling.
“I can’t give you anything but this broken-down castle. You’re a princess. You’re the brightest light in the sky, Rowan. You deserve so much more.”
I leaned in closer, our noses almost touching. “I don’t care,” I whispered. “I have everything I need if I have you.”
He held so still it was like a spell had frozen him to ice, and if he moved, he’d shatter into a glittering pile at my feet.
“Gods, I love you too,” he said a heartbeat later and then he pulled me onto his lap and crushed his mouth to mine so hard, our teeth clashed and our noses collided, and I moaned because this kiss was the sum total of all of our longing. This kiss blew all the rest away.
My legs straddled his hips. He pressed against me, our mouths melding into one. “I love you too,” he moaned again into my mouth. “So fucking much. I never thought...” He trailed off as I sucked on his tongue, and his groan turned into a helpless whimper.
After we kissed for so long, our lips were swollen and our skin was damp with sweat, we pulled apart, our foreheads touching. “Are you sure about this?” he asked.
“Stop it,” I said. “I’ve been miserable without you these past weeks. I knew it the moment I turned around, and you were gone.”
He closed his eyes. “After all these years. After the loneliness and the disappointment and the loss, leaving you there was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
I smiled at him, tracing his bottom lip with my thumb. “When did you know you loved me?” I asked.
He smirked. “When you shoved me inside that cage.”
I barked out a laugh and smacked his shoulder. “Stop it. That’s not true.”
He smiled, letting out a low chuckle. “It’s true. You were so feral and brave. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to tear your clothes off and fuck you senseless or hang on to you and protect you forever.”
I took in a deep breath, my heart squeezing, and flashed him a coy smile. “How about both?”
He gri
“I’m just Rowan now,” I said, feeling the last piece of my old life fall away.
“Won’t they try to stop you?” He gestured to the forest and my home beyond, where I was sure someone must have noted my absence by now.
“By the laws of Aetherus, technically, I still belong to you.”
“You don’t belong to me, Rowan. I want you to be mine, but I’m yours too.”
I touched his face, loving the feel of his rough stubble against my fingers. “Thank you, but it might be the only way they let me go, so for now, let’s pretend.” I winked, and he gave me that crooked smile I’d grown to love in this dusty, forlorn castle.
“I can’t help but think you’re making a terrible mistake.” There was such anguish in his expression, it broke my heart.
“I’ve never been more sure of anything,” I said, and the tentative smile that crossed his face seemed to loosen whatever rein he’d been keeping on himself. He pulled me closer, grinding his hips into mine.
“In that case, Princess, I can’t spend another minute without my cock buried inside you.” He began pawing at my nightgown, his mouth crashing into mine as he lifted me up and stood me on the floor. A moment later, his tunic and my nightgown joined the rest of our clothing in a pile.
He backed me against the table, his hands skating over my thighs and my ass before he turned me around and circled the nape of my neck with his hand.
“I missed you so much,” he said, kissing the shell of my ear, his other hand cupping my breast and then rolling my nipple with his fingers. “I missed this soft skin, and this perfect mouth and this beautiful hair.” He wrapped the length of it around his hand and then bent me against the table, his fingers sliding through my wetness.
He moved behind me, tugging open his breeches, and then I felt the press of his cock against my entrance. I moaned as he thrust inside me without warning, dragging his length out and then back in until he was fully seated. I felt his shudder ripple right through me as he pulled out and thrust back in hard enough to make me gasp. Warmth spread through my limbs, my stomach tightening already.
I clung to the table, my fingers digging into the wood as my back arched. As he moved faster, I cried out. His hand gripped in my hair, he pounded in and out of me, his other hand sliding between my thighs. We moved as one, our breaths shredded and our gasps loud in the silent night. He leaned down, his mouth clamping onto the curve of my neck as he sucked my skin and then dragged his tongue up to my ear.
“Come for me, Princess,” he growled as he surged into me, and I shattered with a cry. He continued thrusting, his chest tight to my back, and his arm wrapped around my waist. His hips continued driving as I rode out my climax, and then his body tensed before he came with a prolonged groan. We moved together for another few moments as we climbed back down the peak we’d both just mounted.
Still shaking, he scooped me up and carried me to the bed and then covered me. Before joining me, he lit the fire.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” he said, touching my face and ru
“I love you too, Wicked,” I said, kissing him and then pulling back. “Do I get to know your real name now?”
He shook his head, laughing. “That is my real name, Princess.”
“Oh,” I replied, biting my lip. “I’m sorry I made fun of it.”
“We’ll call it even for the whole using-you-as-bait-thing.” He winked, and I snuggled into him, warm and safe and happy.