I took his hand in mine and started walking backward to the chair by the fireplace. Repeating the chant I’d previously spoke that stoked the fire before, and it roared to life.
I positioned him in front of me and placed my hand on his chest, pushing him back into the velvet seat. Climbing on top, I straddle his hips. I didn’t wait, nor did I have to. His body had already reacted to me, and I slid down on top of him, moaning as he entered me.
Sitting down with him completely inside of me, I kissed him deeply. My pull to him causing my heart to race even more when his hands gripped my sides, and he moved his hips just enough that I could feel his shaft pulsing against my walls.
“Kane?” I breathed.
“Yes, love?” His lips moved to my throat.
“What happens when we get the portals working? If I want to escape the dangers. Will you come with me? If that’s the way to keep me safe?”
“No. I can not leave the people on this world. Without me, they are vulnerable. It is not that I would not go with you to the ends of the universe. But leaving Naelyra does not make you safe. If threats to you develop here, they will follow you. I have to take a stand.”
“Is that why you want me to be your queen?” I tightened down on him, my fingers pressing into his flesh a bit.
“I want to make you queen to make you happy. Women want the world to know what they own." He playfully patted my butt and thrusted up into me.
I moaned before reacting to his words. "Oh no! No you don't. Look around you Mr. Rathmore!" I waved my arm about. "You own a city and live in a castle. A lavish castle. Do you not announce, proudly, what all you own? Is it so bad for a woman to want to feel secure in her life? It's not like being this lavish just to show off. It's not putting your latest lover in jeweled attire and parading them about. But it is making a statement that the role she's in is rightfully hers in case someone might challenge that or try to take it away… or take her away."
He chuckled, his voice husky, full of desire. "Are you saying you want to marry me, Auri?” He kissed more along my neck, raking his fangs against my skin again.
“I am saying that I love you, Kanedraven Rathmore.” I rose up far enough that he almost slipped out and paused. "Time is a commodity you have plenty of. But on my world, tradition is honored. And in tradition, the woman does not ask for marriage. If it is right, the man asks for the woman’s hand."
He yanked me back down on him and let out a growl before he chuckled. “Just her hand?”
I opened my mouth to respond but then realized he was being sarcastic. “Yup. Just her hand.”
“And what if I want more than just her hand?” He pulled me back down, and his hips started keeping a rhythm.
“I would suppose, unless you plan to make it otherwise, the rest of her would come with said hand.” I glanced down at my own hands and blushed.
A corner of his mouth curls up and slowly as he bounced me a little harder on him. "Tell me what kind of ring is expected on your world in order to keep one’s hand… and perhaps all of her.”
I blinked, frozen for a moment. "Ummm. a variety. It depends. But gold, white gold, rhodium... one of the better metals that doesn't tarnish or tarnish the skin. And usually a diamond. Sometimes a bunch of them. Sometimes one. Sometimes small. Sometimes large. And sometimes the metal is a simple thing or is ornately carved. Like I said... it varies. Sometimes the woman picks it out. Sometimes the man does." I had stopped rocking my hips and was sitting on him, my hands on his chest. "Why? Do you want me to stay so badly that you're willing to give me what I want despite it not being what you want?"
He took in all the words I said. Obviously thinking it over by his expression. "I think I have been holding back honestly. In things that I have wanted in my life. Now, I know one of them is you. And you the most above all else. It is not that I do not want to pledge myself to you. It is that I do. I simply have not wanted to pledge myself to anyone for a very long time."
"If you put a ring on my finger and speak vows to me, it needs to be because you want to as well. Not to simply make me happy or to shut me up or to keep me around to fuck me." I kissed his cheek, starting to move my hips again.
“Binding is not done for manipulation. It is done for love,” he states plainly.
I leaned forward, kissing his neck. “For love.”
“For love.” His lips were on my ear. Kane moans and thrusts deeply. "I want to show you my world. I want to do everything with you and show you everything."
I didn’t slow or loosen up on him. Actually, I did the opposite. I work to keep the pace, my fingers digging into his shoulders as he slid in and out of me. "Should I stay with you, what would I do here?" I kissed his neck again. The tip of my tongue trailing along the soft part of his neck up to his ear. My breath warm on him as I whispered. "What can we do, my love? What is this everything you want to do with me?" I lightly dragged my teeth over his earlobe.
His
