It felt like her, yet an eternity stared back at me in spite of the fact that Estrella was fairly young as far as souls went.
“I wasn’t certain you would want my company,” I said, stepping closer to the basin.
She didn’t move to hide her nudity, letting her breasts stay exposed above the waterline in the bath. She bent her knees until they broke through the surface, spreading her legs wide enough to accommodate a place for me to fit my body between them. “Is that invitation enough for you, my suddenly-chivalrous mate?” she asked, a playful smirk lighting her face.
“You’re playing with fire, my star. Am I supposed to take an invitation when you’re under the influence of some strange magic? You’ll condemn me for giving in to the temptation in the morning,” I predicted.
I brought my hands to the black leather and metal that covered my chest, unbuckling the straps and peeling the armor off my shoulders. Draping it over the chair beside the fire, I moved my hands to my tunic and slowly unknotted the laces at the chest . Her dark gaze dropped to the motion, and the monster lurking inside of her practically purred in delight.
The self-satisfied look on her face nearly broke my resolve; I wanted nothing more than to bend her over the tub and fuck her until she couldn’t function. “Perhaps,” she admitted, shrugging her shoulders as if it was inconsequential. “But when has anything like my regret or self-hatred ever stopped you from taking what you wanted?”
“I won’t fuck you in this state, Little One,” I said, pulling the tunic over my head. As inappropriate as it might seem in the morning, however, I did fully intend to get in the bath with her.
By the time she got out of the water, it would be cold. It was pragmatic to share a bath.
She sank her teeth into her bottom lip as she raked her eyes over my chest and down the muscles of my abdomen, lifting her chin and draping her head backward over the lip of the tub again. She lifted a hand still tipped with the night, waving it passively as if it mattered little to her. “Whatever you say, Caldris,” she said, the timbre of her voice seeming to echo through the enclosed space of the hut.
I shucked my trousers down my legs, ignoring the way she cracked one eye open to peer at my nude body. Kicking my pants off along with my boots and socks, I ignored the hungry look in that eye as I moved to the side of the tub, beside her feet, and slowly stepped inside.
“Your cock doesn’t seem to be in agreement with your vow of abstinence, my love,” she said. My cock twitched at the endearment she’d never used, and the admission it contained, but my heart clenched in my chest. I longed to hear her say it when she wasn’t high on the effects of using her own magic for the first time, or riding the aftershocks of a show of power that many Sidhe could never hope to achieve in their lifetime.
She spread her legs wider as I lowered myself into the tub on the other side, sliding my own legs to cradle her body between them. The tub was large, thank the Gods, allowing me to nearly stretch my legs in the space, but Estrella lifted her legs once again until she draped her calves over the edge, giving me an unimpeded view of her body.
“Estrella,” I warned.
“Ooo using my name,” she said, raising her head to meet my eye. Her full lips curved up, spreading into a shameless grin that exposed her brilliant white teeth. “You must be annoyed.”
She tossed her hair back, lowering her upper body into the bath water and wetting it until it clung to her shoulders when she emerged.
“You aren’t aware of what you’re doing,” I said.
She tipped her head to the side, something animalistic filling her features for a moment. “I know exactly what I’m doing,” she said, grasping the edge of the tub and pulling herself up to lean toward me. She stared at me, those deep-set, dark eyes full of mischief as she lowered one hand from the edge of the tub to rest against my upper thigh. She trailed dark-stained fingers over my skin, and it took everything in me to force my body not to react to the sensual touch.
“Come out and play with me, my mate,” she murmured, the words an echo of what I’d said to her once when I wanted her to show everyone what she was capable of. Somewhere in there, my Estrella waited to emerge and would be horrified by her actions. She moved that intrusive hand toward my cock, the tips of her fingers brushing against my shaft as I forced a swallow and reached down to stop her. She pushed her bottom lip into a pout, dropping back against the tub with an aggravated sigh. “When did you become such a bore?”
I smirked, wondering how the magic beneath Estrella’s skin would change her. Once she accepted her place in my life, once she was ready to be mine completely and accepted the magical bond that existed between us and everything that went with it, would she be this needy for me?
Fuck, but I had to hope so.
“I became such a bore the moment my mate grew so angry she summoned the darkness of the night sky to do her bidding,” I said, taking her hand in mine. I ran my fingers over the dark tips of hers, drawing her attention to them. Her brow furrowed in confusion for a moment, a second of vulnerability entering her expression before she shook it off.
“I’m not angry now,” she said, arching her back into the basin as she yanked her hand from my grip. She rested it against her chest, trailing those traitorous fingers over the swell of one breast until she cupped it in her hand, kneading the flesh and putting on a show. “I just want to feel something good.”
“Banish the stars in your eyes back to the sky where they belong,” I ordered, wanting to see if Estrella could find a way to control the power consuming her. Magic like this; it would devour an untrained woman. Turn her inside out and erase all that had existed of her before it manifested, if she remained too long in its clutches.
“I don’t want to,” she pouted, sliding her hand down over the slight contour of her stomach. She was still too thin from the life of poverty she’d lived in Mistfell, and our time on the run without access to comfortable feasts three times a day didn’t help matters.
I couldn’t wait to see her thrive in Alfheimr, to watch her face as she ate the delicacies I would serve her.
Her hand traveled lower, sliding between her thighs to stroke her pussy gently.
“Fuck,” I cursed, snagging her hand in mine and pulling it away and out of the water. Her scent hung in the air, tantalizing me to remind her that part of her was mine alone. “You need to let go of the magic, Little One.”
“It’s so cold,” she said, and even with the warmth of the water surrounding us, her hand felt cool to the touch, as if the coldness radiated from within her. “Nothing hurts in the cold.”
“You’re numb,” I said, tilting my head to the side as I considered her words.
She nodded, turning her wrist until her palm faced the roof of the hut. She ran her thumb along the underside of those black fingertips, meeting my stare. “I don’t want to hurt again,” she said, the first trace of vulnerability leaking back into her voice. “Don’t make me give it up.”
“Little One,” I said, my voice softening as I leaned forward. I snagged her around the back of her neck, letting the skin of my hand and the Fae Mark there brush against hers. She jolted, as if the contact of our swirling inks threatened to ground her—to pull her back from the edge of an abyss. “The only time pain truly ends is when we enter the Void after death. To live is to feel pain.”