Chapter 6 Said and Done

• I knew my Eternus body was heating to inhuman levels and would warm her, but it wouldn’t hurt her. My skin was starting to glow under a sheen of sweat as I caressed down her back and over one rounded hip.
• I was an Eternus.
• It was why my father had refused to consent to an alliance of the children in such a way.
• I could kill her. One moment I was too fevered. A touch too strong and I could snap her limbs.
• Touching her was dangerous.
• It was also irresistible.
• I’d gone out of my way to dodge every one of her touches, to step aside, rather than let her bump shoulders with me, to stay from the reach of her dancing hair in the wind so I didn’t catch a tantalizing whiff of her in the most primal way.
• But everything about her was designed to lure me in.
• And all these bits of fire meant she wasn’t entirely human.
• Not like we thought.
• That had been the grounds for my father refusing to agree to a marriage allying us.
• Or she would’ve been promised to me long ago.
• My father was right to fear. The things I hungered to do to this pretty girl were already nearly destroying me.
• But if I act on them, they’ll destroy her…
• I kissed her until she was melting in my arms. I rolled her onto her back and molded my body over hers. Feeling every soft inch of her with my roaming hands. Touching her in all the places I’d yearned to for over a year.
• And strangely, with each reverent touch, I wanted more. Unsure if I could ever touch her enough. I felt like I’d been deprived of all I wanted so long that now I was trying to make up for lost time. I cupped the smooth softness of one rounded breast, over her chemise.
• She gasped slightly in my mouth.
• I chuckled softly and swallowed the sound. Outlining the narrow curve of her waist and the swell of her hips, indicating she was far from the child I’d once known.
• She untwisted from the top of the blanket and lifted it as though she’d crawl beneath with me.
• I slapped it down and shook my head. Giving her a long look.
• She ducked her head and I felt like I’d beaten a puppy.
• “Stop, Fiere.” I said softly. Gathering all my will to do that small rejection.
• I wanted her there.
• But I know what I’ll do to her if I get her there.
• Already I was as hard as I’d ever been. My raging erection straining for her.
• She lifted the blanket with a questioning look. Indicating she only wanted to slip under.
• I shook my head again. “Stop, Fiere.”
• She slid to her feet and shot me a pained look before rushing to the door.
• No. Not like that.
• I was there as she reached it, turning her around and pushing her against it.
• “What do you want?” She cried. Tears trailing her cheeks.
• Everything.
• You’d be terrified if you knew, Little Girl.
• “You’ve had your fun.” She said brokenly.
• “Not fun to me, Fiere.” I nodded toward my rigid length.
• “What is that?”
• I rolled my eyes Heavenward for patience. Confessing, “I’m not about to dishonor some innocent maid.”
• My eyes shot to him. “Then why were you kissing me?”
• Touche. I grimaced.
• I pointed a finger at her. “I beg you to recall who kissed whom?”
• “I didn’t grab you like that.”
• When I fondled her.
• That was true.
• “I think you’re missing my point, Fiere.”
• “You’re not going to kiss me again. I got it.” She said acidly.
• Not what I meant.
• “That’s not what I said. I’m going to kiss you. Again.” I leaned over her. “And again.”
• I tilted my head to give it time for my words to sink in. Waiting for her to catch my meaning. “Especially now that I know what you’ll do when I do.”
• She stared up at me like a wide-eyed doe. “Then what are you saying?”
• “I said I’m not going to dishonor a maid.”
• There’s only one way I’ll dally with her.
• It’s going to have to be on my terms.
• “I just wanted under the blanket with you.” She defended. Not liking that she thought I was insinuating she’d have turned wanton.
• “And I’d have wanted more.” I clarified.
• “But, what if, if I didn’t...What if...”
• She wants to ask what would’ve happened if she rejected me when the time came.
• She wouldn’t have.
• She was bold enough to come to my chamber, to come in with me, to let me kiss her… She’d not have stopped there.
• “You wouldn’t have, Fiere.” I elaborated. Trying to make her understand. “You came this far, you’d let me have you.”
• She moved as though to shake her head.
• “I know you, Girl. You never stop halfway. You have to finish all you begin. See it through to the end and know the result or you obsess…”
• I recalled when she’d longed to learn archery from the back of a steed.
• Far more complicated then general archery.
• She had begun and gotten frustrated, so I’d stopped teaching her.
• But she had talked about it so incessantly that Roger had finally relented and given her, her way. Teaching her fully until she could practice.
• Over and over again. Learning precise aim and perfect stance.
• That’s how she is.
• Nothing is ever halfway.
• I recalled when she had wanted to learn to make the perfect loaf of bread because it was what we all liked for a snack, warm bread with wildberry preserve.
• She’d learned to do it.
• Pan after pan.
• She’d gotten frustrated and quit.
• Then talked about what she needed to do different, how good it was going to be when she got it.
• “For days.” I drawled. Rolling my eyes Heavenward. “And days. And days. And days... Like you did about shooting arrows from horseback.”
• She frowned at me.
• Spurring me to continue. “For days...”
• “I have the point!” She snapped.
• I eyed her quietly a long while before reiterating. “I won’t dishonor you.”
• She’s too good a woman for that.
• “If you want me, Girl. You’re going to have to marry me when all is said and done.”