Page 82 of A Kingdom of Lies
It was a miracle the entirety of Durmain’s realm didn’t hear us.
“I never want for this to end,” Duncan called, hands gripping my hips as he worked within me – faster,harder.
The pitch of his deep voice told me he was close to his end. And the power it made me feel had me working harder for him. I’d not once felt the need to pleasure myself as he took me. It hadn’t even crossed my mind, I was too occupied with riding the storm of pleasure and indulgence his sex gave me.
“Come for me, Duncan,” I bellowed as his cock pounded against the sensitive place deep inside of me.
His reply came as a guttural grunt, but then his movements slowed as his panting reached new heights. Duncan finished just as I knew he would, climaxing with gripping hands and laboured breaths. The moment was so sudden. He rode within me, his pace slowing as his rasping cry of pleasure filled the night sky. When he was done, I could’ve sworn I felt his legs shake.
I slumped to the ground, my own brow drenched with beads of sweat, no matter the frozen chill of the world around us. Here, in his place, we’d carved out our own world, and I was not ready to leave it.
It seemed that’s what we achieved with one another. No matter the place, attic or rolling landscape, we claimed it as our own.
Duncan fell beside me, eyes closed and hands blindly fumbling to pull his trousers over the throbbing shaft lying across his lower stomach. He finally tucked it away, the imprint still more than a memory in my mind.
“Better?” I asked, rolling on my side.
Duncan’s tired eyes studied the indent the grass left upon the side of my face. He nodded – twice – mouth agape as he still gasped for breath. “Better doesn’t even cut it. I do not believe there is a word available to describe how I feel right now.”
Duncan raised an arm, welcoming me to snuggle into the crook of him. I too lifted my trousers, hardly caring for the dampness that still coated my skin from his sex.
Effortlessly, he ran his fingers up and down my arm all without opening his eyes. “Forgive me, Robin, but I must do what a terrible shag does best and give into this tiredness. You’ve exhausted me, my darling.”
I laughed, the sound so terribly loud, even compared to the ruckus we had both just created. “It is a well-deserved rest and far from a terrible shag.”
“I feel as though my work isn’t done. A real man should never sleep until he saw his partner satisfied.”
“Duncan,” I breathed, nestling into his body and inhaling deeply. “With you beside me there is no need to discuss satisfaction. Just hold me tonight and don’t let me go. That is enough.”
He turned his face, pressing a kiss into my hairline. Duncan pulled back slightly, whispering for only me to hear, his words far too precious for the star-filled night to witness. “My love, you are my weakness. I could not possibly ever let you go. I am many things, but a fool is not one of them. Not when it comes to you.”
Everything about what he told me was a melody to my ears. But the one word that stood out amongst the rest could have shattered my reality entirely. It was frightening, giving in to the giddy and wonderous feeling that overcame me in that moment, yet there was no stopping the current as it swept me from my feet.
Love.
CHAPTER 28
I’d never seen so many Hunters in one place. There was a sea of them, a stain of leather-clad bodies passing across Durmain’s landscape. They snaked in an organised path, one smudge of darkness which paraded along the ground towards the glint of a city in the distance.
The ledge upon which we’d made camp jutted over the landscape, giving a perfect view for miles upon miles. Duncan had promised we were close to Lockinge as we had stopped here the night prior. In the belly of darkness, it was impossible to see anything for proof.
Now, in the fringes of dawn when the sky was blushed with pinks and deep orange tones, I could see it, a faint jutting of grey among the notoriously flat landscape. Lockinge. Capital of Durmain. A place I’d never been allowed to venture even remotely close to as per my father’s warnings. Of course, back then, I’d not understood why he’d wished to keep me from this place. Now, knowing what I did, it made perfect sense. Lockinge wasn’t a safe place, not with the Hand’s grip upon it, not for the likes of me.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the prison of fey. It occupied my thoughts constantly, making my hands tremble. If only I could speak with Althea, determine how she got on with preparing numbers to come and aid me. So far there’d been no hint that a fey army followed – if they did the entirerealm would be alive with whispers. But I knew she’d never leave me, Ijust had to play the long game and keep focused.
Shrouded in thinning woodland, Duncan had felt it was the perfect place to sleep, until the heavy thumping sounded, waking us up to the horror of the army that moved in the distance. And that was what they were, an army of countless bodies marching across the ground below with only the heavy pounding of their feet to warn us that they were close.
It was impossible to shake the exhaustion that had made a home in my bones from the days of travel and lack of food. I had not seen my reflection in days, but if Duncan’s shadowed eyes and heavy features were anything to go by, I looked as terrible as I felt.
“Is this normal?” I asked, cautious to whisper even though we were leagues from any Hunter to hear us.
“No.” Duncan pursed his lips, eyes scanning the snaking shadow of Hunters as he too tried to make sense of what we were seeing. “The Hunters are in an abundance around Lockinge, but never have so many been seen close to the capital at the same time. It’s as though they have been called back. Previous commands from those above me have been to ensure my legion is spread. The further we are from one another the higher the chance of taking the bounty we need. But this… I can’t explain.”
His words set me at unease, seeing so many who would wish me harm. And throughout the crowd of my enemies, I saw countless cages. I couldn’t count on both hands how many I saw; each was stuffed full of figures.Fey. Being carted towards their final destination. They didn’t scream, nor fight, because there was no need. Those locked within the cages had given up; even from our distance I could feel it.
Where these Althea’s soldiers, those sent to help me? I hoped not, but still the idea made me sick to my stomach.
“And you still think you can get what you need from them?” I asked.
