"Here?" she asked.
He nodded roughly.
Her fingers moved to the swells of her breasts, the sensitive skin there, before tracing over her nipples.
"And here?"
"Yes," he whispered as he swallowed hard.
His voice grew darker with each tease. He pulled against the shadows holding him back again, their tension making her blood heat. She knew if she released him, he would pounce on her.
"What about here?" she breathed as she ran her fingers down over her stomach until they teased the apex of her thighs.
"Gods, yes," he groaned as his hips bucked again.
She was getting close to her climax the longer she teased him. It was almost time to bring her game to an end… but she was having too much fun.
"But what if I wanted to touch you instead?"
In front of her, Herrick's cock was hard as steel and just begging for attention. Her mouth watered at the thought. Before she could change her mind, she pulled back until her mouth hovered over him. With a wicked glint in her eye, she took him into her mouth deeply until the tip of him touched the back of her throat.
The fur bed beneath them rumbled with Herrick's deep groan as she pulled back and ran her tongue over the head of his cock before taking him deeply again. That bright, saltiness of him tickled her tongue and made her thighs clench together. In her distraction, her control over her shadows slipped just enough for Herrick to break free from her restraints.
He surged forward and scooped her up until she hovered over him again, his length teasing her entrance. Hands on her hips, Herrick impaled her on his cock with one swift movement. Her breath was stolen from her lungs, and Maude did the only thing she wanted to at that moment. She started to move over him, her hands planted against his chest for purchase as they moved together.
Herrick's hands gripped her hips, the strength in his hold bruising, but she didn't care. He could never hurt her; tonight showed her that more than anything else. They were equals, always.
A better match for either of them could never be imagined. He was made for her.
Too soon, they would be arriving at the northern coasts of Veter where they would travel to their home to defend it from Helvig through the Lamenting Woods. Too soon would the blissful bubble they had been wrapped in be disturbed by the gods' plans for them.
But for now, they had the warmth of each other bodies to keep away the frosty unknown fate that lie outside the ship.
44
It turned out the Lamenting Woods were more humid and convoluted than Maude recalled.
As their small group of her friends and Elven soldiers followed Herrick through the dense greenery, their collective edginess became clearer with every snapping branch or retreating animal. She wasn't quite sure what to expect from Helvig's forces. In her limited experience with his war council, she had never discovered what kind of battle plans he preferred.
If she had to guess, she would say he attacked with brute force. When she said as much to Bryn, her sister snorted and confirmed her suspicions.
"Father was never elegant when it came to his strategies," she explained. "Ulf thought he was more clever than he was, but ultimately, his plans were predictable."
"We do know, however, that Vilde is incredibly crafty," Dahlia offered from behind them. Both of them turned to face the healer. "She has been operating in the same palace you lived in for years without going detected. She left Nida almost thirty years ago, and who knows what she was up to at that time? It's best we don't underestimate her."
The healer's words clung to them as the shadows clung to the thick woods until a heaviness lay on them with every step they took.
Hakon, who had seemed to slow in order to hear Dahlia speaking, asked, "Does she have any training?"
Dahlia nodded. "All Elven receive some form of weapons training, but I don't suspect she will participate in the fighting."
"Why not?" Maude asked as she ducked to avoid a fallen tree being propped up by another.
"She will find it beneath her."
Herrick made a sound of disgust as he shook his head. "That isn't the way of our people."
"Nor ours," Dahlia said simply. "It's who she is."
