The next moment, his lips were on mine, pressing onto my mouth with gentleness, enquiring and delicately, until a soft moan escaped me. That was all he seemed to need, as he pushed his tongue through my lips and into my mouth, playing and discovering, allowing me to taste him and open my lips effortlessly to him. His free hand found its way to the back of my neck, thumb caressing skin while the other hand remained intertwined with mine, resting on his cheek.
Ansgar expertly danced with my tongue, inundating the roof of my mouth and licking every portion of my lips. He wanted to make sure his taste would remain with me long after his lips parted. They didn't, not for a while. A clash of lips and tongues kept us joined together for more than a few minutes, only interrupted by his low breaths or tiny moans that escaped my throat without permission.
Chapter Eighteen
I couldn’t stop devouring this woman. She laid in my arms and I held her so tightly that I barely allowed her to breathe from fear of letting her slip away again. It was not a possibility any longer, I would never let her go from my arms again. My chest ached for her and the closeness, the touch and feel of her within my embrace, her soft lips entwining mine and tongues in perfect harmony exceeded my wildest dreams.
Neither of us wanted to stop, even as our mouths went dry and needed a rest. We merely paused for a few seconds, eyes travelling to one another, before starting another kiss, as desperate and full of desire as its predecessor. We remained joined together in a grasp until Anwen’s knees slipped and grazed the heated surface, causing her to wince in pain.
I parted my lips abruptly from hers, awoken from a trance and jolted down to where her hand had initially moved to cover the pain.
“Let me see,” I whispered and she sat on the mat she had brought and tilted the injured knee towards me, still holding it under the cover of her palm. I placed my hand over hers and removed it slowly, then inspected her skin to find the red mark of a burn, no doubt caused by the piping hot crystal that baked in the sun all day.
“You need healing cream,” I announced as I stood up and looked around the plateau, trying to find the shirt I removed in the morning.
“I have some at home,” she replied with a low voice.
“Mine is closer.” I put the shirt back on. I took a swim in the morning and after climbing onto the plateau, I let it dry while I laid on the surface and mentally planned changes for the Northern side of the district. I did not recall falling asleep, but awoke with the smell of her perfume, surprised to find Anwen startled, caught in the act. She seemed different, more sure of herself and her desires, almost daring. I prepared for a push or worse, a smack across the face and was surprised to be received with the same passion and ardour that haunted me for the last month. She fully opened her lips and let me in, caressing my tongue with hers until our tastes combined to create a new aroma.
My body tensed and every part of me wanted more, especially my lower abdomen that jolted with desire. Trying to deflate the situation, I started talking about her need of healing balm and indirectly offered an invitation to my home. Why that sentence escaped my mouth, I did not know, except maybe for the fact that my brain did not do any thinking at that particular moment.
If the invitation surprised her, she did not show it and kept the same position on the mat, scanning me, her gaze moving up and down along my build, stopping from time to time to admire the proof of my desire that poked through my pants.
I felt a blush rising to my cheeks as a thousand reasons why I should not bring a human into my allocated district home came rushing through my mind. I combated each and every one with the justification of her injury and need of healing. At least, that's what I would tell the Queen at the next family dinner.
As soon as my thoughts rushed to Mother, Amara’s face inundated my vision, along with everything we had done. When I was with her, I felt peaceful and relaxed, her company easy to accept and enjoy and her kisses delightful and refreshing. With Anwen, a fire scorched my insides begging for more and I found myself incapable of letting her go.
It was wrong, so wrong and I was disgracing myself, my family, the district and the goddess herself. I felt worthless in comparison to my brothers and what I did had no excuse nor did it deserve forgiveness. But now that I had Anwen back in my arms, I did not care about anything else than spending time with her. And I planned to do just that.
Twenty minutes later, I crossed the hidden bridge over the river and into the Northern part of the district with Anwen in my arms. I carried her from the top of the cliff, following the tradition we had set during our first encounter. This time, with her knee throbbing in pain, she caught herself onto my shoulders and comfortably retook her position. Surprised by a part of the forest she did not have access to before, Anwen kept quiet and scanned every single branch and the road that brought us closer to the faerie-occupied territory.
“Welcome to my home,” I said as I moved further inside the cave and made room for her to follow. Once she did, I closed the door, sealing it shut, and allowing light to flow only from the kitchen window. The chaos of the dishes I left the last night made me regret my lazy choices. In my defence, I did not expect company and even though clutter did not have a place amongst the tolerated behaviour for a prince, she could only judge me as a common messy male. I assumed humans had plenty of those too.
Her eyes gleamed wide, surprise making their hazel shine brighter, her head moving around, trying to take everything in. I did not request much when I received my assignment, the only things that replicated into the cave were the ones I knew I could not live without for three years. Everything else I could pick up during my monthly visits. I had a small kitchen and a hallway, a bathroom and a pantry, along with my full bedroom that contained all my weapons, potions and bookshelves. The windows of my bedroom copied as well, which made an explanation even more difficult. How does one explain a window inside a cave?
She visibly struggled, keeping any thoughts hidden and biting her lower lip, trying to stop the questions fighting to get out of her mouth. It amused me how much she wanted to appear calm when her entire form burst with curiosity. One of the things I liked about her most, always unpredictable.
Any other woman would have probably ran away at the sight of a home contained in a cave, yet here she was, acting like she stumbled across the most casual thing in the world. The sweetness of that concentration face she made, plus the continuous biting of the lip enveloped me, so I gave in.
“Three questions,” I offered as I moved into the kitchen where I had some gauze and a marigold balm to alleviate her pain.
She didn’t need further invitation and blurted out in a split second, “How the hell is this even possible? How did you find this? How did you move all of these things undetected by the Forest Guard?”
As I searched through the cupboard, I heard her shifting and moving around the hallway, waiting for me to reply. When we first met, I decided to tell her the truth, or part of it, so the answer to all of her three questions could be summarised in a single word.
“Magic,” I answered, wary of adding more questions to her never-ending list. I heard her chuckle, but she did not push it further, more concerned with the objects and decoration around my bedroom than anything else.
When I found the cream, I pointed for her to take a seat on the bed and I kneeled on the floor, placing her foot on my knee to elevate the injury. It was a nasty burn, the blister had popped and left a trail of dry blood and plasmatic liquid across her leg. She needed alcohol and it would be painful. I placed her leg back on the floor and went to the kitchen. I found wine, plum brandy and absinthe. I decided on the strongest so I grabbed the bottle and returned into the bedroom.
Anwen shifted her attention towards the bottle and chuckled. “Are you trying to get me drunk?”
“I’m trying to get your knee drunk. You need alcohol,” I replied with seriousness and shifted back to my initial position. Damn it, this woman had me on my knees twice already and it was only mid-afternoon. I uncorked the bottle and she jolted at the sight of the green liquid smeared across the gauze.
“Is that absinthe?” she asked with disbelief and excitement.
I nodded and Anwen immediately gripped the bottle from my hand.
I did not have time to protest when she took a big shot and immediately started coughing from the burn.
