When Sevani left the room, Kharid and I sat in uncomfortable silence. I was still rife with anger, but what was rapidly settling over me was a sense of despair. To decide between Lena and my kingdom was more than I could bear, and, no matter which option I chose, I was going to be miserable. There was no correct answer.

“I must amend my previous statement,” Sevani said when he reentered. His face was strange, almost like he wanted to smile but refused to do so. He took his seat across from me again and looked at me. “You have a third choice.”

Though I could not imagine anything worse than the two choices he had already provided me, the words sounded ominous. “What might that be?” I asked unfeelingly.

“You may return to Pentaba as War Chief with Lena.”

I had always had exceptional hearing, as most A’li-uud did, but I was certain at that moment I was going deaf. Surely, I could not have heard him correctly. Even as my eyes watched his mouth form the sentence, I did not believe it, and several long seconds of silence passed after he had emitted his last syllable.

“Wise One?” I finally choked out.

“Lena has just come to me and made a proposal,” Sevani explained. “She wishes to abdicate her position in the colony to reside with you in Pentaba. If you are willing, I can arrange to have her things brought to your home as early as tomorrow.”

The world had shattered into a million pieces only minutes ago, and now it was reassembling before my very eyes. Piece after piece of all that was right flew into place until I was left with a whole, unbroken life.

“Yes,” I said gruffly, barely holding back my emotion. “I can do that.”

“It is settled!” Kharid said joyfully. Somehow, he was able to express his enthusiasm without losing his pensive coolness to make for a quirky sight.

The remainder of the meeting was very short, as there was little to discuss. I knew my role, I knew what I was returning to, and I knew what was expected of me. By the time I exited the palace, I was nearly soaring with true, unconditional happiness.

My feet took me to Lena’s house inside the colony walls without any direction. I swung the door open without knocking, and she whirled around in surprise.

“Hi,” she breathed, startled.

I did not reply. In two quick strides, I crossed the space between us and crushed my mouth to hers.

Her scent tumbled over me until I was awash in sweetness. Our bodies melted into one, chests meeting and arms knotting to curl around each other. I plunged my tongue into her mouth, needing her, and she opened willingly. I had never tasted anything so sweet. Even our first kiss, the one after I had rescued her from the cage, had not been a shadow of this. She was perfect. She was everything.

A moan slipped from her mouth into mine, and I swallowed it eagerly. My tongue prodded hers, dancing across her teeth and gliding over the sensitive roof of her mouth. She shuddered against me, and, even through our clothes, I could feel her skin growing warm with arousal. She needed me too.

“I love you,” I panted against her lips. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” she gasped.

And then we were lost.

Her hands clutched the back of my neck as I skimmed my hands along the hem of her shirt and pulled up on the fabric until it bunched around the upper curves of her breasts. She released me just long enough to slide it over her head, and then clung onto me again. I shoved my mouth to hers once more, desperate to taste her further, and I practically wrenched her bra from her chest. The moment her breasts sprang free, I broke the kiss and dipped low.

“Khrel!” she moaned, her hips writhing outward to brush against my groin.

I was already solid and ready, but I did not yet want to satisfy myself. I wanted to experience her first. Suckling around the thin-skinned circle framing her stiffened tip, I flicked my tongue up and down before swirling, testing her reaction. She groaned, and her back arced. Her nipple delved deeper between my teeth, and I rewarded her with a soft nibble. Her moan became guttural and animalistic, and her nails clawed into my scalp as she tore at my hair desperately.

One of her legs lifted, wrapping around my waist like it had in my living room, and I cradled her thigh in my palm. Without letting go of her nipple, I reached for her other leg and hoisted it around me as well until all of her weight was in my arms. Then, nibbling and sucking and stroking her nipple with my tongue ceaselessly, I lowered her to the floor and eased her back until she was lying down.

When I raised my head, I saw her apple cheeks rouged with heat. Her lids hung low over her eyes, and she had her bottom lip hooked between her teeth.

“I hope Isabelle is not home,” I murmured.

“No,” she whimpered. She brought her hips up to meet mine, urging me for more. “Please, don’t stop.”

“I have no intention of stopping, beautiful one,” I growled, and she mewed with needy pleasure.

Hooking my fingers into her waistband, I shimmied her bottoms over her thighs and knees. Before they reached her ankles, however, I stopped. I sat back on my heels and admired the sight before me. Her beautiful, luscious, curvaceous figure was spread out before me, revealing her most intimate places in a display of utmost vulnerability. Her nipples were peaked with stimulation, her breasts rising and falling with each shallow breath, and her pinkest part was slick and shiny with moisture. There was not a more breathtaking vision in all of Albaterra.

I shifted downward, lowing my head as I went, until I was level with her folds. Staring up at me was the small, round bundle of nerves, begging me to play. I extended my tongue and touched only the tip to the surface. Immediately, her whole body bucked from head to toe, and her knees squeezed around me. I placed a hand on her thighs and pushed gently, spreading her again, and braced my arms to prevent her squirming. Then, I took her clit into my mouth and lathered every bit of it with my tongue.

“Ah—oh my g—Khrel!” she shrieked. I felt her resisting my hands, attempting to squeeze my body and close the gap again out of reflex, but I held strong and kept her in place. In retaliation, her hips lunged forward, tossing my head upward and off her button for the briefest of seconds before I could secure my lips around it again. “I can’t—GOD!”

Her cries and moans were music to my ears. I took in each one like a breath of oxygen and absorbed it like water, drinking in her ecstasy. To heighten her response, I slipped a finger into her slit, stroking the soaked crease for a moment before easing it into her. I felt her tightening around my finger, and I responded by curling toward the spongey place behind her pubic bone. The moment my fingertip brushed her sweet spot, she howled a wordless howl of pure, unadulterated sensation that left me breathless in her loins.

“I’m going to—I can’t—I’m c—” I knew what was about to happen without her even saying it. The tunnel around my finger constricted, released, and constricted again, and I felt her arousal dribbling down the side of my hand. She pushed on my head, trying to get me to stop before she climaxed, but I was not going to oblige her. This would not be the only orgasm she had tonight.

“Do it,” I commanded around her clit. “Let go.”