After Leopold and Ndrek left, Eli studied the woman beside him. By the gods, she was amazing, and she’d chosen to stay. Not because he’d commanded it, and not so she could get to Tamryn.

She’d chosen him.

It was a heady feeling, and his inner conqueror roared.

He wrapped his arms around her and breathed in the sweet scent of vanilla. “I don’t want you to go. I wish I could guarantee your safety here.”

“There was once a cobra in the sultan’s inner gardens. No place is completely safe.”

Eli thought of his mother, and truth of her words shook him to his core. “Not even in Tamryn. You’ll have a Knight bodyguard, but it might not be enough.”

“I doubt Premal will come across the sea for me.”

“I’m less sure of that, and I’ll need to hide you from my enemies.”

Auburn closed her eyes and laid her head against him. “I understand.”

“I’m not ashamed of you.” He stroked her hair. “You know me better than that.”

She smiled. “Shame doesn’t suit you.”

“But I do have many enemies. Some like Sir Leopold will abide by the law, but others would hurt or use you.”

“Sir Leopold isn’t your enemy. Perhaps not an ally, but not an enemy.”

“Not yet, but he will be.”

A frown pinched her brow. “Making an unnecessary enemy isn’t like you. You’re too practical for that.”

Eli sucked in a breath. “The game isn’t always mine to choose. I do what I must for Tamryn and all that my mother gave for it.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I suppose not. Royal succession has weighed on me for as long as I can remember, but few in Tamryn think of it.”

Auburn laid her head against him. “You can tell me. I want to know.”

Eli paused and stroked her hair. After several long moments, he closed his eyes and drew in a breath. “My father is ill, and Dracor has yet to give his blessing and choose the next king of Tamryn.”

“Aren’t there rules about the current king selecting his successor or birth order?”

Eli shook his head. “Dracor has always given a member of the Dracasan family His blessing to rule. Some say we’re gifted with a drop of His blood, and most believe as long as a member of the Dracasan family is on the throne, Tamryn will stand strong.”

“But the Dragon God hasn’t chosen one of you.”

“And until He does, the Dragon Church will not coronate a new king. I’ll have to take the throne by force when my father dies.”

“Have you ever asked Dracor for His blessing?”

Eli stared over her head as memories rolled through his mind. He’d only asked for one thing from Dracor, but the Dragon God had let Eli’s mother die anyway. “Most believe Dracor is waiting for me to produce a son to bless.”

“Can’t make things easy on you.”

“Things aren’t supposed to be easy for a prince.”

“Should tell the sultan’s sons that.”

Eli tightened his arms around her. “I don’t think they’d like Tamryn.”

Auburn leaned against him, her brows pinched as she thought. “If you aren’t blessed, and your father is sick, would any son you have make it to adulthood before Dracor asked him to take the throne?”

“Doubtful. And Tamryn’s enemies will exploit it to the fullest.”

“A child can’t rule in Tamryn, can they?”

“No, so the church would try to name a regent to rule in his stead. History lessons have taught me how that goes.”

“A child deserves better than that.”

“The price of being born a prince.”

Auburn stared at the buttons etched with dragons on Eli’s jacket. “I... understand.”

“Being in the Qumarefi court, maybe you do. You’ve seen the ugly side of court politics. Seen people use, manipulate, and betray each other.” Eli held her closer. “If that doesn’t get them what they want, some aren’t above murder.”

“I wish...” She stopped. “If wishes were raindrops, Qumaref would be underwater.”

“Tell me what you wish.”

Color tinged her cheeks. “I wish you never had to return to face your father’s death. That we could stay here forever reading, playing chess, and learning about each other.”

“I’d like that, too.” Eli’s breath teased over the silken flesh of her neck and shoulders.

“I wish I could stay with you, but I will go with Sir Leopold for my son and for you. I hope leaving will reduce the threat against your life here in Qumaref. I hope...” Auburn paused and sucked in a breath as she met his gaze. “I hope I will love my son as much as I love you.”

The words struck Eli harder than a sword blow, and his throat tightened around a ball of emotion. He held her, stroking her hair as the weight of her words washed through him.

She loved him.

He hated hearing the word as it was usually said by sycophants and flatterers. But from her there was no trickery or deceit.

If she loved him, truly loved him as he did her, he couldn’t send her back to Tamryn to marry another. You were lucky if the Twins blessed you once.

Staring down into her cornflower blue eyes, the sincerity of her words pierced him. She loved him. The thought both terrified and elated him. He would do everything he could to be worthy of her, to make her happy and keep her safe.

The soft sweet scent of her filled his senses, and Eli smiled as her curves pressed against him. She’d taken his queen again, destroyed his careful strategy, and the game would be better for it.

Calling off his engagement to Lady Daniella would make it impossible for him to seize the throne upon his father’s death, but there had to be another way to safeguard Tamryn and protect all his mother had died to protect. He may have lost his queen, but he could still win, still do what was necessary without losing Auburn.

Without tearing Tamryn apart.

Auburn was right. Men like Sir Leopold should never be his enemy. If Eli had to destroy someone like Leopold to save Tamryn, the kingdom would lose something important, something precious, and it would become less like the land his mother had loved and more like Qumaref.

That would crush Tamryn more thoroughly than their enemies ever could.

The prince would figure out a new strategy, one that would secure Tamryn’s future without pitting the nobility against the Dragon Church.

“I want you to stay with me, now and always,” Eli said.

“I didn’t admit that to manipulate you.”

He thumbed over her cheek. “I know.”

Auburn stared up at him, and he captured her mouth with his. A soft, slow kiss, intoxicating as it sank into his bones. He tangled his fingers in her hair as he deepened the kiss, his tongue parting her lips and entering the recesses of her mouth. She tasted richer than the most exotic of Qumarefi spices.

Taking his time, he supped from her, drinking his fill as the heat of her warmed him. She softened beneath his lips, and Eli took, claiming her mouth as she clutched him and surrendered.

She ceded to him, gave in to the passion between them, and his conqueror roared. He knew what his heart wanted, what it demanded.

Eli never broke the kiss as he lifted Auburn and carried her to the bed. Laying her on the soft sheets, he came down with her, her body soft and sumptuous beneath him. He stroked the indentation of her waist and the lush curve of her thigh as his lips feasted on hers. His touch was soft, gentle, almost reverent as he traced her breast and teased its peak into a hard pebble.

Easing her gown over her head, he exposed her from the waist up. Auburn reached for him, tugging off his coat and unbuttoning his shirt so she could press her bare chest against him.

Eli stripped off his clothes and tossed them to the floor, giving her complete access to him as he slid his hands over her milk-pale flesh, slowly, memorizing every detail of her. He eased down her underskirts and tossed them away, leaving her naked beneath him. He stroked lower, over the swell of her hip and down the smooth column of her thigh.

By the gods, he wanted her.

She was as bound to him as he was to her. The blessing and the curse of the Twins. He’d denied them long enough.

Savoring each moment, each touch, Eli spun out both of their pleasure. She was his, and he wanted her to enjoy all that there was between them.

He touched his lips to hers, soft and teasing as he feathered his fingers over the delicate skin of her breasts. Desire roared through him as her breath caught and she quivered under him. Her eyes closed, and she gave herself over to sensation. Gave herself over to him.

He skimmed his fingertips over the swell of her breasts and watched their rosy peaks furl. His lips followed, trailing kisses over the swollen globes. He paused, teasing her tender flesh before wrapping his lips around one of her pert nipples.

Her head fell back, and she whimpered as he suckled. The feel of her soft and eager beneath him seared his senses and fueled his desire.

She clung to him and urged him on. Urged him to take more.

But he wouldn’t let her rush him. Eli took his time and savored the way her breath hitched as he kneaded her sensitive globes, taunting and teasing the tender flesh as he laved first one peak and then the other.

She held him even as she surrendered and offered him all he wanted.

And he wanted everything.

He palmed her swollen orbs as he lifted his lips from her then captured her mouth in a kiss.

She parted her lips, welcoming him in and inviting him to take more.

He thrust inside, his tongue meeting hers and dancing in a duet as old as time. She met him and matched him, her need filling him and demanding her give her more.

While his mouth took hers, Auburn’s fingers explored him. She stroked up his back, grazing her fingernails over his flesh before sliding down over his arms. She teased the sides of his chest then dipped lower, down over his hips before gliding up his back again.

Her exploration heightened his arousal, and he pressed her closer to him, the softness of her a sensual contrast against his hard frame.

She rubbed her breasts against his chest, and need flared at her touch. For all of her innocence, she incited his desire more than anyone ever had. He wanted her. Needed her.

Caressing the flushed silk of her skin, Eli reveled in the shiver of yearning that rippled through her. He teased his fingers over the swell of her hips, explored her rounded belly, and stroked the outer curve of her breast.

His kisses followed his hands, and he nibbled her heated flesh as he filled his senses with her. Her scent, an exotic mixture of vanilla and jasmine. The salty-sweet taste of her flesh under his tongue. The melody of her soft sighs and gentle moans.

He teased his lips along the smooth column of her neck and down her collarbone. He dipped lower, trailing molten kisses over her soft mounds and teasing her rosy peaks.

“Eli,” she whispered as she threaded her fingers through his hair.

He grinned then caught her lips with his, thrusting inside her mouth as his tongue mimicked a far more intimate act.

A low moan escaped her as he palmed her breasts and teased his thumbs over her nipples. She arched beneath him, filling his hands with her as she clung to him against the onslaught of sensation he heaped upon her.

Eli amplified her need as he caressed the flushed skin of her shoulders and teased down the length of her spine, pressing her against him.

He lifted his mouth from hers, and she whimpered as her eyes fluttered open. He stared into her cornflower-blue gaze, a smile curving his lips at the sight of her copper hair haloed around her, her milk-pale skin flushed with desire, and her arms wrapped around him, exposing her completely and totally to him.

His grin deepened as he teased heated kisses along her throat and down the curve of one swollen breast, the soft moans slipping from her lips as intoxicating as any drug. He fastened his mouth around one pert nipple and suckled.

She gasped, her head falling back and her eyes closing.

Cupping her other breast, he stroked its ruched peak with his thumb and forefinger as he continued to taunt and tease the first with his lips and tongue. He lifted his head and flicked his tongue over her nipple, then turned to the other. He fastened his mouth on it as he laved it with his tongue before suckling.

“Eli,” she begged as she writhed beneath him.

He understood her need and slid his knees between hers, parting her as he continued ministering to her swollen breasts. He stroked the gentle curve of her thighs, and she opened herself to him, offering him more, offering him everything he wanted. Everything she wanted him to take.

He teased his fingertips up, tracing her thighs and the soft curls at their juncture. He cupped her, his hand rubbing against the hidden little nub as he slipped a finger into her hot silken sheath.

“Eli,” she begged as her thighs opened for him and her hips moved in time to his gentle thrusts.

Her virginity again stopped him, but now she’d chosen him. She was his. His to love, his to protect, his to pleasure.

He drank in her soft moans and gentle sighs, watching her body move in the most ancient of dances as he stroked her core. As she started the climb towards the golden halo of fulfilled desire, Eli withdrew his hand and eased between her parted thighs, her slick softness beckoning him.

Her eyes widened as he touched her in the most intimate of ways, his weight pressing her into the bed.

He took her mouth again, his thumb and forefinger teasing her heavy breasts as he pressed against her soft entrance. Eli focused her attention on her taunt nipples, teasing them as he kissed her.

Then he thrust forward and took her.

A whimper escaped her as she clung to him. He filled her, completely and totally, stretching her so she could take all of him.

Eli held her close as he waited for the pain to ebb, cradling her against him as he found her little bud.

He stroked her hair and caged his own need as he waited for her, as he eased her discomfort and replaced it with desire. Her body felt like hot silk wrapped around him, and as much as he wanted to finish what they’d started and take her completely, he also wanted her there with him. He wanted to share the ecstasy of their first joining.

He waited until her hips moved beneath him and need replaced pain before he eased back then filled her again.

Moving inside her, slowly, carefully, he waited for her to get used to the rhythm of this dance.

She gasped as she clung to him, the whimpers of pain fading into the quiet moans of growing desire.

He focused on her, watching need tighten her face, listening to her ragged breathing, and feeling her legs wrap around him. He understood her need and increased the intensity and speed of his rhythmic thrusts as he pushed them both towards the golden glow that beckoned.

She was so soft and fit tightly around him, amplifying all he felt. Need built within him and merged with the golden heat that promised the heights of pleasure.

She’d shown him how much she wanted him, and he gave, taking her, filling her, giving all of himself as he took all of her.

Need pooled like golden fire around them, and it exploded through her, shattering her and carrying her away on its golden tidal wave.

As she climaxed, she tightened around him and shuddered with fulfilled desire. The intensity of her release pushed him over the cliff with her, and with one final thrust, he lost himself in her.

Eli wrapped her in his arms as their pleasure quieted. His conqueror was satisfied, and his strategist was plotting how to deal with royal succession.

One thing was non-negotiable.

Auburn was his, and he was never letting her go.