and climbing back onto the chair, straddling my lap and pressing herself against my chest, forcing me to lean back and crane my neck to stare up at her.
"I love you too," she said, girlish, sweet, and utterly disarming.
Then she took me in hand and sank directly down onto my cock, dense slick heat seeming to swallow me whole. I groaned, my eyes falling shut and all the breath rushing out of me as Bryony seated herself to the hilt, her own soft moan pressed open-mouthed to my cheek.
"Wicked, wanton girl," I rasped, nuzzling against her throat.
"Yes," she agreed, hands on the back of the chair, her body already beginning the eager work of riding me.
"You're going to rule all of Kimmery the way you do your Chosen," I said, grasping her hips and making the rhythm rougher, more urgent, our skin slapping together as I bucked up to meet her, the grasp of her dizzying.
"With a great deal of sex?" Bryony giggled.
"With absolute devotion," I growled, and then I took her mouth with my own, fucking it as roughly as she did me.
Bryony's hands moved from the chair to my back, nails digging in as I wrapped her up tighter, took control of our union, grinding my hips into her pelvis. The chair rocked and thumped beneath us, and I buried my snarls into the kiss until Bryony pulled away with a gasp. Her head fell back, eyes shut and mouth parted, releasing soft cries and whimpers to the air.
I didn't have the others' patience or their interest in Bryony's pleasured agony. I wanted her relief as much as my own, wanted to throw her over the edge and have her drag me there with her.
Bryony's nails coursed my back, the anxiety and tension of the day released with the fight and play of our fucking. I bit her throat, her shoulder, down to her breast, until Bryony grew louder, my name high on her voice, declaring me as the man who was occupying her every thought in the moment. Pride was always my weak spot.
I shoved one hand between us, my bucking turning into a determined rocking, my fingers searching for Bryony's clit. She let out a garbled yell and squeezed tight around me, and I teased and tortured the spot until she was shaking, trying to escape bliss.
Her hands slipped into my hair, tightening and tugging as she came, our chests sticking together as her breaths stuttered. And like the animal I sometimes was, I took my princess down to the carpet, covering her softening form with my still rigid one.
"Yes, Thao, come for me," Bryony sighed.
I fucked her roughly, chasing my own end, and Bryony arched her hips into mine until we were fused and I was crumbling, fire in my blood, and a roar buried against her throat.
Her scratches were hot on my back, her breath damp on my cheek, thighs still trembling against my weary hips. One hand loosened from my hair, and Bryony's touch was sharp with magic as she reached for my back.
"Leave them," I said, nipping at her jaw.
"I didn't mean to," Bryony said, running a finger over the raised marks she'd left on my skin.
"Mmm, I don't mind." I blinked heavily, wondering if Bryony minded my weight pinning her in place, but she seemed content in the spot, and I didn't want to separate yet. "You would make a good tiger," I said absently.
Bryony laughed and then stiffened beneath me.
I pressed my elbows in the carpet, lifting enough to see her face. It was shadowy and warm from the fire, but her eyes were wide, cheeks still flushed.
"Did you—"
"Would you—"
We spoke over one another, and both stopped abruptly.
"It's something I've been thinking of," I admitted, smiling as her lips rounded in surprise. "Would you like my bite? To be a tiger, that is?"
"I—but…Wendell?"
I shifted, and Bryony's hands tightened on me until she realized I was moving her with me, shifting up on my knees and pulling her up to my lap. "It won't change anything between Wendell and myself. And I did mention it to him."
I thought I caught a glimpse of excitement in Bryony's face, but she stamped it down quickly. "We don't know how it would work with my magic, so I imagine Aric will have a lot to say about the idea."
I nodded and shrugged. "It isn't his decision. It's yours. But it is a large one."
"Princess, King of Thieves, and tiger seems like a lot of