“Stop it,” I whispered because I couldn’t take anymore and I couldn’t take anymore because the happiness blooming inside me threatened to overwhelm me.
He lips tipped up slightly but his eyes warmed even more. “Okay, kah Lahnahsahna, I will stop it.”
I sucked in breath through my nose to control the tingling there and then I lifted my head and shoved my face in his neck, holding on tight with all my limbs.
Lahn spoke in my ear. “My queen, do not get drowsy. I am not done f**king you.”
Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have taught him the f-word. Sure, when I explained it to him, he laughed loud then he picked me up, threw me on the bed and acted out its meaning.
But his saying it was hot, too hot.
My head dropped back on the bed and I stared up at him in disbelief.
“You’re not?”
“No. Not close.”
I felt my eyebrows shoot up. “Not close?”
“No.”
“Wow,” I whispered. “Maybe you are a god.”
He burst out laughing and he did this a long time, his massive body shaking with it, moving mine as it did in a way that I didn’t like, I loved.
Then, still chuckling, he dropped his forehead to mine and whispered, “Kay lapay el Pahnsahnak, kah Pahnsahnalla.” I am a god, my goddess. “And I will prove it to you.”
Then his mouth took mine and he proved it to me.
Boy, did he ever prove it to me.
I thought my man kicked ass on a field of battle, and he did, I was in awe.
But I was more in awe at what he could do in our cham.
Much, much more.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The Decision
A month later…
“Circe, oh, Circe, I couldn’t,” Diandra breathed as she stared at the heavy gold bracelet inlaid profusely with garnet and amethyst that she’d been examining with obvious yearning but, being so weighty with gold and gems, likely could not afford – a bracelet that I’d just cuffed on her wrist.
“You can, my friend, and you will,” I whispered and her head tipped back from her study of her new bracelet, I saw wet shimmering from her eyes and I finished, still whispering, “As you promised me, you stood by my side and I know, my sweet friend, I know,” I shook her wrist once for added emphasis, “that there were times it wasn’t easy. But I want you to know there will be times when being at my side will provide you with the bounty you deserve because you are kind, you are patient and you are generous. I want you to have this gift, from Lahn and me, as a token of our gratitude for all you have given us.”
I watched one tear slide down her cheek as her hand not captured by mine lifted to cup my cheek.
“You made every minute, even the difficult ones, a pleasure, my true, golden queen,” she whispered back, I felt the tears fill my own eyes and I smiled at her.
Then, to lighten the mood before I burst into unqueenly tears, I joked, “Even now, you’re being generous. I know I can be a pain in the ass.”
She stared at me a second, probably not knowing what a “pain in the ass” was but definitely understanding it. Then she burst out laughing, pulled her wrist from my grip and yanked me into her arms for a tight hug.
I gave it back as good as I got.
When we pulled away, I grabbed her hand for one last squeeze, smiling into her shining eyes. Then I let her go and smiled at Teetru.