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10

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Asherah

I knew I wasn’t supposed to want him, but I did.

I knew I wasn’t supposed to crave him, but there I was: craving.

The two of us slipped into the room next to us. This particular deck had three spaces, from what I could tell. There was the main room, where we’d entered. This was some sort of storage room. There was the room that Jasper and Jill had gone into. Maybe that was a bedroom. At the opposite end of the boat was the room Lion and I found ourselves in.

It was much too small for him. His head practically pushed against the ceiling, but he didn’t mind. There was a tiny bed that was definitely designed for an Oceailean, but again, he didn’t say anything. He just tugged the blankets off of the bed, spread them out on the floor, and then sat down with his back to the bed frame and reached for me.

I straddled him, sitting down on his lap. I could feel his length, could feel his hardness. He wanted this just as much as I did. Good. I needed this. I needed to let myself go. I needed to let myself just feel.

It had been an eternity since I’d let myself just feel. I was always uptight, always tense, always in charge. I had to be. The princess of an entire planet couldn’t just let go. That wasn’t in the job description. It certainly wasn’t in my life description.

I didn’t have time for little flings.

Only, as I started grinding against Lion, I started to think that I would make time for this one.

This one time, I would let go. Just this once. Nobody had to know. I wouldn’t tell anyone and neither would he. When we were all done with this, he’d go back to Malum and I’d go back to my life. Maybe I’d end up being the queen, or perhaps I’d just end up being a princess for a little bit longer.

Either way, I wanted him now.

I needed him.

This moment might be all that we had.

He reached for my dress and tugged, yanking it up and over my head. I was completely naked beneath it, and I think that surprised him a little bit. He sucked in a breath as he reached for my breasts.

“Fucking gorgeous,” he told me.

“Thank you,” I whispered. It had been so long since I’d been naked with another person, but it didn’t feel nearly as awkward as I thought it was going to. Wasn’t it supposed to feel a little more awkward than this? I remember being young. New relationships always seemed very fumbling and uncomfortable. This wasn’t like that at all.

Lion knew what he was doing.

He started kneading my breasts, playing with them as he kissed me. My hands rested on his chest, and I ran my fingers up and down over his own clothes until I started tugging, pulling them off. A moment later, his shirt was off and tossed to the ground.

“You have nice abs,” I told him.

He just laughed.

“Kiss me, princess,” he said. “Don’t ever stop kissing me.”

I didn’t want to. I wanted to do this forever, actually. Kissing Lion felt good. Right. Comfortable. It was like my body had been made just for this moment. I ran my fingers up and down his chest and then I finally settled on holding his cheeks as I took my time enjoying his lips.

He pulled away a moment later and cocked his head. I knew exactly why he was pausing. His hands were on my arms. He’d noticed my skin was naked.

“Where are your tattoos?” Lion asked.

I swallowed. Hard. How was I supposed to answer that? It definitely wasn’t a fair question. Not even a little bit fair.

“I don’t have any,” I finally told him. Being honest was probably the right choice, but it didn’t feel very good. I didn’t like admitting that I didn’t have the one thing that made my people special. Off-planet people didn’t always realize that it was the tattoos that gave us our powers. Generally, people thought it was just something unique about our species. That was good since my risk of being drowned on another planet was low. Nobody would capture me and try to kill me with water if they thought I could just breathe it.

I couldn’t, though.

I couldn’t breathe under the water. Unless I was finally allowed to get my Oceailean tattoos, I wouldn’t be able to, either. It was a rite of passage that had been stolen from me because my mother didn’t think I was worthy.

Well, either that or she didn’t think I needed them.

I wasn’t sure which was worse.

“Why not?”

“My mother said no.”

Lion laughed. He actually laughed! “What the hell does that have to do with anything?” Lion asked. “She can’t bar you from getting them.”

“Yes, she can,” I said. I was slightly miffed with how casual he seemed about this whole thing. The queen wasn’t so easy to disobey. She was the most powerful person on Oceaile, aside from my brother, and what she said was law. Literally.

“How?”

“She forbid all of the tattooists from working on me,” I whispered. It was embarrassing. Humiliating. Once I’d actually tried to go get them, anyway, and the tattooist had been wildly horrified. He’d told me that he couldn’t work on me or my mother would have him killed. It had been that bad. I’d finally given up.

“That’s bullshit,” Lion said. He was pissed about this. I shirked back, nervous, but he frowned. “I’m not angry with you, princess. I’m angry with your mother. This is your birthright.”

“Thank you,” I said, realizing that he really was truly on my side. I wasn’t exactly used to having someone on my side, on my team. Most of the time, people cared about legal issues and political issues. They cared about the things that affected them – not the princess.

“When we get back to Oceaile, we’ll get them for you,” he said.

“What?”

“I’ll get them for you.” He was completely confident, but I didn’t really understand exactly what he was getting at.

“How?” How would he be able to do something I hadn’t been able to do my entire life?

“My sister-in-law tattoos,” he told me. “She owes me a favor. A lot of them, actually.” He smirked. “I’ve saved her ass a couple of times.”

“You’d do that for me?” I whispered. He’d use a favor on me? He’d go out on a limb like that? He barely even knew me.

“Yes,” he told me. Then he grabbed the back of my neck, tugged me close, and kissed me again. This time, he didn’t stop. His hands found their way back to my breasts as he teased my nipples with his fingers. His pants weren’t even off yet, and already I was craving him. I wanted to feel Lion deep inside of me. I wanted him to fuck me right here on this ship, and I wanted him to make me forget about everything.

That was what I wanted.

I wanted to be fucked into pure memory loss so I didn’t have to think about anything bad or terrible or crazy that had happened to me.

I got to my feet and started tugging at his shoes and pants. A moment later he was naked. My own shoes were still on, but I didn’t bother taking them off. Instead, I crouched over him and lowered myself onto him. I didn’t overthink it. I didn’t take my time. I just took him. All of him.

It was perfect.

He groaned as he pushed up into me. I held onto Lion’s shoulders for dear life. I felt like I was going to die if I let go, like I was going to float away. He thrust his hips up, shoving himself deeper into me, and I couldn’t help but think this was the best damn sex I’d ever had in my life.

It was wild and it was crazy. Jasper and Jill definitely knew what I was up to, but I didn’t care. I refused to be embarrassed about this. I wouldn’t be. I deserved to have a little bit of fun. I deserved to just let go for a little while.

Lion was...everything. He nipped at my lips, kissing me. His hands never once stopped moving as he worked me over until my orgasm was bubbling just beneath the surface of my skin. I wanted it. I wanted to come for him more than I’d wanted anything in a very, very long time.

“Do it, princess,” he told me. “And I’ll come for you, too.”

“Promise?” I asked, breathless. I wanted it. I wanted to feel this part of him. I needed it. He nodded, thrusting up again, and that did it. Something about the way he was talking to me, something about the angle, something about him.

I came. I closed my eyes and clung to his shoulders, digging my nails into his skin as the boat rocked in the waves. He thrust up into me and I could feel him coming, too, filling me.

It was everything.

My heart was full. My body was full.

I just didn’t want this moment to end.