How could his mouth please her so much more now that they had wed? Was it the vow they’d spoken?—because each kiss and lick seemed to bring her near to the edge of dying.

  And he devoured her. With their bound hands clasped on her belly, her knees hooked over his shoulders. His mouth made her body writhe and her hips roll, as if all of the energy she’d saved not dancing at the celebration had been reserved so that she might dance to the rhythm of his tongue over that spot—until he lifted his head and she felt unfamiliar pressure at her entrance. Warrick grunted softly against her flesh before huffing a short laugh. But before she could wonder what amused him, his hand between her legs shifted position and a finger was sliding within, pressing and rubbing. Then his tongue found that spot again.

  Oh gods. She gripped the sheet, then his head, then her breast. Warrick was inside her—and licking her, and she could only twist, and cry his name, and grip his beribboned hand, and live and live and live. The honey in her blood seemed to surge downward to drench his finger and his tongue, and the roll of her hips became a tight coiling within. Then the coil snapped, and she screamed from between clenched teeth, her inner muscles clamping down upon his finger as if to keep him locked inside.

  Yet she could not. Withdrawing his hand, Warrick murmured her name and kissed her belly. Her legs slid bonelessly from his shoulders as he rose up between her thighs, his fist gripping his long jutting shaft. He slicked the broad crown of it through her honeyed wetness, riding the thick length up over that too-sensitive spot. Elina gasped his name, and tilted her hips toward him, and he did it again.

  “Elina.” He spoke more words, his voice deep. Guttural. He sucked in a breath between his clenched teeth and thrust upward again, tunneling through her swollen folds.

  But not inside her.

  Elina squirmed, and twisted, and tried to make him go where she wanted, where she was aching and hollow. Yet he only braced his elbow beside her shoulder and leaned into each drive of his hips, the hot column of flesh relentlessly slipping and sliding over the bud that he’d licked.

  “Warrick!” She sobbed his name, her thighs clasping tight to his sides. His hand gripped her ass and tilted her up higher, fingers digging into her soft flesh, a rasping groan tearing from his throat with every hard thrust. His head dropped, his mouth near her ear as he growled her name, then growled something more, fierce and rough and demanding. And the coil within burst again, in endless waves that must have caught Warrick in their wake, for he snapped his hips forward hard, and again, then he groaned deep and pumped his pulsing shaft through her sodden cleft, his big body tense and shaking.

  Then he slowed, kissing her, deep and wet before throwing his head back to heave giant breaths—still rocking between her legs, though his flesh was softening now and his seed was smeared over her belly.

  Elina slid her foot up the back of his thigh, trying to puzzle through what he’d done. She was utterly satisfied and yet… “I cannot decide whether you’ve been attempting a bizarre method of putting a baby in through my navel, or if there was a ghost squished between us and you were fucking her instead.”

  Warrick choked. Then he burst out with a great laugh, his head hanging, his shoulders shaking.

  Her own laugh joined his, utterly surprised and delighted that she’d made him…that she’d made him…

  Her laughter died. Her heart shriveled.

  “Don’t turn from me. I beg you, listen.” Urgently Warrick caught her face as she tried to roll out from beneath him, tried to rip her hand from the ribbon. His fingers tightened around hers, locking their palms together. “I intended to speak with you this night. You—”

  “Liar!”

  Her eyes burned. But she was not going to cry on this day. She was not.

  Not over him.

  “I spoke no lies.” He pinned her body with his. “I sought the truth.”

  “The truth of what? Never have I lied to—”

  “Not you. About you. And the curse. Elina—”

  “What truth do you wish to know? That I puke until I spit blood? That every joint in my body aches even while I’m lying in bed? That—”

  “You aren’t cursed.” He hissed fiercely through his teeth. “You aren’t cursed, Elina! You’re being poisoned.”

  She stilled. Wildly her gaze searched his face. He met her eyes unwaveringly, his expression hard and intense. As if he wanted nothing more than to make her believe him. But how could she believe? How?

  “Elina.” His voice gentled. “My wife. My heart is yours. My life is yours. My axe is yours. Do not fight me now. Let me fight for you.”

  Her body was shaking. “Who?”

  “Chardryn.”

  “No.” Elina shook her head, the tears she’d fought spurting from her eyes. “No.”

  “Mayhap I’m wrong.” But his expression said that he didn’t believe so.

  “Tell me.” The command scraped from her raw throat. “Why did you pretend not to understand?”

  “In the prison was how it began—delaying the search for the people we’d freed.”

  “We?”

  “Bannin. A friend. He made certain they sailed, then killed Lord Gleris.”

  “Good,” she whispered.

  He grunted his agreement. “When you came to my cell, the warden already believed I could not understand him. It would have been foolish to reveal that I could then.”

  “Yes. But after?”

  “As soon as we met again, you were taken by the mudbeast. I breathed into your mouth—and tasted the bloodbane. And so to discover who had done it, I continued the pretense. People speak unguardedly when they believe you do not understand.”

  “As I did,” she said bitterly. “I was a fool to trust you.”

  His face whitened into a bleak mask. A muscle in his jaw flexed, as if he intended to speak and only ended up gritting his teeth. Silently he stared down at her, his throat working as he swallowed, and swallowed, and swallowed again.

  She had done that before, when trying to dislodge a painful lump of emotion in her throat.

  Why was his pain hurting her so badly?

  “I have wronged you.” The words came out so thick and deep, it was as if he’d swallowed them, too. He raised shaking fingers to her face, but did not touch her before clenching his hand and drawing it away. “I only meant to discover who was poisoning you, and then to save you. I had not intended to hurt you—but that is what I did. So I will make it right.”

  Make it right. That, she believed.

  She closed her eyes. Breathed deep. Tried to look past the emotions crushing her chest. He’d had good reason for the deception in the prison. And after realizing she was being poisoned, he did have good reason to continue the pretense.

  “I just…I wish that you had told me that you understood.” She sighed. “But then I would have made you tell me why you were pretending.”

  “I knew not what you would do. I knew not if you would trust me, or if you would speak of it to someone and place yourself in danger if they feared discovery.”

  And give to her a huge dose of bloodbane. “The tonic?”

  “Yes.”

  So he’d begun to make it himself. “Do you truly have a custom of caring for a bride for three days?”

  “Not custom, but it is my preference.”

  “Ah!” A shaky laugh escaped her. “You did lie!”

  “So I did. I am not sorry for it.”

  “You should not be. You harmed no one…and helped me.” She bit her lip, studying his face. His eyes seemed darker than ever, but a small hope had begun to bleed through the bleakness that had overtaken his countenance when she’d declared she was a fool for trusting him. But was she? “Why did you marry me?”

  “To protect you. To help you return to Aleron and kill your uncle.” His voice roughened as his throat worked again. “And because I love you.”

  She pressed a hand over her eyes but still they overfilled. “And you would not just say that without meaning it?” she sobbed quietly. “Because of what I confessed to you that night?”

  “Never, Elina.” He lowered his brow to hers. “Never. I loved you already then. Your strength. Your kindness. Your teasing. You cannot know how many times I nearly revealed myself by laughing.”

  She dragged in a shuddering breath. “And then you did.”

  “I did. Though I truly meant to speak with you this night—I had hoped that during these three days alone we could decide how to act. Though at the same time, I wished never to tell you. I never want to see you hurt.”

  “Because of what you did or what you think Chardryn did?”

  “Chardryn. Never did I consider that you would see what I did as a hurtful deception. My only thought was of you, and so I believed that was all you would see, too. I am sorry for that. Though I know not what else I should have done, never did I want to hurt you. That is opposite of what I meant to do.” He paused. “I am a thickheaded brute.”

  Elina sputtered. “You are!”

  “And I will fuck you in bizarre ways. Like pigs.”

  She laughed aloud. “Oh gods. You heard that, too? Oh oh. And you will drag me from the tent when you get stuck in me!” With her fingers she wiped her eyes. “But what of this night? Despite what Nanny Char says, I will survive your massive size.”

  Nanny Char. Her mirth instantly vanished. So had his, she saw.

  “Two reasons,” he said. “The first is that I can only get my littlest finger into you.”

  She frowned at him, bewildered. Then realization struck. “I can remove the rings.”

  “Not even for a moment.” Expression harsh, he shook his head. His beribboned fingers tightened on hers. “Until you purge the poison from your body, not for a moment will you remove the jewels. Not a single moment. Swear it to me.”

  “I swear it,” she whispered. “What is the second reason?”

  “Never have I been with anyone but you. Once I am inside your cunt, I might burst after one thrust. And if you get with child before your body is purged—”

  Oh. “The poison might harm a growing baby.”

  “A growing baby might harm you. The purge will be worse than your disease.”

  A tremor shook through her. “And after?”

  “You will be better. Perhaps not as well as before the poison. But not ill as you are now.”

  Then it would be worth the pain. Elina pulled a shaky breath. “So what now?”

  Warrick the Bedded

  Darcoth

  Elina the Heartless

  The River West

  Warrick the Glowing

  Galoth

  Elina the Widow

  Galoth

  Warrick the Ghost

  The Glass Mountains

  Elina the Strong

  The Valley of Stars

  Warrick the Radiant

  Aleron

  Epilogue

  Elina the Loved

  Aleron

  Also by Kati Wilde

  Questions? Contact Kati at kati.wilde@gmail.com!

  (Except for Going Nowhere Fast, all ebooks are in Kindle Unlimited. An asterisk (*) indicates that a discreet print version is available. Visit katiwilde.com for more links and info.)

  Contemporary Romance

  Going Nowhere Fast

  (new adult, enemies-to-lovers, road trip)

  Secret Santa*

  (holiday romance, office romance, down-on-her-luck heroine, dirty-talking-hero who is good with his hands)

  All He Wants For Christmas*

  (holiday romance, grumpy detective living next door, rich girl who works in a morgue)

  The King’s Horrible Bride

  (a modern royal romance)

  The Wedding Night (Before Christmas)*

  (lady billionaire, blue-collar hero, marriage of convenience, and a bit of holiday flavor)

  The Hellfire Riders Motorcycle Club

  The Hellfire Riders: Saxon & Jenny *

  (includes: Wanting It All, Taking It All, Having It All)

  The Hellfire Riders: Jack & Lily *

  (includes: Betting It All, Risking It All, Burning It All)

  Breaking It All*

  (Gunner & Anna)

  Giving It All*

  (Saxon & Jenny)

  Craving It All*

  (Bull & Sara)

  Faking It All*

  (Duke & Olivia)

  Losing It All*

  (Stone & “Cherry”)

  The Dead Lands

  Barbarian Fantasy Romance

  The Midwinter (Mail-Order) Bride*

  The Midnight Bride*

  Pretty Bride*

  The Stoneheart Bride*

  The Midsummer Bride

  Fantasy Romance

  Evil Twin

  Wolfkin and Berserker Romance

  Beauty In Spring

  (a short Beauty & the Beast romance)

  High Moon

  (a werewolf romance)

  Teacher’s Pet Wolf

  (a werewolf romance)

  Sheriff’s Bad Bear

  (a berserker romance)

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  Kati Wilde, The Midsummer Bride (The Dead Lands Book 4)

 

 

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