Elara's pov
It wasn't a request. It was a command born of desperation. "Make me feel something real."
Kaelen reacted instantly. His hands, rough and warm, grabbed my waist, pulling me flush against him. The contact was electric. His hips pressed into mine, hard and demanding.
"You don't have to ask twice," he growled against my lips before lifting me up. My legs wrapped around his waist, and he carried me to the bed, laying me down on the mattress. The silk sheets were cool against my overheated skin.
The mattress dipped under his weight as he followed me down, but there was no hesitation in him, no gentle testing of the waters. He covered my body with his own, a wall of heat and muscle that erased the chill of the room, the chill of Thorin's words.
"I shouldn't be doing this," he rasped, but his hands were already moving, hooking under my knee to drag my leg higher around his waist. The position was possessive, opening me up to him completely. "If they find out–"
