by Marie Hall
“I’m coming, oh my god,” she screamed, digging her nails into the sculpted lines of his back.
Nothing had ever felt more amazing. Her body was going to explode into a nova of nothing but sensation and she could care less. If the world around them burned to a cinder, she couldn’t care. She didn’t care. This was all that mattered, this moment with him inside her and she holding him, where their bodies were as physically connected as could possibly be.
His fingers reached between them and he latched on to her sensitive nub, giving it a quick squeeze. “Then come for me, my beloved.”
And though she was no longer a genie, it was his command that made her blossom. Arching her spine, she jerked and trembled against him as wave after wave of pleasure took her.
Robin joined her just a moment later, and she held on to him, kissing his sweaty brow as she whispered her eternal devotion to him.
And when he blinked open his electric-blue eyes at her, looking as dazed as she felt, the only thing she could think to say was, “Best sex evah!”
But soon their laughter turned to touches again, and from there to heated caresses. Robin moved down between her thighs, blowing a breath against the center of her, making her jerk in delight.
He feasted on her, making her scream out in the type of blissful agony that bordered on torture when he finally relented and gave her the release she’d craved. And though his chest heaved with sweat and she was nothing but a boneless heap, she returned the favor.
Taking her time, working her way down his body one lick and nibble at a time.
He jerked when she bit down on the corner of his hip. “You sure you’re not part vampire, my pet?” His voice had grown hoarse.
Giggling and deliriously happy, she smacked the spot where she’d bitten him, and then nuzzled against it, licking it soft and slow until he writhed and danced for her once again. “Sometimes I wish I had been,” she said softly.
His hands trailed through the ends of her hair and his gaze was serious as he said, “Not me. Though your curse kept us apart for years, it was also your curse that led me to you. And now that it’s all over, I can never regret that.”
Turning her head into his hip, she pressed a lingering kiss on the crease where hip met thigh. “Even twenty years later, you’ve still not grown tired of me?”
“Oh, my jewel, as I told you once before, it’s simply not possible. I’ve the taste of you, and now my addiction has only grown. You mean everything to me, Nixie. Everything. And tomorrow we will finally make this official.”
Her lips twitched. “You telling me? Or asking me?” Her words trembled with suppressed laughter.
He cupped her jaw. “Will you marry me?”
She snorted. “Really, Robin, I think you know the answer to that one. As if you needed to ask.”
“You saucy wench.” He flicked at the tip of her nose and she laughed. “And don’t you ever change.”
“Not bloody likely.” She nipped at his finger hard and then returned back to the task at hand, taking his full length into her mouth.
He groaned loud and long, digging his fingers through her hair as he met each bob of her lips with a gentle thrust.
And though they lay in bed, neither of them slept a wink that very long Kingdom night…
Chapter 21
The ceremony was intimate. They’d already married before their subjects and exchanged their vows, but for Robin it was important that he do it privately as well.
In front of those they loved most and who know them both as they truly were.
Not Maiden Marian and Crispin the Lion-Hearted, but as Nixie Delis Black and Robin Hood.
“I, Robin Hood, take thee, Nixie Black, to love, honor, and cherish all the days of my life.” He pressed his thumb upon her knuckle, brushing it tenderly.
“I”—her sweet voice shivered across his flesh—“Nixie Black, daughter of Paz and Tristan Black, take thee, Robin Hood, to be my lawfully wedded husband. To love, to honor, and to cherish”—she tilted her chin, and the gravity of her words was as though she were saying to him for the first time—“all the days of my life.”
Her smile stole his breath.
After twenty years together, he still wanted her, more and more each day. He knew her body, her soul, and now Robin knew her inside out. There wasn’t another in all of the universe that knew him like she did. That she could still want him, still need him with the same fiery intensity that he needed her, was a humbling thought.
They stood within the privacy of his royal gardens. Danika, fairy godmother to the villains, presided over their nuptials. The night stretched long, but it wasn’t dark. There was a silvery twilight sheen that lent an air of magic to everything.
And though they stood outside and there were balconies covering every square inch of the castle, no one who’d not been invited to the private wedding could look upon them. For Danika had imprisoned them all within a verdant garden of wildflowers that grew twenty feet high and was laced together at the upper reaches.
Jericho, Danika’s husband, handed Robin the necklaces with the stones of Veritas hanging off them—one square, one heart shaped, both a deeply jeweled ruby.
Stepping into his bride, he drew his nose down the length of her swan-like neck. “Are you ready, my pet?” he breathed into the shell of her ear.
Behind them, Nixie’s mother sobbed quietly, hugged by her own husband—the golem genie, Tristan.
Robin had never deigned to restore the memories of his men. Marian’s true identity was a part of their relationship that now felt sacrosanct, a secret known only to a very special few—to those within these flowery walls.
Nixie could never be a genie again, and he for one was happy for it. Though she’d been more powerful than almost any creature in all the land, he’d trade none of it for the sheer pleasure of knowing that now she was well and truly his, forevermore.
Her fingers were soft and gentle as she cupped his whiskered face. “I’ve always been ready.” She pressed a tender kiss to his bottom lip, one that filled his bones with a hunger and need for more.
Always more.
“Then take yours and let us say the binding vows.”
Lips twitching at the corner with a hint of a joy and passion, her fingers slipped his necklace off his fingers. Her touch burned through him. Though they’d consummated their marriage a hundred times over—easily at this point—he was still just as excited for tonight as if it were their first time.
“My life—”
He unclasped her chain, settling it around her neck.
She smiled as she wound his necklace around his neck.
“—with yours,” they said at the same moment.
“Forever.”
The moment the pendants touched their flesh, the jewels flared to life, turning from a heated red to a rich, royal purple.
“Then may I now, and very proudly”—Danika snapped the book of tales in her hands closed—“officially and finally, by the gods”—she snorted, glancing at Jericho with love beaming in her eyes—“pronounce you husband and wife!”
A cheer erupted then. But not just from her family, or from Danika and her husband, but from the sky itself.
When the cathedral of flowers parted, the midnight sky danced with thousands of falling stars. Wishes of glad tidings from the genies on high, because one of their own had just found her true happiness, and for tonight, the heavens rejoiced.
~*~
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A Pirate’s Dream, which will be the next book in the Kingdom Series will release in February of 2015! Make sure to check out my blog and newsletter for updates!
Author’s Notes
I’m often asked if Kingdom will continue after A Pirate’s Dream—which is the story of Hook’s daughter and a certa
in merman you might remember from Hook’s Pan. I’ve been working on this series for years now. And I don’t see it stopping anytime soon, but, it will change. Just like I went from the Bad Five to the Dark Princesses, I’ll be moving on into the Dark Queens and Witches of fairy tales from here. I’m so happy that my twisted fairy tales have resonated so much with so many of you. I can share with you the titles of my books for now. I’ve commissioned a very well known fairy tale cover artist to create the spinoff series and all I can say is, you guys are in for a real treat. For now, there are 6 books slotted for that new series, but I’m so excited to write it, that there could possibly be more. In fact, you’ve met two of my witches already. Baba Yaga will be sooo much fun.
But maybe, you may have noticed a certain “ice woman” created in this book. Well, I can tell you, that you’ve just met the Ice Queen, and that was the inception of her creation story. So again, hope to see you all back for A Pirate’s Dream and that you’ll trust me to continue on in this magical world of Kingdom.
As to the titles of the upcoming books, here you go:
1. The Ice Queen
2. The Dark Queen (Evil Queen from Snow White)
3. The Sea Queen (Sea Hag)
4. The Fire Queen (Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty)
5. The Magic Queen (Baba’s story)
6. The Passionate Queen (Red Queen from Wonderland)
About Marie Hall
Marie Hall is a NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Author who loves books that make you think, or feel something. Preferably both. And while she's a total girly girl and loves glitter and rainbows, she's just as happy when she's writing about the dark underbelly of society. Well, if things like zombies, and vampires, and werewolves, and mermaids existed. (Although she has it on good authority that mermaids do in fact exist, because the internet told her so.)
She's married to the love of her life, a sexy beast of a caveman who likes to refer to himself as Big Hunk. She has two awesome kids, lives in Hawaii, loves cooking and occasionally has been known to crochet. She also really loves talking about herself in the third person.
If you want to see what new creations she's got up her sleeves check out her blog. Or contact her personally at [email protected]
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Marie Hall Books
Kingdom Series (Fantasy Series)
Her Mad Hatter (Book 1, Alice in Wonderland)
Gerard’s Beauty (Book 2, Beauty and the Beast)
Red and Her Wolf (Book 3, Little Red Riding Hood)
Jinni’s Wish (Book 4, Arabian Nights)
Hook’s Pan (Book 5, Peter Pan)
Danika’s Surprise (Novellete, #5.5)
Moon’s Flower (Book 6, Fractured tale based on The Man in the Moon)
The Huntsman’s Prey (Book 7, based on the legend of Snow White’s Huntsman)
Rumpel’s Prize (Book 8, based on the legend of Rumpelstiltskin)
Hood’s Obsession (Book 9)
Her One Wish, (Book 10 about Jinni’s daughter and Robin Hood)
A Pirate’s Dream, (Book 11 about Hook’s Daughter, coming Feb 2015!)
Moments Series (New Adult Contemporary Romance)
A Moment, Book 1
Right Now, Book 2
This Time, Book 3
Wright Saga (Contemporary Romance)
The Wright Brother (Book 1)
It Has To Be You (Book 2, coming soon)
Night Series (Urban Fantasy with Romantic Elements)
Crimson Night, Book 1
All Hallows Night, Book 2
Howler’s Night, Book 3
Red Rain, Book 4 (Coming in December 2014)
Night Spinoff (Urban Fantasy-Berserker Series)
Forbidden- Book 1, Coming November 2014
Chaos Time Serial (Time Travel Fantasy Romance)
Sable, Part 1
Slayde, Part 2
Synnergy, Part 3
Eternal Lovers (Paranormal Romance)
Death’s Lover
Death’s Redemption
