BOUND BY ROYALTY

CHAPTER 21

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The first thing I noticed was the warmth.

Not just the soft heat of the sheets tangled around me, nor the lingering fever that had settled deep in my bones, but him.

Aleron.

His body was wrapped around mine, firm yet gentle, his arm draped over my waist as if even in sleep, he refused to let go. His breath was slow and steady against the back of my neck, the rise and fall of his chest a comforting rhythm against my spine.

I blinked slowly, my body feeling oddly weightless, as if the past few days had wrung every last ounce of strength from me. My muscles ached, not unpleasantly, but enough to remind me of what had transpired.

I had barely any memory of when it began.

Only flashes, heat consuming me from the inside out, Aleron's hands grounding me, his voice whispering reassurances against my skin, the way he had held me, worshiped me.

The way he never left my side.

A deep flush spread across my cheeks as more fragmented memories surfaced, our bodies tangled, limbs intertwined, the overwhelming scent of him as he murmured my name over and over again.

The room was heavy with our scents, thick with pheromones, clinging to the air, the sheets, everything. A telling sign of just how long we had been here, wrapped up in each other, moving through the endless cycle of my heat.

Three days.

A sharp pang of exhaustion washed over me as I attempted to shift. My body protested instantly, weak and spent, my limbs sluggish as if submerged in honey.

Aleron stirred at my movement, his grip tightening for the briefest moment before he inhaled deeply, pulling himself from sleep.

I felt his lips brush against the nape of my neck before his voice, thick with drowsiness, rumbled against my skin.

"You're awake."

I swallowed, my throat dry, my voice hoarse from... gods. I didn't even want to think about why it was hoarse.

"Mm," I hummed instead, unable to say much more.

Aleron shifted, and I felt him prop himself up slightly, his fingers tracing gentle circles against my hip. "How do you feel?"

I took a slow breath, trying to gather myself, but the weight of the past few days still clung to me. "Tired," I admitted softly.

His touch lingered, as if ensuring I was truly here, truly conscious. "You barely ate," he murmured, a hint of quiet concern in his tone.

I knew.

The servants had come at appointed times, slipping into the room silently to clean, to leave trays of food that I barely touched, my body too consumed by him, by the fever that only he could soothe.

It was strange, realizing now that time had passed, that the world outside this room had continued while I had been trapped in a haze of desire and need.

Aleron shifted beside me, pressing a lingering kiss to my shoulder before carefully pulling away. The absence of his warmth made me shiver, and for a fleeting moment, I almost reached for him again.

But then I felt the cool press of a damp cloth against my skin.

I turned my head slightly to see him sitting up beside me, the sheets pooled around his waist, his hair slightly tousled, his bare chest lined with faint scratches, marks I didn't even remember leaving.