"There is one true way to celebrate Magmon's Feast," Jaygin breathed.

Elia laughed at her husband's ploy. "As if it is so difficult to get me to warm your bed?"

He planted a hand on the pillar, nearly brushing her ear with his thumb. Jaygin leaned toward her, already hard. "I never mentioned a bed."

Her question was lost in his kiss. Jaygin's mouth was hot and hard against hers, a passionate man made all the more so by the holiday in question.

Elia didn't protest it. Jaygin was a Furian prince, second in line for the throne. If sounds of their love play escaped the room, no one would dare interrupt them. Nor would the servants dare comment on it or pass rumors in the city about their play.

Not that sex outside the bedroom was particularly noteworthy in the capitol city of Aidalyn. The sexual games of young lords were scandalous, but Jaygin was no longer playing the games, and what he chose to do with his banded wife was fodder for no one's amusement but their own.

They'd only been married a moon, and it wasn't unusual for Jaygin to abandon his desk at midday for no better reason than to carry Elia to their bed. Even so, she'd never seen Jaygin like this. He'd always been a patient lover, slow in teaching her the love arts. He'd always treated her like spun glass that was to be handled with care.

There was nothing careful in what he was hinting...and she loved it. Perhaps the holiday was affecting her, as well.

Jaygin pulled at his clothes, peeling off his tunic and loosening his trousers. She unfastened her bed dress and dropped it on the growing pile, her breathing going ragged at the thought of making love in her sitting room. Jaygin's gaze raked over her body, and he buried his face in her throat, nipping at her, leaving love bites that tingled and throbbed in time with her hammering heart.

Elia closed her eyes, tunneling her fingers in his hair. Jaygin nibbled his way up her throat to her mouth, parting her lips for another searing kiss.

Searing... By Magmon, she was hot. Her skin burned everywhere Jaygin touched her.

It is the summer heat. Magmon's feast was held at the height of the season.

Her body burned in other ways, coming to life for him. Jaygin moaned, lifted her, and thrust inside.

Elia screamed in pleasure, full of his cock, branded by his potent need. Jaygin took her hard and fast, pressing her back into the pillar and lodging himself deep.

He roared in climax, driving her over in the force of his release inside her. She panted in delight, wrapped around him, and loosened her grip on his shoulders.

"Oh, Elia," he breathed. "Take me again."

At her nod, Jaygin hardened inside her.

Jaygin came to consciousness slowly, his cock delightfully sensitized. His shoulders and back were tender from the bite of Elia's fingernails.

He smiled at the memories of their loving. They'd shown their devotion to Magmon for half the night, one act of love after another, room to room, until they'd tumbled into bed, still joined and praising the Fire God. They'd practiced the rites of passion until long after the revelers in the street had retired in exhaustion.

Magmon be praised! He had no idea what had come over him. Jaygin had always been gentle in his loving with Elia.

He'd been fortunate enough to encounter Elia as an untried maid. Jaygin had taught her the arts of love and taken her as wife. He'd shed her blood on the night before the bands went on in claim of what was his own, in the traditional manner for a royal taking a virgin to band, as she'd wished it. Waiting for her had been maddening, but so few lords were blessed with the opportunity to prove blood, and Elia was worth the wait.

In all the times he'd loved her, Jaygin had never dreamed of pounding into Elia as he had the night before. And--Magmon help me!--he still hungered for her. Jaygin turned to her.

Elia lay in a deep sleep, a light sheet across her hip, her breasts and fiery woman's curls half-uncovered. The invitation was too much for him.

Jaygin eased the sheet away, sliding down the bed and to his belly to lay a lick along her swollen slit. Elia moaned, tipping her hips to him unconsciously.

He dined on her, more avidly as she woke squirmed against him. Elia grasped at his shoulders and then his hair, crying out harshly as she climaxed around his tongue. Her hands loosened, then slid away as he rose up over her.

Elia glanced to the windows, her brow furrowing. "Should you not be away?" she asked in thick voice.

Jaygin eased inside her still-spasming body, forcing back his own release. "My father can manage without me for the day."