“Are you?” Hæra extended her hands palms up, her long fingers splayed open in invitation. “Are you ready for me?”

“Yes,” Madeleine gasped. She held out her own hands.

She couldn’t tell who moved first, Hæra or her, but the end result was the same. Their hands met first, curled around each other, and then Hæra yanked Madeleine’s naked body to her clothed one.

She’d kiss Madeleine now. She’d finish what she’d started earlier tonight by the pasture, when she’d grabbed Madeleine just like this, and it had seemed so clear that their lips would press together in the sort of kiss Madeleine had yearned for her entire life.

Hæra bent to Madeleine’s throat and sank in her teeth, gently.

Madeleine’s knees turned to water softer than the sea. Only Hæra’s grip kept her from collapse. No, she couldn’t ever be cold, not when Hæra’s mouth held all the heat in the world.

That mouth drifted over Madeleine’s throat, pausing to lick and suck while Madeleine grabbed Hæra’s elbows. Every stroke of Hæra’s tongue made her knees even weaker. She tried to beg for more, but no words would come. Just ah, ah, ah.

That seemed to be good enough. Hæra growled against her wet skin. “You’ve never done this before.”

“Never.” Madeleine writhed forward. Why was Hæra still dressed? Didn’t she want this too, didn’t she need this, skin-to-skin? “I’ve been waiting so long.”

“For what?”

“For—for—” For you. No, that wasn’t right, that couldn’t be right. “I don’t know. For it to be all right, for…”

“It is all right.” Hæra’s hands cupped Madeleine’s hips. “Better than all right.”

Oh mercy! Hæra was touching her bare skin, and not for a handshake. She was touching Madeleine where nobody ever had, making Madeleine’s hips rock forward for more.

She’d waited for so long.

“More,” Madeleine said. She grabbed Hæra’s shoulders. “Do it like that again.”

“Like what?” Though Hæra’s eyes said she knew.

Madeleine closed her eyes and pressed her forehead to Hæra’s shoulder. It was broad, firm.

“Rough,” she choked.

This time, Hæra bent to the other side of her throat, sucked hard enough to leave a mark. Madeleine would get a matching set, high up enough to be visible. Everyone would see what she’d done.

Only a few moments ago, that had been a terrifying thought. No longer. Everyone could see that Madeleine Laurent finally, finally had what she needed.

“Yes,” she gasped. “Let them see. Let them know.”

Hæra bared her teeth against Madeleine’s skin. “They’ll know you’re mine.”