“We will. After.”
The inner corners of Elyria’s eyes pricked. There was so much she wanted to say, words that wouldn’t form on her tongue or in her mind. So instead, she blinked back the threatening wetness lining her eyes and whispered, “After.”
55
SHADOW AND SUN
ELYRIA
The moonlight spillingthrough the narrow window bathed the modest room in silver stillness. The only other light came from Cedric himself—subtle, warm, the barest golden shimmer radiating from under his skin.
It wasn’t bright, wasn’t blinding. Rather, it was as though his glow had settled, the gentle rays of the morning sun warming tired bones. Elyria let her eyes roam over him in awe before closing them and drawing her forehead to his.
They sat in silence at the edge of the bed, wrapped around each other, breaths syncing. She soaked in his charred sandalwood scent, and his soft exhales stirred the loose strands of her hair that had freed themselvesfrom her braid.
The quiet between them wasn’t uncomfortable, but it was full—dense, heavy. Laden with everything that had happened, the truths that had been revealed...and things they had yet to say. Elyria shifted in his lap, her legs falling to either side of him. The bed creaked slightly beneath them but otherwise, it was as though the world held its breath.
Cedric’s fingers moved lazily across her lower back, brushing over the gap between her blouse and breeches, grounding her and unraveling her all at once. His hands slid up her arms, cupping her face, his thumb skating over her cheekbone. “Lightbreaker.”
She opened her eyes. “Sunbringer.”
“This is the beginning of ourAfter,” Cedric murmured, his voice so low it was little more than a breath.
Elyria’s throat tightened. “Not yet,” she said. “But soon. Solaris knows we’ve fucking earned it.” And then she kissed him again.
He dropped his hands back to her legs, skimming over her thighs, fingers splayed, as if relearning the shape of her. Elyria melted into him, their chests flush, and without looking she knew that under her blouse her heart had to be glowing too. It felt as though it might burst as she threaded her hands through his hair, their lips meeting over and over—slow, reverent. A promise. A vow.
She leaned back to look him in those gold-ringed eyes. “I want to say something, but I’m not sure where to start. It’s...hard for me.”
His gaze softened, his scarred lip curving up in a gentle smile. “You don’t need to say anything.”
“No, I do.” She swallowed. “I need you to know that I’m choosing this. Not because of whatever the celestials might have planned, or the magic inside me, or whatever fate decides. I choose this. I chooseyou.”
Cedric exhaled, the sound nearly a groan. “Say it again.”
“I choose myAfterwith you.”
The golden light between them flared.
“I did not live until I met you,” he said, fingers dancing along the hem of her blouse. He lifted it over her shoulders, the lightweight fabric ghosting over her skin like a whisper. “I will choose you in every life.”
The glow from Cedric’s chest—from her own—painted Elyria’s bare skin gold, and her shadows rose to meet it. They curled around his arms, his back, cradling him in dark even as their light met.
He dipped his head, kissing the mark on her shoulder, and her whole body trembled. His fingers drifted up the side of her wing, fluttering loosely over her back, and the sensation cracked her open.
Her breath caught in her chest, sharp and aching, as she pulled his lips to hers once more. He stood, shifting his grip under her ass, holding her against his body. Elyria clung to him. Her nails raked up the bare expanse of his back, her legs wrapped around his waist. The world could have torn itself apart in that moment and she wouldn’t have let go.
She wouldn’t have to. Because just for now, just in this, it did feel as though time slowed. Stopped. Like the celestials themselves were allowing them to bask in this moment, in their heartbreaking closeness.
There was no threat of tomorrow, no treacherous past. There was only now.
Only them.
Cedric swung around, setting her back on the bed. With deft fingers, he unlaced her breeches, dotting reverent kisses down her legs, across her thighs, as he peeled them off. And then the rest of his own clothing was gone, and she was in his arms once more, a swirl of light and dark, of skin and heat and want.
Elyria gasped when she felt him, hard and insistent, pressing against her entrance. She let out a sound that was halfway between a sigh of relief and a moan of pleasure as he slid inside, slowly, tenuously.
“You are a miracle,” he said with a groan, filling her entirely—body and spirit.
