“You still love me,” she said incredulously. “Even after I made this plan without you. Even after I kept so much from you...”
“Ialwayslove you,” he said.
Her lip trembled, but her eyes blazed. “If you love me...then stop looking for me.”
Grim reared back. He felt like he had been stabbed. “I can’t do that.”
“Even if it’s my choice? If this is what I want?”
He looked at her. Really looked at her. “If you are in danger, then Iwillfind you.”
At her indignation, he said, “Tell me that if the roles were reversed, you wouldn’t do the same. Tell me, and I will stop looking.”
He knew her. He really, really knew her.
She didn’t even try to lie to him. “But the prophecy—”
“I don’t want to live by prophecies,” he said, stepping closer. “No oracle, no fate, no power, no person could ever change how I feel about you. I’m coming to get you. So tell me, Isla. Right now. How can I help you?”
“Remind me,” she said, her gaze searing into his. “Of everything that comes after.”
He knew what she meant. Slowly, he leaned down until his lips brushed hers, and it made a jolt spread through his body. She reached up to wrap her arms around his neck and groaned.
That sound...made right into his mouth...if he wasn’t already aching with want, now he was trembling with it. His tongue parted her lips, and met hers and—
This. This was its own language. Its own conversation. He kissed her deeply, thoroughly, the way that made her pulse race, which he had learned through countless practice. It was the way he had kissed her in that Starling market, before they were married, when he had portaled her into an alley and pressed her against the wall. When she had asked him to have her right there, so consumed with want that she didn’t care they could still hear people, streets away.
He groaned too, because every kiss was an echo of the memories they had and ones they still had to make. His hands reached down, hands curling under her, to lift her up to his height, and he turned, toward the bed.
“Like this,” she gasped against his lips, her ankles locking behind him.
He stilled. “Like this?”
She nodded, and—whatever she wanted. That was what he would give her. All night, if that was what she asked for.
Her lips met his again, as she reached down. He felt her undoing the buttons of his pants and lowering herself and—
He could fucking die from this. Die from this perfection, from the feeling of her, on him. She moaned and he swallowed the sound, hands trembling against her hips as she moved, slowly, then quickly, writhing against him, and all sense of time and space and reality shattered. It was only him and her and this insatiable energy between them, a want that had never diminished, no matter how many times they did this.
He met her every movement with his own, helping her, giving her everything she asked for, everything it seemed she needed, and she pulled his mouth back onto hers once more.
“I love you,” she whispered against his lips, between pants. Her hand was wrapped around the back of his neck, using him to keep moving. “I love you...and that’s why I don’t want to lose you.”
“You have me,” he said, his heart racing “I’m yours. Always. You will never lose me.”
She didn’t seem convinced of that fact, but she sucked his bottom lip into her mouth and bit, and he saw stars. It had him pulling her even closer, moving her against him. A shot of pleasure like lightning raced up his spine as she bucked.
She gasped into his mouth, and he kept moving, giving her everything he could, so she would never have to plead for more. Her moans echoed through his room, and he wanted her louder. He wanted her more flushed. He wanted her completely satisfied. He unleashed, listening to her every command, to go faster, to go deeper. Her head fell back as she gasped, as she stopped moving and just took. Until her eyes tightened, and they both broke, together. He took her through the end, until the tremors stopped, and she sighed against his chest.
He held her there, their hearts beating wildly together. He stroked a hand down her back. Slowly, he lowered her to her feet. She was still panting. Still flushed. Her hair was in waves around her face.
She led him to their bed, and they just lay there, intertwined. Finally, he was at peace. For these few moments, he could pretend everything was better again. His eyes drifted closed.
When he woke up, he was alone.
ORO
Grim crashed into Oro’s throne room, shadows blazing behind him.
