“Yes. Sorry. Everything is fine, I just woke up.” I shrugged, reassuring him that there was nothing amiss—that we were still safely hidden away.
Ciaran slid back down, turning on his side to face me, rubbing his eyes to clear the sleep from them. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” He groaned, stretching. “Are you alright?” Concern flickered across his dark features.
I smiled; I couldn’t help it. “I have never been better.”
“We just barely escaped from that masquerade with our lives, and we are trapped in this disgusting tavern. But you have never been better?” Ciaran’s brow lifted, and a playful smile graced his serious face.
I shrugged. “Yes.”
“Seraphina…” Ciaran reached out and tucked a stray curl behind my ear. “If we go down this path, I swear I’m not going to be able to stop. What I feel for you it’s…” He inhaled sharply. “It’s more than want. It’s acraving.You’re in my marrow, Seraphina. So please. Put me out of my misery now. If it’s too much.”
Itwastoo much. His vulnerability had always been more than I could handle. But perhaps, in the protective bubble of this dank and dingy inn, I could voice how I was really feeling for once.
“I already told you, Ciaran. I want you. I’m not backing out now. This thing between us? It is real. It is undeniable.”
Ciaran pressed his lips together—did he remember the conversation we’d had over whiskey? After he had healed my ankle? He told me then he wanted something real. Something undeniable. I felt that here with him. And after everything we’d been through? There was no point dancing around it anymore.
He placed his hand on my waist and hauled me closer to him, kissing me. Slowly. Deeply. Tantalizing and thorough. I trailed a hand up his chest, feeling every inch of muscle along the way, brushing through the softly curling hairs, coming to rest on the back of his neck.
I reached my other hand between us. Ciaran was still clothed from the waist down, but I could feel that he wanted me too, and just as badly as I wanted him. I palmed his erection, desperate to feel him, to touch him—to taste him as he had me.
“Seraphina…” Ciaran growled.
“Please,” I breathed out, turning his own words back on him, “let me taste you, Ciaran.” I don’t know where this audacity was coming from. That first kiss had cracked every single wall I had ever put up and now the floodgates were open. I had never felt so emboldened. I had also never donethisbefore. Seff would never have allowed it. Others before him were too quick, too casual, to ever veer into such intimate territory. But maybe I wasthatkind of woman. The kind who knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to give itorreceive it.
Ciaran groaned, a strangled sound garbled out as my words hit him full force. “Fuck. Yes.” He leaned his head back with a fist at his forehead, teeth gritted, as if he were giving in to this against his better judgement. I didn’t care.
I moved on him, pressing a kiss to the hollow of his throat, inhaling the scent ofhimas I did. I sighed as it filled my lungs, my soul. Goddess. I wanted him to fill me. But not yet.Not yet.I pushed him onto his back and trailed kisses down his chest, lower. His stomach muscles contracted as I brushed over them, lightly, with my lips, my tongue, reaching his navel and the more gently curling hair below it. He let out a slow breath. I looked up at him as I carefully unbuttoned his pants. He was undone. Wild. His hair mussed, his eyes dark, pupils blown to the point that there was no distinguishing them from his dark irises. I seared that image into my brain.
“Fuck, Seraphina…” He groaned again, as if this were truly torturous. I shimmied the pants down below his waist, and finally there was just his undergarments. I palmed him and he hissed as I pulled those down, and his cock sprang free.
I had to squeeze my legs together. I had a task. There would be time for all that later. But Holy Goddess. I wanted to writhe against that length—to feel the stretch of him as he filled me. He was beautiful, in a way I didn’t have words for. And I was painfully aware that I didn’t exactly know what I was doing here.
“I, uh…” I stuttered, tearing my eyes away from the impressive length of him to look back into Ciaran’s eyes. “I haven’t done this before either,” I admitted, somewhat sheepishly. His eyes widened, his features again inscrutable.
I lowered my head, my breath whispering over him. “Is this okay?” I asked him the same tentative question he’d asked me.
“Seraphina, please,” he gritted out, his voice strangled and unhinged in a way I hadn’t heard it before.
“Tell me if I’m doing something wrong. Tell me how you like it,” I pleaded. And he nodded, just trying to hold it together.
So I bent to him, tentatively licking at the broad head of his cock, circling his crown with my tongue. He tasted like salt, not unpleasantly. A moan escaped from somewhere above me, but I was too focused on the task at hand. I wasn’t sure if I was doing this right at all. I didn’t hear any protests, so I continued licking. I sealed my lips over him, taking more and more into my mouth.I wanted it all. I was going to catch fire from how much I wanted this.
I went slowly, as he had done with me, applying more pressure, teasing and tasting, seeing what elicited more reaction from Ciaran. He moaned my name as I hollowed my cheeks and gave a hardsuck.His hips bucked, and I moved faster in turn, taking him deeper. His cock hit the back of my throat. I had taken him so deep I had to pause—had to catch my breath. I whirled my tongue over him, plunging even further down. I found there was pleasure in this for me too. The taste of him. The sounds of him coming undone. I had done that. There was a primal kind of power in it. I relished it.
Above me Ciaran groaned. A mixture of curses and words of praise fell from his lips.
“That’s it. Goddess, you’re so good. Seraphina. Fuck.”
I felt him in my throat as he bottomed out. My body protested at first, but I was able to relax around him, though tears streamed from the corners of my eyes. As if it was automatic, my hand roamed down my own body, finding a slick mess between my legs. I was absolutely loving this as much as Ciaran did.
“Fuck. Seraphina. Fuck.” He tensed. “I’m going to—” He came, spilling himself into my throat. I relished that, too.
WINDOWS
While it was extremely difficult to untangle ourselves, Ciaran and I managed to leave the tavern as the sky started to pale, from a deep indigo to a stunning lavender. There was no sign of Scion’s police force in the foggy morning streets, but we stayed on the north side of the Sequana, crossing only when we got to the same bridge where Elena and I had fled the gendarmes all those weeks ago.
We knew nothing about what had happened with our friends after we fled the opera house. I prayed that they had made it out alive. That they’d been able to get back to the mirror at least. Ciaran didn’t say anything, but I could tell he was worried as we descended the Medusa Steps and made our way through the catacombs toward the training room.
