My gaze glided over the elegant arch of her throat and the fragile lines of her collarbones. I knew her skin would be warm and damp—skin that was a paradise to touch. To taste. My gaze lowered to the rosy tips of her breasts peeking through the strands of her hair. Warmth hit my veins as my eyes devoured the soft curve of her stomach, her hips, and the glimpse I got ofthe shadowy region hidden below the bubbling water. Her body was not flawless. Her life had left its mark behind. But it was perfect to me.
She could feel me but couldn’t see me. I knew that in the way her nipples puckered. I saw it in the fine shiver that coursed through her, leaving behind a wake of tiny bumps and flushed skin.
The water stirred around her as she came forward, those beautiful, intelligent eyes focusing on where I stood, cloaked in my own shadows. The water receded, baring that hidden area to me. The softness that was mine.
The breath that had lost itself in my throat escaped me. The air shuddered. Even in this in-between, nature reacted to my presence. The stems of the lilacs closest to me withered as they recoiled and lifted into the air. The branches froze upon my breath.
Lust fisted in my gut, lodging itself right below the icy knot cemented into my chest. The warmth in my veins heated. My cock hardened as the lush and soft scent of her arousal overtook the lilac. Jasmine. My mouth watered. My fangs throbbed, and the essence around me followed suit, peeling away from the walls and reaching for her.
The air around me chilled, but inside, I was fire and ice. I moved without realizing it as the want for her seized me. Took over. I wanted to feel her skin against mine. To taste her lips and the paradise between her thighs. I wanted to fuck her and make love to her. To lose myself in her heat. I wanted to gather her close and whisper her name with the reverence she deserved, and to shout with the fury knotted inside me. I wanted to protect her. Ruin her. Love her the way she loved me. Bruise her the way she’d bruised me. I wanted to…hate her for doubting me, for not trusting me. For preventing me from coming to her aid. Forstopping me from blocking Kolis’s path of death before the road led to Carsodonia.
I wanted to hate her because I hated myself.
And there were many reasons to do so. So many misdeeds. I should’ve listened tohim. To Kieran. Talked to her before it all came undone. I should’ve controlled my temper when the unraveling began. Should’ve earned her trust. Should’ve risked losing her by finding a way to keep her by my side. For…fuck, for sneaking into her bed like a wraith and leaving like a ghost the night before she left for Pensdurth. For not being strong enough to be her shelter.
Ice crackled, forming a spreading sheet across the water’s surface as I drifted toward the earthen steps. Essence slipped over my shoulders and spun into the air around me, full of relief and panic, grief and joy, love and anger.
Her hand lifted toward me, those deft fingers nearing the coiled eather.
My chest throbbed. The essence stilled as veins of ice spread toward her, and I struggled to rein it back in. It was too…volatile. I was too unpredictable.He’s unhinged.That’s what I’d heard whispered in the halls of Wayfair.
A ghost of a smile tugged at my lips.
They were right.
I was chaos given flesh and form and staring down at the woman who was my ruination, my salvation. I was never more chaotic. I wanted to take her, to break her. To keep her safe. To des—
“Cas?”
The sound of her voice speaking the name that made me feel human broke me at the same moment it freed me, enraged me in the same breath that it gave me peace. Gods, I truly felt unhinged as the essence around me deepened with threads of crimson.
She stood completely still as my essence swirled around her, eyes still wide but clear. Her breaths came in fast, short bursts, and her heart still raced, but I didn’t taste fear. Instead, I detected the thickness of concern and the decadent sweetness of chocolate-dipped berries. I tastedlove, and that filled me with pride.
She wasfearless. Bold. Courageous. Unstoppable.
She said my name again, and it caused an ache that went beyond the physical. The kind of power she wielded over me…she had no idea.
She never did.
Her chest rose with a sharper inhale. She wet her lips, and that brief glimpse of her tongue was like downing a shot of pure desire. I wanted inside her. In her mouth. Her pussy. And in places I had held myself back from. Smoke and ice filled my veins. I tasted snow and brimstone.
“I love you,” she said. “Always.”
I…
I went still.
The endless stream of wants and needs was silenced. I heard her. Only her. I felt her voice. Tasted the truth in those words. My mind calmed. The thrum of power ebbed. The Primal mist slowed and thinned. I saw her, only her, and—
The hair at my nape rose as every sense within me sharpened. My head cocked. Something had shifted, but…but not here in the in-between. A moment passed. The prickle of awareness increased. Something had entered Wayfair, having either stepped on or brushed against one of the vines connected to me—an extension of my will formed by my essence. Not in the Great Hall while I slept, but close.
Something I’d been waiting on.
I turned my head back toward her as the air started to shift. I let myself look my fill. Let myself feel the brief peace onlyshe could give, even when she wreaked havoc upon my life. Let myself spend one more heartbeat in her presence.
Then, I woke.
The scent of lilacs and jasmine lingered in the breath I took afterward. I didn’t need to open my eyes to know I wasn’t alone.
