Sarven roars.
It is a shattered, broken sound that tears through the cavern.
The sensation hits me instantly. Searing pleasure that nearly knocks me unconscious. I hold on, letting my tongue swirl.
He tastes like life. Like electric nectar.
A moan escapes my lips, the sound vibrating against him, and I take him deeper, swirling my tongue over the ridges, sucking hard.
The dying stars on his skin ignite, blazing into brilliant, blinding white.
“Mih…kay…lah?”
His voice is a wreck. A ruin of gravel.
I don’t stop. I can’t. I work him faster, my hand pumping the length I can’t swallow, my mouth loving the head. I need to ground him. I need to cement him to the earth so he can’t float away.
His hips jerk, bucking up to meet me. His hands find my hair, tangling in the braids, holding me there not to push me away, but to keep me close.
“Alive,” his throat works. “Alive. Alive. Alive.”
And then, as if the realization has finally hit him, he goes rigid. Every muscle in his massive frame turns to iron.
“Mine!” he roars.
He snaps.
The release is violent. He pulses into my mouth, hot and thick and endless.
I swallow. I drink him down. I take every drop of the life he’s offering. I don’t stop until the stars on his skin stabilize. Until they settle into a steady, rhythmic glow that matches the pounding of his heart. Until he slumps back against the stone, chest heaving like bellows.
I pull away slowly, licking the pomegranate taste of his spend from my lips.
Silence fills the alcove. But the heavy, suffocating sorrow is gone.
“Mih-kay-lah.”
It’s a whisper. A prayer.
I look up.
His eyes are clear. They are dark, full of stars, and focused entirely on me with a hunger that could consume worlds.
“Hi,” I whisper, my voice trembling.
He reaches out. His hand shakes, claws retracting as he touches my face. He traces my lips, my cheek, my jaw, as if checking for cracks.
“Water… took you,” he rasps. “I felt… silence.”
“You brought me back,” I tell him, leaning into his palm. “Somehow…you saved me, Sarven.”
“Thought I… lost.” His chest shudders, and I get a sense of that choking sorrow again. “Thought… broken.”
“I’m here,” I promise. “I’m solid. I’m warm. Feel me.”
I take his hand and press it to my chest, so he can feel my heart beating.
He shudders again.
