I settled, knees braced on either side of his hips, guiding his shaft into me. I sank down gently so he would feel every inch of me, every breath of warmth that welcomed him in. By the look on his face, the hazy eyes, the parted lips, he enjoyed this as much as I did.
I moved up and down, writhing the way he liked, feeling him deep inside me where the world steadied and felt right again. Low grunts rolled through his throat the faster I rode him, echoing my soft moans, and heat gathered in me, sharp and sweet, pulling me toward the peak of release.
My bed was smaller and older than his, so it creaked with every slow oscillation. The sound only stoked my arousal, for there was something wickedly thrilling in hearing the bed itself bear witness to us, its wooden groans rising with the rhythm of our bodies making love.
When his hand cupped my breast and the other gripped my hips, I knew I never had him pinned at all.
He flipped me over in one swift, effortless motion and pounded my flesh until we both came apart, lips locked, screamsmuffled against each other’s mouths. Then he lay back beside me and gathered me into his arms, my head resting on his chest, with only the sound of our breathing filling the space around us.
“Magister Corvo,” Kael broke the silence. “How does it feel to be destroyed?”
I raised my head, a slight frown creasing my brow. “What do you mean?”
He squeezed me closer. “I said I couldn’t love you without destroying you. So, how does it feel to be destroyed?”
I chuckled. “Hm, are you telling me you love me, Magister Forloren?”
“I’ve been telling you every night. You just never heard me.”
For a heartbeat, I forgot how to breathe. His arms still held me, warm and heavy, yet the world tilted beneath me. The man I had wanted, feared, longed for in equal measure had spoken the one truth I never dared hope for. My chest tightened, not with dread but with a trembling, dizzy joy I could hardly contain. Destruction didn’t feel so terrible. Well, except for my aching legs…
Gods, if this was destruction, let it take me whole.
“I love you too,” I said.
Our lips met again.
“I know.”
There wasone more thing we needed to do before we started packing for Sud. The assembly of magisters, which had been postponed again and again since—well—siege, blight, and all the pleasant chaos that came with them. We both knew the council would not begin without him, so we took our time getting ready and making our way down to the council wing.
I entered first, finding my seat among the magisters I had come to know and understand a little more. Understand how to speak to them, how to set my boundaries, how to play the Court’s game without letting it swallow me whole. Kael followed, as rough andintimidating as ever, his demeanor nothing like the one I knew in our quarters when it was just the two of us. His gaze found mine and held it. The chamber stirred around us, voices low, papers shifting, yet for a moment it felt as though no one else existed. Then he straightened, the Court Wizard once more, cold and untouchable to the rest of them.
Only then did I notice the empty chair where Selena once sat, its stillness leaving an unexpected cold in the room, colder than any she’d ever shown me.
I gave my report on the blight, which everyone already knew of, especially Jorren with his many bejeweled rings, all too fascinated by how I had defeated it. We did not speak of its source, its cause, nor of what it had taken to lift the curse. We would never speak of that here.
I knew we could not fix the world. We could not force the Court to come clean, to admit its crimes, the cure, and the steep price paid to make it. That was a truth I had learned to accept. But at least Kael and I had each other, and we knew it, acknowledged it, bore it together.
My eyes met Lo’s, and he granted me a sly, knowing wink, for my gaze had drifted—again—toward the excruciatingly handsome Court Wizard. Only Lo understood what that meant. To everyone else, he was merely the king’s stormbound shadow. I knew the tempest beneath that composure, the lightning he leashed for the world and bared only for me. Because I had survived it and chosen it.
Cold prickled along my skin in the ice-cold council chamber, but it was nothing like the first time I had sat here. It did not threaten. I let the echo flow through me. I had kept my power locked in a cage for so long, listening to every voice that told me to hide, believing I had no control over it. Now, in accepting it, I held all the power.
I saw the magic this room carried, layer upon layer, magister after magister sitting here through the years, each with their story, each with their weight of power. I felt Henrich Eisenberg’s echo, the shadow of his fear and his pride for Kael. And while the othersdiscussed the project in the gutters, I simply listened, echoes flowing as naturally as air.
I hadn’t been entirelytruthful. We had needed to attend the assembly before departing,yes, but there was onefinalfinal thing I needed to do. Alone.
There was something I had seen, something that gnawed at me, and I needed clarity. And the only person who could give me that clarity was the king himself.
I entered the audience hall, where His Highness sat upon his marble throne, a golden crown resting upon his salt-and-pepper hair. He wore a red and gold tunic suited for a day of counsel—the kind worn when the people would soon file into the hall to present their pleas and grievances before their king.
I had little time, but I needed to speak with him.
When he saw me, a flicker of recognition crossed his eyes. He settled back into the throne and released a deep breath, as though he had been waiting for me and I had finally arrived.
“Magister Corvo, it is a pleasure to see you,” he said, his voice booming at first. As I approached, his features softened, his tone gentling like a tide easing upon the shore. “I knew it was only a matter of time before you would come to see me.”
“Why may you think I am here, Your Highness?”
