There is no war hammering down around us. No impending death right around the corner. For the first time, we havetime.
So we take it. Every single second.
He slowly strips me of my clothing, while I do the same for him. We get the chance to look at each other, to stroke and feel and explore. He drifts his lips down my body, and I drag my fingers over his.
I let myself feel every contour, every muscle, tracing every lightened patch across his dark skin. He seems to cherish every inch of my body, while I marvel at every dip and cleft of his.
I’m bared to him with far more than just my body, though. I feel as if he’s bared my heart after I’ve kept it tucked away for so long.
Dommik caresses my breasts and strokes my hip, his mouth leaving chills in the wake of the path he takes along my neck. “Will you give yourself to me, Malina?”
Such a question.
One I’ve never been asked before. One I never even thought I was allowed to answer. If there was ever anyone I would willingly give myself to like this, it’s Dommik, for he’s the only one who has ever truly understood me.
The bad parts and the good.
“Yes,” I whisper, feeling my chin wobble.
He carefully picks up my leg and drapes it over his hip, and then slowly, he enters me. I gasp at the intrusion from his body to mine, from his heat that seems to melt me from within.
My body stretches for him, and he starts to move in slow, decadent strokes, all while filling my ears with praise. “Do you feel us?” he asks as he kisses my lips, tilting me up to drag along a fissure of pleasure deep inside of me.
My answer is breathless and honest and driving with desire. “I feel us.”
This joining is so different from our tryst back in Highbell. Soft snow peppers the ceiling. A low hum of the arctic wind fills the background. We’re protected in this ancient house of ice and rock, everything else falling away so that I feel the two of us completely. Feel us inside and out.
It’s not only time that Dommik and I have, but a gentleness too. A tender intimacy I’ve never experienced with anyone. Certainly not with Tyndall, who only took my body and then left me to wither. Not Jeo, who I was determined to use solely for pleasure. Dommik kisses me, makes love to me, with a tenderness that I once longed for yet never received.
A tenderness that both bleeds my heart and fills it all at once.
“No more doubting yourself, Malina,” he says against my ear as he thrusts up deep, seating himself completely, rolling his hips in a way that nearly makes my eyes roll back. “You are beautiful. Strong. And so fucking warm.” His hands grip my face, forcing me to look him in the eyes, while his shadows dance around us. “You aregood, Malina. And I’m proud of the woman you are.”
My body releases with pleasure and tears. An exultation laced with grief. I’m left amazed at how words can be woven together in such a way that they cause healing on wounds I’d long since ignored.
I clutch Dommik as he releases himself inside of me, pressing kisses to his shoulder and neck while his breath slows back to normal.
We lie together like this, tucked beneath scattered clothes and cloaks, wrapped up in Dommik’s magic, and we sleep with skin and touch and warmth.
At this moment, nobody could accuse me of being cold.
Least of all, my heart.
CHAPTER 44
RISSA
Screams can be heard inthe distance. Clangs and cracks. Timberwings roaring. Then there’s a deafening crash, and the room I’m in shakes.
I’m barely able to stop myself from slamming my hands over my ears.
My pacing steps come to a halt on the carpeted floor of this cold, dark house we’re hiding in. “What’s happening?” I ask the soldier. Cran is his name. Osrik chose him to be my guard as I wait in this estate house, while the battle rages outside in Ranhold.
Cran straightens up away from the window and looks over at me. His black hair and armor blend in with the shadows. “Ican’t be sure, Lady Rissa. I believe that sound may have been the castle’s walls, but I don’t have a clear line of sight.”
I clench my molars together with irritation—irritation and fear. I start to pace again, ignoring the bloodstains on the floor. I don’t want to know what happened to the previous owners of this house, but I can draw enough conclusions. It’s the same thing that’s happened to the rest of this ruined and empty street.
Death.
