And something else.
Streaks of ink threading through the silver like veins. Beautiful in a strange way, like shadow flowing through water. But I’m too lost in pleasure to care, too high on the feeling of being completely, utterly desired.
He doesn’t stop. Doesn’t give me time to recover. His mouth replaces his fingers, and I scream at the sensation. He devours me like he’s starving, like I’m the only thing that will save him.
Maybe I am.
The second orgasm is even stronger than the first. My Ether surges again, silver shot through with growing ribbons of darkness. In the very back of my mind, something whispers that this is wrong. That I’m losing something with every pulse of pleasure.
But it feels so good to lose. So good to finally take what I want without apology.
When he rises over me, I spread my legs wider in invitation. He’s perfect—all lean muscle and sharp edges and eyes that see straight through to my soul.
“Are you ready for me?” he asks, and there’s something in his voice I can’t identify. Hunger, maybe. Or triumph.
“Yes,” I breathe. “Please, yes.”
He enters me slowly, carefully, and I’ve never felt so complete. So perfectly filled. The stretch is delicious, the friction exactly what I need. When he starts to move, I meet him stroke for stroke, chasing the pleasure that builds between us.
“Mine,” he growls against my throat, and the word resonates in my bones.
“Yours,” I agree, because it’s true. In this moment, in this place, I am completely his.
The rhythm builds until we’re both desperate, both racing toward something that feels like salvation. When my third climax hits, it takes him with me. He spills inside me with a groan that sounds like victory, and my Ether explodes outward one final time.
This time, the silver is barely visible beneath the black.
But I don’t care. Can’t care. I’m floating on waves of satisfaction and completion, wrapped in the certainty that I’ve finally found where I belong.
He pulls me against his chest, and I curl into him like I was made to fit there.
“Sleep, little queen,” he murmurs, lips against my hair.
My eyes flutter closed, and for the first time in forever, I feel safe. Chosen. Loved.
I don’t notice the way my Ether dims with every breath. Don’t feel the way my strength seeps away like water through cracks.
All I know is that I’m his now.
And that’s exactly where I want to be.
I sleep, and dream of silver turning to shadow.
Part Three: Nothing Is As It Seems
Chapter 18
Theo
The vision doesn’t ask permission.
One moment I’m standing in the new training hall—the one Bree insisted on yesterday, and the sanctuary reluctantly provided. It stands out, black obsidian and ancient stone, colder than the rest of the sanctuary’s warm corridors. Rhett’s demonstrating fire control to a group of newly arrived refugees, flames dancing between his fingers.
The next, the world tilts sideways and I’m falling through darkness that tastes like smoke and silver.
I try to fight it. I’ve gotten better at that—pulling back before the visions drag me under completely. But this one has hooks in deep, and when I try to surface, it just pulls harder.
Then I see her.
