“When Everett died, he gave me one of his powers.”
“Oneof?” His foot flinches against the soil.
My eyes look to the road and scan it. “I’ll tell you everything later. I just need you to know I have the magic to time-weave. I’m going to freeze time, so don’t be caught off guard when it happens.”
“You have fae magic?!” His wind pushes into me, as if disbelieving.
“For a time.”
“What’s that mean?”
“I’ll explain more?—”
A faint drumming carries on the wind. Horses. “It’s time.” Ryker and I stand. “We get as close as we can, knock that crown off his head, and you let me do the rest.”
I offer one last glance over my shoulder, down at the valley, where a king will soon lie dead. It brings me one step closer to fulfilling what Everett wanted. One step closer to losing my old life. I’ll be a king, and good kings can’t run from their troubles; they embrace them.
Chapter
Forty-Two
Selene
Idig my heels into the mattress. “There’s no way I can sleep,” I grunt as I pull my knees up.
A smile appears as I assess my body, then gaze at the balcony. My thighs clench at the memory. Warm breath moves across my open lips. Titus’s body and mine had moved as one. Sex had never been about coming together before.
Sex with Titus was like rain caressing your face after months-long battles. Slow, deliberate in cleansing you. Each droplet that hugged my body—each press of his fingers into my soft skin—wanted to remind me I survived, and now there will be peace and admiration. His fingers were rivers rolling over every inch of me, pushing away any memory of another’s touch. His lips were as warm as the sun as it slipped through the rain cloud, reminding me that hope was always in sight.
Sex with Titus was a new destination, a new sense, an unimaginable level of pleasure. My fingers brush over where he bit me. He fed from me, his mate… I’ve never felt so powerful.
I gave him what no other could. There was a sharp sting when his fangs broke my skin, but before the pain could reach my fingertips, it changed as fast as the northern winds. Pleasure seems a word too lacking. I came as water over a fall does—it ramps up, closer and closer to the edge. Faster! Faster! Then I dove, jumped, flew. Leaping to a new destination.
Then we landed, and all those feelings and emotions merged into a calm body of water. I wanted to relax on the banks and study it for its beauty.
I tentatively climb out of bed. I’m so exhausted, but I somehow have energy. Oh… that ache between my legs. I like it. Flaring open my fingers, I feel some of my life magic. I need more sleep to recharge fully.
Titus’s scent fills my lungs. Masculine but whimsical—an uncontrollable ocean tide. It makes me want to jump off the boat that has trapped me so I can swim beside him.
Sunlight pouring in from my window causes me to blink. Titus left last night. He should have returned by now. My fingers touch our mark. I can feel he’s safe, but there is an anxiousness playing on the cord. Is it Titus or me? Probably me.
“Tristen!” I shout as I swing open the door, spotting him leaning on the wall, one foot crossed over his ankle, just smirking at me with tired eyes. He stayed awake all night guarding me.
“Yes, mate-in-law,” he yawns.
“Stop calling me that.” I stomp forward. “I need Titus. Now.”
“Need him how?” Tristen’s eyes swirl with sardonic delight. “Because I don’t think the palace can survive another sexual screaming fest.”
I can’t help but cringe. “Stop!”
“That’s exactly what I said when you first started shouting. I mean, the moans were fine, but the shouts?”
I slap his chest, mortified. “I did not scream.”
“You’re right. You roared.” He tips his head back and laughs.
“Oh, gods.” I cover my face in horror.
