“The pain of waiting is probably worse,” I said, impatient. “I want this, Emrys. I wantyou.”
His hard body covered mine, sweat beading at his forehead from the strain of control. His words were a low murmur, a rumbling in my chest as he slowly, so slowly, eased into me. “Ignore anything you might hear outside these walls.”
I moaned from the sensation of being filled, but there was some pain, despite my earlier assurances. The next sound was a crack of branches, followed by the rustling of leaves and something deeper, and much larger, shifting in the distance.
Small surprises were simply part of being with Emrys, so I did my best to ignore the sounds as he’d suggested.
He crowned me with kisses as he worked himself slightly deeper with each careful thrust. I felt stretched and filled, almost beyond endurance—until my body gave way.
And suddenly, he was free to move without impediment. Relief tangled with fresh exhilaration as heat and something else stirred within me.
Magic.
His magic wrapped around mine again. This time not in a dance, but in something more like an embrace. Emrys had taught me to pull my magic up from my heart like a cloak to shield my mind. Now his magic wrapped around mine with the quiet closeness of a body curling around another in the dark. It wanted to keep me but not to possess. Toprotect.
Against all expectations, the darkness within him was drawn to the vulnerable thing within me that felt far too much. I was made all bolder by his presence. And somehow, the terrifying power within him was made more human by mine.
Another resounding crack echoed outside, but his movements held as steady as a drumbeat. I drifted away on the music our bodies created.
“Don’t be afraid,” he whispered as his mouth found mine again.
“I could never fear you.” I gasped, just beginning to succumb to the feeling of need rising within me.
The feeling built as his rough fingers tilted my chin to meet his eyes, body still moving, still building that delicious friction. “Isca, you have all of me.Have since the day we met. And, cursed gods, you’ll have me until the day I die if I have my way. Never doubt that.”
My response caught in my throat as he hit a place with every thrust that wrung a moan from me.
"Come for me,” he panted, barely holding back the snarl I knew he wanted to unleash. “Say you’re mine, Isca. Say you’ll be mine, always.”
Like a tide, the truth swelled in me, threatening to drown everything else. My lips trembled with the risk. Then, the inevitable surrender. “I’m yours.”
Even through the haze of lust, I could feel how much he wanted it to be true. I did too. How could I even think about saying goodbye to this secretly sweet man who’d shown time and time again how much he cared for me?
I savored every moment as the invisible claws of his magic raked across my skin. And we were finally, blessedly,alone. I could release the shackles I’d been placing upon myself every time we were together. I wanted to show him exactly how he made me feel.
I repeated the words, binding them onto my soul with every syllable, “I’m yours. I’m yours.I’m yours.” My world burst into pulsing waves of ecstasy that my magic rode outward.
The waning tremors of my release met the first pulses of his, further drawing out the bliss I was riding. Except my gift of showing Emrys exactly how he made me feel with magic didn’t come without consequences.
The earth shook beneath us, and there was a deafening clamor as he held me tighter, his arms a secure shield. Waves of magic were surging from him, directed away from us. Had I not been held there before, safe against the rain of boulders and stones from the heavens, I might’ve been afraid.
But there was no place safer for me than with Emrys.
The world grew utterly quiet as Emrys stilled above me. As I came back down to earth, my muscles gave way entirely. I could only manage a desperate gasp of air. He took my mouth once more in a heartbreakingly deep kiss that made the place between my thighs pulse all over again.
Propping himself up on his elbows, he rubbed his nose to mine in a touch so tender it nearly broke me. “Are you okay,cariad?”
“Always so worried.” I kissed the tip of his nose, just because I could. “I think I just proved exactly howokayI am.”
He grinned down at me, voice rumbling, “Yes, that was… I may never recover from that.”
I smiled up at him with a streak of mischief as he rolled off me. “So, what did you destroy?”
He laughed, a full-throated, rising-from-the-depths-of-his-lungs laugh. I’d heard his chuckle before, but this—thiswas the sound of a man who’d forgotten the weight of the world for a heartbeat. And it made something inside me lift, setting my soul to soar once again.
“We’ll see the damage at dawn,” he murmured, eyes glinting like we’d just committed a glorious crime together.
“We’ll have to figure out a way to contain that back in the castle,” I suggested.
