“Say it again,”I growl, fingers sliding through her warm vaelissûn, parting her lûnhae. “Call me yours again, thal’kisha, and I’ll give you everything you want.”
“You’re my Saelûn—”she gasps as I circle her clit slowly. “The best Saelûn?—”
A broken soundtears from my throat. “I’ll be the best at everything for you,” I growl, sliding two fingers deep inside her. “The best mate.” Thrust. “The best protector.” Thrust. “The best at making you come until you can’t remember your own name.” Thrust.
She cries out.
“Too much?”I breathe against her throat.
“No.Never too much. Please, keep going?—”
“Slowly,”I rasp. “I want you to feel every bit of what I'm giving you. You're being so brave for me, Lumi. Let me take care of the rest. Just open up and let me in.”
Her hand clampsaround my wrist, desperate to guide me faster.
“Alright, kaemirtha,”I murmur, letting her set the rhythm. “Move my hand however you need. Take control, Saelûn.”
I don't needto tell her twice.
She movesmy hand with frantic precision—faster, then slower when she needs to catch her breath, then fast again. Little beads of sweat roll down her stomach, dripping onto my hand. I keep my fingers exactly where she puts them, angling when she directs, applying pressure when she demands.
“Perfect,”I breathe, watching her in awe. “You know exactly what you need, don't you? Take it all, lumina’ka.”
For what feels like forever,I let her command me. My hand is hers. My fingers are hers. I am hers.
She whimpers,thighs trembling on top of mine. Her movements become erratic, chasing something she can't quite reach.
“Saelûn,”she gasps, frustrated.
“I know,”I murmur. “Let me.”
My other handslides up to wrap around her throat. A heavy reminder that she belongs to me in every way one soul can belong to another. I feel the rapid flutter of her heart beneath my thumb—so fast, so alive. I cradle her jaw, marveling at the way she trusts me with every throb of her pulse.
“Now letme take care of you properly,” I rasp, adjusting the angle of my fingers inside her, finding that spot that makes her see stars. “You did so good taking control, baby. Now let your Saelûn finish what you started.”
She nods,and her hand falls away, but when she moans ‘Sael’varûn’, my grip falters. (Soul-guard.) The predator in me stumbles, blindsided by the sheer weight of being called her soul-guard. My title’s been shouted on battlefields and whispered in the halls of Citadels for centuries. But hearing her—with that soft, human roundness to the vowels—is like hearing them for the first time. It’s not a language anymore. It’s a tether.
I wantto sink into her. I want to stay in this tub until the stone crumbles and the world turns to dust, just so I can hear her say it one more time.
“You have no idea,”I rasp, forehead dropping to her stomach, as I struggle not to claim her. “You have no idea what you’re doing to me,” I murmur, thrusting my fingers deeper.
“Your soul-guard is right here,kaemirtha. And he’s not going anywhere.”
“Ohh, just like that mor’kael,”she cries. “Just like that.” (My fierce heart.)
Gods.She’s speaking Vraksûn like she was born into it. Naming me. Claiming me.
And I am helpless to obey.
The bond is rewriting her,making her mine in every way.
“Keep taking,”I growl. “Keep saying my name in our language, thal’kisha, and I’ll keep fucking you with my fingers until you come so hard you forget how to breathe.”
She’s so thrahking perfect—clenchingaround me, so wet I can feel her dripping down my hand. I pump slowly, relishing every flutter of her walls.
I don’t needmy own release, I just want to watch the moment her mind fractures. I want to be the one who catches the pieces.
“Look at me, Lumi,”I command, my thumb hooking under her chin to tilt her head back. I want to see the amber in her eyesdrown in the black of her pupils. “Tell me again who I am. Tell me who you belong to.”
