Renee is humming something under her breath. “Let it snow…”
Ahead of us, Plutus squawks and wheels to the left. A vast plume of fire shoots out of the top of Mount Vracor. Sparks shower the thick black smoke.
Lava sprays into the sky. The summit’s a dark cauldron, bubbling over. Molten rock, glowing with heat, oozes down the volcano’s sides.
I pull up short, retreating before the scorching heat envelops us. “It’s not working,” I shout over the cacophony of the dying land. “We must go back.”
Were I alone here, I would remain, fighting to my last breath to save Pyreda and my people. But I cannot bear to expose my mate to one more moment of danger. Every cell in my body is screaming at me to get her to safety immediately. To protect her.
“No! We can do this, I know we can! We just need to trust!” Renee arches her head up and seals her lips over mine. Sublime music swells in the bond, drowning out the crackles and rumbles all around us.
My heart surges, overflowing. My queen presses herself against me as if she intends to climb inside my chest. She’s giving everything to the kiss—her heart. Her soul. Her love. Her moans. All echoing in the bond, each one a cord binding us closer.
I can give no less. I lean over her, breathing her in, plundering her sweet mouth with my tongue. She yields to me with a sigh. My Omega. My mate. My queen.
I sift my talons through her silky fire-stone hair and grip the back of her neck. Her collar bites my palm.
She might wear my collar, but she has leashed my heart.
I break the kiss, vowing, “I love you, Renee. I belong to you. Completely. Forever.”
“As I am yours. No matter what happens.”
I gaze at her, memorizing every detail of her beautiful face just inches from mine. A lilac crystal flutters down and settles on her long, dark lashes. She blinks. “Look! It’s snowing.”
A gust of freezing air blows us sideways. Straining to beat my wings against the force of it, I fly us towards a pocket of clean air. Plutus circles us, screeching.
Renee cranes her neck to look past my shoulder. “There! It looks like the lava is cooling.”
A magical cold front is enveloping us, bringing clear, crisp winds to sweep away the ash, and coating the landscape with a lilac blanket of snow. Grey clouds sheath the volcano, freezing its fire in mid-blast.
We watch and wait for several tense moments, but no more lava erupts from Mount Vracor. The molten rock that oozed boiling crimson like a bleeding wound is rapidly healing over—first turning black, then smattered with pale purple as the freezing flakes continue to float from the sky.
The rumbling has stopped. All is still. Even Plutus has stopped screeching.
“Holy shit. It looks like it worked!” Renee beams up at me and I wipe the ash from her face, smearing it across her wind-chapped cheeks. With her eyes red-rimmed from the smoke, her lips plump from my ferocious kiss, she’s never looked more beautiful.
“I believe it did.” I wait another moment, marveling at the miracle taking place all around us. Soft snow continues to drift down, cooling the raging fires of Vracor—soothing the demon’s heart. “The volcano is at peace. Pyreda is safe. And we are one.”
“Then kiss me again,” Renee says. “And take me home.”
Nineteen
Renee
Returningto the castle feels like coming home. I’m still reeling from everything that happened today but I can’t stop grinning. Krav loves me. He finally opened up and let me in. We beat the volcano.
How quickly things can flip from utter despair to absolute joy. All I need now is to thaw out. I’m chilled to the bone.
Ajynxappears as Krav is rubbing my hands by the fire, winding through the air like a diaphanous eel. For once, I didn’t jump out of my skin. Things sure are looking up.
“Allow the villagers to spend the night,” Krav tells the servant. “See to their every need. In the morning, provided Mount Vracor’s fires have cooled completely, they may return home.”
Thejynxdisappears with a swoosh.
Krav gets a pitcher and pours me a cup ofhimajuice to wash the dust from my throat. I gulp down the refreshing drink while he rolls his shoulders and slowly folds his wings.
“You brought the villagers here? Through the portal?” Everything happened so fast when the ground started shaking.
