Tiernan roared and slammed faster, his muscles clenching and releasing in beautiful waves. I gaped at the glory of my husband—the wild, fey sensuality that overtook him as he let himself go. His lean hips moved like pistons, driving him into me, and I opened myself wider, taking him deeper. Mews and moans poured out of me. In seconds, I crested again.
“Tiernan!” I shouted and exploded into ecstasy.
Tiernan followed moments later, back bowed and hair wild as he climaxed. Spent at last, he fell forward. When he tried to brace himself on his forearms, I pulled him down.
“No, give me your weight,” I panted. “I need to feel you on me. My body needs to know this is real.”
Tiernan hesitated but then relaxed, and the feeling of his hard, heavy body on mine added a layer of security to my satisfaction. I felt protected and loved. As powerful as I had grown, I still wanted to feel cherished. It was about love, not strength.
“Seren.” Tiernan lifted his head to look at me. His hand went to my temple to stroke my purple stripe of hair. “Sometimes, I wish we could go back and relive our beginning over and over.”
“Just us.”
He nodded. “I'd be your knight, the head of your Star's Guard, for eternity. Protecting and loving you.”
“And I'd be the Princess of Twilight. Nothing else. No other lovers. No gods to interfere.”
“We would have been happy.” He rolled us onto our sides.
“Yeah. Really happy.” I blinked rapidly before the tears could fall.
“But then we might not have Fally.”
“Or Shahzy.”
“Or Rowan.”
“Caelum.”
“Miri.” He smirked. “And I guess my brothers are worth mentioning.”
I chuckled. “We can still pretend it's just us when I'm here. You, me, and Falcas. Another future.”
“I'd like that,” he whispered.
The phone chimed again, distant but persistent.
“Motherfucker!” I hissed.
Tiernan laughed. “Answer it, my love. We can return to our make-believe world whenever we want.”
“Now that's a world I look forward to striding.” I took a shaky breath. “Tiernan, I love you so damn much. Thank you for loving me back.”
“You are the only star in my sky, Seren. I cannot help loving you. Without you, I'd be in the dark.”
I leaned forward and kissed him, taking my time despite the continued chiming. Everyone else could fuck off. This felt like a fresh start for me and T, and I was going to conclude our lovemaking properly. The day before had been great, but Tiernan hadn't been completely himself. This felt more real.
We sank into our love together, sighing and breathing each other in. The soft movements of our tongues and lips were a spell woven between us—reinforcement of a promise we had made a long time ago. Forever. That's what we had vowed, and we would never break our promise.
I drew back and looked my fill at Tiernan before sliding out of bed and retrieving my scry phone from the table near the door. I opened it, set it face up on the table, and swiped my finger across the crystal. But then I walked away to grab my robe from a nearby chair. I pulled it on, but it turned out to be unnecessary. Only a voice came from the crystal.
King Astaroth of Hell shouted, “Seren, what did you do?!”
Glad I had put some space between me and the phone, I grimaced at Tiernan. He was sitting up, his stare on the phone. As he got out of bed, he shifted his gaze to me and nodded.
I picked the phone up and sat down on a couch near the window. “Tiernan protected me last night. Fey magic worked where Anu's magic failed.”
Silence.
