“You don’t need to make me scream since everyone now knows I belong to you,” I said. “However, you should roar my name more often, so the whole realm will know whom you belong to as well.”
It’ll be done,the dragon promised.
Killian chuckled and tore away the armor from my shoulder and breast. His touch sent electricity racing up my arms, heat gathering in my belly.
He suddenly stopped, his gaze fixed on the mark of Heaven’s Arrow between my breasts. The imprint pulsed with a cold light against my skin. So Killian could see it as well.
“What the fuck is this?” he asked, deceivingly calm.
The dragon held his breath too, poised to unleash his own tempest.
“Heaven’s Arrow,” I said. “Sy explained it to everyone. I used it to separate us.”
A storm wheeled in his deep blue eyes.
“It had to be done,” I added, skipping the part about the agony of being burned alive and reborn in the inferno.
Killian swallowed hard and pulled me into his arms, holding me so tightly it felt like he was trying to shield me with his own body.
“I am sorry I couldn’t reach you in time, not even through dream walking,” he said, fury and pain searing his eyes. “We were planning to storm the Underworld, and then you came back to me. I should never have let you suffer alone, little scorpion.”
“It’s over. It’s in the past now,” I said, brushing the tattoo of the arrow. “Now it’s just a harmless mark.” It was more than that, but I did not want to worry him with the whole truth. Icombed his hair with my fingers to soothe him, and he leaned into my touch. “But if you want to do me a favor, do not call me scorpion. It gives me a bad reputation. You can call me something badass, like ‘Sharp Knife’ or ‘Amazing Blade.’”
He lifted his head and laughed. “Both are terrible nicknames.”
“But isn’t Cassius’s call sign ‘Silent Blade’?” I argued.
“No one dares to call him that to his face except you,” he said. “And a few items are missing from his room, including a valuable bottle of wine, a set of vintage candles, and rare gold coins. He knows who took them.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Then he should take it up with the house magic. I bet he’d fall on his tight butt if he tried, Silent Blade or not!”
I wouldn’t tell anyone else about the chaos magic that kept me well supplied, but this was Killian, and the house magic, though independent, belonged to his house.
He shook his head and chuckled.
“Well, that’s that then. But you’ll always be my little scorpion.”
With that, he tore away the rest of my armor, and I helped, since some of the clasps had literally melted.
His large hand cupped my breast, sending liquid fire straight to my core. I moaned and arched into his touch.
“I feared nothing before I met you,” he said, his voice rough with emotion he rarely let anyone see. He was cold ice before I barged into his world, and I had no regrets. “Fear of losing you nearly undid me. If I lost you…I’d never come back from it.” His dragon growled as the same fear radiated through the bond. “When that fucking vortex took you and I couldn’t reach you…”
“Shush, Killian. I’m here now. I’m yours,” I said, and I crushed my mouth to his, pouring all my longing, passion, and need into the kiss.
This was not like the declaration in the throne room, witnessed by the entire chaos court after he had dethroned his father. This was just us, bare and raw and loyal to each other.
No secrets.
Well, perhaps one.
He growled with equal hunger, his lips moving against mine with reverence, relishing me as if for the first time.
His tongue urged me to let him in, and I parted my lips. He deepened the kiss, his tongue tangling with mine in a dominant dance that left me breathless and sent a rush of heat straight to my core.
My breasts pressed against his hard chest, the feeling of skin on skin making me gasp. We had not been apart for long, but every second without him had felt like an eternity of ache. I could not imagine another moment away from him, yet my fate was already sealed. I shuddered, pushing the gloom away. I would not let it ruin this.
Killian groaned, equally affected. The mating marks on our wrists pulsed together, two golden half-circles that completed each other.
