I spun to face my husband, studying this mix of a man whohad once been Merrick by day and Lorant by night, but now was a mix of them both—in appearance, at least.
“KingLorick?” I croaked.
He dropped his sword on the ground and stepped forward to cup my face in his warm hands, gazing into my eyes. “Wildfire. My wife. My love.”
My breath tangled in my throat as he leaned closer, the space between us dissolving. His lips hovered just above mine, his breath warm, laced with the scent of something dark and intoxicating.
His mouth claimed mine, both brutal and tender and stunning all at once.
He tilted his head, deepening the kiss, and I gasped against his mouth. He stole the sound, swallowed it like he would take every breath I had and make it his own. His tongue traced the seam of my lips, coaxing, demanding, and I let him in. A slow slide, slick and velvet, the sudden intimacy of it made my knees threaten to give way. He tasted me with aching deliberation, a sweep and retreat, then another, teasing, tormenting, until I opened completely for him and met his passion with my own.
A groan rumbled deep in his throat, and he pulled me flush against the solid weight of his body, searing his to mine. His fingers tangled in my hair, tugging enough to make me gasp again. My heart thundered, wild and unchecked, and still, he kissed me as if he'd never get enough, as if he would devour me piece by piece.
I dragged my hands up, over the hard lines of his chest to his shoulders, the tense cords at the back of his neck. He shuddered, answering with a slow, deep stroke of his tongue against mine, so languid and sure it made fire coil low in my belly.
The world had narrowed to his mouth. The dizzying press of his body. The taste of something I hadn't craved until now. Andwhen he finally pulled back, his breath ragged, his forehead pressing against mine, my lips felt swollen, my body utterly undone.
His voice was rough when he spoke, his gentle hands still cradling my face. “Want to fucking kiss you all the time. Plan to. But if I start again, I won't be able to stop.”
Neither would I.
I raised a trembling smile. Devastation surrounded us, and we needed to help those who’d survived and mourn those who hadn’t. But here, and for one instant with this man, I found hope.
“Allow me to introduce myself,” he said, his green eyes solemn yet sparkling with that heat I adored above everything else. “I’m your husband, KingLorick. Those close to me call meLore.”
My breath caught. “That’s why you laughed that I calledhimLore.”
“It’s always beenmyname.” He leaned close, kissing me quickly before stepping back enough to meet my gaze. “Even then, you knew.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t. I couldn’t.”
He placed his palm on my chest. “In here, you knew.”
“My queen.” Surren and the rest of my guard rushed over to surround us, joined by Lorick’s guard as well to form an impenetrable wall facing outward. Surren dropped toward us in a sharp bow. “I deeply apologize, King Lorick, for not ensuring our queen remained inside her rooms.”
“If she had, I wouldn’t be alive,” my husband said dryly.
“She…got away from us.”
“I went to the aerie and talked Kian into flying me here on a dragon.”
“That’s my unconventional bride.”
I studied this man I’d married, still unable to believe that they were now, somehow one.
Where was Lorant?
Where was Merrick?
Doomed to never be fully loved for all facets of who I am. Cursed to live as two who will never be one unless fused together by the pure love of a willing bride’s heart.
Me. My love had done something I still couldn’t explain.
“Is the curse broken?” I croaked.
His solemn gaze met mine, and his head jerked in a no, followed by a gag.
Fuck.
