I pressed my face into his neck, kissed the pulse thundering there. He whispered words in a language I didn’t know. Prayers or promises. I didn’t care. I felt them in my bones.
He rocked harder, faster, every stroke driving me higher until I was shaking, clenching around him with no control, my body winding tighter than a bowstring.
I could feel the edge rising again, feel the unraveling coming like a tide I couldn’t hold back.
Lore shifted, cupping my cheek in one hand while his other arm locked around my lower back, holding me flush against him.
“I’ve got you,” he said, his voice wrecked with need. “Fall for me again, Wildfire. Let me see it happen.”
When he reached between us and stroked my clit, I did.
Pleasure tore through me in a white-hot wave. I cried out, scoring my nails down his spine as I shattered, every nerve alight, every thought erased but one. Lore. Lore. Lore.
He groaned, burying his face against my throat as he followed me into the stars, into forever.
Afterward, as we lay tangled together, his fingers traced lazy patterns on my skin.
The three talismans lay on the nightstand. He’d shifted them from my pocket when I wasn’t paying attention.
“We fuse them tomorrow,” I whispered against his chest.
“Tomorrow.” His arms tightened around me.
I could hear the unspoken truth in his voice.
We only had three days left.
Chapter 43
Lore
“Will you marry me?” My glorious wildfire whispered the words against my damp skin. “Asyou, with me knowing, treasuring, loving every part of what makes up Lore?” Lifting her head off my chest, she studied my face. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I mean, we already had a ceremony on the ship. We’re as married as we can be.”
The vulnerability in her voice undid me completely, and then built me back up stronger.
“Yes. I will marry you. As us. Lore and Reyla. Tomorrow. The day after that. Each day we have left and the ones beyond if you want.”
“How about now?”
She still looked so serious. Didn’t she know there wasn’t anything she could ask, anything she could say, that would drive me away?
“Yes, now,” I said gravely.
We slipped from bed and went to the closet to dress.
Inside, I selected my clothing and went to the bathing areato change. I tugged my best black tunic from the hanger, the one with threads of lightning woven into the fabric. The few times I’d worn it, for formal occasions, I’d felt as if I wore clothing my wildfire had crafted with the magic only she could create.
I tugged it over my head and slid my arms through the sleeves, smoothing it over my chest and waist, leaving the top fastenings undone. Dark pants and boots followed.
This was happening. We were really doing this. The thought sent both excitement and terror through me in equal measure. Reyla deserved a proper ceremony, one that honored what we'd built together.
Peering at myself in the mirror, I smoothed my hair with my fingers and stared at my image. She loved me. I still couldn’t get over that fact.
And she wanted to show me again with her vows.
I quickly flitted to the elder’s home, knocking on the front door, pacing impatiently until she opened the panel and poked her nose out. Justifar’s eyes widened, and she opened the door all the way and bowed, her blue hair gleaming in the moonlight.
“My king,” she said in a wispy voice. “To what do I owe this honor?”
