“Beautiful,” he whispered. I realized it wasawein his gaze, and it made me feel like an explosion had gone off in my belly. No male had ever looked at me like he was looking at me, like he couldn’t believe that I was real. “Mariss.My little ember that sparks flames.”
My lips parted.Thatwas what he’d been calling me? This entire time?
Heat licked at my belly. I wanted to show him just how brightly I could burn for him.
I pulled him down for a kiss. Deep and languid and slow. We were in no rush. And tonight wasn’t so much about sex as it was about connection. Reconnecting.
I wanted to feel the weight of his body pushing me down. I wanted to be bathed in his scent until it was all I could smell. I wanted to memorize the way his wicked, hot tongue would traceover the curve of my hip or between the crease of my thighs. I gripped him tighter,needingthat.
And when we were both naked in my bed, when he was swallowing my moans and gasps to keep us quiet, when he pushed two fingers between my lips to keep me from screaming to my goddess while he lapped away between my thighs, taking his sweet time, as if dawn was eons away…Istillneeded more.
After he made me come on his tongue, I dragged him up with strength that surprised me, given how boneless my arms felt. He sat, his bare back against the stone wall of my sleeping quarters, which the small bed was pushed up against, and I straddled his lap. My breasts were pushed against his chest as I plastered my body against his, winding my arms around his neck.
Our kiss was a battle, an apology, a beautiful twisting of our hearts, tangling as the bond pulsed to life, threading us together as one. I’d never felt anything like it before. So sweet and pure and tangible that it made my eyes sting and the back of my throat tingle. I didn’t have to doubt what he felt for me. I felt it like it was my own truth, ringing bright and clear through every vein.
I sank down onto his cock as a tear dripped from the corner of my eye. He kissed it away, murmuring his own truths across my cheekbone, hissed little confessions of his love as I rocked my hips over him. Harder and faster, chasing him down.
His lips returned to mine. Our eyes, half-lidded, met and never strayed.
And when we both came, there was no pain, only pleasure. I felt his orgasm spark inside him, a wonderment as much as a release, and we saw it through together.
Hours later, as dawn was breaking over the Arsadia, pink light creeping across the floor and over our naked, damp skin, I finally fell asleep on his wide chest, exhausted and sated and wanting even more, with him still deep inside me.
His simple solution to my small bed made reality.
Chapter 41
ALARYK
I stayed back, leaning against the rebuilt fencing around the landing field, as I watched the Elthika circle overhead.
Amaia was trying to keep herself back, but her jittery nerves were seeping into the space around her.
They won’t land if you’re in the way,I told her through the bond.
Then I’ll get squashed,she snipped back. Even still, I stifled a grin when she scooted back a few paces, her neck craned up at the sky like a child watching a star storm. Anticipation was coursing through her, so much that she trembled with it.
Other Grymians had gathered to watch too, though they had the good sense to stay far back from the landing field since there were so many Elthika. Myzalla and my selected riders for the journey landed first, rattling the earth. My second-in-command looked tired from the trip, but when she met my eyes, she inclined her head, telling me all was well.
Amaia’s gaze was rapt on a single Elthika, carrying not one but six, all tucked safely behind the rails of the transport harnesses.
Brune was standing close to me, and I cut him a look.Ethrisha was standing beside him, her arm tucked around his waist. Amaia had helped heal the worst of his injuries shortly after she’d woken. Though I could only use my ability on those with heartstone magic, I didn’t need to root around in his mind to know that he was relieved to see his parents. He, too, must’ve thought the threats against them, theDothikkar’sretaliation, would be severe.
And so did his family, if they thought leaving their home behind was the safest option. I wondered what Myzalla had told them, but I could only guess the truth.
The Elthika landed.
I felt a surge of emotion well up in my chest when I watched Amaia sprint toward them. Both hers and mine. I rubbed at my heart, feeling the ache of it as I straightened along the fence line. Brune broke away from Ethrisha to approach.
“Amaia!” called a female voice, watery and loud. “Amaia!”
“Lomma!” she cried back.
A Dakkari female, who looked very much like my Amaia, came skidding down the Elthika’s wing, having scrambled over the seats. Though her mother’s skin was darker, her body smaller and thicker, there was no mistaking their resemblance in their features.
The swell of love, of relief, of joy was so bright as it filled Amaia as she raced toward her mother and embraced her so readily, so fully.
And I stamped down the bond, because it was a moment best shared between them. I waited, holding it back, observing the scene in front of me as Brune’s parents descended next. His father was nearly as wide as him, his mother tiny in comparison to both males. Brune wrapped his arms around them both, his mother’s hand resting on his back, running up and down. His head sank toward them.
