But it was far more glorious than death.
Light burst across my vision as he struck deeper than ever. Everything came undone, flooding my body with waves of pleasure I didn’t know existed. When I saw him, an ethereal glow bathed him in a white hue—but it was his eyes that startled me. There were flames in them, not from the fire but from within. It faded as I stared at him, his body pressed intimately against mine. As the glow faded, he withdrew and lifted me into his arms. He carried me to bed and drew the covers over us, holding me close.
The soft pattering of the rain outside, coupled with his beating heart, was the most soothing rhythm I’d ever heard.
I noticed the pendant around his neck and took it between my thumb and finger to see it more closely. It was a beautiful winding symbol of a tree and its branches.
“What does this mean?” I asked.
“It is the crest of the Evertine family—my mother’s line. This was her necklace,” he said.
I let go of it, surprised by this.
“Is she…”
“Yes, she died when I was young,” he said.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured. “But you had your father still, right?”
Blake scoffed. “I’m Prince Rykiren to him.”
I furrowed my brows. “Rykiren?”
Blake cast a glance at me, minutely confused for a fraction of a second. “That is my given name. Blake is what my mother always called me, as do my friends. It is what she wished to call me but was given no say in what I was named.”
I sat there momentarily, my tongue twisting as I figured out what question to ask first.
“But enough of that,” he said. His tone was light but the plea in his tone was genuine.
“Of course,” I whispered, my gaze drifting to the windows.
The rain stopped and I could see beyond the treetops again. The silver and orange light of the moons set them aglow beneath the stars of a foreign galaxy. Being worried whether Blake’s title would keep him from me seemed insignificant in comparison. But the more I mulled it over, the more I connected it all. It was evident in many ways: the way he carried himself, the way he spoke with such formality sometimes, and the way the rules that applied to everyone else didn’t seem to apply to him.
“I can feel the gears turning,” he said, a spark of curiosity in his voice. “What do you want to know?”
I glanced up at him, smirking. He looked at ease, and I enjoyed that serene peace about him.
“What about this moment brings you peace you don’t have when we’re at Nightfall?”
His fingers stopped tracing stars on my arm.
“Eu qui velay, ehlar se sonya nu,” he said.
Right now, there is only you.
I knew it was Blake’s voice, but the cadence of his voice speaking Valyrian sounded different to me. I’d studied it and I understood him, but I wouldn’t ever speak it like he did. He must’ve been cut from the stars, a being beyond what should have existed beneath the heavens.
He shifted beside me, his chest rising and falling steadily.
“Lei sto eranion,” I whispered and closed my eyes.
Then let it last forever.
Chapter 34
A Rare Occurrence
BLAKE
