He extends his hand, but I don’t take it. Instead, I fish the piece of obsidian from the cage, then stride to the waterline and pitch it as far as my trembling arm will allow. I know there are million more obsidian weapons stashed all over our kingdom, but I need to see this one disappear.
The second it leaves my fingers, arms band around my middle and a strong chin dips into the slope of my neck. “Thank you,” my mate whispers before pressing a kiss to the skin behind my ear.
I close my eyes and lean into his body that molds around mine, all his firm muscles pressing into my bedraggled bones. The only remaining soft part of my mate in this form is his lips. No, that isn’t true. I raise my hand and sink my fingers into his silken hair.Thatis the softest part on his body.
I turn my head until the corner of my mouth meets the corner of his. “I’ve missed you.” I pull his scent of wind and storms deep into my lungs as though to fill a well gone dry.
“Four-fifths of a man wasn’t enough for you?”
“Is half a kingdom enough for you?”
I feel the corner of his mouth tip. “We, Crows, are such immoderate beings.”
I like that he includes me in his species.
“Even if you hadn’t been born a Crow, your bravery and devotion would’ve earned you a spot in our midst.” He catches a lock of my hair that flies into my mouth and presses it behind my ear. “At my side.” He kisses the corner of my mouth. “I do believe it’s time you wear our feather.”
My pulse hastens as a new wave of emotion rises behind my ribs.
“Unless . . .” I can feel his attention scroll over my clumped lashes and the moisture forking down my cheeks. “Unless you aren’t ready to show the world—”
“That I belong to the Crows? To you?” I turn in his arms to stare up at him. “Lorcan Ríhbiadh, I amsoready.”
A smile touches his mouth, its radiance spilling into every pore of my being.
“But . . .”
“Of course you’d have some condition.”
I snort. “I wantyouto ink it.”
His arms tighten around my waist, gathering me against his chest that vibrates with a low chuckle. “Mo khrà, you donotwant me to draw anything permanent on your body. Especially on your lovely face.”
“Are your art skills that awful?”
“Abysmal.”
Smiling, I press my cheek against the armor ensconcing his upper body and link my arms around his narrow waist. “I suppose that if I ended up with a turd on my cheekbone, Phoebus would renounce our friendship and Sybille would make fun of me for the rest of my life.”
Laughter spills from my mate, drifting along the soft wind and rolling over the waves. As the sound fills the sky, a slender ray of sunshine burns through the clouds and drapes over us, gilding us in its honeyed light. I watch it play on my bare skin, on Lore’s leathers, on the ancient grains of sand that hem this piece of our kingdom.May the darkness be behind us.
“Manifest the brightness, Little Bird.”
With a startled laugh, I pick my face off Lore’s muscle-hardened chest. “What?”
“A wise woman once told me I should manifest what I want. Just paying her advice forward.”
I grin up at him, then lift my hands to his neck, roll onto my toes, and pull him down toward me. Before I press my lips to his, I whisper, “Not wise, Lore; optimistic. Confidence and wisdom may take the same shape, but there’s a world of difference between them. Mark my words, though. Someday I’ll be a wise old Crow like yourself, but until then, I fear you’re stuck with a young dreamer.”
“Oh, the hardships I must endure,” he murmurs around a wink that reduces my smoldering heart to flickering embers.
Gods, who knew winks could be so panty-melting? “You must wink more often, Lore. But only at me.”
His lips curve as they touch mine.Naturally.
Although our lips met when we mind-walked, the sensation of this kiss is so much stronger, so much fiercer than the last we shared. Our lips are like flint and steel, creating sparks that set our souls and hearts ablaze.
At that moment, I fully grasp the impossibility of living without one’s mate. As long as Lore exists, I will hunger to be with him, to touch him, to love him.
