I will go with you to Cayltay, Veyka whispered into my mind.
I had not spoken of it. As if by refusing to form the words, I could ignore the reality now interred at the base of the mountains. My son. It was selfish to keep him in Baylaur, rather than return him to the terrestrial court where he’d been raised. But Morgause had decades with him. I’d only had weeks.
I still could not bring myself to speak of it aloud. Veyka had known. She did not say more, but I could feel her reaching out for me across the golden threads of our connection.
It might be better if I face Morgause and Orcadion alone. I did not say it to hurt her, only to spare—
Who, me or them?She cut off my thought.Never again, she reminded me.We may have defeated the succubus, but I have not forgotten our vow. Never parted again. Especially not for Morgause’s sake.
She wrinkled her nose at the last thought.
Laced hands weren’t enough. I pulled her in against my side, burying my mouth in her hair and breathing her in. I’d found myself doing it again and again throughout the day, reminding myself that we were alive, that we were together.
Orcadion would not soon forget the slight I’d dealt him in the aftermath of the battle at the Crossing. Morgause would blame me for Mordred’s death. I already blamed myself. The Dyad would have to be dealt with. But Veyka was right—we would do so together, as High King and Queen of Annwyn. We’d defeated the succubus. Two terrestrials were hardly of consequence.
Veyka shifted beside me, working the sand beneath us so that she could fit her body in tighter against mine. I released our joined hands and caught the one on the other side of her body, settling it against her hip.
My eyes drifted back up toward the stars—
Veyka moved again, dislodging her freed hand from between us and using it to drag down the front of her dress so she could toy with her breast.
A groan of warning was all I gave her before catching her hips and pulling her on top of me.
I thought you wanted to look up at the stars, my beast growled. There was far too much clothing between us. Trousers, leggings, the layers of her skirt.
You can keep looking at the stars.She disentangled her hands entirely, using the newfound freedom to drag her dress up over her shoulders and away, leaving behind acres of pale skin brighter than the moon overhead.
I cupped her breasts, one with each hand, watching the contrast of her glowing skin against the dark outlines of my fingers with unrestrained awe.You are magnificent.
Veyka hummed aloud, the sound filling the clearing around us. But she was not content with playful touches, even when they turned worshipful. There had been no time for this in the last few days of healing and organizing and rebuilding. She’d stolen me away to this clearing for the conversations we could not have anywhere else, but also for this. For us.
I let her tear away the fasteners of my trousers, savored the undulating rhythm of her hips as she slid out of her leather leggings. Her knees dug into the sand on either side of my hips, bringing her down on my cock harder and deeper than ever before.
She rode me slowly at first, her hand splayed across my chest as her hips moved up and down. She rose up until only the head of my cock remained inside of her, then slid down in a gloriously slow and controlled motion. I’d taught her too much about torture in the last year. She was too damned good at it.
Veyka. It was a warning and a plea.
“Aren’t the stars beautiful?” she asked between ragged pants. Her legs began to shake—not from exertion, but from the pleasure roiling between us.
“Youare beautiful.” I pushed myself up in the sand, grabbing the back of her neck and dragging her mouth to mine. I plunged my tongue inside of her in time with my cock.
Never again. Never parted. Never lost.
My partner, my mate, my love—in this realm, this life, and all of the ones that came after.
Veyka clung to my shoulders as our hips beat out a fantastical rhythm. It was too fast to be real, too intense to exist in this realm of earth and sky. We were going to be swallowed by the inferno burning between us, dark power joining with light, blood and vengeance and love all twined perfectly together.
Her fingernails bit into the skin of my shoulder just as my canines sank into the tender skin above her clavicle. I tasted her blood on my tongue. The tang of my blood filled the cold air. We came together in a cascade of power, lighting up the entire clearing around us with a burst of white brighter than even the day of our Joining. I was powerless to close my eyes against it. I wanted everything, every bit of her. I always had.
Later, I wondered if the explosion of power had been visible from the army camps below or the balconies of the newly repopulated goldstone palace. Much later, when our breathing had finally returned to normal and my mate was tucked in tight against the warmth of my body, I knew I did not care. Let them see. Let them worship my queen as the goddess she’d become.
The night slowly shifted toward dawn. But I did not need the amorite stud still in my ear to know that I would live to see the morning that awaited.
The words stuck in my throat, but I knew now was the time to voice them. Alone, far from the battlefield. “They are truly gone? Forever?”
“Yes,” Veyka said without hesitation, understanding immediately what I meant. “Their realm… I sealed it. When I closed that last rift, it felt different. Like it never had before—like it never will again, I hope.”
I had nothing to say to that. She would know better than anyone. She’d banished the succubus from Annwyn, from the human realm, and from her mind—along with the strange shadow power.
