“Ere… please…” I beg louder, desperately hopeful he’ll give me what I need.
“Try harder,” he breathes, slowing the thrust of his fingers as his tongue stills against my clit.
“Ere… please, please, please. I need to come!” I scream his name over and over, pleading with the darkness to either drag me away or let the demons end me if he refuses to give me what I need.
“Good. You are learning,” he growls, his voice laced with a mix of satisfaction and dominance as the thrust of his fingers become more demanding and eager, curling and hitting that spot on my inner wall that makes my legs quiver. “You will scream my name until your lungs give out if I ask you to, and in return…” his tongue flicks across my swollen clit, lavishing it with two powerful licks that send me spiraling over the edge.
I scream his name as I come undone around his fingers, my vision exploding into a cosmic burst of stars.
“Thank you. Thank you, thank you…” My whispered words rush out of me like a chant or a prayer or some magical godsdamn incantation, so faint and breathless that I’m not sure he can even hear me.
“You are so sexy,” he murmurs, his voice husky and wild. “You have no idea how incredibly sexy you are.” He kneels between my legs, using his palms to spread me open wider. His smoldering gaze makes my heart race. “So sexy, in fact, that I am dying to fuck you so hard you forget about the good girl you once were. That you remember who you are truly meant for,” he says, before thrusting into me so hard that my eyes roll back.
I can’t form coherent words or thoughts any longer. All I can manage are quiet, pleasure filled whimpers and tears that fall freely against my will, tears from a pleasure so great that I can’t even begin to comprehend it. My tears spill relentlessly for this dark king, the man I’d willingly give my soul to, consequences be damned. My heart burns with an undeniable passion, my soul is ascending into pure happiness for the first time, and my body… it now belongs entirely to him.
There is no one who can do to me what Ere does.
As his shadows drift down my body and disappear within him, I waste no time pulling his mouth to mine now that they’ve set me free. I kiss him with the intensity of a wildfire that can’t be contained, my hunger so fierce that I can taste the metallic tang of blood on my tongue as I bite his lip, greedily sucking it into my mouth, desperate to consume every part of him. With every thrust, he pushes deeper inside of me causing waves of pain and pleasure to collide in the most beautiful, impossible way.
“Touch yourself. I want to feel you come so hard on my dick that the grip of you around me takes everything I have to give.” His voice is guttural and low and his eyes have the intensity within of a sex-crazed god.
He is coming completely undone, and I use that to my advantage, grinding my hips into his, rocking back and forth to push him closer to the edge. I want him to lose himself entirely. He growls impatiently as I slowly drag my hand toward my clit. He grips my wrist and forces my hand between our slick bodies. He keeps his hand on top of mine, the motion of our fingers moving and stimulating me, flooding me with a wave of pure bliss. Then as he grips my waist, pulling me toward him harder with each thrust, a thought lingers in the back of my mind. Ere’s invasion of my body with his shadows has forever altered everything. I know in this moment that I’ve always belonged to him. Call it intuition or fate or whatever the hell else it could be, but I know I’m right. He is mine as much as I am his.
I open my mouth to speak, and he smiles. “I know. Now come for me like the good girl you are. Come for me until you cannot breathe or imagine life without me again.” He wraps his hand around my throat, gripping it and pulling me against him with each thrust, his shadows teasing my nipples and sending electrifying surges of pleasure through me. “I will come for you so hard that my darkness consumes us both.” A feral smile and glowing crimson eyes peer into mine.
As the intensity of pleasure builds to an unstoppable breaking point, I can’t hold back any longer. I give in to his shadows. I give in to every word and every touch, allowing him into my mind and my heart and soul fully for the first time. All the other times with Ere were passionate and full of heat, but this time is something else. This time it means so much more, to finally embrace how much I care for him without fighting it or pushing him away.
Each time I scream his name, his shadows grow denser around us, whispering past my ears, their presence suffocating and blinding, but I welcome it because they’re a part of him I refuse to shy away from. I’m surrounded by them as he groans and spills into me, and the darkness following does in fact nearly consume us. The flickering black flames disappear, the only thing left shining within the void are his glowing ruby eyes that gleam as he growls and thrusts, chasing the last delicious peaks of pleasure. His back arches and his wings unfurl and spread out wide as if he can’t control them any longer. In this moment it’s as if he's lost control of both himself and his power, and I’ve never seen anything quite as beautiful. He surrendered himself to me just as much as I have to him. I get it now, why he has pushed for me to accept myself, darkness and all since I’ve known him. He wanted me to one day be able to accept him, darkness and shadows and all, and I do.
“You know, I actually prefer the red eyes,” I admit, smiling down at him as he stretches out and leans his head on my chest.
He smiles back in a way that I swear could light up the entire realm. “Whichever you prefer, my love.” His eyes flicker back to the beautiful glowing crimson.
“Actually, you know what? You might look really sexy with sparkly blue eyes. You’d have all the ladies in your realm swooning in no time,” I tease, laughing as he lifts up to look at me, his eyebrows scrunching together as he shakes his head.
Taking my face in his hands, my laughter stops as a pained expression flashes across his face. “I want no one else swooning over me, but you. You are the only one for me. Now and forever. It has always been you, my little flame. You are my light. My only hope in this dark, cold world I have been trapped in.” His voice is raw and tender, and it chips away at the walls I’ve built around my heart.
I swallow, my gaze lingering on his clenched jaw and the tight line of his lips. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand what you’ve been through or what you lost so long ago.” Running my fingers through his dark locks, my mind struggles to find the right words. “I wish I could remember, Ere. You. Us. I want to remember everything,” I whisper, leaning up and placing a kiss to his soft cheek.
“You will. We will go to Nyx tomorrow.” He lifts his head, searching my eyes before he continues. “I only wanted to give you time to trust me.” His smile is crooked and small as he takes my hand, his lips brushing against it in a gentle, comforting kiss.
“I trust you and I’m ready. No more running or hiding. I need the truth.”
As his eyes flash with pain and he releases my hand, a wave of regret washes through me. He wants me to trust him, and I do, but with the possibility of us being manipulated, trusting him isn’t the issue. What if we’ve both been lied to? What if this is another one of Nyx’s cruel games to hurt us, to give us hope just to snatch it away? I won’t know for sure until my past is a part of me again. And if what we feel for each other is in fact real and true, then it brings about a whole other slew of questions. Like why the hell Kairos believes with every piece of his heart that we’re fated to be. Why the rulers of the realms and the rest of the celestials believe it, too. Deep down, I know getting my memories back won’t end with me or us riding off together into the sunset, not right away, at least. Discovering the truth is just the beginning of what’s to come, because no matter which way this goes, people are being manipulated and lied to.
All I know for sure, is that with Ere’s head on my chest and both of us holding each other tight, my heart melts at the sight of his warm, gold eyes gazing deeply into mine, the soothing numbness of his shadows chasing the pain and darkness away. This is happiness. This is freedom. This is something I’d be willing to fight for a hundred times over. In the depths of my soul, I know I have never and may never again experience such a profound and real sense of happiness like I feel in this moment. Here in the Underworld. Here with Ere. My Ere.
I hope he’s right. I hope we are fated to be.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Starless Sky
NORA
I peek over my coffee cup and take a sip. Ere does the same as he watches me watch him. He winks and throws me his most charming smile then sets his mug down. The table is laid out with fresh fruit, pancakes, and bacon, all the color of poison of course, but neither of us have really eaten anything. Some days coffee is enough. There are new strange things at the table, though, things he said will help me heal if I’m hurt and make me stronger if I need to fight today. Ambrosia and Nectar. They even look semi edible, the shadows unable to block out their golden hues. I force down a bite of the sweet fruit and a few sips of the even sweeter drink, but the anxious energy taking up so much space in my stomach leaves no room for much else.
Leaning my chin on my hands, I return his smile as I admire the curve of his black horns and the warmth of his golden eyes. I’ve learned that when his eyes are this color his mind and power are calm, but the second the red glow sets in, his shadows are dying to come out and play. If you’re an enemy of his, it might be smart to run when that crimson glow takes over. But I’m not an enemy. Ere would never hurt me. I can’t help but wonder what his shadows might do to enemies after discovering what they’re capable of doing to me. Surely there’s another use for them than pleasure, though I’m not complaining. Kairos and Mio, I can imagine, would take one look at him and judge him harshly or possibly try to kill him on site. He told me he looks like her. Nyx. The moment she cursed him to a life as her slave in The Underworld, the curved horns and leathery wings appeared. In a way, he looks like the demons, too. But to me, he’s anything but terrifying. He’s beautiful.
