He kissed me hard, his mouth fierce and demanding. I tasted the heat of the forge and the sharp tang of his desire. Digging my fingers deep into his silver hair, I pulled him flush against me and finally let my restraint shatter.
A freezing tide of silver-blue power poured straight through our physical connection and directly into Aion.
Aion groaned. The sound started deep inside him and vibrated straight through my own bones. Settling his massive weight against me, he finally began to move.
He was slow at first. Every time he pushed into me, his unyielding hips met the soft flesh of my thighs, grounding me in the reality of his frame. I gasped, throwing my head back against the cold slab. He filled the empty, aching void inside me so thoroughly that it left me breathless. I wrapped my legs tighter around his waist, urging him deeper.
“Medea,” he gritted out. “There’s… There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re perfect. Just the way you are.”
How could I be perfect, when my touch had killed him? The mere idea seemed impossible. But somehow, when the words came from Aion, I believed them.
He increased the pace, all the while gripping my hips with his large hands. His wide fingers pressed firmly into my skin, holding me steady against the forceful, demanding drive of his body.
I met his every movement, arching my back to take every inch of him. My magic swirled wildly around us, pulled continuously from my core. “Yes, Aion, yes!”
The silver-blue power funneled directly into the furnace of his body. The air in the room grew thick with the scent of hot metal and sweat. Aion buried his face in the crook of my neck, his lips dragging hotly over my pulse point as he pushed me further into the stone.
It should have hurt, but all I felt was ecstasy. The raw energy pooling in my center demanded a release. It was no longer a jagged, terrifying surge of unstable magic. It was a heavy, golden tide rising within me, carrying the profound safety of a soul securely anchored to its mate.
“Aion!” I cried out, my voice echoing loudly in the quiet hall.
My spine arched violently off the slab as the intense waves of my climax overtook me. A blinding heat fractured behind my eyes. In that moment of surrender, a sharp, searing pain struck the back of my hand.
Aion let out a guttural roar, his massive frame going rigid above me. He drove his hips forward, burying himself as deeply as possible, finding his own release. A heavy wave of pure energy flooded into me. It carried the unyielding strength of the deep earth, grounding my chaotic powers.
And then I saw them. The threads, quietly dancing around us. The Loom of Fate was already working, strangely silent thistime. But its presence was undeniable, and I felt it weave its spell into us, through us.
“We are one now, Medea,” Aion murmured. “No… We always were.”
The Loom of Fate seemed to agree. The brilliant light in the room began to dim. Slowly, the threads faded away, settling into a quiet mist.
Aion collapsed by my side, and I welcomed his massive bronze presence with every ounce of my strength. Somehow, despite his weight, he didn’t squash me or overwhelm me. I felt safer than I ever had in my life.
We lay tangled together, still surrounded by the final flashes of the loom’s threads. The frantic galloping of his new heart gradually slowed, eventually syncing perfectly with my own.
I was exhausted, my limbs trembling, but I had never felt more alive. Reaching up, I stroked the back of his head, my fingers tracing the smooth lines of his face.
“How is this possible?” I whispered into the quiet room. “What did I do to deserve this?”
I had been a killer. I’d destroyed so many lives, killed so many people. And yet, Aion only saw beauty in me.
Aion lifted his head. He looked down at me, a slow, breathtaking smile spreading across his face.
“You always deserved it, Medea. He tried to tell you otherwise. But you were always meant to be right here. With me.”
I rested my palm on his shoulder. Etched permanently into the back of my hand was a brand. It glowed with a faint, warm light, mirroring the intricate pathways carved into his chest. It was a beautiful series of interlocking lines and sweeping waves. The brand pulsed softly, beating in perfect time with his new heart.
“See?” Aion whispered. “Our threads are entwined. We are bonded. But even if we hadn’t been… I’d have still loved you forever.”
I stared at the brand, and then up at the colossus who had given it to me. Jason, the terrifying hold of theArgo, and the suffocating isolation of my past felt a thousand lifetimes away. I was Aion’s mate, safe in the arms of the only man in the world I could ever love.
“Forever?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
Aion pulled me closer, his massive arms forming a fortress around me.
“As long as Asphodelia itself endures,” he promised. “As long as Alia Terra exists. I will never let you go.”
I closed my eyes and leaned into his heat. Lulled by the steady thud of his heart and the safety of his arms, I drifted toward a sleep free of nightmares. The bargain was finished. I was finally home.
