Before she could finish, he flipped her onto her back, pinning her down with brutal force. He rammed into her again, his length once again rigid, his pace now relentless, driving her to the edge until she screamed his name, her body shuddering with her own climax. He pulled out at the last moment, spilling across her back as they both panted, spent.
Rolling onto her back beside him, Nox stares at the ceiling. “Your brother is obsessed with that golden-haired whore, by the way.”
The room plunged into complete darkness, Teorin’s power snuffing out every flicker of light as he loomed over her. “Watch that mouth of yours.”
She rolled her eyes, her own power flaring to reignite the dim glow in the room. “Perhaps the bond has ignited some strange affection in you, so I’ll ignore this.”
A distant horn blared through the night, cutting through their tension. Nox sat up, her expression shifting. “My ship.” She began pulling on her torn clothes, piecing herself together with quick, efficient movements.
Standing, she lifted his chin, her touch both tender and possessive. He kissed her hard, then bit her tongue, moaning as he tasted the blood. He pulled back, holding her face in his hands and said quietly, “I hate everything but you.”
“And I you, you bastard,” she replied, a ghost of a smile on her lips before she turned and strode out, heading toward the waiting ship.
CHAPTER 46
Fire and Kisses
The quiet does not last. The sound tears through the room without warning, high and relentless, and I wake with a ragged breath. The girl is screaming, not fussing, not crying, but screaming with a force that feels too large for something so small, her entire body rigid with it, her face flushed, her mouth open as the sound pours out of her without pause.
"I have her," I manage, already reaching, pulling her closer and shifting her against me the way I had with the boy.
It does not work. The sound only rises.
I move to sit up and pain tears through me immediately, low and deep, pulling me back before I make it halfway, one hand pressing instinctively to my abdomen.
Colsar is already there.
"Give her to me."
"I have to?—"
"You are losing color." His voice is tight, controlled but edged. "Give her to me."
Another wave moves through me and the room shifts at the edges and I do not argue. I pass her over and he takes her carefully, though there is nothing easy about the way she thrashes in his arms, her small body stiff, her cries unrelenting. He tries to settle her, adjusts his hold, walks with her, and there is an uncertainty in the way he moves that I have never seen from him before.
Nothing changes. She screams harder.
His jaw tightens. "Perhaps she does not like me."
Despite everything a breath of sound escapes me. "She is hungry."
The boy stirs then and begins to cry as well, not the same sound but insistent, as though answering her, protesting on her behalf. We move at the same time, he passes her back and takes the boy, settling him against his chest with more ease now, one hand supporting his head, and I try again with her, adjusting her, guiding her.
"Come on," I murmur, my voice thinner than I want it to be.
She resists. Turns her head. Searches. Fails. The crying builds again, frustrated and angry, and Saurin moves beside us before I have to ask, already awake, already there, kneeling beside me with her hands gentle but certain as she adjusts the baby's position.
"Perhaps she cannot latch," she says, her voice low and even despite everything she has been through. "I will hold her head."
She supports the child, angling her with more precision than I can manage on my own. We try again and the baby turns and finds and the pain hits immediately, sharp enough that a sound breaks from me before I can stop it. My hand grips the bedding as the child latches hard and does not loosen. I try to shift but she will not release. Then the crying stops completely.
Her body relaxes all at once.
I go still. Colsar does not move. Saurin looks between us.
"What?" she asks.
I look down at the child and then up at Colsar and the understanding comes before either of us speaks it.
