He’s still kissing me, and he clamps his body to mine so tightly that my sensitive nipples rub against his chest and make me moan. My nerve endings are a forest fire of need so intense it’s almost pain, and I can’t seem to catch my breath.
I wrap my arms and legs around him, and we move together in a frenzy of almost primal necessity. I spare a thought for the key and amulet, but they lie still and quiet between us like simple bits of gemstone and metal.
I can’t breathe air. I only want to breathehim, his scent, his skin, his taste and touch and feel. I can’t get enough of him, and I never will, because the feeling of him inside me and all around me is everything I never knew I wanted, and now I’ll never, ever be willing to give him up.
“Don’t leave me. Swear it,” he growls between kisses, his powerful body pounding into me while I arch into him, moving in rhythm with his thrusts. “I can’t take it. When I thought I’d have to see you die—”
He takes my mouth like a conqueror, giving no quarter and leaving no doubt of his intentions. “Mine. You aremine.Swear it.”
“Then you’re mine, too,” I say, claiming him. Caught up in the moment. He can be mine until he can’t. But I shove those thoughts aside.
“Yes,” he growls. “Always. Come for me, my Solitude.Now.” Hedrives into me, thrusting harder, until colors sparkle behind my eyes and inside my heart and body and soul. I launch into a whirlwind of emotion and sensation that lifts me higher and higher until I shatter in his arms.
Kaelen groans my name, his back arching when he comes, and for a long time we stay together, just holding on, tiny aftershocks trembling through both of us. His hands move up and down my sides and back, caressing.
“No more,” he says when we can speak again. “I surrender to my fate.”
“Your fate?”
“You, Soli. You’re my fate,” he whispers, then takes my mouth again. Not with heat or urgency, but with comfort. With commitment.
With a promise.
Before I can reply, we hear horses galloping down the path toward us.
“It must be Chitai and Andras,” Kaelen says. “And they’re riding too fast for this to be good news.”
We quickly dress and race back to the fire, arriving at the same time as our companions.
“We found the temple,” Chitai says, studying us.
Andras’s sharp eyes miss nothing. I’m sure both of them know what we were up to.
“What happened?” I refuse to be embarrassed.
Andras swings down off his horse. “We met two warrior scholars guarding the gate. They denied us entry.”
Kaelen swears beneath his breath. “What? Did you tell them we’re on a mission from Artemisen herself?”
“No,” Chitai drawls. “We said we were there to invite them to a dance.”
I ignore the sarcasm. “This can’t be happening. Surely once we explain, once we show them the amulet …”
Elianna and Trick ride up the road to join us.
“I sensed we were needed,” the sorcerer says briefly, searching our faces. “What happened?”
Chitaifills them in while Andras drinks deeply from a waterskin.
Trick folds his arms. “Well, that’s it. We tried. Time to move on to the next plan.”
Everybody ignores this.
“We show them the amulet,” Elianna says.
Even though I just said the same thing, I slowly shake my head, having second thoughts. “Butshouldwe show them the amulet? What if this is an elaborate plot to take it and the first key from us? What if—”
“What if the long-extinct Valourian snow leopards appear and start singing drinking songs?” Andras drawls. “What if the Zhagarn invite us to a tea party? We can’t operate on ‘ifs’ right now.”
