My breath caught in my throat while the sight destroyed me. Heat jolted through my body, but beneath it all was something far more dangerous. Hope.
“I’ve only just had my first taste of pleasure,” she said. “You’ll be busy for a long, long time.”
I groaned, dragging a hand over my face, caught somewhere between wrecked and desperate to taste her again. Her laugh was low and a little breathless, her attention moving from me to the bowl of water that had started this game. Before she could lift the cloth, I wrapped my fingers around her wrist.
“Let me.” My voice came out rough, with this unending need for my mate clambering up again.
I guided her back to the mat, taking my time to kiss down her chest and savor the way her breath caught. Then I cleaned her carefully, softly. Her lips parted as her lashes fluttered. When Ifinished, I cleaned the evidence of my orgasm with brisk, quick strokes.
Once I cleared the bowl away, I settled beside her. She curled close without hesitating, her body fitting perfectly against mine. I wrapped myself around her, cocooning her in the warmth of my arms, my chest pressed to her back, her scent surrounding me.
She sighed, already half asleep. I pressed my lips to her hair, my heart stumbling over the truth.
This was my life now. Her. Us. Thank the gods.
Chapter
Seventeen
FINLEY
“What doyou mean your king left last night?” Kassidy asked, her arms crossed over her chest.
Brenton leaned forward, his elbows against the dented wooden table we ate breakfast at, his body taut. But when his gaze moved to me, it still held that same quiet wonder I’d woken up to. As if I was the miracle in this realm instead of the dragons we fought to save.
“He had urgent matters back home he needed to attend to,” Brenton said.
Kassidy’s eyes narrowed before she turned to me. “Is this true?”
“I neither saw nor spoke to King Elias last night,” I said, angling my chin a fraction higher. My voice remained steady although heat stirred in my chest. “But you needn’t question Brenton. Our only hope here is to help the dragons. With or without our king, our motives haven’t changed.”
Kassidy pursed her lips. “Then you will go with Willow back to the cave. There are still many more that require your aid.”
“I can go after I train my magic this morning.” After what I’d accomplished with Willow, Zaicha’s promise echoed in my mindlike a lure I couldn’t ignore. I couldn’t wait to meet with her again.
“Why train it when it’s already what we need?” Kassidy tilted her head, her lips set in an unyielding line. “You’ll go with Willow after breakfast.”
“Kassidy, I?—”
“Finley is not yours to command,” Brenton said, smoke flickering from his fingertips, the low thrumming of his magic making the table tremble. “She will tend to the dragons once she finishes training.”
Kassidy surged to her feet, palms slamming flat on the table. Her siblings stood with her.
“I am the one in charge here,” she said, voice low with an undercurrent of violence.
Brenton’s smirk was sharp and defiant. “Then take charge of your people. But Finley?—”
“I will see to the dragons when I finish training,” I interrupted, my words slicing through the tension. Anger burned deep inside me, threading with the frustration that rose.
Because while I appreciated Brenton’s instincts to shield me, I couldn’t let him become my voice. It had always been mine, and I wouldn’t permit him to take it from me. Not that taking it was his intention. He wanted to protect me, just as I sought to protect him.
I met Kassidy’s glare with one of my own. “Either you trust us,” I said, challenge ringing through each word, “or you don’t.”
The air between us trembled with the weight of what might come next, until the temperature suddenly dipped. Shadows seeped into the edges of the grass around us like spilled ink, crawling across the ground and curling up the legs of the table.
Kassidy stiffened but didn’t move while her siblings shifted uneasily.
My spine snapped straight. I didn’t know this kind of darkness. I didn’t recognize the way it seemed to breathe without intent. A sense of foreboding slid beneath my skin as if the air itself recoiled from whatever came.
