If he couldn’t see the spark of wonder in her eyes?
If this velveteen pink blush no longer colored her rose-petal lips?
He would be lost.
Without her body, her voice, her heart, her kindness—all ofher. All that she was.
Kail…I need you…
And how he wanted to indulge his Sovereign Star. To lay her back on this very ledge, part her thighs, and take all that she would give.
Let me…
His Bond voice came careful. Hesitant. Breaking in pieces from something that had been locked away since time was born.
Auryn…Let me…
He carried her to the bed as though lost in trance. The words beat at some kind of wall just on the surface of awareness. Needing release. Needing freedom. Needing to be heard.
Wavering, he set her down, wrapping her in a blanket, kneeling between her knees. Hands reached down. Small and wondrous. Cuppinghis face, helping him find the strength to look up into her—into his sky. Her silver eyes held so much love, so much divinity, he thought he might go mad with it.
It’s alright.She stroked his brow, his cheek, his lips.Tell me what you need.
And then—at last—the words broke through like a raging river past a shattered dam. Roaring, uncontrolled, unstoppable.
Let me worship you.Let my touch be the only prayer I ever say. Let me into you. Let me adore you. Let me keep you. Auryn…
His breath stuttered, his voice dropping to a whisper, “Let me be your Silari.”
Her eyes flew wide then welled with tears. Not hot and clear and stinging, but silver. Shining, like the stars. They spilled onto her cheeks and melded with the glowing freckles on her skin, and suddenly all of her—all of her—was glowing.
Just enough to bedifferent.
Like the points at the tips of her ears.
Like her cool skin.
Like her raw and wild magic.
Like all the things that spoke of her beingother—yet, to him,everything.
The tears poured down, and with the shedding of each one, Kailorien’s world shifted along with his understanding of his purpose in it.
Let me be yours. Your Silari. Your Bonded. Your Resh’Agar.
But, Kail…you already are…you have been…from the first moment I saw you, I knew I couldn’t live without you.
He rose to his knees and drew her against him, kissing the place on her chest right over her heart. Auryn stared at him as he stepped away just long enough to retrieve a familiar glass vial. It shimmered, theoil inside thick and fragrant—violet-root and sagefire, a mix he’d made for her that soothed her on nights she couldn’t sleep. The scent of safety. The scent ofhim.
Runes glimmered across his ribs, shoulders, and arms, shifting like a hypnotic tapestry. His muscles rippled and moved in sleek elegance—coiled and battle-forged. Ruthless. Breathtaking. Once, there were days when she’d been too shy to look at him bare. Now, she couldn’t look away.
“Lie on your stomach,” he murmured. “Let me keep my other promises tonight.”
She obeyed with a flutter of anticipation. The bed dipped behind her as he knelt astride her calves. The first touch of the oil made her gasp—warm, rich, smooth as molten light. His palms followed, slow and skilled, starting at her shoulders and gliding down her back.
He pressed into every knot of tension with patience and precision. His thumbs circled down her spine, drawing lines of warmth between each vertebra, lingering where she tensed, waiting until she sighed and softened beneath him.
“You hold everything in here,” he murmured, fingers working beneath her shoulder blades. “Your grief. Your magic. Your loneliness. Let me take some of it.”
