He kissed the back of her neck. Her shoulder. Her spine. When his hands and fingers slipped down past her hips, she arched involuntarily.
“Turn over.”
She did, and his eyes softened further as he beheld her. Hair spread out like living moonlight among black sheets. Pale glowing skin covered in a constellation of shimmering stars. The flush of desire rising on her cheeks. Her breaths still fevered. Still so warm that he worried she was hurting.
And yet she looked at him with naked longing.
Not with pain.
Not with fear.
Not as a living vessel for corrupted bloodlust and warsong.
But as a man she loved.
As a man she sawwithinthe monster—reaching out for him even as the shadows threatened to break her heart.
“You are,” he breathed, tracing her collarbone with oiled fingers, “precious, Auryn. Too precious. And neither this city…nor I…none of us deserve you.”
More silver tears fell. More stars from a universe he could only see when he looked into her.
You think too highly of me, Kail…the Bond whispered when words failed her.I don’t know how I could live up to that.
Then live. Every day, with me. And keep reminding me.
He dipped his head and kissed the spot where her shoulder met her neck, then moved lower, pressing kisses down the center of her chest, between her ribs, to her navel.
Her hands drifted down, exploring the hard planes of his chest, his abdomen, until he trembled above her. When he pressed closer, her legs parted for him without thought. His body settled between them, heavy but gentle, braced on either side as he leaned down and kissed her with growing depth.
“I need your warmth,” he whispered into her mouth.
I need to behere.He rolled his hips against her. His hand found hers, fingers above her head, the other trailing down to cup her thigh, easing her open, parting her, entering her and leaving room for nothing else between them save for their joined breath.
One.
In unison.
Taken and given.
The fingernails on her free hand caught at his shoulders, silvery stars still streaking down her cheeks. And then her voice. Void preserve him. Sweet, lilting, pleasured—melting as he kept a loving, tender rhythm. He witnessed himself reflected in her eyes and marveled, for what he saw looking back was not the Resh’Agar, or any other use the world had labeled for him. It was just—
Kailorien…My Silari. My Bonded.I love you.Forever.Always.
And so, flesh to flesh, vow to vow, holding one another through the fear, the heat, the mystery of whatever cosmic secret lay inside them both—they joined into one.
Again and again.
Until their bodies could no longer carry them.
Until only breath and love and whispers of devotion remained.
Until the false morning of Krystopolis found them still tangled in sheets and sweat and adoration.
Bonded.
Together.
Ready to fight as one.
