The sharp snap of silk as he ripped away her underthings.
And then—Stars—and then histongue.
Pressing, licking, lovinguntil it pushed away everything but sensation. The ever-present hum of the Shields dissolved into the steady lilt of her moans echoing on stone. Her hands fisted into his hair, and he rewarded her with a groan that shook her spine.
The Bond burst open like a window on a storm. He breathed her name—“Auryn’reh”—and her voice crested with her pleasure. She surrendered to his mouth, snapped the leash she always kept tightly cinched around her self-control. Her cries rose in volume, bouncing off the walls, flying down the corridor.
And she did not care who heard it.
Let the Attendants listen and the Companions flinch in envy.
Let them bear witness to how the Resh’Agar and his Sokâr adored one another.
And in turn, let them learn that lovedid exist.
Not just Vessar. Not just Estâr and Threads and Ketraan and all the names for partnerships that had no soul.
Love.
True.
Messy.
Disgraceful.
Flawed.
Andtheirs.
As pressure built inside of her, she braced one hand to the wall and the other to his shoulder. When the rush took her, it tookall of her—mana bursting through a thousand stars, a desperate cry breaking on his name.
He rose on a breath, caught her before her knees could give out, and urged her legs to wrap around him. Tight. Pressing. He touched his forehead to hers, laughing once under his breath, already half wrecked, already melting withher.
“Starlight,” he sighed. “Not here. I won’t have you in the hallway like an animal.”
“You will,” she insisted, pulling his mouth to hers, exploring him, tasting her ecstasy on his tongue. “And I’ll love every moment of it.”
He took her up against that very wall. No careful restraint. Only transformation into flame that had finally found its kindling. She met him with all the wild she’d buried for weeks—her hands splayed at his shoulders, her mouth open to his, her voice unashamed as it spilled into the spaces between his breaths.
“Look at me,” he commanded, and she readily obeyed. He kissed her—hard, hungry, needful—and then hebreathed—a tide drawn from the oceans of Ennea, flowing from the Nine Rivers through her mouth into her lungs.
Bliss.
Wonder.
Filling her until the ache behind her ribs loosened and turned to soaring skies. Strength flooded where exhaustion had once lived. Her fingers—weak from want—slid to his neck, to the pulse under his jaw, to the line of runes she’d studied nightly for years like the scripture to her own soul.
Silver flooded from her fingertips.
She Wove him as he Breathed.
Her peace traded for his power.
Her will found his runes, and she yoked their strength to tenderness. She even grazed the dangerous edge of Vargrún. Gentled it with a loving touch, shaping the hunger into focus.
This…this is why you are mine to torment. Touch me again. Take me into you.
You take me into you, Auryn’reh—Kailorien whispered in her thoughts, his Bond voice blurring with Vargrún’s.Every time I love you, I lose myself. You burn me out. You take everything—everything—until onlyyouremain.
