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He leaned down, his mouth trailing a burning path over my side. His hand cupped my breast, his thumb sweeping back and forth over the pebbled tip. The physical pleasure was sharp and immediate, but the pure triumph of the moment went so much deeper. He was focused solely on me. When his mouth closed over my nipple, suckling the sensitive flesh with a heavy, drawing heat, I cried out. My back arched off the mattress. He laved the peak with his tongue, lightly grazing it with his teeth, unraveling what little was left of my self-control.

He moved lower, pressing lingering kisses down my belly, his breath ghosting over my navel. He parted my legs, kneeling between my thighs. Even through the dark silk of his blindfold, I could feel the intense weight of his gaze. He hooked my knees over his shoulders, opening me fully to his mouth.

When his tongue found my slick core, I grabbed handfuls of the bedsheets. He teased my swollen bud with slow, devastating strokes, his lips drinking me in. Every touch drew the pleasure out, pushing the shadows of the evening far from my mind.

“Eryx,” I choked out, arching upward against him.

He held me in place with unyielding hands, securing my frantic movements. His long fingers traced my wet folds before sliding deep inside me. One cool finger pushed higher, stretching me, and then a second joined it.

I gasped as he curled his fingers upward, finding an aching spot that made my vision blur. The chilling slide of his fingers through my burning heat met the relentless suction of his mouth. He set a driving rhythm, his fingers thrusting hard into my wetness while his tongue laved and stroked. The tension coiled so tight I could hardly breathe.

I strained into his hand, chasing the pressure, a keening sound tearing from my throat. He kept me suspended there, drawing out the edge until I felt like I was falling apart.

Only then did the buildup finally break. My life magic flared hot beneath my skin, and my climax ripped through me in a throbbing wave. I shattered with a raw, breathless moan, clenching tightly around his fingers.

He moved up my body, gathering me flush against his chest as my breathing slowly evened out. I pressed my face into his neck, my hands gripping his shoulders. His heart beat fiercely against me, as erratic and wild as my own.

He turned his head and kissed me hard, his mouth tasting of my own slickness.

“Let me claim you, Thalia,” he breathed against my mouth. “Let me be your husband.”

“Claim me,” I answered, pulling him closer, my nails biting into his back. “It was always what I wanted.”

Eryx let out a guttural groan. He shifted, pulling me with him until I was on my hands and knees. He knelt behind me, his massive size dwarfing me. The night air brushed my wet skin, but the chill vanished as the blunt head of his length pressed intimately against me.

When he sank fully into my tight heat, I gasped at the stretch. The fullness of him was overwhelming, but it was the absolute rightness of our connection that grounded me. I’d chosen him, and now he was finally here, resting deep inside me.

He pulled my hips back tight against him as he began to move. One of his hands reached around to stroke my breast, his thumb rolling over my nipple. His other hand gripped my waist, anchoring me against his powerful thrusts. The wet sound of our bodies meeting echoed through the room.

All I could focus on was how completely he surrounded me. Every driving thrust sent a shock of melting pleasure straight through my core. He wasn’t holding back anymore. He was taking me with a primal hunger, and his lust made my own desire burn so hot I could barely think. I pushed back against him, meeting his rhythm, wanting him to feel exactly how much I needed this too.

“You feel so perfect,” he grunted, his control fraying as his thrusts grew harder and faster. “So warm.”

My body tightened, surging blindly toward another peak. My magic burned outward in desperate waves, reaching for his inherent chill. The boundary between us began to thin. His magic waited just beneath his skin, vast, quiet, and cold like the winter frost. But my life didn’t burn him, and his death didn’t freeze me. They twisted together, settling perfectly into a single, unbroken current.

“Take it all,” he ground out. “Everything I have.”

The pressure inside him finally crested. I felt his control snap a split second before mine. My release tore through my body in rolling pulses, clenching fiercely around him. Eryx buried himself inside me and came, flooding me with his seed.

In that exact moment, as our currents locked permanently together, a profound presence echoed deep within me.

It sounded like the deep rustle of the canopy and felt like the rich, dark soil beneath it. “Life and quiet sleep, bound as one,” the voice of the Endless Forests resonated through my mind. “You are claimed. You are anchored. You and Eryx are one.”

“We are one,” I answered, and I could hear Eryx’s voice inside my own.

When it was over, we collapsed together on the bed, still breathing hard. The physical rush settled into something quieter, but the simple intimacy of lying beside him felt entirely new.

My power had always moved outward, a lonely warmth carrying life through whatever I touched. Now, it eased perfectly into his cool calm. I could still feel my own life magic, but Eryx was bound to it, a clear and steady anchor. The connection remained even as I rested my head against his collarbone, waiting for my racing heart to slow. I reached for him, not with my voice, but through the space that had just opened between our minds.

“I can feel you,” I told him, marveling at how natural it all felt. “Everything you are. Everything we are.”

His response settled into my mind, and I sensed exactly how much he treasured the bond. “I think you always did. Before I could even guess, you sensed us. But now we are truly one. I have you. I’m right here.”

I touched his lips with my fingertips, and he kissed my fingers.

I couldn’t help the shaky laugh that escaped me. I wanted to say something worthy of the magic binding us, but sensing how deeply at peace he was left me speechless. I could only hold his face and exist there with him.

He was smiling. He didn’t try to hide it, and he didn’t turn away before I could notice. I kissed him to memorize that unburdened smile against my mouth, and he held me through it.