Epilogue
The kitchen smelled of garlic and warm oil.
Ryneth stood at Daven’s side at the marble island, pulling thyme leaves free while Daven worked at the stove. Daven had his sleeves rolled up, one hand on the pan while the other stirred something that hissed softly in the heat. Steam drifted toward the tall windows above the city.
“Not all of it,” Daven said, glancing at Ryneth’s hand.
Ryneth looked down at the thyme. “Why not? The stem’s good.”
Daven snorted.
“What? It is.”
“Says the one who grew up eating whatever didn’t kill him.”
Ryneth dropped another sprig onto the cutting board. “So? I survived, didn’t I?”
Daven scoffed. “You’re rich now. You don’t have to eat the stem.”
Ryneth looked at him flatly. “I’m not rich. You’re rich.”
Daven’s mouth twitched. “You live here.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“No?” Daven reached over, took the thyme from his fingers, and pressed his mouth to Ryneth’s. It wasn’t more than a brief brush of lips, but it still pulled that low, familiar heat through him he’d gotten addicted to. Then he stripped the leaves off the stem and dropped them into the pan.
Ryneth sniffed. “Mm. Smells good.”
“That’s because I made it.”
“Show-off.”
Daven lifted one dark brow. “You forced your way into my kitchen.”
Ryneth turned toward him. “That is not what happened.”
“No?”
“You made me help.”
Daven gave the pan another stir. “I offered you a deal.”
Ryneth folded his arms. “You blackmailed me.”
“That’s dramatic.”
“You said if I wanted dinner, I had to earn it.”
“I said if you wanted dinner and my attention, you had options.”
Ryneth stared at him for a beat, then shook his head. “You’re impossible.”
Daven looked at him then and smiled. “And yet you’re still here.”
He watched Ryneth at the counter and felt something warm settle in his chest. He’d spent enough nights in this kitchen now to know what it did to him.
The quiet. The routine. The control of it.
And having Ryneth here, crowding his space, stealing bites, arguing over nothing, then sitting across from him at the table while the world moved around them, had become one of the best parts of his day.
Daven didn’t pull away once the herbs were cut. Instead, he leaned in, pressing his forehead to Ryneth’s temple. His breath moved over Ryneth’s ear, close enough to feel the answering charge in the air.
“My beautiful storm,” Ryneth murmured. “You became everything I was afraid to want.”
“Despite cooking duty?”
Ryneth chuckled. “Despite cooking duty. But with reward.”
The words made something in Daven tighten.
Ryneth always did that. Dropped the softest things into the middle of nothing and left Daven standing there with them.
Leaning in, Daven nibbled at Ryneth’s throat, lingering there long enough to feel Ryneth soften against him. “You taste like the lightning I’m trying to tame. Think I’ll ever manage?”
Ryneth smiled and tipped his head, giving him more.
Daven took it, sucking a mark low on his throat before dragging his mouth up to the corner of Ryneth’s lips and pressing a kiss there. “There was a delivery for you.”
“For me?”
“Hm. Go and check it out. I put it on the table.”
As Ryneth turned away, Daven gave his ass a quick slap.
“Ouch!” Ryneth glared, but there was amusement in those silver eyes. “You pig.”
“Your ass is too sexy, baby.”
Following Ryneth to the table, Daven watched as his aethera carefully opened the package that had arrived from Düren.
“Oh...” he whispered.
Inside lay a small carved figure made from pale wood. Static, carved in thin jagged lines that curled across the surface like captured electricity.
Running his thumb slowly across the carving, Ryneth studied the shape. “There’s a note.”
Daven watched as Ryneth unfolded the thin piece of paper. The handwriting was uneven, the letters pressed deep into the page.
The air feels different without you. But it still hums like you.
Ryneth let out a quiet sob. For a moment, he simply stood there with the carving in a trembling hand.
Daven closed his hand around Ryneth’s. “They miss you.”
Ryneth nodded. Turning the little carving once more between his fingers, he set it gently on the counter.
For so long, wanting anything had felt dangerous.
Wanting Daven had felt impossible. Wanting Helion had felt worse, like betrayal dressed in gold.
But standing here now, with the city at his back and the people he loved still reaching for him across the distance, it no longer felt like choosing one life over another.
“They’ll grow up hearing stories about this place. And one day, I’d like Tavi to see it with his own eyes.”
Daven watched him. “We’ll make that happen.”
Ryneth glanced at him. “Really?”
“Baby, anything you want, we’ll make it happen. You still don’t get it, do you? You’re the static in my storm.” He cupped Ryneth’s face, thumb brushing the wetness at the corner of Ryneth’s eye. “You’re the only thing in this universe that could ever bring me to my knees.”
Ryneth stared at him, silver eyes bright with tears. His lips parted, but no words came. Then he smiled, and for a second Daven thought he’d never seen anything more beautiful. He looked so open it hit Daven right in the chest.
One tear slid down his cheek, and Daven brushed it away with his thumb.
Ryneth smiled at him through the shine in his eyes. Then he nodded once. “Yeah,” he said softly. “We eat.”
Daven leaned in and kissed him once, then guided him to the table. He picked up a piece of meat with his fingers and held it to Ryneth’s mouth. Ryneth leaned forward, lips brushing Daven’s skin as he took it.
Daven watched his throat move when he swallowed. “Good?”
“Hmm.” Ryneth reached across the table and caught the first button of Daven’s shirt between his fingers. He eased it open without looking away. “But I’m not as hungry for the food as I am for the part after.”
Daven watched those deft fingers and exhaled slowly, enjoying the slow spread of arousal through his body. “Such dangerous words. Such impatience.”
Ryneth’s mouth curved playfully. “I know.”
Setting the plates aside, Daven stood and pulled Ryneth up with him.
He leaned in, his tongue tracing a path from the hollow of Ryneth’s throat to his collarbone.
“Then we’ll eat later. A shame for such good food.
” His hands were already sliding down to Ryneth’s waist, unfastening his belt with practiced ease.
“I want to taste every spark in your body before we face the city.”
Walking him backward through the penthouse, away from the table, he led his bonded toward the glass where the city spread beneath them in silver and gold.
Ryneth made a soft sound when Daven kissed him, already leaning in, already warm and open for him. He pinned him there with one hand at his hip and kissed him again, slower this time, taking his mouth like he had all the time in the world.
Ryneth got to Daven’s shirt first, pushing it off his shoulders while Daven shoved Ryneth’s trousers down. Then Daven caught the hem of Ryneth’s top and dragged it over his head in one pull.
By the time the last of the clothes hit the floor, they were both naked.
Daven walked him back against the glass panel, spread his thighs, and stepped in close.
“Is this the reward you were looking for, baby?” He grabbed the bottle of oil he’d already set out and poured a generous amount into his palm.
“Yes.”
“I thought so. You were looking so hungry at the Academy, so lost. And when you volunteered to help me in the kitchen, I knew you needed an extra treat.”
Daven reached between Ryneth’s legs with slick fingers and traced the line of his rim. Ryneth shivered and tipped his head against the cool glass, mouth falling agape.
“Let me in, baby.” Daven’s fingers slid through the crease, past the tight muscle ring and deeper inside Ryneth’s hole. Dropping his head with a growl, their foreheads met. “Your hole is fucking paradise.”
Ryneth whined when he started fingering him. “I need more, please.”
Daven gave him more, adding another finger and pressing deeper until Ryneth jolted with a moan. “That’s it. Feels good, doesn’t it?”
“Yes,” Ryneth panted.
“And what about this?” Daven added another finger, working him open with slow pressure until Ryneth broke for it.
Ryneth moaned, hips rocking back on Daven’s hand as he chased it. His cock was hard against his belly, already leaking. When Daven pressed closer, he wrapped his free hand around both of them and squeezed.
They both groaned at the sensation.
“Fuck.” Daven needed to fuck him. He needed inside that tight heat.
Letting go of them both, he caught Ryneth under the thighs and lifted him in one hard pull.
Ryneth gasped and wrapped his legs around Daven’s waist at once, his back pressing to the glass.
Daven pinned him there with his body, one arm locked under his thighs while the other slid between them, guiding himself into place. “Hold on,” he said, voice rough.
Then he pushed in.
Ryneth trembled when Daven bottomed out, his body tightening around him before giving way.
“Feels good, baby?”
A shaky groan answered him.
Daven smiled against his mouth. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
He started slow, holding Ryneth against the glass while the sound of them filled the quiet of the penthouse. The pace stayed steady at first, each thrust measured, each one dragging another low sound from Ryneth’s throat.
Pinned beneath him, Ryneth gave it all back. The arch of his body. The way his legs tightened around Daven’s waist. The way he kept opening for him like he wanted every inch.
That was what broke Daven’s patience.
His breathing roughened. The rhythm turned harder, faster, more possessive. He bit down on Ryneth’s shoulder and drove into him with a force that made the glass shudder behind him.
“I’ve wanted you since the first time I laid eyes on you,” Daven said against his lips.
Another thrust knocked Ryneth’s head back, baring the long line of his throat under the kitchen lights.
Daven watched it happen and lost the last of his restraint. His hands shifted from Ryneth’s hips to his thighs, spreading him wider as he drove into him again, taking exactly what he wanted.
Ryneth’s hips bucked in search of more, his skin slick under Daven’s hands.
Daven tracked every tremor, watching the way Ryneth’s face changed as the pleasure climbed. The way his eyes rolled back. The way his mouth fell open. The raw sound that tore from him when the static snapped against the glass.
Then Daven reached between them and wrapped his hand around him, setting a hard rhythm that matched the movement of his hips.
“Look at me,” he growled.
Ryneth’s eyes snapped open, dazed and blown wide, just as Daven drove in deep and tightened his hand one last time.
Ryneth broke with a cry, body going taut against the glass as his release hit Daven’s stomach.
A second later, Daven followed, a rough sound leaving him as his hands locked harder on Ryneth’s thighs. He held him there through it, forehead dropping to Ryneth’s shoulder while the last of the static in the room faded to a faint hum.
For a few seconds, the only sound in the penthouse was their breathing.
Then he lifted his head, caught Ryneth’s jaw, and tipped his face up before kissing him slow and deep.
Ryneth’s mouth softened under his. When they finally parted, his lips curved in a dazed little smile that hit Daven right in the chest.
Daven lowered him from the glass and set him back on his feet. Ryneth swayed, and Daven kept his hands on his waist until he found his balance.
Outside, the city burned in gold beyond the glass.
Ryneth looked up at him, flushed and still glowing.
“What?” Daven asked.
Ryneth’s smile deepened. “Nothing.”
Daven brushed his thumb over his mouth. “Liar.”
Ryneth leaned in until their foreheads touched. One tear slipped free anyway, caught in his lashes before it tracked down his cheek. “I love you.”
Daven’s hands tightened on his waist. “Good,” he murmured, “because I’m never letting you go again.”