Chapter 43
IZADELLA
Leon presses our foreheads together. “We will try. If that is what you truly want, I will not deny you. I only seek to protect you, even if it’s from myself, and I wish to spend every last moment proving my love to you.”
Relief floods me. Even if this doesn’t work, we have to try.
A soft grinding noise comes from one side of the cave. Anticipation has my stomach in knots when an ornamental basin held up by an onyx pillar rises up out of the crystal floor. Leon steps protectively in front of me.
I peer around him. “I think it wants us to go up there.”
He nods, remaining between the basin and me.
“I can tell you wish you had a sword right now,” I tease him, trying to release some of the tension between us. “Such petrifying bowls about.”
“I do wish that,” he retorts. “This might be a sacred place but it’s unfamiliar and I’m feeling quite uneasy at the moment.”
I squeeze his hand. “It may be cloaked in secrecy, but I think Nueena would have mentioned it if the temple was unsafe.”
He nods, giving me a small smile. “Perhaps we must face a series of dreadful trials we must overcome to prove our devotion.”
I snort. “Gods, I hope not. I think dying is all the excitement I can handle for the next century.”
No, only hope and happiness ahead of us. I refuse to believe anything else.
The basin is filled with viridescent water. A flickering light starts to glow in the center. The liquid ripples and my hope rises just like the two shards of crystal do. They look exactly like Nueena and Tavien’s but are a deep emerald, rather than their purple ones.
They’re gorgeous and all ours, meant for us, if we choose to take them.
“Leon, once we pick up our crystals, the ritual will begin.”
I’ve dreamt of this moment, but I suddenly feel small. He will be able to feel the depths of my desires, how deeply my heart feels things.
We turn towards each other, and he cups my face with both hands. “Izadella, there is no part of you I do not already love. You are the fire that burns within me. To forge our souls together would be the greatest honor of my life.”
His lips touch mine in a kiss that is so incredibly sweet. Leon was always meant to be mine. I can feel it even now—the draw to him and now to the crystals that seem eager to be ours.
We break apart, both ready to take each other as Zemras, prepared for whatever might come.
I hold my breath as I pick one up, Leon following my lead.
Our Zemra stones glow in the palms of our hands.
“Oh.” Unfamiliar magic swirls around us. The soulbinding magic tugs at my chest, settling into every part of me, flowing in my blood and sweetly sinking into my bones. It twists in my soul, my own magic shifting, changing. It’s beautiful.
With the way Leon’s chest rises, I know he feels it, too.
We lean towards each other at the same time.
The moments our lips touch, an explosion of power within me nearly takes me to my knees.
A swell of my magic collides with Leon’s, dancing together between us in the blissful merging of our souls and fae abilities before slamming back into our chests.
New emotions—Leon’s emotions, how precious I am to him—rush into me.
My own adoration and respect for him races into his soul, how long I have loved him, how deeply.
His very soul sings to mine. Leon’s endless devotion, overwhelming love and gratitude come in waves with an undercurrent of guilt over his deception. I know he can feel my own guilt that I wouldn’t trust him.
I break our kiss. How can I relieve the crushing weight of his pain? “Oh, my love, it's all right. I understand and I forgive you. I do!”
He lets out a long breath, nodding at my words.
Every part of him—his essence and his fading life force—swirls within me. The hollowness is a sharp ache that shoots through the bond from both of us. Where once an internal palace held his healing magic, now lays a cavernous loss in his soul.
Beneath it all though, is the hovering shadow of death.
No, no, no. The Zemra magic was supposed to heal him.
I weep furious tears, slumping in his arms as torment erupts in me.
Leon tries to flood the bond with love but my anger at the Zemra magic, that the bond will not save him, burns so much brighter.
His guilt over allowing me to push for the soulbonding, while heavy, only feeds the flames of my misery.
“Shhhhh, my love.” He holds my face with his strong hands. “We knew this was a possibility.”
“No, no. The magic was supposed to heal you! Something is wrong!”
This is all my fault. If I had simply listened to what he had to say when he revealed himself, I wouldn't have broken both of our hearts. Everett never would have taken me. I wouldn’t have been murdered.
He is going to die because I did not trust him.
My guilt and shame threaten to drown me.
I don’t deserve a Zemra.
He shakes his head furiously, wiping the tears from my cheeks. “At the coronation ball, you asked me if we could forget about the future and pretend everything will be all right, just for one night. Do you remember?”
My anger has my teeth grinding together, but I nod. How could I forget?
He continues softly, “I will ask the same of you right now. We are going to forget the future. Tonight, only you and I exist. Our bond is a vow to each other. No matter what happens, let us have these moments. Let me give you one night where we are truly Zemras with no fear, no doubts. Please.”
Shoving down everything that hurts, I let his love fill me, calm me.
One night. The only thing we can promise each other now. “If this is all we have, I give every hour remaining to you.”
I waste no moment, letting my greed for him and the sensation of safety in his protective arms flood me with delicious warmth.
Our lips come together once more, slow and sweet, our emotions entwining.
The love we share for each other shines within us—tender, obsessive, and fiercely protective—as a wave of passion sweeping me away.
I never wish to leave his embrace. Hunger for him takes over me, the likes I have never known.
“I love you, Leon.” I tremble, overwhelmed with gratitude that he is my Zemra. If fate blessed us with each other but cursed us to have only a short life, we must make the most of every opportunity.
His hands move to my hips, gripping the torn fabric he finds. “I’ve always loved you.”
He takes my face for another tender kiss as more tears stream down my face. I’m desperate for him, totally and completely, longing to be forged together with our bodies. My lips are on every part of his skin, his hands all over me. I want to crawl into the pillows with him and never leave.
Leon sheds his clothing. I trace the taunting enervation scars on his skin, a reminder my future is being ripped away from me, that I will be alone, as I've always been.
He shakes his head, drawing my hands up and kisses my fingertips.
His lips are a reminder of what we have now, and I hold on to that.
I pull off the remains of my wedding dress in a graceless motion, throwing it to the floor. Oh, how I will enjoy burning it.
Leon pulls me back to him and his lips brush mine, like he's never tasted anything so sweet.
It feels like he imprints his very soul into mine.
His hands are gentle and leisurely moving around, exploring and teasing.
Lightning courses through my veins and an ache for him pulsates in my core.
My body has longed for this moment before we ever met.
He is home, my universe shifting us to the center of it.
I need this moment with him, just him, to forget about everything that haunts us and to truly be together.
Leon’s lips move to my jaw, and his hot mouth is all I can think about. I’m desperate for him to be inside me, nothing keeping us apart.
“I need you, right now. Please.” With my stone in one hand, I push him back towards the bed. At the last moment he spins us, and I fall first into the bedding.
He moves down between my thighs, spreading me open, resting my legs on his massive shoulders.
“And I need this.” His head swoops down into my cunt.
My breath hitches and I am lost in pleasure, the bond heightening this moment. My only thought is of his tongue and the many ways he could make me come with it.
His licks are frantic, shifting from long and slow to fast little circles around my clit.
His fae hands are so much bigger now and he spreads my slit wide before him, teasing my entrance until I beg him to fill me.
Leon thrusts two fingers into my blistering heat.
Pleasure rises inside me. My panting, moaning, and screams echo around the cave.
Damn it, his healer’s hands know exactly what they’re doing.
As I’m splayed out before him, back arching, he uses his mouth, tongue, and pumping fingers to bring me over that edge.
Sucking on my swollen clit, he moans as he licks the proof of my arousal away.
My thighs shake next to his pointed ears, my breaths ragged, and yet he doesn’t stop.
He dips his fingers back in and hums his delight as his fingers slide in and out of my pooling essence while his thumb rocks over my sensitive bud.
It’s bliss. All I know is this unending pleasure.
It’s breathtakingly too much and not nearly enough.
“Leon, please.”
“Oh, Strawberries, your pleas are sweeter than honey.” He kisses the inside of my thigh. “But I’ve waited years to fuck you, dreaming of it every night. I will be taking my time, so you’ll need to beg harder than that.”
He presses leisurely kisses and slow flicks of his tongue to my dripping cunt, adding a third finger, stretching me, priming my body for him.
His touch is euphoric as his thumb moves faster.
I cannot keep still, rocking my wide hips in time with his fingers and tongue.
I cry out again, my second orgasm overwhelming me until I’m shoving his handsome face away, too sensitive for any more of his eager attentions.