Chapter Fifty-Nine
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
‘I didn’t know where else to go,’ she said quietly, sinking into the comforting warmth of Isra’s doorway.
Isra softened, embracing Elara. ‘What’s happened?’
Elara bit her cheek to stop herself from crying as Isra led her into her house, rubbing her eyes.
‘This prophecy…I have tried to run from it, tried to find a loophole in it. But I can’t deny my feelings, my truth.’
Isra sat her down, before disappearing into the kitchen with a stifled yawn. Elara heard clinks in the small kitchen as Isra set about making tea. She came in a few moments later, handing Elara a cup of hot mint and honey. She wrapped a towel carefully around Elara’s shoulders, drying her hair that was still damp from the baths.
‘When I’m around Enzo, I feel…I feel as though I am drawn to him.’ She touched her heart. ‘Here. I crave him even when he’s right in front of me. I’ve tried to push him away but he won’t listen.’ She let out a shuddering breath. ‘How can I give him my heart when the prophecy says it belongs to another?’
‘You never told me what happened the night of the summer solstice,’ Isra said softly.
‘We were in one of the compartments on the solstice. Enzo gave me his crown, and then—’
‘He gave you his crown ?!’ Isra interrupted, disbelief widening her eyes. Elara stilled.
‘Yes…He rested it on my head. But it was just a silly game.’ She paused, dread forming.
‘Elara, tell me exactly what he said and did.’
‘He…’ She frowned, trying to recollect the hazy smoke-filled memories. ‘He knelt before me and took the crown off. He said, “I give you my crown, Elara,” and placed it on my head.’
Isra paused for a long moment, studying Elara. ‘He knelt before you,’ she whispered. ‘Enzo has never knelt before anyone. Not even his father, the King of Helios , Elara.’ Isra let out a long breath. ‘In the Helion court, there is a tradition. It dates back centuries. To give you his crown—it means that when he ascends to power, he would choose you as his queen, or forfeit his kingdom for you.’
Elara’s heart pounded. She must have misheard.
‘That can’t be true.’
‘It is custom to give one’s crown, then show them to the court as yours once they have decided that you are the future they choose. No doubt if you weren’t interrupted, he would have walked out with you, letting everyone see you wearing it.’
Memories rushed to Elara, tripping over each other as she understood the magnitude of what Enzo would do for her, what he had already done.
‘The sirens.’ Her words were barely more than an exhale of breath. ‘One looked at me and told me, told me that her song didn’t affect me. And asked me if I knew what that meant.’
Isra nodded. ‘The siren’s song doesn’t work on those already in love. That’s the truth, Elara. Enzo is in love with you.’
Elara’s hands were shaking. She couldn’t stop them.
‘When we first met, and you read me…you told me you’d seen Enzo and me combining our powers,’ she said. ‘You saw something else, didn’t you?’
Isra sighed. ‘Yes, but that’s for him to tell you. Though I promise you, Elara, the fear you feel for the pain the prophecy may lead you and Enzo to…it’s worth it.’ Her eyes softened. ‘Isn’t it better to let your heart feel every peak and valley of life, than to close it and feel nothing at all? Isn’t the pleasure of love worth the pain?’
She looked at the clock hanging above Elara’s head. ‘Speak to him, Elara. He stopped in here, a little while ago, on the way to his studio. Just…go to him. There’s still time before tomorrow. For the love of Stars just tell him, will you? Tell him that you’re in love with him too.’
Her footsteps thumped on the cobblestones as she ran, following the familiar route through the darkened streets of Sol to Enzo’s studio.
The door from the street was locked. She didn’t let that stop her, heading around the back of the building, clambering over the wall to the terraced garden and breathing a sigh of relief when she found a window had been left open.
Hesitating for a moment, drawing a shaky breath, she eased herself through the gap and into the studio.
Enzo wasn’t there.
The space was as they had left it when they had created the duskglass those weeks ago, her novels strewn across the soft divan, Enzo’s tools cluttered on a workbench. A carafe of water lay on the small table in the terraced garden. She entered quietly, yet more tears threatening to spill. Every blissful moment, every good, pure memory had happened in that space. She trailed to the workbench, her hand skimming the tools, a sad smile on her face as she remembered Enzo force-feeding her vanilla pastries in that very spot.
She let out a shuddering sob. He wasn’t here, and Ariete was as good as upon them.
Elara turned, her eyes catching on the screen that Enzo had worked behind, marked with paint and chalk, a fine dust settled over it. His secret project. She smiled again as she ran her fingers over the material of the screen and moved it aside.
A harsh breath left her.
A woman was carved into the gigantic slab of stone that stood as tall as Elara. She was exquisitely detailed, her arms thrown out in untamed abandon, hair spread around her, and a gleam of courage in her eyes. The woman’s lips were carved into a smile of half elation, and flowers—forget-me-nots, Elara realized—were impressed into the wild locks of her hair. She traced the curves of the figure beneath a dress that looked like it was being tugged by the air around them. And Elara knew, as she took a step back and drank the art in, that she was looking at herself.
With a shaking and tearful smile, she traced her eyes, mirrored in the stone, alive with triumph. The shapes had been rendered with such care, a moment captured in time.
She thought back to when she had fallen off the cliff. The fear, followed by the hope. Enzo had captured it all. Had captured her in the moment she had killed a monster.
‘Elara,’ a voice breathed behind her.
She spun around, heart thundering.
‘Enzo,’ she choked out. ‘I thought you’d left.’
He stood in the studio’s doorway, clutching a cup of water. ‘I’m here,’ he rasped.
She took a step towards him. ‘It’s me. This sculpture. The day we jumped off the cliff.’
‘I—’ He gritted his teeth, swallowing. His jaw worked, as though debating whether to speak. He closed his eyes, resolution on his face. ‘I knew then.’
‘Knew what?’ Her voice was a breath, a whisper.
‘That you were my soulmate.’
Something within her chest leapt. ‘What did you just say?’
‘My mother told me, not long before she left to travel to Asteria, that half of my soul was missing. She said she could see it, my perfect counterpart, waiting for me.’
‘That can’t be me.’ Elara’s voice was a rasp. ‘My prophecy would not allow that.’
‘It doesn’t make sense, I know. But I can only tell you my truth. A truth I think you feel too.’
‘But you hated me.’ Her hands were tremoring, and so she pressed them to her sides.
‘When I pushed you off that cliff, and realized that there was a chance you could die, something tugged in my chest. A physical pull. I had no choice in it, no sway. I jumped off after you because my heart bade me to.’
A lump had begun to form in Elara’s throat. ‘You were so angry with me the next day, when I’d tried to leave.’
‘I didn’t want to admit what I’d felt. And then, when I visited Isra after I told you to go…She admitted what else she had seen when she read you. She saw it too, El. We are soul-tied. The moment she confirmed what I suspected, I was in denial. I tried to do everything to stop it being true. Tried to keep hating you, to push you away. Because of who you were, the prophecy, my father…’
He sighed.
‘But now, nothing seems to matter. Other than that you know that I am in love with you, Elara. And that you are who I have been searching for all my life. That was my secret, my payment to Eli. That my soulmate was a girl who could never truly love me back.’
‘Enzo—’
‘No, El.’ A dam seemed to break as the words poured out of him. ‘I need you to understand. You said we couldn’t be anything more than friends, and I would have done it. After I walked you back from the baths, I knew.’ His voice was ragged as he sagged against the door frame. ‘That I would have taken the crumbs you fed me. Taken you in sips, even when I wanted to drown, if it meant I could be near you.’
Elara was trembling as each word caressed her. A silence stretched between them as Enzo fidgeted with his hands, the nerve in his jaw ticking. She looked at him, words warring on her lips, until finally she spoke.
‘ Drown in me. ’
His head snapped up, every muscle standing to attention. Their gaze locked. A ragged breath escaped him. Then in five strides, he was on her. His hands gathered in her hair.
‘I love you too,’ she whispered against his lips. ‘I think I’ve been falling since I met you. It was so easy to love you, Enzo. Your strength, your passion, your courageous lion’s heart.’ She placed a palm over his raggedly beating chest. ‘I’ve waited all my life for you.’
The smile he gave at her words was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, more beautiful than any marble treasure he could carve. Light glowed from him as he met her lips with his own. She arched into him, a whimper escaping her as her shadows curled around him. He held her tightly, so close that the pain was exquisite. She wrapped her hands in his curls and tugged, angling his neck so that she could kiss it. A moan left him as his hands roamed her body, unsure where to begin now that she was all his. He tore his lips from hers for a second as he wiped workings and papers from the bench’s surface. Then he pulled her up, and she draped her legs around him as he lifted her on to the workbench. Lust swept her as she took him in, how undone he was—just for her.
His rough fingers hitched up her dress, and she found herself wet already as he pushed her head to the side, kissing and licking the arch of her neck.
‘I’ve imagined you, spread on this worktable for me since the moment you entered the studio,’ he murmured. ‘My muse.’
She moaned against his words as he pushed back to look at her. His hand moved higher with urgency as his other began to unbuckle his belt, and he gathered her to him again.
‘I went to see Isra,’ she breathed as his head dipped, his hands yanking at her dress. Her breasts spilled from it and he swore, his tongue sucking and lapping until his lips wrapped around her nipple.
‘Stars,’ Elara strangled out. He groaned, his teeth grazing the sensitive flesh, sending arrows of fire through her.
‘ Did you, princess?’ he murmured, pausing his exploration with his mouth for only a moment before trailing it to her other breast.
Elara gently leaned back to look at him. ‘She told me everything. About giving one’s crown. What it meant.’
Enzo paused, and pulled away. Panic raced through her as she wondered whether she should have mentioned it. Then, his eyes not leaving hers once, Enzo sank slowly before her, his tall frame sinking level with her hips. He braced the workbench with his arms on either side of her.
‘I was rudely interrupted the night I gave you it. And it’s a shame, since I expressed a certain desire for wanting to taste you as you wore it. But no matter. I’m sure you’ll taste just as divine without one.’ His smile curled as he pushed her skirt up, before hooking his arms under her thighs, his hands gripping their soft flesh. He looked up at her again.
‘Something tells me you enjoy me on my knees.’
‘I’ve never seen such a pretty sight,’ Elara crooned.
‘Instead of a queen, I’ll make you a goddess. Then I can worship you the way I’m supposed to.’ His smile turned positively feline as he hitched her dress up to her waist. She felt herself exposed to the cool air, and shivered.
‘Yes,’ he breathed. ‘I think I’ll pray to you with my tongue.’
Her foot landed lightly on his chest, pushing him back. He looked at it in confusion, then desire, as he observed her, challenge sparking in his eyes.
‘Beg,’ she said.
He let out a soft laugh, biting his lip as Elara smiled. ‘Oh, you are wicked.’
She lifted a shoulder. ‘I followed your orders, it’s only right you follow mine.’
Enzo groaned, his eyes flicking to her sex. ‘Please,’ he breathed.
‘Please what ?’ she purred.
‘Please, Elara, let me taste you.’ His eyes burned as they fixed on her. She bit her lip, lifting her hips and grasping her dress with two hands as she pulled it up over her, discarding it on the floor. He hooked his fingers around her underwear and pulled them off, leaving her bare. Enzo drank in her naked form, his eyes roaming every inch of her, soaking in every curve and dip. She felt his gaze as though it were a tangible thing, trailing flames down her.
She made herself look into his eyes as she opened her legs.
‘Take what is yours,’ she breathed, and Enzo did not hesitate.
His tongue sank on to her, pressing hard. She gasped, gripping the edge of the workbench as rivers of pleasure danced through her. Her hands tangled through his thick curls, digging in as she rocked at the sheer ecstasy of him on her. A sound she didn’t know she could make escaped her as he slowly swirled his tongue.
‘Gods, the fucking taste of you, Elara.’ He said it as though he was angry with her. He delved between her thighs once more, finishing the sentiment with a slow, tantalizing kiss. ‘Like light-warmed cherries. So. Fucking. Sweet.’ He moaned into her as his arms locked around her thighs again, pressing for more, deeper and deeper. She had never felt pleasure like it. She was a deity in his arms, his lips a feverish prayer over her body, reverent, adoring. Elara arched her back, her head dropping in ecstasy as a whimper escaped her.
‘I know, princess,’ he murmured, pausing briefly. ‘I know.’
His tongue danced, teasing and flicking before taking her all in, then dancing away again, sending waves of gold crashing and peaking through her. She felt like she was drowning; she felt like she was flying. All that existed was that moment and him, kneeling before her, worshipping her. And just when she thought she couldn’t fly any higher, she felt Enzo slowly press a finger into her.
‘Skies, Enzo,’ she breathed as it filled her.
‘My name on your lips may be my favourite sound in all of Celestia,’ he said, the deep sound reverberating through her. She shivered, shifting as she tried to create some friction, anything to satiate the ache building inside her. But Enzo kept his finger still, his eyes locked on hers.
‘Say it again,’ he said roughly.
‘ Lorenzo ,’ she moaned.
With a sigh he pushed a second finger into her, and he curled them, pumping them maddeningly slowly as he swirled his tongue again. The combination sent her over the edge, and she felt herself unravel at his strong insistent strokes.
‘What was it you said you’d never felt before?’ He sucked slowly, and she jerked against her will. ‘Ah yes,’ he smirked. ‘Fire.’
To Elara’s utter disbelief, she began to feel warm flames lick her as Enzo pressed his tongue flat to her. A rivulet of fire danced off his tongue, and she felt embers pulsing and drawing circles around her. The heat was delicious, warm enough that she started to tingle.
A roar pounded in her ears as Enzo’s tongue and flames caressed her, the heat vibrating and rippling. ‘Enzo, I’m going to—’
Enzo pulled back. ‘Not yet, you’re not.’ He pulled his fingers out of her, and she gasped at the emptiness, the shock of being so close to the edge knocking the breath from her.
‘What the fuck are you doing?’ she panted. Enzo ran his tongue over his lips, glossed with her, but didn’t reply. He stroked a thumb lazily over her centre, causing her to jolt again.
Enzo’s eyes were heavy with lust as they stared at each other, Enzo still on his knees.
‘Tell me you’re mine, Elara,’ he said softly, and memories of their tryst at the Asterian ball echoed through her as she saw something that looked like a plea in his eyes.
‘I’m yours,’ she whispered. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. When he opened them, there was only a thin ring of gold around his pupil. And without a word, he stood up, lifting her so that her legs wrapped around his middle. He kissed her deeply, and the taste of herself on his lips made Elara shiver with pleasure anew.
He sank her to the floor, to the white sheets laid all over the studio to catch the fall of marble and plaster dust. The first rays of dawn were beginning to shine through the wide windows, refracting off the sculptures and busts that surrounded them. She turned, running her fingers over a large bust standing on the floor next to her, her thumb tracing the figure’s lips. Enzo took a moment as she arched her back and stretched her arms behind her, closing her eyes as she revelled in the light and shadow playing over her.
‘I’m going to carve the way you look right now into stone,’ he breathed, pulling his shirt over his head. His muscles rippled, taut with tension as he bore over Elara, leaning on his forearms on either side of her.
He pulled a strand of her hair between his fingers. She smiled up at him. The Light danced over him, the golden rays of early morning bouncing off the bronze of his skin. ‘Nothing will be the same after this, you know that, don’t you?’
‘It hasn’t been for a long time,’ Elara whispered. ‘And I still choose you.’
‘Elara,’ he breathed. ‘You’ve made me a better man, you know that? I was blinded for so long by the Light, that I never saw the beauty in the shadows. You opened my eyes. You made me see.’
Elara melted, delicate shadows swirling from her fingertips as they caressed him.
His eyes fluttered shut against them as he slowly unbuttoned his trousers, letting them fall and kicking them off as his hard length was freed. Elara stopped breathing, a dull, pounding roar drumming inside of her.
When she looked up, he was gazing at her, transfixed. ‘Open your legs for me, princess.’
She sat up, leaning on her arms, her eyes on him, knowing exactly what she wanted, exactly what she was going to do no matter the consequences. And with steel in her eyes and a raise of her chin, she did as he had asked. She saw him twitch and she bit her lip, incredulous that she could elicit such a response from him without touching him. He clicked his tongue, slowly dragging his eyes to her lips, her breasts, taking his time to drink in what he’d been denied for too long, all the way down.
‘Lie back,’ he murmured.
She let herself fall back on the sheet as he pinned her arms over her head with one hand, the other tracing patterns up and down her thighs, so close to where she ached.
‘Please,’ she half-begged.
His lip quirked. ‘ Now the princess has learned some royal manners.’
He pushed a finger inside of her as he licked and bit her neck, trailing kisses down to her breasts. He swirled a tongue around her nipple, and she arched into him.
‘You’re soaked,’ he moaned in her ear as he worked her, threading his other hand with her own above her head.
Elara could say nothing at that point. Not a single coherent thought came to mind, only the want of more, more, more. She tried to urge him with her hips.
‘Patience is a virtue, Elara,’ he whispered against her skin.
‘And teasing should be a sin, Lorenzo ,’ she retorted breathlessly. He laughed softly, slowly drawing his fingers out of her. He settled above her, his muscle-corded arms on either side of her.
His eyes were fixed on hers, his skin glowing. He looked so handsome that her eyes watered. She could feel his hardness grazing her entrance and ground her hips over it. He stilled, caressing her temple, her cheek, parting her lips. After a moment of searching her eyes, he slowly pushed himself into her.
Elara cried out, and he captured the sound with his tongue, wanting to taste her pleasure as it danced between them. She was so full with him, she couldn’t think.
‘Gods,’ Enzo breathed as he kept pushing. ‘How do we fit so perfectly?’
Elara had thought the same, and pleasure flooded through her anew at his words. He settled all the way to the hilt, joining fully with her as she gasped.
She had never felt anything like it, certainly not with Lukas—the feeling of such fullness, such belonging, such raw desire and pleasure.
‘I didn’t know it could feel this good,’ she gasped. She ground against him, impatient for friction, writhing her hips as he watched.
‘Fucking Stars,’ he hissed, letting his head fall back as he breathed in deeply. He began to move with her in rhythm, slowly at first so that she could adjust to him. He leaned back as he palmed her breast, tweaking her hardened nipple. She moaned against the sensation, pleasure rippling through her whole body at the feeling of him inside her and out. She ground harder, wanting more. He cursed again, stilling.
Elara stopped, looking at him. ‘Are you okay? Is this okay?’
Enzo huffed out a soft laugh. ‘You feel like fucking heaven, and if you keep doing that, I’m going to finish before you do. Which is not how any of my fantasies played out.’
A small thrill raced through her. ‘Fantasies, hm? Tell me more.’
He gave a dark chuckle as he pulled out of her. She made a sound of protest, but he held himself over her, panting.
‘Which one do you want to hear?’ His head dropped to her neck. ‘The one where I peeled those skimpy, sweaty training clothes off and fucked the brat out of you?’
Elara tried to regain some composure, though her body was acting of its own accord, clawing at his back, her hips canting.
‘Or when I made you sit on the throne while I knelt and tasted every sweet drop of you? I could go on and on, princess.’ He licked her pulse point as he finally slid back into her. Elara moaned as something began to coil tighter and tighter in her stomach.
‘Seems like you couldn’t get me off your mind,’ she breathed.
He made an amused sound as he twisted her hair around his hand, pulling it as he trailed kisses down her throat. ‘You consumed me, Elara,’ he said, quickening his pace. ‘Every waking moment I wanted you near me, even if it was just to fight.’
He pushed deeper, faster, and Elara’s head dropped back.
‘You wanted me that much?’ she asked, even as the pleasure became too much, threatened to engulf her.
‘You have no idea. You have every part of me, El.’
She stilled them both for a moment, cupping his face in her hands.
‘There are few things that I’m sure of in this world, Enzo. But the one thing I know is that you are half of my soul.’ She brought his face to hers, kissing him fiercely. ‘I love you,’ she breathed. ‘Until my last breath and beyond.’
Enzo gathered her up against him as they moved in time, as he kissed her neck, her lips, her tongue, tasting the words she gave him.
‘I love you, I love you, I love you.’
She lost all resolve, the ache rising to a crashing of waves as she came, closing around him. Seeing her lose control, he came with her, over and over, their bodies slamming and shuddering in throes of ecstasy, and just her name spoken repeatedly on his lips, ‘Elara, Elara, Elara.’