Chapter 50
CHAPTER 50
F or a moment, I wonder what to do.
I stare up into Talan’s heartbreakingly beautiful face. Even though I should be scared out of my wits, all I can think about is how desperately I wanted to see him.
“Nia.” Talan’s voice sounds wrecked, like he hasn’t slept for days. “You came back.”
“I’m not allowed in Camelot anymore. They say I’m a traitor.” My voice cracks a little. “They arrested me. I can’t go back there.”
“ Did they arrest you? It’s hard to say when you lie endlessly.” His voice is barely a whisper. “You faked your family. Your name isn’t Vaillancourt, is it? And the man I buried?—”
He breaks off, staring at me.
I feel myself crumbling into ash. “He was a member of the resistance. Anti-monarchy. Demi-Fey.” I swallow hard. “And no, I’m not the farm girl you thought I was. I’m Nia Melisande, Mordred’s daughter. He’s still alive, in Avalon.”
He stares at me without moving. Not betraying a single thing.
“I grew up in America, speaking English,” I add. “I grew up believing I was human. You heard my thoughts for years. I heard you repeating them once in your sleep.”
A tiny twitch of his lips is his only reaction to my confession. “You’re here only because you have nowhere else to go.”
Desperation crackles through my nerves. “I wanted to see you.”
His eyes flare like torches in the breeze. “I want to hear it.”
My heart is beating faster. My blood pumps hard. “Hear what?”
“You.” He switches to English. “Speak to me in English. I want to hear how you sound.”
I stare at him, startled by the thickness of his accent. I’d only heard him speak English once before, briefly.
Swallowing, I search for the right words. “‘Where fairytales come to life,’” I say in my American accent. “That’s what I heard you say in your sleep.”
He goes as still as the stone walls around us, but his eyes gleam with an expression I can’t quite read.
“I’m sorry I lied,” I go on softly in English. “I thought you were a cold and ruthless monster. And honestly? You intentionally created that impression, so I don’t know what you expected.”
His jaw flexes, but he doesn’t interrupt. He just watches me, his gaze piercing.
“I’d heard your thoughts over the years, like you heard mine,” I say in English. “I had glimpses of a hedonist. Brutal flashes of you fighting battles. But it wasn’t enough to know the real you. Not until I stepped into your dreams. I found you there. Not the voluptuary, not the sadist, or the soldier with blood dripping from his sword. Just…you.” I step closer, pulse racing. “And once I saw Talan, the real Talan, I knew I couldn’t let go of you. That’s why I dragged you from your room the night of the assassination. And that’s why I can’t leave you, even if Camelot would take me back.”
Something flickers in his expression, a subtle softening, but his eyes—gods, his eyes still look like they want to consume me. Dark and wild and absolutely ravenous, like he’ll die without me.
I’ve never found him more perfect than I do now. This is the real Talan beneath the artifice, under the cool, controlled exterior. I think this is the moment I love him the most, because this Talan is something I get to see. This Talan is only for me.
He says my name, and it sounds like a sigh.
Our eyes meet for one intense moment, and then he leans in and brushes his lips against mine. That’s all it takes. That light touch races through me like fire, and I pull him closer to me, parting my lips. Slowly, his tongue sweeps in, finding mine. He tastes faintly of mead, sweet and lightly spiced. Achingly delicious. As I melt into him, his fingers slide into my hair.
Molten warmth rolls through my body, and the kiss deepens. He pins me against the wall, his kiss scorching. He’s branding me with the untamed power of the Fey forest, binding me to him like night brambles wrapped around the ancient stones.
Our minds twine together, and his thoughts race through mine—all the loneliness he felt without me, the longing for me. His yearning, his wild desperation to touch me again. I see myself the way he sees me—bathed in gold, like the dawn.
Slowly, he pulls back from the kiss. His eyes lock on mine for a charged moment, the copper burning. Then, his gaze drifts down my body, and he reaches for the clasp on my cloak. He unlatches it, and the cloak slips from my shoulders, dropping at my feet.
The corner of his mouth lifts in a faintly sensual smile. He slides his hand around the back of my throat and kisses me again—more slowly this time, savoring me. He pulls away with a heated nip at my lower lip.
“I will never stop thinking about you.” His voice is ragged. “Even when the stars burn out, you’ll still be in my head because you were the only thing that ever made me feel like I wasn’t completely alone.”
His words unclench something tight my chest. “I know, because you belong in my head, too. That’s why we found each other, even from across the ocean.”
Talan tugs down the straps of my gown, and the castle air kisses my bare breasts, making my nipples go hard. I don’t care right now that we’re in a hallway, that anyone could walk out and see us. All I know is that I’m desperate with need for him.
With a racing pulse, I pull his soft, black shirt off and drop it at our feet with my cloak. Biting my lip, I run my hands over his chest, his abs. Gently, I tease at the waistband of his trousers, and his muscles go tense. He inhales sharply, and then his lips curve into a wicked smile.
He grabs my wrists and pins my hands over my head, flat against the cold stone. Now, I’m at his mercy. And when it comes to Talan, that’s exactly how I like it.
With my hands pinned, he lowers his mouth to the curve of my throat. His breath warms my skin—then slowly, his Fey canines brush over me. The sensation is teasing, agonizingly light, each graze sending a heated shiver dancing down my spine. White-hot desire coils in my body. His tongue traces the path of his kiss, leaving a trail of heat. As his lips linger, his magic thrums over me. He electrifies me like a storm.
I tilt my head back, exposing my neck to him.
Releasing my wrists, he lifts his face from my throat and captures my mouth with his. He kisses me hard, and I need more of him. Now.
As if he can hear my thoughts, Talan lifts the hem of my dress. Slow, languid, the soft material drags over my thighs, my hips. He strips away my underwear, the last barrier between us, exposing me completely. Desire pulses between my thighs, and my breasts ache for his touch. Every nerve in my body feels alight for him.
I’m naked in this hall, but I don’t care. The world narrows to my heated desire, my desperation for him to touch me. All that remains is this overwhelming, aching need for him.
“Spread your legs for me,” he whispers, and I do as he commands. His hand slides between my thighs, lightly stroking my clit, watching me intently.
His restraint is maddening. He’s stoking my arousal to a fever pitch, and desire coils more tightly inside me. I need him inside me. My breasts swell and ache for his touch. Every nerve is alight. I want him to claim every inch of me until I can no longer remember where I end and he begins.
At last, I can’t wait any longer. I reach for his belt and tug it free, never breaking his gaze. Then I slide his trousers down, freeing him.
Gods. Gods . He is devastating, divine perfection in every way.
His gaze scorches over me, pure, unfiltered desire radiating from him. Primal. Possessive. He grips the folds of my dress at my waist.
“Tell me you want me.” His voice is husky, ragged, stripped of his usual control. “I can see it, and I can feel it, but I want to hear you say it. Tell me in English.”
“I don’t just want you.” I take a deep breath. “I need you. Without you, I’m not whole.”
Tonight, the dam is breaking. No more lies. No more pretending. Just the raw, unfiltered truth between Talan and me. And for the first time in ages, I can finally breathe.
He leans his face close to mine, his eyes scorching. “Here she is—the real Nia.”
“You have been tormenting me for far too long, Talan. I need you.”
A low growl rumbles from his chest. Grabbing my ass, he lifts me and presses me against the wall. I wrap my thighs around his waist, my back flat against the stone.
His arousal presses against my core. Slowly, he slides inside me, stretching me open, filling me. From the center out, hot pleasure radiates through my body. I clutch his shoulders and tilt my head back.
One of his hands cups my ass, anchoring me where he wants me, and the other threads into my hair. He tugs my head close to his and kisses me again.
Carefully, he thrusts deeper inside me. I can tell he’s holding back. Tension radiates off him. My hips tilt slightly, urging him on. He groans a little, and I adjust to him as he slides even deeper.
“I will never let you go again,” he rasps. “You’re the first light. You’re the start of everything.”
Primal, animal pleasure ripples through my body as he thrusts into me, moving faster now. My fingernails dig into his shoulders. He drives deeper, unrelenting, and I feel myself breaking open.
“Look at me, Nia,” he murmurs.
I open my eyes, my gaze locked on his as he buries himself deep inside me. I knew that sex with Talan would be amazing, but even in all my fantasies, I couldn’t have pictured the absolute mind-shattering ecstasy of this moment.
The copper in his eyes is no longer fire. It’s lightning flashing in a storm. I know I said nothing lasts forever, but we belong to each other for good. I’m his, and he’s mine. It was always this way, and it always will be.
He moves faster now, driving against me.
A storm breaks inside me. My orgasm ripples through my mind, and it’s like the sky itself cracking open inside my body.
His kiss is desperate, reverent. As pleasure ripples through me, he covers my mouth with his, his body shuddering with mine, his fingers gripping me more tightly.
I catch my breath, aftershocks making me clench around him.
Holding his shoulders, I melt against him. There’s a glow between us as magical as twilight.
The man is an addiction, one I’m never giving up.
Slowly, he slides out of me and lets my feet drop to the floor. I adjust my clothing, and he does the same.
Once I’m dressed, Talan gathers me in his arms, and I wrap my arms around his neck.
I’m getting carried a lot these days.
“I understand why you lied,” he says softly. “Of course you did. I let the world think I was a monster. I let the world think I was the Butcher of Brittany.”
“And it wasn’t you, was it?”
He carries me into his sanctuary, which is lit by torches that cast warm light over the books.
“Now,” I say, “you. Spill everything.”
He sits next to me, leaning back on the pillows, one arm folded behind his head. Torchlight wavers over him, and he looks utterly satisfied with himself. Every inch the velvet-tinged voluptuary I’d first met in my thoughts.
“You want to know about Brittany?”
He asks this in English, which makes me smile. There’s something about him speaking with an accent that makes him seem younger.
“Yes. What happened?”
He sits up, his expression darkening. His body looks tense again. “I refused to lead the invasion of France. Father ordered me to command it, but I knew it would be a massacre. So, I disobeyed him. My father never lets anything go, so he made a point. He slaughtered thousands. Left their bodies in the streets. Rivers of blood. He brought me there to show me the carnage. ‘This,’ he said, ‘is what happens when you disobey your king’s wishes.’ Then he told the world it was I who’d done it, and I let him. It was my atonement because the massacre really did happen because of me .”
He’s staring at one of the torches, seemingly entranced. I swallow hard.
“And this is how he got you to join his campaign?”
“He told me that until I took charge, he’d drown every corner of Europe in blood. No one spared. Not the women. Not the children. I realized I had to step in and take control, make the war efficient, end it quickly. But he’s uncontrollable. He keeps pushing. Always wanting more.” His lips curl in a faint, bitter smile. “And that’s why I’m going to kill him.”
“I have total faith in you.”
“But I have to leave you again in a few days, I’m afraid. There’s a rebellion brewing in Bristol against the occupation. I’ve used all the control I have over council members to stall Father’s attack, but I’m worried he might snap. He’s already opened portals all over the south of England. It will be a bloodbath all over again, attacks from every direction. He plans to terrorize the humans into submission, just like he did in France.”
I swallow hard. “What’s his plan, exactly?”
“A swarm of dragons to swoop over the city and burn it all. I think probably in about three to four days. He’s opening portals now, one at a time, getting ready for the attack.”
My fingers curl into the sheets. “Talan, that’s not the only threat we’re facing. The war might be ending soon, but not in a way that we can allow to happen. If we don’t stop Wrythe Pendragon, all the Fey will die. Right now, we’re relying on a few of my friends to save the world, and they’re not as strong as you. And they don’t have a dragon.”
He leans in closer to me, his dark eyebrows drawing together. “Spill. Everything.”