Chapter 7 #2
I focus on her, bracing one arm beside her head, and I lower my face until her breath ghosts against my cheek. “You’re here. With me.”
“I know I am … but …” Her lips tremble. “I don’t feel like I am. I feel like I’m going to wake up and you’ll be gone, and Brennan will be there, and—”
“He isn’t here.”
“I know.”
“I am here.”
Her eyes plead with mine. “I need you to help me believe it.”
I capture her lips, my hand sliding into her hair. I stay there, waiting, until she opens for me with a broken sound that goes straight through my chest.
My tongue slips between her lips to stroke along hers. The sound she makes vibrates through my entire body.
My hand finds bare skin—her thigh, the curve of her waist—warm and smooth. When my fingertips brush the underside of her breast, she arches into the touch with a sound I swallow.
Tearing her mouth from mine, she gasps my name and I laugh softly, then kiss my way down her throat to the place where the rope left its marks on her neck. The skin there is smooth now. It wasn’t when we brought her back. The memory of it all is permanently imprinted into my mind.
The rope burns.
The bruising.
The way her pulse fluttered beneath my fingers while Serath and Caelum fought to keep her alive.
My teeth close over the pulse beating rapidly there, and she shudders.
“I need more,” she whispers, and reaches for the hem of my shirt. I let her pull it over my head, then her hands are on me, palms flat against my chest and she pushes gently, until I roll off her and onto my back.
She comes with me, straddling my hips and leaning over me, and just … looks at me. I lift one eyebrow.
“See anything you like?”
Her lips twitch, and I find myself holding my breath, waiting for her smile to break free. After everything that’s been done to her, the existence of that almost-smile is a miracle.
“I see a lot I like.” She traces the markings along my shoulder with one fingertip.
“I think I can make the view a thousand times better.”
“How?”
My magic brushes the hem of the tunic she’s wearing, and waits there.
Her eyes drop to it, then lift to mine.
“May I?”
She stares at me, then nods.
The tunic she’s wearing disappears, leaving her completely naked.
“How did you do—No, wait. I know how. Why did you make me strip all those times when you can just do … that?”
“I like watching you squirm.” I touch the hand she lifts to cover herself. “Please don’t spoil my view, Moirthalen.”
Her cheeks turn pink, but she drops her hand, and lets me look. My eyes pause on her breasts, lingering there until her nipples harden, then drop lower. I lick my lips, imagining her taste on my tongue.
“Cairn?” Her voice is thick and breathless.
I don’t reply, sliding my hand up her thigh. Her breathing quickens, lips parting. Her tongue comes out to wet her lips. I smile.
“Tell me what you want, Alleria.”
“You.”
“You can do better than that.” I trace one finger over the curve of her hip. “You have the Eldráfn of the Nightwild Guard naked and at your mercy.” The fact I can say the words without a single shred of bitterness and mean them isn’t lost on me. “What are you going to do with him?”
“I … You …” The pink in her cheeks spreads down her throat. She swallows.
I reach up and wind a lock of her hair around my finger, then tug her forward gently. “Shall I tell you what I want?”
She nods.
I keep drawing her closer until she’s bending over me, her lips less than an inch from mine, her hands braced on my shoulders.
“I want you to crawl up my body until your legs are either side of my head, so I can bury my tongue between your thighs. I want to hear you screaming my name while I’m deep inside you.
I want to keep you here with me, so I can spend my time learning every part of your body with my hands and my mouth until every breath you take belongs to this moment. To me.”
I wrap an arm around her waist and roll so she’s beneath me again and kiss her hard enough that her breath stutters. Cupping her breast, I stroke over the nipple with my thumb, and she shivers, rocking into my touch.
“Cairn.” Her lips chase mine when I lift my head to stare down at her.
“I want to do all those things,” I say softly, my mouth moving to press kisses to her jaw, her cheek, the corner of her eye.
Her hair falls back from her face, and my eyes catch on the point of her ear.
Caelum’s words come back to me.
It puts things back the way they’re supposed to be.
I go still. “But not until we’ve talked.”
She makes a sound of protest, her brow furrowing. “Now?”
“Now.”
She glares up at me, then sighs. “Is this a new form of torture?”
“No. Yes.” I take in a deep breath. “We need to talk about what happened when Serath and Caelum healed you.”
“Why? What happened?” She pushes herself upright, panic filling her voice. “Oh gods. What did they find? Am I still going to die?”
“You’re not going to die. Serath and Caelum healed everything.” I hold her gaze. “Including damage that was done to you a long time ago.”
“What does that mean?” Her voice climbs higher. “Cairn, what did it find?”
The air shimmers between us. Silver light gathers in my open palm, solidifying into a smooth, flat surface. I hold it up so she can see her reflection.
“See for yourself.”