Chapter 154
Long chapter alert!!
The last shackle hit the floor with a heavy clang.
Rhaevan slowly flexed his wrists, rubbing the angry red marks the iron had left behind. He pushed himself to his feet, but his knees immediately buckled beneath him. I caught him before he could fall, wrapping an arm around his waist and holding him against me.
"Careful," I said.
He gave me the faintest look of annoyance but didn't argue. That was when I finally allowed myself to look at him properly.
The bruises, the cuts, the dried blood on his body, and the exhaustion etched across his face made my chest ache.
Whatever had happened to him during those days in this place had taken more from him than I had realized. My eyes stung, and I quickly blinked away the tears before he could see them.
Instead, I forced a crooked smile.
"You look like you've been trampled by a herd of enchanted buffalo."
A quiet laugh escaped him. It was such a small sound, but hearing it after days of believing I might never hear his voice again made something inside me loosen.
I cupped his face between my hands, carefully avoiding the bruises.
"Who did this to you?" I asked, my voice softer now. "Tell me. I'll make him swallow every piece of Solithium in this kingdom."
Rhaevan chuckled under his breath.
His expression softened as he looked at me. There was something almost unbearably tender in his eyes, something that made me forget the dungeon around us for a moment. He pulled me closer by the waist and wrapped his arms around me, resting his chin on my shoulder.
"I missed you."
My throat tightened. I gently put my arms around him, careful not to hurt him or touch his wounds.
"I missed you too," I whispered with a faint smile.
We stayed like that for a while. I ran my fingers gently through his hair, simply enjoying the fact that he was here, alive, and finally in my arms again.
Eventually, I pulled back just enough to look at him.
"Hey there, Prince," I said, trying to bring a little lightness back into the moment. "We need to move. We have a kingdom to conquer."
He went still for a second before pulling me back slightly, just enough to look at my face. His eyebrows creased with amusement.
"Should I start calling you Prince Aurelian now?"
I smiled.
His expression softened as he looked at me."No. I want you to call me Rhaev. I'm your Rhaev. Forever."
My smile faded into something softer.
I placed my palm against his cheek, my thumb brushing gently over his skin.
"Rhaev..." I whispered. "I love you."
He leaned into my palm and closed his eyes.
For a moment, neither of us said anything. I simply let him stay there, letting the quiet stretch between us while my fingers rested against his cheek.
Then I smiled faintly.
"Love, we have to get out of here. Lucien is keeping watch outside the prison chambers for now, and-"
He opened his eyes and looked at me.
There was something in his expression that made me stop.
His gaze lingered on my face, as though he were trying to memorize it all over again. His hand tightened slightly around my waist, and a faint smile touched his lips.
"Rhaev?" I murmured.
He didn't answer.
Instead, he leaned closer until his lips brushed mine, soft and hesitant, as though even now he was asking permission. My heart stumbled at the touch, and I closed the last inch between us.
His arms tightened around me.
The kiss began slowly, almost reverently. His lips were warm against mine, and for one suspended moment, every thought disappeared. There was only the familiar warmth of him, the steady strength of his arms around me, and the overwhelming realization that he was here.
When we finally parted, neither of us moved very far. Our foreheads nearly touched as we struggled to catch our breath.
"I was afraid, dove..." His voice was rough, the words almost breaking beneath the weight of everything he had been holding inside. "I thought I'd lost you."
"You didn't."
I reached for him before the fear could return and kissed him again.
And this time, Rhaevan kissed me with the desperation of a man who had spent every miserable moment apart from me wondering whether he would ever hold me again. Now that I was finally in his arms, he seemed unwilling to waste even a heartbeat of the time we had been given.
His hand settled firmly at my waist, guiding me backward until my back met the cold stone wall. His other hand slipped to the nape of my neck, holding me close as though he needed the reassurance of knowing I was real.
I wrapped my arms around him, my fingers tangling into his hair. I needed something solid beneath my hands, something that would convince me this wasn't another illusion and that Rhaevan was truly standing here with me.
His lips moved against mine with growing urgency. He caught my upper lip gently between his own before moving to my lower lip, and the tenderness of the gesture slowly gave way to something warmer and more consuming.
When his teeth caught my lower lip, I gasped.
He deepened the kiss, and my breath caught again as his tongue met mine. Whatever careful restraint he had been clinging to began to disappear, replaced by the hunger of everything we had denied ourselves.
A soft moan escaped me against his lips.
"Cassie..." he whispered, almost like a prayer.
Before I could answer, he kissed me again.
The urgency in that kiss left me struggling to keep pace with him. My knees weakened, and he caught me immediately, tightening his arm around my waist and holding me firmly against him.
His fingers caught the edge of my top and gently pulled it aside, exposing my shoulder. His lips followed, leaving a trail of lingering kisses along my skin, from my jaw to my neck and toward my collarbone, before returning to the sensitive point at my pulse.
His mouth lingered there.
When his teeth caught my skin gently, a shiver ran through me.
His lips moved toward the front of my neck, and I instinctively tilted my head, giving him greater access. He covered my skin with slow, heated kisses, each one making it harder to remember that we were supposed to be thinking about anything beyond the two of us.
His hands moved higher from my waist while his attention remained fixed on my neck. I tightened my fingers in his hair, unable to stop the helpless whimper that escaped me.
For those stolen moments, the world outside simply ceased to exist.
We had spent so long holding everything back-the longing, the desire, the heartache, the fear of losing one another-that now, with nothing standing between us, the thin line of control we had maintained for so long finally disappeared.
"Rhaev..." I managed breathlessly. "We... must..."
He nipped gently at my earlobe, drawing another gasp from me.
"We should get out of here..."
"Hmm..." he murmured, making it painfully clear that escaping was nowhere near the top of his list of priorities.
Then he captured my lips again feverishly, pulling me completely into him until I could no longer tell where my fear ended and his relief began.
The heat between us seemed to fill the confined space, shutting out the cold stone walls, the danger beyond them, and every reason we should have been thinking clearly.
For a few stolen moments, there was no enemy prison.
There was only Rhaevan's arms around me, my fingers tangled in his hair, and the overwhelming certainty that, after everything we had endured, we had finally found our way back to each other.
"My Moon?"
The startled voice of the chief guard broke through our steamy make-out session.
I froze.
He was standing at the entrance to the chamber, his eyes wide and his expression somewhere between horror and disbelief.
Damn this lovesick idiot. I had completely forgotten about him.
His gaze darted between us before settling on me again.
"What is this man doing against that dainty mouth of yours? Is everything all right? And why are your clothes so dishevelled?" he asked, his eyes dropping pointedly to my exposed skin.
Rhaevan moved before I could react.
He stepped in front of me, pulling me firmly against his chest and turning his body so that he completely blocked the man's view of me. One arm remained securely around my waist, keeping me tucked against his side, while I quickly adjusted my top and covered my exposed shoulder.
Only then did Rhaevan turn his attention to the moron, who was now practically drooling.
His expression changed completely.
The warmth that had filled his eyes moments ago was gone, replaced by a cold, murderous calm. His arm tightened around me as his gaze fixed on the man.
"You have three seconds to stop looking at her."
The man blinked.
Rhaevan's gaze did not waver.
"Choose your next three seconds carefully."
Crap. Even his threats were turning me on.
And this ugly-faced interruption had to happen now. We had just found each other again after everything, and, man, nobody had made me feel that good EVER. Now I was left wondering where that kiss might have led if we had been given a little more time.
Was that really too much to ask?
"My moon... my love blossom... what's going on?"
"Dove, why is he calling you that?"
My gaze darted between the two men as I desperately tried to come up with an explanation. I wanted to smash this moronic general right then and there.
"I... um..." I cleared my throat. "I was checking if he was breathing properly?"
The guard blinked.
Rhaevan slowly turned his head toward me.
The look on his face suggested that he was deeply, profoundly scandalized by my explanation.
I gave him a nervous laugh and shrugged helplessly, silently communicating that I had absolutely no better excuse.
His eyes narrowed. I smiled innocently. It was probably not working.
The chief guard, apparently satisfied with his own interpretation of the situation, stepped closer with a dramatic smile.
"Oh, my love, my sugary pie. How devoted you are to your duties as a maid."
I resisted the urge to gag.