Chapter 21 #2
Gradually, she lifted her gaze toward him, the pain in her eyes piercing through his shattering heart. She was more than anything he’d ever wanted or needed, and he’d be damned if he let her push him away again. Let her throw what they had away.
Dropping his hands, he strode across the floor toward her.
He didn’t care if he woke the entire castle; she was going to listen to what he had to say.
“I know you love me, so stop fighting me! Stop pushing me away!” Daemon cupped her face in his hands, forcing her to look him in the eyes where tears threatened to spill over.
“This? Us? We’ve been written in the stars for centuries—our souls bound together, destined to scour the realm until they could find each other again.
But even without that, without fate deciding that we were meant to be, I want you.
We have a chance to be happy together, Auraelia. Stop fighting it. Please.”
Auraelia eased his hands from his face, her voice barely a whisper as she dropped her gaze to his chest. “I can’t.”
“No, you can. You just won’t.” His voice was sharp as a blade.
When she pulled her hands from his and took a step away, it was like a boulder dropped into the pit of his stomach.
Like she couldn’t stand breathing the same air he did.
“Why, Auraelia? Tell me why the fuck you are choosing to do this to us. Not just to me but to us. I fucking deserve that much.”
Auraelia’s eyes shot to his as she screamed, “I’m doing this because I love you, Daemon. Fuck!” Turning away from him, she looked up toward the ceiling.
When her gaze met his once more, tears lined her eyes. Regret and devastation swirled in her blue-gray orbs as she stared him down, her nostrils flaring as she tried to rein in her emotions.
She closed her eyes and ran her hands down her face, holding them over her mouth for a moment like she was praying before she continued, her voice still raised and shaking with every word. “Don’t you understand?”
Glassy eyes met his once more, her voice softer as she continued.
“I would bring this realm to its knees. Burn it to the ground until all that was left was ash and cinder if it meant keeping you safe. Keeping you here by my side. But I can’t do that.
” Tears streamed down her cheeks, but when Daemon reached for her, she held her hand out, took a step back, and shook her head.
“I can’t think straight when you’re here.
But I can barely breathe when you’re not.
I have to think about my people, your people, and the whole of Ixora.
I will not allow this realm to fall into her hands.
I don’t care whether we’re written in the stars or in the sand.
I will not lose you. I can’t lose you… It would break me. ”
They stared at each other for what felt like hours, though it had only been seconds.
He heard every word she said, but the one thing that played on repeat through his mind were those three little words he’d been dying to hear. The ones that kickstarted his heart into a gallop.
She loves me.
He’d known it to be true, but knowing and hearing were two very different things.
Daemon closed the space between them before Auraelia could even blink.
Cupping her face in his hands, he gently wiped away the tears that continued falling.
“I heard everything that you said, I did. But, Auraelia—” he paused, resting his forehead against hers.
“I’m not going to ask you to say it again.
Not because I don’t want to hear it—I want to hear it every day of my goddess damned life—but because I’ve been waiting for so long to hear it that even though you’ve said it while frustrated with me and this whole situation, it’s still the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard.
And I need you to know, my beautiful, shining star, that I love you, too.
More than there are stars in the sky, and it runs deeper than the depths of the sea.
I need you more than I need air in my lungs.
I am yours. In this life, the next, and whatever may lay beyond that. I am irrevocably in love with you.”
A choked sob slipped through Auraelia’s lips as she pushed up on her toes, her lips soft and forgiving beneath his.
Daemon let his hands fall from her face in favor of encircling her waist. Her body melted into his. Her hands snaked up his chest to wrap around his neck, fingers delving into the hair at his nape.
The kiss was unlike any they’d shared before.
It wasn’t rushed.
There was no frantic pulling of clothes or fumbling fingers.
It was like coming up for air.
Like stepping into the sunshine after days of rain.
When they finally parted, Auraelia looked up at him, and the world faded away until all that remained was her.
Love shone in the bright gray swirls of her eyes.
There was no mask.
No hiding.
It was pure and unfettered, and it was all for him.
“Take me to bed?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Daemon lifted her behind her knees, his lips melding against hers as he carried her into the bedchamber. After kicking the door behind them, he set her back on her feet, his hands finding her face again. He searched her gaze as his thumb swept idly across her cheeks. “I know I said I wouldn’t ask—”
“I love you, Daemon Alexander. I have for a long time, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.” It was a whisper across his lips but felt like fire in his veins. Igniting every inch of his body.
Daemon rested his brow against hers, breathing in the ever-present scent of lavender and something else that was intrinsically her. “And I love you, Auraelia Rose.”
He kissed her lips deeply, slowly working his way across her jaw and neck. When he reached the junction at her shoulder, he lifted his head. “May I?” he asked, his fingers playing with the laces of her corset.
Auraelia slowly bobbed her head, a coquettish grin on her face as one corner of her bottom lip disappeared between her teeth.
Daemon had to suppress the groan attempting to work its way up his throat. The thoughts that swam through his head with that one little movement would make even the goddess of love blush.
He took his time, gently tugging on the strings until they gave way and he could push it from her shoulders. He relished every hitch in her breath as his hands brushed against her. Savored the way love and lust filled her eyes and bore into his.
After her corset was on the floor, Auraelia reached for the ties on his tunic. “Can I?”
“You can do whatever you want, my love. I am yours to command.” Her cheeks pinkened at his endearment, and he couldn’t help the smile that pulled at his lips. They’d been through hell to get to this point and still had more to overcome. But this, right now, was all that mattered.
Auraelia slowly loosened the neck of his tunic, then trailed her hands down his chest to his waistband.
Her eyes stayed locked onto his as she gently pulled the shirt from his pants, sliding her hands beneath it before lifting it over his head.
Her hands were like a brand on his skin, marking every inch of him as hers.
With his shirt gone, her fingers skimmed across the lines of his tattoos, then the indents in his abs, his muscles jumping with every pass.
“My turn,” Daemon growled as he gripped her hips, walking her back until her knees hit the end of the bed.
He peeled the sheer linen tunic from her body, added it to the growing pile on the floor, and then gently pushed her down onto the mattress.
He let his eyes travel down her body. Taking in the way her chest rose and fell with every breath she took.
The way her nipples stiffened into peaks, and her skin pebbled under his gaze.
She was utter perfection.
Stepping between her legs, he leaned forward and kissed her softly before pushing her down onto the mattress and trailing featherlight kisses down her body.
His hands skimmed her sides while his lips kept to the line down her torso, using every grain of willpower he possessed not to stray to where her breasts heaved with every breath.
Auraelia’s hands lazily ran through his hair as he worked his way down, soft whimpers falling from her lips the closer he got to her center.
Kneeling at her feet, Daemon pressed a kiss to the ties between her hips, then pulled away, smirking as Auraelia let out a disgruntled groan and pushed onto her elbows.
His eyes locked onto hers as he made quick work of her boots, unstrapped the dagger from her thigh, then slowly peeled the leather down her legs.
A beautiful rosy hue colored her cheeks and radiated down her neck as he slowly kissed his way back up. Delicately pressing his lips to the inside of her ankle, the back of her knee, and the inside of her thigh before switching to the other side.
“Daemon,” she mewled. “Please. I need you.”
“What do you need, my star? Tell me what you want, and will scour the realm to make sure you have it.” Daemon hovered over her center, his breath coasting over the fabric that kept her from being completely bare before him.
Auraelia stared down her body, her gaze full of so much love that his heart clenched in his chest. “You. I just need you.”
As much as he wanted to drag this out, to tease her until she was writhing beneath him and begging for his touch…when she looked at him like that? Every thought and plan was thrown to the wayside, and all that existed was her.
Hooking his fingers beneath the straps on her hips, he slowly slid the fabric down her legs and tossed it on the floor.
Her pussy was gloriously pink and glistening with her arousal, the little bundle of nerves at the apex swollen and begging to be touched. Daemon leaned forward and ran the flat of his tongue up Auraelia’s center, groaning as she completely engulfed his senses.
The salty-sweet tang of her on his tongue.
Her arousal, mixed with the lavender on her skin, filled his nose.