32. Kyros
Chapter thirty-two
Kyros
I am at her mercy.
The bed sinks under my sudden weight. The brief moment of shock from her knocking me to my back vanishes as I look up and see her standing between my legs.
“Your eyes give you away.” She looks down at me sinfully, chest heaving, and those blue eyes burn like a searing flame.
At this moment I am malleable, ready to conform to whatever she needs of me.
I am hers to command. My body relaxes instantly under her heated gaze.
Releasing all control to her feels right.
“Do they?” I ask breathlessly, remembering how I said the same words to her not long ago.
“You’re hyperfixating on what you are thinking about with your eyes.” She continues, and I watch unabashedly as her tongue rolls out over her bottom lip and think about how much I would like to pull her down on top of me and steal back the breath she has taken from me.
The world stills around us, as though the planet is no longer in orbit. Instead, everything revolves around her. Our eyes clash, and I see the challenge in her gaze, so I challenge her right back. What are you going to do now, Shula?
Her touch is light as she toys with the strings of my trousers. Every delicate brush of my skin beneath the hem of my tunic and low on my hips sets my heart into a frenzy. A surge of adrenaline and desire rushes straight to my cock. Her blue fire eyes dance down my body, claiming every part of me.
“I want to touch you.” She whispers. The husky and breathless sound of her confession makes me want to reach up and pull her closer, but I stay there frozen with need because I want to bend to her will.
“Then touch me, Shula. I’m yours.” My chest rises and falls as her touch glides up my torso, fingers trembling.
She watches her hands as they lift my tunic and expose more of my skin.
My shadows vibrate with the same urgency.
I feel the strong urge to wrap her in them, and it’s testing my restraint.
I keep it, though. Silently, I watch as she explores each dip and curve of my chest.
“Sit up.” She quietly commands. I don’t hesitate to obey, pushing up to a sitting position; it brings our breaths to mingle.
“Take off the tunic.” She breathes between us.
The sweet, warm vanilla scent that is entirely unique to her swirls through the air.
It's intoxicating. Slowly, I reach back and pull the fabric over my head.
I lose sight of her for the small moment it takes to be free of my clothing, but when my eyes settle back on her, I groan at the way she traps her teeth between her lips.
I have not wanted anything more than I want her at this moment.
“Who is panting now?” She teases, a wicked smile bracketing her mouth, exuding a higher confidence. It's an honor watching her begin to harness such a thing, now that she's away from the negativity that is her experience of Eathian.
“I have no choice in the matter, Shula. I am but a man, and what is a man to do when being commanded by a goddess?” She looks down at my clenched hands that are now grasping the sheets.
My weak attempt to avoid touching her in return.
Allowing her to have the control I can so clearly see she wants to take.
Her tongue trails the seam of her lips, and I watch with rapt attention, waiting until I can chase it with my own, begging her with my eyes to do something.
Holding myself back from taking charge and devouring everything about her is torture of the sweetest variety.
“Good. I want you breathless for me.” She says as she slowly removes the leather straps from those restricting pants that hug her every curve.
Oh fuck. I groan, squeezing the sheet as tight as possible when she shimmies out of the fabric that binds her breasts.
She stands there for a moment, allowing me to drink in the sight of her.
Her peaked nipples show through the thin fabric of the tunic she’s kept on as she starts toying with the ties at the neckline.
The more her fingers dance with the leather strings, the more of her skin I can see.
There is no way I could lay here still if I wanted to.
I nearly writhe on the bed as I ache for her touch.
“Fuck,” the word finally escapes breathlessly as she places her hands on my thighs and lets them drag along the fabric still covering me.
Her eyes follow their flow until she is close to my painfully trapped cock.
Hooded eyes meet mine, and the look there makes the drum that is my heart skip a beat.
Every nerve in my body is alive with need.
When she keeps that constant eye contact as her warm hands glide over the ridge in my pants, there is no holding back the groan that escapes me. It’s animalistic.
Her lips part on a quick influx of breath at the sound, and she grips me through the fabric.
Her hand trembles only slightly as she slowly pulls my heavy cock free of the confines of my trousers.
Her hand is so small as she attempts to grip me bare.
Her eyes flick down to the task of her hand, and her eyes widen before a satisfied smirk pulls the corner of my mouth.
“Oh, don’t get shy now, Shula. You have me; what are you going to do?
” My hips buck on their own accord, nearly begging her to take me into that mouth of hers again.
When she releases her grip on me, I hold my breath in anticipation.
Moisture beads at the tip of my cock, and it makes me wonder if I am making her drip for me too.
She pauses, not responding to my taunting before finally moving to pull the trousers from my legs.
I kick my boots off, helping tug them down, and she crawls fully onto the bed between my legs once I am naked.
Time stands still as she peels her tunic from her body, revealing herself to me.
Her breasts heave with every deep breath she takes, and she kneels between my legs.
This is my end. I am lying on death’s bed looking up at a goddess given form, and my dying wish is to have her claim me; take everything and leave me with only the memory of her.
She keeps her eyes locked with mine, and she takes me into her hands.
The warmth of her fingers wrapping around the base of my cock sends a current of energy tingling up my spine.
Then she takes what little breath I have left as she runs her tongue over the tip.
I reflexively jerk forward, wanting more, and she moans, tasting the bead of precum that was there waiting for her.
Achingly slow, she wraps her lips around the head of my cock and takes me into her mouth.
Every stroke of her hands moving in tandem with her tongue and the hollowing of her cheeks has me that much closer to feeling as though I am crossing through the divine fire and stepping into Runerth.
When she hums her satisfaction at how I thread my fingers into the hair at the base of her head, I think that’s it. This will be my undoing.
I don’t want to finish like this, though, but I don’t have to.
As soon as the thought crosses my mind, she’s releasing me from her mouth and breathing hard with that beautiful pink hue.
Divine, I love seeing that color paint her cheeks.
Cupping her face, I run the pad of my thumb over her swollen bottom lip.
“My Shula, you will be my ruin.” I barely whisper the words.
I don’t think she hears me. The words aren’t really meant for her to hear anyway.
She blinks, the small wrinkle of concern barely coming together between her brows before I pull her to me.
She crawls over my body, her legs now straddling my hips.
I feel the evidence of just how eager she is from pleasuring me, slicking the skin between us.
She leans forward, her hands sliding up my chest as she does, and she kisses me.
Our lips move in sync with one another. She moves her body, positioning herself to ride my cock, and I want her to.
So fucking badly. But I have to know this is what she truly wants.
I want her to be sure she won’t regret the decision.
I stroke her face, and she looks up at me, a coy smile pulling at her mouth.
My fingers trace it as my own mouth mocks it.
“I need to be sure this is what you want. After everything we have been through, and everything…” She presses her fingers to my mouth, indicating she doesn’t need me to elaborate.
We both know all of the things I’ve kept from her.
The truths we’ve learned together and the new revelations of what we now have to learn more about.
This moment feels different than the last time we laid together.
She closes her eyes, tipping her head back so her long hair falls down her spine and brushes my thighs.
Her fingers trail down my chin and throat, settling on my chest. I grind my teeth with how badly I want to wrap it around my fist and drive into her.
I won’t do that, though. Not until I hear her tell me resolutely that she won’t regret this decision.
I don’t want her thoughts clouded when making this decision because for me, this is the tipping point.
I already know that with my claim on her, there would be little that could stop me from throwing the world away for her, but if she claims me in return?
There would be nothing I wouldn’t do for her.
I just need her to choose to be here for the right reason.
“It’s what I want, Kyros.” She breathes into the air above us.
Then she looks down at me; the look on her face is nothing that I thought I would see.
A radiant smile takes over her entire face.
A smile I haven’t had the chance to see often.
My heart squeezes at the sight. “Don’t you see?
I’ve finally gotten everything I ever wanted.
” She must see the confusion on my face because she surprisingly laughs, then cups my face with both of her hands.
“I’m free—” A tear rolls down her cheek, and then I get it.
The tears I saw building earlier, the grief I thought I felt radiating from her—it may have been a fraction of the emotions taking her over.
But I see it now for what it truly is. She has gained so much more than she has lost with Connard's death.
His death gave her life. Now that he is gone, she can finally live.
“I want to see where this flame guides us. I want to claim you as you did me.” I feel my face drop, and she reads it for something it’s not. I see the moment she questions her words, and I immediately shake my head and wrap her tighter in my arms.
“I want you to claim me more than you can even know, but—”
“Kyros,” She cuts off my line of outward thoughts, “I finally, for the first time in my life, actually know what I want—and it’s you. It’s us.” She runs her tongue up the column of my neck, and I nearly purr with how incredible it feels. “Will you accept my claim?”
“Shula, I accepted that I was yours the moment our eyes met.” She slides down on my cock the second the words slip free from my mouth.
We both moan with the feel of our bodies coming together.
She rolls her hips, and I rock against her; the movements are slow, and my shadows come alive.
My whole body vibrates with power, and I watch in awe as the shadows that now live on Astraea’s body do the same.
They swirl and writhe with each movement of our bodies.
They spill from our skin and twine together in a way that feels just as intimate.
Astraea tips her head back again, and I press my hand to the small of her back, guiding her movements as she continues to ride me.
My hand finally finds its way into her hair.
I wrap it around my fist and pull lightly, making her body bow even more.
Her breasts press up further into the air.
Each nipple tightened with her arousal. I take one into my mouth, toying with it between my teeth.
She hisses from the sharp pain before I roll my tongue over it and give the other the same attention.
I can feel her getting close. The way her legs are tightening at my hips, her movements and mine are becoming more jerky and less fluid.
“Fuck,” I growl low in my throat, releasing her hair. She curls her body toward me, playfully licking my ear and the sensitive skin of my neck. Every muscle in my body is beginning to clench uncontrollably.
“I’m going to—ughhh!” Her breathing comes out in puffs, her words barely audible with her mouth running along my neck.
She bows backward, her hand flying to her jaw and rubbing.
She's going to claim me, just as I claimed her.
I remember the overwhelming urge to sink my teeth into her.
To feel her blood joining my body. My jaw aches again just thinking about when I claimed her with my bite.
“Oh, divine—I’m—” she calls out as shadows explode into the room, draping everything in darkness.
At the same moment, I feel a pinch and warm pressure in the crook of my neck.
My magick has never, since I have wielded it, felt this alive.
I don’t control it; I don’t even think I could right now if I wanted to.
It seeps from my skin, wrapping us both in liquid onyx.
It's a frenzy. Astraea vibrates on top of me, and with just a few more thrusts I let go of the fragile control that I tried to keep a claim on.
My release is more than euphoric. It is pure magick.
I fill her with my come as she wrenches upright.
The shadows recede like a cloak being pulled back, and finally they reveal her.
Her eyes are dancing blue flames, her skin is glowing as though that internal flame has surfaced along her skin…
and my blood stains her lips. A drip runs from the corner of her mouth.