Chapter 48
AS ONE
Seryn
Hallowed End was quiet now, the echoes of battle still thrumming in my bones.
Marek leaned against a doombark, hands clenched around his quarterstaff as if it were the only thing keeping him upright. His sapphire gaze was glued to the brightened horizon.
My sister sobbed quietly, legs dangling off the edge where her father had fallen, Xeni’s hand brushing over her back and golden hair.
Gideon.
My chest tightened at the memory of his final cry; the way he’d thrown himself in front of Letti to shield her. I wasn’t sure I could fully grieve him, but his absence was a dull ache. My sister’s grief was pressing into me, making me want to swallow her pain.
I went to her, kissing the top of her head. Her eyes shone as she looked at me, sorrow lining her features.
“I’m here, sis. Whenever you’re ready.”
She nodded and folded into Xeni’s embrace.
I touched the warrior’s shoulder and then shared quiet looks with all who remained.
Now wasn’t the time for words. The shock of everything needed to settle over each of us in our own time and way.
Gavrel stirred beside me, fingers brushing my wrist in quiet solidarity. His eyes met mine, and I felt the weight of all we had carried.
The blood.
The ruin.
The pieces of ourselves we’d left behind in the process of saving the realms.
“Now, we rest.” Yaya’s soft order broke through the silence, through the stun.
As we crossed the swaying bridge, Yaya, Rhaegar, and Breena uttered words of rebellion yet to come. The next steps we had to take. Of prophecy. I listened with half an ear, too drained to care.
My grandmother’s touch brushed over my curls, so like her own, before Gavrel and I parted from the rest.
“You did well, granddaughter.” She traced a gilded bough. “This isn’t the mark of the Ascension,” she added as an afterthought.
“What?” I murmured.
“Our scriptures speak of gold markings like these—those of a demi-Ancient. I think that’s what this is. Your heritage revealing itself at last.”
I tilted my head, words escaping me.
“I love you, Yaya.”
She smiled, her thumb gliding over my cheek. “And I you. Now, go. Rest.”
We made our way to our cabin. As we stepped inside, I pushed away the memory of the battles.
My eyes dragged over Gavrel’s bloodied chest, and I waved my hand toward the bath. “Get in.”
He didn’t argue. Undressed, he sank into the cooled water. I joined him, scrubbing away the grime, blood, and remnants of war. My hands glided over his skin, over the new bond marks that vibrated beneath my fingertips.
He leaned back, letting me take care of him, which was proof of how spent he truly was. He’d died, after all.
When we were done, we curled against one another in bed, legs twining, and let much-needed rest claim us.
My lashes fluttered open, blue skylight spilling through. A spotted moth wobbled above us.
I had brought us here.
Not in body, but in soul. To the place that had always called to me—the seam between waking and dreaming.
The Somnis had answered my call without hesitation, unfolding my meadow on a sigh, just as it was before the Withering sank its teeth in.
We weren’t in Evergryn, not truly. But I’d brought a piece to us—shaped this dream from memory and longing. A place of stillness, somewhere that wasn’t ravaged by war or nightmares.
A sanctuary between the realms.
The Somnis pulsed softly behind the meadow’s edges, motes of my ember drifting lazily through the air like fireflies.
My eyes darted to the edge of the fantasy, half expecting Melina or my uncle to materialize. To take what was mine again.
They are gone. Breathe, Little Star.
I balked at the voice in my head.
Are you in my fucking head?
Gavrel chuckled, rubbing his hand over my bare stomach.
“It’s the bond, remember? We’ll have to get used to it.”
Don’t bounce around in here all the time, I countered in our heads, not truly upset. The thought of sharing my mind—my fears, my shadows—was unnerving.
He shifted onto his side, and I rolled toward him. “You think I care what darkness is inside you? My love, I’ve seen you at your fiercest and your weakest. Nothing in you could ever turn me away.”
His words curled around something raw inside me.
“Gavrel,” I breathed, threading my fingers with his. “I love you. And I … I can’t lose you again.”
He pressed his forehead against mine. “You won’t. Even in death, even if the realms fall apart—we’ll find one another. That’s what this bond means. Across dreams, across aether, across all that was and will be.”
A breath shuddered through me. “Then we’ll never be lost again.”
Never, Asteria.
His promise reverberated within me as he unraveled our fingers, bringing both of his hands to my jaw.
His touch was warm and tender, but with an undercurrent prickling under it. All the desperation and rage and terror we’d experienced in these last few months had finally crashed around us.
In those moments, when I believed I’d finally lost him, all I wanted was to join him in the darkness. Nothing else mattered.
That kind of love—that kind of reckless abandon—should have terrified me. But it didn’t. It only made me more feral.
Because we shared something impenetrable. A devotion that would not yield. That would defy Khaos itself.
Tears lined my lower lash line, muscles softening even as my heart slammed against our bond. His fingers rested in the space just below my jawline, claiming me. His emerald eyes searched mine, as if he’d dive into their icy depths to save me from drowning once more.
His right hand drifted down and traced the gold outline along my clavicle. A tingle unfurled low in my belly, spreading outward. It felt like he was touching me everywhere. I rubbed my thighs together, savoring the soft heat beginning to pulse in my core.
His hand went lower, grazing the side of my breast, following the curve of my waist. Warm white light spilled over me as his rune tattoo kindled.
His gaze met mine once more, nostrils flaring.
“Gavrel,” I whispered a second before his lips crashed into mine.
His tongue pushed inside, and I met it stroke for stroke. This kiss was more, deeper than it had ever been, our bond ravenous for us to fully connect for the first time.
Our mouths danced and pressed and sucked, and I swore my body felt what his felt. That our lips and tongues—skin and hearts—were one and the same.
His groan spilled into my mouth, and he wrenched me closer, his stiff length pushing against my thigh.
I caught his plump lower lip, sucking on it hard and scraping my nails down his back.
“Fucking vo—” he moaned, and I swallowed the rest of the word, meeting his lips again. Demanding more as I dug my fingers into his muscled backside.
His hand slipped over my bottom and squeezed, kneading the round cheeks before running down my thigh and dragging it over his.
The warm air brushed against my wet sex, making me shiver and moan his name, and rock against him, desperate for purchase. My desire coated his lower abdomen.
His hand slid along my thigh, the tips of his fingers featherlight, teasing the sensitive, swollen flesh around my channel.
My neck craned back, and my palms brushed over his spine, feeling a tingle go up mine. I buried my fingers in his hair, and I tugged, thrusting my hips in impatient circles.
A smirk tipped his mouth before he bent forward, feasting on my neck, teeth nipping, his tongue leaving a soft, wet trail along my skin.
A low rumble sounded in my throat.
His smile widened, eyes dazed with lust as he finally dipped two fingers into my wet heat.
It wasn’t enough. My core clenched at him, seeking more.
He pulled his fingers out and rolled me onto my back, his weight pinning me down. The soft grass tickled my skin, and the reeds and flowers around us swayed.
I gasped as his hand slipped between us, his thumb finding the sensitive bundle at my apex. He circled it, pressing and sliding against it. Heat buzzed over my spine, and I whimpered, gripping his bulging biceps as he braced himself above me on one forearm.
“You are so perfect, Asteria. Every. Single. Inch.” His thumb punctuated his words, flicking my clit. He leaned down and sucked one nipple into his mouth, and I groaned, cradling his head in my left hand and biting my lower lip.
An invisible line of energy ignited, tethering my pleasure points. From my nipple, taut and sensitive, to my swollen clit, heat zinged, hips thrusting against him wildly.
My aura purred under my skin, illuminating the golden boughs, making them dance along my skin.
“I need you. All of you,” I whimpered, head lolling to the side.
He released my nipple with a damp pop and met my heavy-lidded gaze.
“And you’ll have me.”
He positioned his hips, right hand shifting to my waist. And with a fierce thrust, he filled me to the hilt.
My eyes rolled back, a gasp clogging my windpipe.
“So beautiful, my love. So fucking wet.” Gavrel growled, sliding out and squeezing his thick cock back in.
Light shifted over our khorda runes, warmth shimmering through our connection.
His eyes snapped to mine, full of shock and lust.
I felt … everything.
We were feeling everything.
The slide and pulsing of his cock inside me. My wet heat trembling and gripping him. It was as if our minds and bodies were one, slipping into the other and experiencing the pure, unadulterated desire coursing through us, within us.
“Fucking void, Gavrel. It’s too much. I … I …”
He shoved into me again, sweat beading on his skin, dripping on my breasts. “Look at me. I want to see your eyes when you scream my name.”
I groaned, and he moved faster. The sound of slapping skin rent the air. He pounded me into the grass, muscles corded and straining, refusing to slow.
Liquid heat poured down to the base of my spine. I called his name over and over like a prayer, or a plea. I wasn’t sure.
Come for me, my love. Drench me.
The demand barged into my mind, and my sex convulsed, squeezing him. His pupils dilated, jaw clenched as he moved.
In. Out.
In.
Out.
The pace raged in time with our shared heartbeats.
His cock lengthened, balls tightening.
Gavrel! I screamed in our heads and out loud, echoing through the meadow. And my body exploded into pure iridescence, stars and golden threads wrapping around us as we reached our release together. Wrung every last ounce of our souls and pleasure from us.
As one.