Chapter 29
Solis drew light from the sun, placing it into the amber gemstone. Nerthus dug deep into the ground to where the earth slumbered, and fed this somnolence into the cup. Noctua wove a lullaby into the rosewood lute, calling on the magic she used to soothe spirits into peace.
—OLD ONES, ANCIENTS, AND THE FOLK
The shadow creature reached out with distorted hands, its long fingers stretching toward Thea’s face.
She scrambled backward in a crab walk of terror.
Her back hit the trunk of a tree. Its branches wrapped around her, as if she were an intruder in the forest. She struggled against its hold, but it clutched her tighter, whispering: “You’ll never leave here… ”
Thea sat up, panting, her eyes wide, searching the shadows. But then she turned her head and saw Damon, his eyes worried as they stared into hers. Shadows rested around him like fallen scarves. It seemed they slept, too. She reached out to him, needing to touch something solid and real.
“You were having a bad dream.” His voice was scratchy from sleep, and he had a soft, tousled look that made Thea’s heart contract. “What was it?”
Her stomach churned at the sensation of being trapped. She didn’t want to talk about it. “I’m cold. Warm me.”
“Thea.” Her name was tinged with warning.
“This is not a good idea.” But he sighed and lifted the blanket to reveal the empty space between them.
Eagerly, she filled it, wriggling close to him, her whole body relaxing as she pressed against him breast to hip, her legs tangling with his.
A part of her wondered why she perceived him as safe and comforting when he could be the most dangerous person she’d ever known.
But she didn’t want to think, only to feel.
For a few minutes, they didn’t speak. Damon reached up and put a hand to her head, tentatively at first, moving his palm over her temple then tangling his fingers in her hair as he pulled them through toward her nape. Thea closed her eyes, letting herself bask in the pleasure of his touch.
“So soft,” he whispered. Amusement crept into his voice as he added, “The deadliest daughter of the Sylvan king winding around me like a house cat is not something I could have imagined.”
“Enora might take offense at you calling me the deadliest.” She opened her eyes, grinning mischievously. “But you would be right.”
Damon’s lips twitched. “Humblest, too.”
Thea swept a hand over his arm, enjoying how his muscles tensed and relaxed under her hand. “I’ve never actually spent the night with anyone.” At least, she had never gone to sleep and woken up with anyone else.
“Elaborate?” He lifted an eyebrow.
She shrugged. “Sylvans aren’t shy about coupling, but there are different rules for the king’s daughters. We’re supposed to behave with more decorum. I don’t invite anyone into my bedchamber. And it wouldn’t look good if I spent the night in anyone else’s.”
“You talk so openly about these things.” The expression in his eyes was curious to the point of awe.
“I don’t suppose you have anyone to talk to,” she guessed. “Prospect doesn’t seem like the type to dispense useful advice.”
His lip curled. “I’ve never been fool enough to ask him. And he’s not a topic I’m eager to talk about at the moment, either, if I’m honest.”
“Which I think you are sometimes. Honest, that is.” She turned her head to breathe in his scent, which she found intoxicating.
He lifted the edge of her collar to trace a fingertip over her collarbone. “You are tempting beyond words.”
“This dress is barely there. Almost as if your mother was trying to push us together.” She tilted her head to check his expression.
“Some people might think your decision to bring me to meet your mother was a meaningful gesture.” She treated him to a wide grin. “Didn’t you worry you’d give me ideas?”
He barked a laugh. “What? That I was eligible for marriage? Thea, please. Who would ever marry me? Who would want to live here?”
She bit her lip, thinking of the lack of sun, the emptiness, the shadows watching and listening everywhere. The only people who stayed were enchanted.
“I used to dream of escaping,” he said, his body curving around her subtly, as if he wasn’t aware he was doing it.
“But I have become too much a part of this realm. Even if I were to leave here, my shadows would follow. I would enchant every creature I see. This is the only place I can fully control my magic. I’m as trapped here as the silver trees. ”
Underlying his light tone was a vein of deep sadness.
It made Thea’s chest ache—the thought of him being so alone forever.
She had an urge to give him hope. She wanted him.
And now she knew his magic had nothing to do with it.
Finding out more about him, about his attempts to defy his father, his efforts to save his mother, made her see him in a new light.
He wanted to get out of this realm, this life.
It was up to him how to do that, but she might be able to help.
“Have you considered you might be controlling it the wrong way? Your shadows like it when we kiss.” She cupped his cheek in her palm, enjoying its planes, and rubbed her lips across his, absorbing his groan with a flutter of pleasure.
“How do you know they wouldn’t be as enticed by passion as they are by cruelty? Have you ever tried it?”
“I’m intrigued,” he said, his eyes as dark as midnight, his pulse jumping visibly in his neck. “Are you offering to help me perform a test?”
She kissed her way up to that pulse point. “I think I’ve made it clear that I am.”
His breathing grew heavy, his rapid pulse swelling under her lips. He shifted, his muscles taut against her wherever they touched.
“I want you,” he breathed, “like I have never wanted anyone or anything in my entire life.”
She felt the same. Her hand found where his shirt met his waistband. She straddled him, letting the covers fall off to pool on her legs. Her breasts were near his face, his eyes on her with such intensity, it made her heart stutter. She slid her fingers through his hair, knowing he liked that.
His eyes closed. “I can’t fight this.”
A rush of heady power washed over her. The hard muscles of his stomach contracted under her touch. “I only want to do what gives you pleasure.”
“Anything you do to me will give me pleasure,” he said hoarsely. “Unless you gut me with one of those knives you wear on your thigh. Or if you leave.”
“Then we agree,” she whispered, flutters of desire pulling low in her belly. She’d forgotten about the knives, though. Those would have to go. She reached down and unbuckled the thigh strap that held them.
Damon’s eyes followed the movement. “It would be a great disappointment if you killed me now, Thea. In case you were considering it.”
She laughed, adoring the way he looked at her as if she were something divine. A few days ago, she might have contemplated using the daggers on him. Might have planned it. But not now.
After dropping the knives on the floor, she came back to him, sliding her body along his, and watched his pupils dilate, his lips parting for air. “Please,” he said simply, as if she would know what he needed.
She did.
As he drew the filmy material from her body, Thea looked down at him, all burnished in firelight that hugged the muscular curves and lean hollows of his body, and thought, He is the shadow prince. Then immediately after, It doesn’t matter. I want him.
When he lifted himself up, bracing on one elbow as his lips moved to her chest, his tongue as soft as a butterfly’s wing, she lost all ability to think.