Chapter 24
Stars and Darkness
I t’s more than a kiss. In that moment, a wall shatters between us, a wall I hadn’t realised I’d built around my heart. I lean into him, drawing his body to mine, and give in to my want for him. My need for him.
His hands cup my face, deepening our kiss, and a small moan escapes me.
I tangle my fingers in his hair, his tongue lingering on my lower lip as I part my mouth, giving him access.
His answering growl, the way he pulls me onto his lap sends sparks rippling through my veins.
I straddle him as his hands move down my back, lower, lower …
until they spread across my upper thighs and move me tight against him.
Heat, delicious heat courses through me, unfurling from my core in waves.
I moan softly again, his mouth moving with mine as his hands linger on my upper thighs, bracing me against him.
His kisses soften, fluttering over my mouth, and each delicate touch is like silk and stars.
I realise now how much I wanted this. Wanted this kind of connection, more than just a fleeting night of teeth and tongues.
This – this feels like more. I want to explore him now the layers have peeled away, now there’s no more armour to cast aside.
‘I’ve wanted you since I first met you in that bar,’ he murmurs, lips feathering in soft kisses along my jawline.
‘That day in the common room when I knew you’d been avoiding me, when you were keeping secrets from me …
I wanted you,’ he whispers, the warmth of his breath brushing the shell of my ear.
I gasp, arching my back as that brush of heat sings in my blood, my veins. ‘I wanted you too. I-I want you.’
It’s all I can do not to lose it completely as I melt into him, only the fabric of our clothes between us, and feel his body respond.
His tongue flicks down my throat, careful to avoid the puncture wounds still healing from the cold one’s attack, then lower, dipping to my clavicle, and I arch again, wanting more of him.
This man, whose single touch brings me to life in a way no one ever has …
and now I’m wrapped around him, his body tight against mine, it’s electric.
His scent, all cedar and citrus, his touch … it’s intoxicating. I want more.
I say his name on a soft sigh of breath and he draws his hands slowly from my thighs, tracing the shape of me all the way up my back.
He reaches for my face, pulling my mouth back to his, capturing mine.
A drop of rain splashes on my cheek, then another, and I barely feel it, barely feel the sharp ice of that rain.
All I want is to draw out this moment, to revel in it, to sink into him and lose myself.
This is the feeling of falling, and as I close my eyes all I see are stars and darkness, every sense alive with his taste, his touch, his scent.
But then suddenly, the sky opens.
I pull back, laughing as rain pummels the ground around us, quickly soaking us both.
It runs down my cheeks, plastering my hair to my skin as he grins, eyes deepening to an oaken hue, glimmering with flecks of caramel.
So beautiful, so endlessly beautiful that my breath hitches and for a heartbeat, I can no longer feel the chill, the icy rain, no longer hear the cry of the wind and tide.
He runs a hand down my cheek, laughing as rain sluices from his fingers. ‘I think we need to head back.’
I groan, tilting my head back as thunder booms in the distance. ‘All right, I give in. Let’s go.’
He takes my hand as we run back to Hope Hall, the rain drenching my clothes, leaving rivers running through my hair.
We get back to Hope and collapse against opposite walls in the entrance hall, lightning flashing across the sky, thunder chasing it just seconds later.
Sopping wet, we look out at the rain, panting slightly from our run back to shelter.
‘An actual deluge,’ he says shaking his head, his breath forming puffs of cloud in the cold.
I catch his eyes, the mahogany brown of them almost black in the gloom of Hope Hall, and yet still glittering.
For a handful of heartbeats, I worry that the moment might be lost, that it’s been left out there in the rain and cold, discarded amongst the rocks and sea.
But my heart … my heart wants to taste him again on my tongue.
To brush my fingertips over his skin, and feel his arms come around me.
I smile at him and he grins back … and my stomach flips over.
Yes. I want this. I slink across the hallway to pull his face down to mine, kissing him hard. ‘Your room or mine?’
His eyes darken further as he takes my hand, tugging me to the staircase.
‘Mine,’ he says quietly. ‘There’s no one in the room below and I want to forget we’re here at all.’
My pulse kicks up as we reach our landing, him quickly unlocking the door and bolting it as soon as we’re inside. I grin at him, still sopping wet, hair and clothes plastered to my skin. ‘Help?’ I ask, biting my lip.
‘I thought you’d never ask for my help,’ he teases, stepping towards me and reaching for the buttons on my blouse.
‘For this, I’ll make an exception.’
He undoes them slowly, one by one, eyes fixed on mine. I shiver from the anticipation.
He draws the blouse down from my shoulders, allowing it to pool on the floor as he removes my trousers, leaving me in only lace.
His gaze rakes over my form, down my breasts, and lower still.
My breath comes in quick ragged bursts as I toe off my shoes, fingers reaching for the buttons of his shirt.
‘Tell me two truths about you,’ he says in my ear as I work on the buttons down his chest. His hands splay over my backside and I groan, wanting more than just his hands against my body.
‘No lies between us right now?’ I murmur, my voice still husky and raw.
‘No lies. Only me and you.’
‘I’m a very good hunter,’ I say, undoing another button.
‘Good,’ he says, one hand moving between us, fingers dipping inside the lace between my thighs. Heat unspools within me as his fingers stroke, slowly, gently, exploring. ‘Now one more.’
I can barely think, barely breathe as his fingers move, pressure building inside me, low and delicious.
My fingers fumble on the last button of his shirt and I gasp, ripping it apart and stare up at him.
Panting, I lock eyes with his as one of his hands spreads across my backside, pulling me close, the fingers of his other hand dipping inside me, ‘All right. One more truth,’ I say, trying to form my thoughts into words, as all I see are stars burning.
‘I-I want you, Alden Locke.’ His palm presses on that cluster of nerves and I gasp again.
‘I’ve wanted you for weeks, and it infuriates me. ’
He chuckles darkly as I undo his trousers, his fingers moving inside me, his thumb stroking in just the right spot.
A moan rips from my throat and I arch against him, his mouth claiming mine as I melt into him, tongue tasting me as all my senses crescendo.
‘Not yet,’ he says. ‘Not just yet.’
His fingers, his hands leave my body and he walks me slowly backward to his bed.
He kisses me, those feather-soft kisses spread ing across my jaw, my mouth, breathless and light and perfect …
I lower myself onto his bed, pulling him down to me, my entire being singing with want, with desire.
I lie there as he slides the lace from my hips, unclasps my bra and dips his head between my thighs.
‘Alden …’ I breathe.
His tongue strokes along my core and I moan again, flames erupting inside me. The ache, the exquisite heat is almost too much. I need him now.
He moves up my body slowly, trailing burning kisses over my skin as he pins my wrists at my sides.
I close my eyes, losing myself in the gentle hush of his breath, warm and delicate, brushing over me, slowly and softly.
The rain, a torrent only moments ago, patters now at the window, wrapping us in this moment, as though time is suspended.
I forget everything – the Ordeals, the rivalry, the fear – and dissolve into nothing but sensation.
When his mouth reaches my breasts, he nips and licks and I almost lose it again.
‘Alden … have you … do you take a contraceptive brew?’
‘I do.’ Then he hovers above me and my gaze locks with his. He raises his eyebrows in question and I nod, moving my hands to his back, running my hands over him as I pull him to me.
He lowers himself into me, and I arch into him.
Moving his hands to my face, kissing me gently as he shifts inside me, filling me.
Slowly at first, and I relax back, opening around him, the exquisite feeling spreading pure starlight through my veins.
His scent envelops me, cedar and smoke and citrus, but also just …
him, weaving through my senses as I smooth my fingertips over his skin, his mouth pressing against mine.
I bring my fingers up to his hair, deepening our kiss as he swallows my moan.
The tension breaks, cascading through me, all heat and delicious sin, pushing me over the edge.
I brace my hands on his back, gasping his name as wave after wave overcomes me, and he thrusts inside me, harder, faster, falling over the edge as well.
We collapse together in a tangle of spent limbs. I close my eyes, seeing nothing but melting dark, feeling the warmth of his body wrapped around me. After a moment he pushes back my wet hair, nuzzling into my neck. ‘You’re perfect,’ he says and groans. ‘You are perfect.’
‘You’re not so bad yourself.’
He laughs, raising his eyes to mine, and I realise I’ve never seen him so …
content. Carefree and relaxed. It’s like every wall, every barrier has slipped away and I’m seeing the real him for the first time.
The man I’ve caught glimpses of, the man I’ve been intrigued by.
Not vulnerable exactly, but simply unguarded.
The true him, the real him. He teases his fingers gently through my hair, brushing strands behind my ear, and I smile at him.
‘What?’ he asks.
‘I think you’re going to be a distraction, Alden Locke,’ I say quietly.
His eyes darken, jewels in his beautiful face, and for a moment, he says nothing. Then he kisses me softly and murmurs into my mouth, ‘I like you too, Sophia DeWinter.’
‘You’re still keeping secrets.’
‘Not many, and not out of choice. You can be one of them, if you like,’ he says, brushing a thumb along my jaw, to the corner of my mouth.
And I realise what he’s offering. This, him …
us. These moments we can find each other, when we can be our truest selves.
And as that’s all I can offer too in this place, I’ll take it.
I’ll take these moments of distraction, these glimmers with him.
I don’t know what this is, but I like him.
I like the real him, beneath the mask he shows the world.
I kiss him, long and slow, feeling that delicious heat smouldering softly. ‘You can be my secret, too.’
Then quietly, in that cocoon of just me and him, safe in his arms, I tell him the rest. I tell him what I did, who I was before Killmarth.
I tell him about Dolly, and about the bracelet.
Haltingly at first, then in a river of words.
And when I’m finished talking, he kisses me, then says thank you.
For trusting him with those pieces of myself.
And my heart glows and glows, knowing I’m not judged, not found wanting.
The next time it’s slow, the contours of our bodies melding, just as I imagined when I first met him. As the rain pounds against the windows outside, I give more pieces of my heart to Alden Locke and know he’ll keep them safe.
The announcement for the final Ordeal, Initiation, arrives two days later in the form of a summons. They’re left along the long table in Gantry Hall at breakfast, scattered between the bread rolls, the platters of luncheon meats, the cheeses and pickles and salads.
‘Tomorrow,’ Tessa says quietly and looks up at Greg as he takes a chair across from her. ‘At least the moon will have waned.’
He nods, running a hand over his eyes. ‘Still got to get through the actual full moon first. But you’re right, could be worse. And no one else has been murdered, so I guess we’re on the final stretch. No more surprises.’
Knox wanders in with Alden and my face heats instantly. I busy myself choosing pieces of cheese and ham for my plate as Knox slides into a seat across from me, and Alden sits beside me. ‘Sophia.’
‘Alden,’ I say stiffly, trying to disguise the way I light up inside when he’s near me and grab a bread roll. ‘Sleep well?’
‘Best I have in ages,’ he says, equally stiffly. ‘Three nights of great sleep, actually. Never felt better.’
I cough, avoiding Knox’s eyes as he pulls the teapot between us towards himself.
Since he saved my life in the last Ordeal, I’ve softened towards him, even if he did use me as a lure and still won’t tell me who he works for.
Alden made it pretty clear that what he did wasn’t acceptable, ever.
I let them sort it out between them. Greg and Tessa have practically adopted him as their favourite, and now I have no choice but to sit through each meal, aware of every movement Alden makes, just a few feet away, counting down the moments until we’re next alone.
‘You two are so obvious, it’s actually quite painful. Don’t let old Parnell catch you; you know the rules. She’ll have you scrubbing toilets,’ Knox warns.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ I say. ‘I slept terribly.’
Knox chuckles. ‘All right, you keep your secrets. I am quite happy to tell you all, I have Blake warming my bed.’
‘You’re still into him since last year?’ Alden says.
Knox shrugs. ‘What can I say? I have a thing for scholars. Discreet scholars. And he has the most magnetic blue eyes. Good thing Sophia here is into brown eyes, eh, Alden?’
I fight back a laugh as I look up at him, preparing to divert the conversation elsewhere, and fast. But I forget what I was about to say before it’s even left my tongue.
As Knox pours his tea, it seems to … glint.
It’s not catching the light exactly, yet it’s glowing.
Tea should definitely not glow . I frown, an odd foreboding creeping over me as he mixes in milk and sugar, eyes crinkling with mirth, raising the cup to his lips.
It pulses again, and this time, I see the gleam of magic.
‘Knox, no!’