Chapter 3
Violet
Sebastian didn’t wait for the song to end.
One second we were in the bar—music low, bodies pressed too close, eyes watching.
The next, darkness snapped around us.
Cold air rushed past my skin as the world folded, his shadows carrying us cleanly out of the noise and into silence. Stone replaced wood. Stillness replaced heat. We landed in his room with barely a breath between moments.
I barely had time to orient myself before the mattress dipped beneath me, and he was there. His mouth found mine like he’d been starved. His hands followed, mapping places they already knew by heart. Shadows slid over my hips. My breath caught when the first one curled around my thigh.
“Bash—”
“I told you I’d make it up to you,” he said against my mouth, voice low and rough.
“Do you think Bronwen and Adar will be looking for us?”
“They know, love.”
I pushed lightly at his chest, just enough to make him pause. “What do you mean they know?”
He hovered over me then, eyes searching my face. “I waited for you for nearly a century. If I could keep you in here all day and show you exactly what you mean to me, I would. They know that.”
He kissed me again, slower this time. My hair began to glow almost immediately—traitorous and soft, a faint golden halo spilling against the dark sheets as control slipped from my grasp.
His fingers slid into it, brushing through the strands.
“You look beautiful like this,” he murmured. “You always do.”
I rolled my eyes even as my pulse jumped. “You’re unbelievable.”
“So you tell me.”
His smirk brushed my cheek before his shadows shifted, slipping higher on my thigh, testing.
He tugged me closer until there was no space left to argue with, his body pinning mine to the bed.
His mouth traced down my jaw, unhurried.
Shadows coiled gently around my wrists. I arched into him without meaning to.
“Violet,” he whispered, as he rested his forehead against mine, “I’m trying very, very hard not to lose control right now.”
I grabbed his collar and pulled him back down to me, my mouth brushing his.
“Then don’t,” I said softly.
The fabric of my dress ripped cleanly beneath his hands, and then his mouth was on mine again.
My glow brightened in response.
He broke from me just long enough to pull his shirt over his head in a single, efficient motion. Shadows unfurled across his skin as it fell away—sliding, shifting, alive. I’d noticed them more lately, now that I knew how to look. They weren’t random.
There were patterns.
Symbols—half-remembered sigils from books he’d read that day. Fractured shapes that echoed words spoken in the throne room, emotions that had lodged themselves beneath his ribs. Creatures from nightmares made flesh in shadow—today, the Naga he’d killed, its form coiled and sharp along his shoulder.
And there—always there—
Me.
A living, breathing version of me, etched in shadow just above his heart.
His gaze followed mine, and for a moment raw emotion flickered across his face. “Right where you were always meant to be.”
Then his fingers found the sensitive part of me and rubbed it gently.
“Do you know,” he murmured as he pushed a finger in, “when you first ran into me in the garden, I nearly lost my mind?” His finger moved maddeningly slow.
“I was ready to take you right there.” Another finger. “To claim you as mine.” He pulled them out and pushed them in deeper. “Didn’t care who saw. Or who heard. I had waited too long to pretend restraint came easily.”
My breath grew more erratic as his fingers moved quicker.
“But I couldn’t,” he said, a trace of frustration bleeding through. “And the worst part was having to tell my shadows they couldn’t have what they wanted.”
His shadows wrapped around my thighs, holding me open for him as I writhed under his touch, chasing release.
“This,” he said, watching me with that dark, intent focus that made my pulse jump, “is what I wanted. What they wanted.”
The sensation didn’t fade when his hand withdrew. If anything, it deepened—shadow replacing touch, curling inward, coaxing, relentless. He lifted his hand to his mouth, tasting, groaning softly in a way that sent a sharp bolt of heat straight through me.
His gaze never left mine as his shadows pushed deeper, curling against my insides. “Please, baby. Give them what they want.”
Everything in me shattered at once. My back arched, a soft flare of gold lighting the sheets under us. Sebastian stayed above me, watching.
“Gods, Violet,” he breathed.
I sat up, needing more of him. I could never get enough of him. Straddling him, I sank down on him, pushing him into me in one slow movement. He gripped my hips as I chose the pace, still riding out the sensitivity from the release I’d just had.
One hand moved to my back, pulling me closer to him. He held me steady while he thrust into me again. And again. His pace wasn’t rushed—just devastating.
I grabbed his shoulders, fingers digging in harder than I meant to, because gods—
He felt good.
He always did.
“Bash,” I gasped.
That was the last thread of restraint he had. Shadows pinned my wrists above my head. His tongue ran along my jaw as he fastened his pace.
I moaned, and he kissed me like he wanted to swallow every sound I made. When the wave hit again, it stole what little breath I had left, leaving me shaking, light flaring once before fading away completely.
Sebastian followed a heartbeat later, burying his face against my neck. His shadows loosened slowly, retreating like smoke as his breathing steadied.
He didn’t move right away. Neither did I. We stayed tangled together, the aftermath humming through my veins.
Eventually, he lifted his head and brushed my hair back from my face, his thumb warm against my cheek. “Okay?”
“If that was you ‘making it up to me,’” I said, “then I accept your apology.”
He laughed softly. “You’re impossible.”
I smiled. “Thank you.”
* * *
Our limbs were tangled beneath the sheets. The curtains stirred once in a draft I couldn’t feel, shadows sliding along the walls like they hadn’t decided where to settle yet. One of them curled around my wrist. I traced it absently with my fingers.
It tightened in response.
Then loosened again.
It purred.
Or maybe I imagined it.
Sebastian propped himself on one elbow beside me and brushed my hair back from my face.
“Your hair glows more every time,” he said.
“Unfortunately.”
“Fortunately,” he corrected without hesitation. “I like it.”
I shifted closer, lifting my head just enough to look at him. “You say you like everything about me.”
“I do.” There was no doubt in his voice. “Even the things you think you have to hide.”
My chest tightened. I turned my face away, focusing on the faint pattern in the sheets instead of his eyes. “You don’t have to make it sound pretty.”
“Wasn’t trying to.”
His fingers slid down my spine, just enough pressure to make my pulse jump. A shadow followed the path—cooler than his skin, but just as present. I felt the bond tug as his fingers drifted over my scars, but he didn’t let the war waging inside of him show.
“Just honest,” he murmured.
I exhaled slowly and let my forehead rest against his shoulder. “Is this all I’m capable of?”
His hand stilled. “What do you mean?”
“Unless I’m provoked, I can barely light a candle,” I said. “And I haven’t summoned my wings since I saved you.” The memory hit sharp. I took a deep breath. “Am I just a transferring fae with glowing hair who occasionally wreaks havoc?”
Sebastian shifted, rolling onto his back and pulling me with him until my weight rested half on his chest. His heartbeat was steady beneath my ear.
“It’s all new,” he said. “You’ve had access to your gifts for weeks, not years. There’s more in you. We just have to figure out what shape it takes.”
“Like what?”
“Your father’s gifts.”
I huffed softly. “I don’t feel anything but fire. It’s like it swallowed everything else.”
“Fire demands attention,” he said. “When you learn how to make it disappear, the others will surface.”
My throat tightened. “And I could… inherit that?”
“Gifts evolve.” His voice softened. “Especially when they come from powerful bloodlines. And Violet—”
He tipped my chin up with one finger, forcing me to meet his gaze.
“You are not just the Sun Realm heir. You’re something new. Something the realms haven’t seen before.”
“Like you?” I asked.
He huffed a short laugh. “Like me. But entirely different.”
My pulse stuttered. “What does that mean?”
“It means,” he murmured, leaning in close, “whatever you become won’t look like anything your parents ever were.”
A shadow tightened once around my ankle.
“And I’m going to help you become it.”
He kissed me again—slow, unhurried—letting the glow build just enough to light the space between us.
“What do you think I’ll be able to do?” I whispered against his lips.
His thumb brushed the corner of my mouth, lingering there. “Anything. You’ll be the most powerful thing the Sun Realm has ever seen.”
“And you’re not intimidated by that?”
He laughed softly. “I’m in love with a girl whose hair lights up when I make her come. I’m not intimidated.”
I shoved his chest lightly. He caught my wrist, turned it, and pressed a kiss to the inside. I let myself linger in moments like this—just me and him—because there was a small, persistent knot in my stomach that knew something was coming. Something that would change everything.