Epilogue
THE SONGBIRD
I brushed my nose along Erik’s cheek when he finished describing the brutal raids they crafted after Larsson joined the crew. His mouth was tight. Erik did not revel in mentioning Larsson Bonekeeper.
My fingers traced the edge of his jaw until his features softened again. “As I promised, Serpent. I would follow your darkness across the skies and seas.”
“Sometimes I hardly understand how you are here, Songbird.”
I pressed a sweet kiss to his lips. “Because the serpent did come back for his little bird.”
He chuckled and curled his arms around me, rolling my body beneath his. Erik’s vicious red eyes held mine. His palm brushed a lock of hair from my brow. “And together they played from sunup to sundown.”
I trapped his face in my palms. “You are all I want, Erik Bloodsinger. Dreary past and all.”
“Good.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “Because you ought to know, love, I’m very good at taking what I want. Have I told you of the night I stole the princess away from her window?”
“No.” I tilted my head. “That’s a tale I haven’t heard.”
“It’s rather thrilling.” Erik’s hand trailed down the curve of my hip, his lips parted in a grin as he hovered his mouth over mine. “It begins at a masquerade, involving an intoxicating man she cannot resist.”
“Ah, so we’re embellishing now, Bloodsinger.” I drew in a sharp breath when Erik’s fingertips slid between my thighs.
“Not at all, love. She walked off a cliffside and leapt into the sea all to be with him.”
My breaths deepened, I bit down on my lip to stifle a moan when his fingers worked higher. “I’m…I’m not certain that’s true.”
Erik kissed the side of my throat. “Don’t worry, love. He could not take his eyes off her either.” He paused, lifting his gaze to mine. “He never will.”
I kissed him. Deeper. Longer.
I kissed Erik Bloodsinger until the truth of the pain that led him to that night, in that ballroom, when he thought taking the daughter of his enemy would prove something to a dead king who never deserved him, was shadowed.
I kissed him until he knew, all those darker moments had shaped him into the most beautiful monster that I would love long into the Otherworld.
I hope you enjoyed the short tales that led to the rise of Erik Bloodsinger and the Ever Seas.