Chapter 21
A silent promise
ZARA
I slam the bathroom door shut and slide down its wood until I’m sitting on the floor. I screw my eyes shut, expecting an outburst from Kade, but there’s nothing. There’s no shouting or swearing. No banging on the door and absolutely no magic whatsoever.
I tip my head forward and I find myself thankful he has the goddamn sense to keep his fucking mouth shut. My head falls into my hands and my fingers dig into my scalp as I rock my weight back and forward, failing to do anything helpful.
It’s all too much.
It’s more than anyone can endure.
I look around the small and dim bathroom, noticing the pale glow from a lantern that sputters and casts vile shadows.
The cracked tiles are cold despite the thick trousers I’m still wearing, and I barely notice the icy lick travelling up my legs.
My chest tightens with every shallow breath and I don’t know how to cope with everything that’s happened.
I found freedom and caused my coven’s destruction, unleashed Gods’ only know what evil when Kade and I were attacked, and somehow ended up bound to the warlock who killed my sisters.
I drag a shaky breath through my teeth and it splinters into a choked sob.
I clamp my hand over my mouth, silencing myself to stop him from hearing me like this.
I’m crumbling.
I’m fucking crying.
And the faint creak of wood cries out as Kade steps close to the bathroom.
“Zara.”
He doesn’t say more, doesn’t demand I open the door, or snap at me for running. It’s just my name, whispered like it’s a lifeline, and it’s more deafening than if he shouted it.
I squeeze my eyes shut, my hands fisting in my hair.
“LEAVE. ME. ALONE.”
There’s a beat of hesitation and an ominous silence replaces the tense quiet that existed before.
My skin feels the night creeping around me, certain Kade isn’t letting this rest and won't do as I ask. He’s all the shadows in the valley of the shadow of death and I should fear his evil, for no one can save me from him and I doubt whether any magic can wash clean the stain he’s left on my soul.
My eyelids flutter over, heavy with the weight of my tears, and I know he’s here.
The bathroom isn’t empty anymore, and my sanctuary has been defiled.
The room feels impossibly small now he’s in it, his presence taking up all the crevices and space I can’t occupy.
His form solidifies and his gaze locks on mine, calm but intense as he materializes from the darkness and the knot in my chest tightens further.
I press harder against the door and he moves slowly, his head tilted at that annoying angle that means he’s thinking.
Kade crouches in front of me, his hands resting on his knees, with an unreadable expression.
He’s the calm that opposes my fury, the ice that clashes against my fire.
He’s a warlock and I’m a witch, and somehow this thing that shouldn’t work feels like it could.
More than that, like it is.
“You’re shaking,” he says softly, his voice barely above a whisper.
There’s no trace of his usual sharpness. No smug smile. No mocking tone. Just quiet intensity and a softness that’s more terrifying than all his cold and calculated cruelty.
“It’s been a long few days,” he sighs. “I’m not here to fight. I’m not here to push you into making a choice you’re not ready to make. I just need to know that you’re okay.”
I scoff and the tears running down my face become torrents.
“How the fuck do you expect me to be okay with anything?”
I snap, my voice cracking as he stares at me, unflinching.
“I don’t want anything from you.”
I’m aware I’m close to losing my shit and that this is unbecoming, and I don’t give one single fuck.
“Stop looking at me like that,” I scream, my hands suddenly pummelling his chest as he does nothing more than nod as I rant and seethe. “I don’t need your fucking pity.”
I collapse my head against his chest and sob loudly.
“It’s not pity,” he says quietly, his voice steady and grounding. “It’s just me.”
His hand shifts, hovering close but not quite touching mine, giving me the choice. I hate that I want to take it, hate that the pull of him is stronger than my anger, my fear. But the world feels too heavy, and I’m so, so tired.
Too tired.
“Zara,” he murmurs again, my name a root binding me to his earth, and this time, I don’t pull away. His hand hovers close and after an eternity that passes in the space of a few heartbeats, it brushes mine, tentative and slow. He’s giving me every chance to pull away, and I don’t.
I don’t.
I stare at how his fingers curl over mine, their touch sparking more than a fragile fire inside me. I sigh and I know this is a surrender, one I don’t fully understand, but I can’t bring myself to care.
Except I do, just not about my concession.
His other hand rises, its fingers brushing against my cheek as they wipe away the tears that won’t stop falling.
The tenderness of it undoes me, and I close my eyes, giving up, although I convince myself I’m not giving up.
I lean into the warmth of his palm despite myself and fall under whatever spell he’s weaving in the absence of any magic.
“Tell me to stop,” Kade whispers, his breath warm against my lips.
“I can’t.”
Kade’s mouth meets mine and I notice for the first time how soft his rough lips are.
He’s slow, as if we have all the time in the world and everyone else can be damned.
He’s careful, as though he expects me to shove him away.
He’s dominant, and when I moan against his lips, he deepens the kiss, slipping his hand to the back of my neck.
The weight of the world fades and, for the very first time, I let go of its burdens. I feel without thinking, experience without constraint. The fears I didn’t know I had disappear and Kade, the warlock who should terrify me, becomes the only solid thing in a world unraveling.
Kade’s hands slip under me and he lifts me like I’m weightless.
I’m featherlight and floating freely in his hold, meeting his as an equal as our kiss turns frantic.
He pushes me against the door and I wrap my legs around him, our position the same as when we fucked in the woods, although this couldn’t feel more different.
“What have you done to me?” he rasps.
I’m as lost as he is, but Kade isn’t letting that bother him. His mouth moves to my neck and my moans turn louder as their pitch rises and heat surges through me.
“I’ve never wanted anyone, never needed anyone,” he says, biting as he drags his teeth along to my collarbone. “And now there’s you. Only you, Zara.”
My legs tighten around his hips and my hands slide up Kade’s chest, suddenly aware my skin is touching his. I trace the outlines of his tattoos, deciphering the meaning of some, but their mystery adds to their thrall and their darkness makes him seem lighter underneath.
“You really have to stop doing that,” I groan, half complaining, half pleading, as the unmistakable ripple of his magic brushes over me.
Kade’s laugh is low, a dark, rumbling sound against my skin. “Not a chance, little witch,” he murmurs, his tone full of wicked promise. “Magic exists to please me, and I fully intend to put it to good use.”
The man is a monster in more ways than I can count and I shake my head, laughing with him as he plays with my body.
Kade knows exactly what he’s doing and he must have made hundreds of women scream for him, but right now, none of them matter.
His focus is relentless, like the sun breaking through the canopy, as if I’m the only root holding his world together.
Pleasure washes over me as his hands trace my curves like an old map, as if I’m the only terrain he’s ever dared to explore.
Suddenly, it’s as if we’re the axels on which our worlds turn, the only points of gravity that ever held either of us steady.
Our grip on each other tightens and Kade steps back, taking me with him as he moves away from the bathroom door.
“I’m not fucking you against that fucking door,” he growls.
I press my lips against his ear. “You fucked me against a tree.”
“That was different.” His hands slide over my back and I feel so small against him. So fragile. So precious and wanted. “That was what you wanted.”
I grin, breathless. “And now, Kade? What do I want now?”
Kade’s eyes lock on mine, sharp and knowing. His lips curl into a smirk made of sin and smug satisfaction.
“Now,” he murmurs, his voice dipping to the timbre of pure darkness, “you want me to ruin you completely.”
He bends his knees and lowers us into steaming hot water that can only have filled the bath by magic.
This tub shouldn’t be here and it definitely shouldn’t be this perfect, and Kade’s cheating in every possible way, using every goddamn trick at his disposal.
I don’t care, delighted he’s doing everything he can to please me and I sink back against the side.
It should be too much—his touch, his presence, the sheer power of him—but it isn’t.
Instead, it feels like the world narrowing to a single, perfect point.
Like everything before, this moment was just waiting for us to collide and when he bites the curve where my neck meets my shoulder I shiver despite the warm water.
Kade finds my clit quickly and I moan as he teases me, rubbing gentle circles, which heightens my arousal but doesn’t give me what I want. I’m warm and needy, trying to increase the pressure as I move against him.
“Such a greedy little thing,” Kade says, and I nod, practically begging for more. “Play with me and I’ll give you what you want.”
My hand moves so damn fast it’s insane and it wraps around his thick, hard cock. Kade’s eyes darken and my hand moves as agonizingly slowly as he plays with my clit and he smirks, refusing to give in.
“Harder, kitten,” he rasps. “I need more.”