Chapter 38
Midmorning sun dragged me from slumber. Both eyes were boulder-heavy as I pulled them open. Yet amid the exhaustion was an undeniable lightness. Vivacity. White undulated in my chest, strong and steady. Every inhale wasn’t a knife in my ribs from the bond. And red vines didn’t striate my vision.
But in my well, something sinister slithered. Watching. Waiting. Like it knew I would need it again.
Sylaira still rested in front of me, my hand on her stomach rising with the slow tide of her breath.
For so long, I’d believed Demons evil, hated them for how they’d taken my mother from me. My father had woven the belief that the Goddess wanted them gone into the fabric of my being. I’d allowed myself to fall into it when Iaoth became the Korona. To amplify it when Stadiel asked.
And here I was, tainted. Not only tainted—a monster. Because if I could wield both Angel and Demon magic…
I knew I’d be killed. Without hesitation. There was no mercy for the wicked.
How was I supposed to reconcile these two sides of myself now that I possessed both powers?
I’d hoped that by bringing my Angel magic back, the darkness would be eradicated.
Instead, it seemed to feed on the core of light.
Out of curiosity, I reached for my Command.
Light surged, but with it was that blood-tinted darkness.
With a sigh, I released my hold, letting the restored magic continue to rest.
Sylaira stirred, wriggling into me. My cock jumped, hardening and digging into her back. And I wanted nothing more than to bury myself inside her. To feel how much she wanted me now. To look into her eyes and know that she loved me.
My fingers tightened, and her breath hitched.
“Little fugitive,” I crooned, my nose running along the length of her neck. “This is how you were always meant to be.”
She shuddered as I raked my teeth over her shoulder. “I know.”
I rolled my hips, eliciting a delicious whimper. “I’m going to fuck you now. And when you dance among the stars, capture one for me.” With a tug, I flattened her on her back and settled in between her thighs. Her long legs wrapped around my waist, pulling me in closer.
“I need you.” Her words were a throaty beg.
“You have me. Always,” I promised, my mouth going to her neck. I dragged the lobe of her ear through my teeth. “You’re mine, Sylaira.”
“Then claim me,” she panted, her back arching off the bed.
Giving the barest bit of space, I gripped my cock and lined up with her entrance. My gaze captured hers, holding it as I slid in one single inch.
Her silver brows pinched, mouth parting in a small gasp. “More.”
I obliged her, but not by much.
She made a noise of protest. “Quit teasing me.”
“After how thoroughly you kept me out? I am going to savor every hitch of your breath.” I gave her a sliver of my dick, her walls gripping me tight.
“Every flutter of your eyelashes.”
As if I were the Seer who predicted her next movement, they caressed her cheeks.
“Every whimper of my name.”
I speared inside, seating myself to the hilt.
“Vaeron!” she gasped, eyes flying open.
“Just like that, little fugitive,” I purred, sliding out before fucking into her again.
Goddess, the way she wrapped around me…
I claimed her mouth in a clash of teeth and tongues. Her fingers threaded into my hair, pinning me. Our skin slapped as I picked up my pace.
“You’re so slick for me,” I praised into her mind.
“Only you.”
I dove into the pool of luminosity in my chest, pulling strands free.
Because my little fugitive loved when I bound her before.
Light slithered out of me, wrapping around her legs and prying them apart.
She moaned as I deepened the angle, wetness gushing out of her.
Crushed ghostflowers drowned me in their scent, peachy notes dancing across my tongue. Everything that reminded me of Sylaira.
She broke our kiss, head turning to the side. I lowered myself, teeth scraping along the side of her neck.
“Right there. Don’t stop,” she pleaded, her core pulsing.
I rolled my hips, working over the spot she loved so much. “Who gives you pleasure?”
“You,” she replied, nails raking over my back.
Ecstasy swept across my skin as they bit in. Shifting my magic, I brought her flexible legs higher, opening her hips for me.
“Oh, fuck,” she whimpered as I hit a deeper spot.
“Look at me,” I demanded, rearing back.
She turned her face to me, ice-blue irises clouded with desire. Yet through the haze of lust, her love struck me like bolts of lightning. I drenched our bond in mine, wanting her to feel how much I’d missed this—missed her. How sorry I was for my sins. How I’d spend the rest of my life atoning.
“Little fugitive,” I ground out, hips working faster as I sensed her orgasm closing in. “My storm. My mate. My reason for breathing.”
Her tongue darted out, wetting her bottom lip. I captured it between my thumb and forefinger. “I fucking love you.”
“I love you too,” she whispered.
I gripped her neck then, just enough to cut off the tiniest sip of air. “You will never leave me like that again. Understood?”
Her center clenched around me as she nodded.
I poured out more of my power, directing it to her clit. Tendrils of black-threaded light brushed over the sensitive nub, her pleasure ricocheting through our connection.
“That’s my good girl. You’re going to come so hard for me, aren’t you?”
Her chin dipped, breath scraping in her throat. And how I loved feeling this control over her—over her pleasure. My fingers tightened, and my magic twisted.
“Vaeron!” she gasped out, my name barely audible. Her eyes rolled back, shoulders lifting off the bed.
Sparks skittered down my spine from how hard she gripped me. Each pulse of her pussy pulled me closer to my own orgasm.
But I gritted my teeth and fucked her through hers. This didn’t get to be over yet.
“Too sensitive,” she whimpered, and I surrendered my magic.
I kissed her again, sliding out. “On your hands and knees.”
She offered me a hazy blink. So I spanked her center. Air fled her lungs, but pleasure rippled down our bond.
I canted my head. “Does my little fugitive like that too?”
“Maybe,” she said, her voice shaky. But her teeth dug into her bottom lip as she flipped over.
“I’ve not had nearly enough time with you yet.” My hands roved the globes of her ass before I dipped my fingers into her core. They came away even more soaked than my cock. “Learning all the ways to make you wet. All the ways you like to be restrained.”
In one harsh thrust, I drove into her. Her fingers knotted in the sheets, muscles in her back flexing as she braced herself.
I reached forward, wrapping her silver hair around my hand.
Her spine bowed as I pulled her head up.
My next words I whispered in her ear. “All the ways to make you scream. I will singlehandedly end this war if only to hear all the different sounds you make.”
And then, I fucked her again. Her wetness slicked my thighs each time we were flush. And as I traced the graceful curve of her back, all I could think about was how finally, fucking finally, she had given me all of her.
My fingers ghosted over the knots of her spine before I flattened my palm on her lower back, changing the angle of my cock inside her. She let out a heady moan, and I slowed down, allowing her to savor the feeling with me.
“That’s it, little fugitive. Take all of me. I want you to remember how good this is for the rest of our lives.”
Because there was no telling what came next—not for certain anyway. Her visions offered a glimpse of possibility.
And I wanted the probability of us living for millennia more together to be undeniably high.
No longer was I bound. No longer was I my sister’s pet.
My duty to this realm was to ensure it survived.
“Vaeron,” Sylaira panted, my name a plea.
“Use your words.”
“I need to come. Please use your magic on me.”
My balls tightened at her desperate supplication. I opened myself up to my power, pulling the incandescence into existence. And damn did it feel like coming home to wield it again.
White tweaked her nipples and wrapped around her core, caressing it. Air stuttered in her lungs. Ecstasy flooded our bond.
“Yes, fuck, please,” she babbled, gone to the drops of pleasure I alone could rain down on her.
I released her hair, silk sliding through my fingers and spilling over her shoulders. My gaze swept down her back, and I gripped her hips, holding her still while I set a blistering pace.
All that existed—all there would ever be—was Sylaira and me joined like this. Like devouring each other wasn’t enough.
Sweat slicked my spine. Sylaira let out a moan, her pussy choking my cock. I gritted my teeth and pushed through, willing myself not to come.
“Sylaira,” I swore, her name a curse and a reclamation.
She detonated with a wild scream of my name, and that was all it took for her to drag me into the stars with her.
Our minds melded, until there was no delineation of her and me. All I knew was that we were one—our pleasure, our pain, our purpose.
We spiraled together like that, to a rhythm and melody unique to us. My vision flickered in and out as her orgasm subsided. Panting, we returned to this world, still locked together. I was loath to exit her, for the moment to end.
But my near-death experience cost us precious time. The war would not wait for us.
So with a pained groan, I released her. But as soon as I slid out, I captured her in my arms, kissing along her shoulder, neck, temple. “Mine. Always mine.”
“Always yours,” she murmured, turning to face me. Our kiss was slow, unhurried, like there wasn’t an impending meeting that could decide the fate of the realm.
I eased her back, our bodies intertwining. I savored the feeling of her pressed against me. Studied the mosaic of color in her eyes. Mapped the curve of her waist.
How did I deserve someone so beautiful? And why hadn’t the Goddess taken her from me, even after I’d been tainted?
“You aren’t tainted,” Sylaira murmured.
My jaw tightened, and I looked away from her. I hadn’t meant to project my thoughts, but now that I had, I didn’t know how to reply to her.
“You’re not,” she insisted, reaching up and capturing my chin between her fingers. Her brows pinched as she glared at me. “In fact, I think that the blood inside you is proof that we can coexist with them.”
I blew out a long breath. “I don’t know how to let go of my anger toward them.”
“I let go of my anger toward you, didn’t I?” she pointed out.
A smirk lifted the corners of my mouth. “Only because I almost died and you had to face a reality where this would never happen again.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fair. But my point still stands. People can do horrific things, and you can forgive them for that. Besides, there is hurt on both sides of this war. We haven’t been kind to them, they haven’t been kind to us.
At some point, someone has to surrender an inch and hope that the other meets them in the middle. ”
“What you’re asking for might be impossible,” I cautioned.
“I don’t think so. In fact, I think that is what the Goddess wants us to do.
That’s why She’s showing me the Halálhívó’s mate.
I can’t explain how or why I believe this, but I think she’s changing something in their realm too.
” Sylaira dragged in a shuddering breath.
“And I think that I need to stop fighting my new title. It’s time for me to actively be the one to save the realm. ”
My heart twisted at the change in her convictions. The last few days had been monumental—for both of us. The final break before we could rebuild stronger, harder, and together.
And I was so fucking proud of her.
“Let’s talk more about it all once Maelsar and Lyriasthe are here,” I told her, brushing her hair behind her ear. “I have something I want to give you, since we lost your ring.”
“I’m sorry about that,” she whispered, eyes flicking between mine and begging for forgiveness. “I shouldn’t have taken it off.”
“You had every reason to. But I hope that you’ll wear this…forever.”
Pressing my lips to hers one last time, I rose, finding my jacket and digging in the pockets for my mother’s necklace. The weight of it in my palm was heavier than the last time I’d held it. Like in this moment, it meant more than it ever had.
I returned to Sylaira, cradling the cracked moonstone. “This belonged to my mother,” I prefaced, opening my hands and revealing the jewel. “She was wearing it when…”
Sylaira sat up, fingers tracing the outline of the teardrop. “When she died?”
I nodded. “I stole it before she was burned. I’ve kept it hidden all these centuries, mostly for myself. But I want you to wear it now.”
“It would be my honor,” my mate said, her melodic voice thick with emotion.
“Spin for me,” I murmured. She did as I bid, sweeping her hair up into a knot and securing it.
I unraveled the chain, hands shaking the barest amount as I slid the necklace into place and locked the clasp. When she turned, my attention snagged on the moonstone resting in the center of her chest—right over her well of magic and where our bond resided.
It fit her perfectly.
“You are ethereal.”
Pink dusted her cheeks. “Thank you.”
“I can’t wait for you to perform for me. In only that.” My cock twitched at the thought.
“Maybe later, after everything is done for the day. After what happened…I need to move.”
“Then I’ll ensure we make time for that, little fugitive. But we need to leave our sanctuary and return to reality. We have a war to win.”
“That we do,” she sighed.
I tugged her from the bed and into the bathing chamber, ordering her to stand still so I could clean her. She huffed but allowed me to swipe a bath sheet over her body. To douse her in scented oils. Because we both wanted to linger in the afterglow.
Yet as I buttoned up a fine tunic fit for the Herr of the manor, my mind drifted back to what awaited us. Oshenai. Ishim. The front.
Regicide.
At least now, Sylaira and I were united. I’d have to steal these moments wherever I could during the next few months.
Because in the midst of war, love did not rest—it raged.