62. SOPHIE
Ash opened the door to his villa.
Calypso came bounding through the door, slobbering them both in kisses. “Oh buddy, we missed you too!” Sophie was on her knees, running her hands through his fur. She was the one who’d found him in Faery all those years ago and it was Ash who kept his promise. Sophie’s heart squeezed. He kept his promise.
Ash crouched down on the other side of Cal, giving him a well-earned scratch behind the ears. “I bet Ares gave you more snacks than he was meant to.”
Cal yipped and barked, confirmation enough.
Ash stood up quickly. “Did you want a coffee or tea or anything?” he asked.
Sophie looked up to him. “I’ll have some tea. I’m not risking the whole coffee ordeal with you.”
“On it!” Ash moved away into the kitchen. She could hear the sounds of a kettle boiling and the light clinking of cups.
Sophie moved to the couch with Cal in tow. She struggled to find a position that accommodated her new wings and after a few moments of troubleshooting, she landed on hanging over the edge. It would do for now. The hellhound immediately snuggled onto Sophie’s lap.
“Did you want any sugar in yours?” Ash asked. Sophie turned to answer but the words were thoroughly lodged in her throat. Her mouth went dry and her jaw, imperceptibly dropped.
Ash was leaning against the door of the kitchen. His muscled, tattooed arms rested above him on the doorframe and the lines of his lower abs peaked through the bottom of his white shirt. A trail of dark hair disappeared into the band of his pants.
Oh my.
Sophie swallowed.
Clearing her throat, Sophie blinked away the desire from her gaze. “Just one sugar. Thanks.” Her voice was impossibly weak. Heck, her freaking knees were weak.
Ash caught her eyes, returning a look that dropped to her lips then back up. He blinked before disappearing into the kitchen, returning to the tea.
Fuck the tea.
Sophie whispered into Cal’s ear. “Can you head to Ares’s house?”
Cal tilted his head.
“Your dad and I need some time alone,” Sophie explained.
Cal let out a long puff of smoke from his nostrils and huffed.
Did this dog just give me attitude?
He trotted off the couch and slipped through the backyard, obeying Sophie’s request.
Sophie moved from the couch. She needed Ash now. No distractions or disruptions. No veiled truth to stand in their way.
She walked into the small kitchen.
“I was just about to—” Ash started to turn when Sophie pressed a soft kiss onto his back and ran her hands underneath his shirt. He fell into silence. Her fingers danced lightly over his abs, the skin soft, warm. Is this what Heaven felt like? Her hands bound by want, found their way to his hips. She turned him so he could face her. His muscles hard, but his movements pliable. Willing. Hers.
She looked up at him. Those turquoise smoking eyes. The tufts of white hair sticking out among the inky strands from his nape. The lightning strike scar that danced upon his brow and high cheekbones. She would never get sick of him, or the way her stomach fluttered, among other things.
“I need you.” Her voice was calm, a whisper.
Ash pulled her hand, splayed her palm and placed it upon his heart. She could feel it. The hard thumps. The racing beat that matched her own.
“I’ve always been yours.”
He meant it. Every single word. Every single syllable. It had been twenty years since they’d been ripped apart upon the grassy hills of Soxis. Nine years since they reunited in the Summeiran forest. Less than a year since he saved her from the Wrenntian temple. Time, realms and veiled pasts had stood between them, stretching them apart. Now? It was just his cotton shirt.
So Sophie pushed him. Her hands upon his broad chest, she backed him up against the counter and commanded, “Take off your shirt.”
He obeyed.
The way his muscles flexed and moved was unfairly hypnotising. His body was a devasting poem whose lines she wanted singed into her subconscious. Every line. Every curve. Every dip.
Ash’s burning gaze did not leave her face as she hungrily traced the contours of his upper body. Slowly, she moved down his torso, running her fingers through his dark happy trail. Before she dipped past his waistband, she stopped. She looked into those turquoise smoking eyes again. “Take off your pants.”
He obeyed.
Sophie swallowed hard.
Ash wasn’t wearing anything underneath. He was fully erect. Just for her.
Sophie dared to look up at him. His eyes were dark, hungry, like he was daring her to make the next move.
So she took a step back to pull off her own shirt and pants.
They stood there, completely naked for just a moment.
Then another.
The air between them sizzled and cracked. The air filled with chaos, want and need.
Now nothing stood between them.
The guiding starlight had finally found her thundering storm. At long last.
Sophie moved in closer, brushing her hand through the curls of his happy trail again, all the way down so she could cup him fully. He hissed in pleasure. The sinful sound shot a spike of adrenalin through her veins, and she desperately needed more of it.
Stroke.
Another hiss from his sweet lips.
The sound was fucking magnificent.
Sophie stroked him again. Slow, deliberate movements. Savouring every shiver. Every hiss. From the base, achingly across the velvet shaft and all the way to the tip. The way she collected his purrs was an addiction she had no intention of quitting.
Ash tried to claim her lips with his, but she pushed him back against the counter. She wanted this moment to pleasure him. She waited for him for so long. What was another moment?
Slowly, she sank down on her knees. Taking him into her hands, she kissed his swollen head softly, licking away the precum that had already appeared. She looked up at him, her gaze never tearing away from his as she licked her tongue from the base of his cock all the way to the tip.
“Starlight . . .” he breathed, pushing the hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear.
She did it again. Her tongue slid along his entire length but this time, when she reached his head, she took him entirely into her mouth.
“Fuck,” Ash fluttered his eyes closed as his hand gripped her head. She sucked, in and out until she could feel his thighs tense, his abdomen flex. She couldn’t help but smile, knowing that she was the cause for all this tension. What a fucking superpower.
His growl was the only warning she got.
He pulled her up from the ground, crashing his lips into hers and by the Fates she never wanted anyone more than him. They hungrily kissed, pushing each other from wall to wall. Through the living room and all the way to his bed where he gently lay her down onto her back, nudging her wings out wide. His frenzied kisses turned patient. Slow. Deep. Savouring. Sophie returned every languid stroke. Their tongues pushing. Tasting. Feeling.
They’d waited so long. They weren’t going to rush a thing.
Wordlessly, Ash pulled her to the edge of the bed, gripping her thighs as he kissed her neck. Then her chest. Where his kisses went, followed his broad, calloused hands, touching every part of her skin and setting it ablaze.
Sophie grew breathless with every kiss and caress.
He trailed his lips against her stomach, breathing her in like she was the air he needed to survive. He moved his hands to her thighs and sank to his knees by the end of the bed. The image of a pious angel, bowing before his goddess. Slowly, he kissed burning trails from her knee, closer and closer to where she needed him most. Sophie propped herself on to her elbows and watched him worship her.
He spread her legs apart, his thumb just brushing against the edges of her core. Tiny little electric shocks ran up and down her legs. Her wings rustled involuntarily, another sensation that only added to the heady concoction she was already drowning in.
“You have no idea how much I want to taste you, Starlight,” he growled. He looked at her hungrily as his hand pushed her firmly onto the bed.
“Show me how much,” Sophie breathed.
Ash smiled a wicked grin.
He hooked his hands over her thighs and pulled her legs over his shoulders. She could feel his warm breath tickling her skin as he firmly pressed a hand onto her stomach and the other onto her thigh.
He kissed her left inner thigh.
Then he kissed her right inner thigh.
Then he kissed her fully.
Oh gods.
His tongue was firm. Slow. Patient. He licked all the way from the bottom to top, flicking at the last moment. Her eyes hit the back of her head as she moaned.
He growled against her as he did it again, this time slower, more excruciating.
“Ash, please,” Sophie begged.
And he obeyed.
He was relentless. Unabashed. Un-fucking-hinged as he licked and kissed her to a steady rhythm. Her hips rolled uncontrollably as she gripped her hands into his hair, pulling him closer and closer. All the time, he kept his arms locked around her, his hand firmly on her stomach as he watched her writhe in the pleasure that he served her.
Already. She was so close.
Her eyes rolled and her moans were getting louder and louder. When her head fell back, Ash gripped her chin, forcing her to look at him as he tortured her. He growled hungrily as her legs shook, and her hips rolled. She was dancing on the edge now. And Ash knew it. She could tell by the way his eyes glinted, the way he growled, praising her for every one of her moans.
Sophie watched him. The way he devoured her. The sounds of his lips on her. It was too much. The distance between her breaths grew non-existent. His scent invaded her senses. His arms locked her in place. His eyes never wandered as she tipped over the edge and came hard, all over him. His cheeks were glistening with her as she bucked and plummeted from the edges of a world-shattering climax.
And when she thought she was coming back down to earth, Ash pushed his fingers straight into her, filling her up. He moved with precision, matching his pace to the pulses of her core. Suddenly, she was climbing again.
Fuck.
Ash pushed her farther onto the bed, resting her legs on top of his powerful thighs as he knelt between her. He continued his rhythmic, two-finger strokes as the thumb of his other hand circled her clitoris.
“Holy shit.” Sophie couldn’t stop shaking.
“I need you to come again, baby,” Ash breathed.
Her hands gripped the bed as her back arched off the bed. His hands. His fingers. They didn’t stop.
“I can’t,” Sophie breathed. It was too much. Her thighs were slicked in sweat. The bed, soaked.
“You can.” Ash pushed his fingers deeper, curving them slightly until they hit that delicious spot. He worked her clitoris in excruciating circles. Sophie ground deliriously against his hands. Her eyes rolled back uncontrollably. She found herself standing on the edge again.
“Ash,” Sophie moaned. Her breathing ragged as all hell.
“Yes?” He worked her harder.
“Yes. Yes. Yes.” She met every single one of her his strokes with her hips. All she could feel was the heat of his soaked hands. She was a fucking mess.
“That’s it, baby.” Ash increased his speed.
“ASH—” She was begging him now.
He rewarded her with one final, devastating stroke and Sophie swore she could see through the fabric of time itself. Her entire body shook as she came with a cry of ecstasy. Ash’s name was the blessing on her lips.
“That’s my girl,” he groaned, slowing his pace, letting her ride out the last of her orgasm. He held his hands still as the last spasm left her body.
Ash leaned down, showering her entire body with sweet kisses before he claimed her lips. She could taste herself on his mouth and it satisfied every possessive atom in her body.
“You are a masterpiece, Starlight. A fucking masterpiece,” Ash said as he kissed her lips again. He brushed the sweaty strands of hair out of her face.
She could feel the full length of him between her thighs. His tip just teasing at her entrance. He reached down to line himself up.
She needed him now. Every fucking inch of his body and soul.
Ash looked up to her, his turquoise eyes searching hers of purple.
Sophie nodded. Her words, lost to the wind. Her breath, lost to the space between them.
Slowly, he pushed himself in.
Sophie had waited so long to feel this. To feel him fill her. His soft, warm skin upon hers. He was overwhelming. Thick. Powerful. And when he fully seated himself inside her . . .
“Fuck,” they both moaned.
She wanted to burn this feeling into her skin. Soak it into her damned bones until there was nothing left but their souls.
Ash pushed himself onto his hands, placing one hand just by her neck so she had nowhere to go. The other hand gripped her chin, his thumb tracing her lips.
Sophie kissed his thumb as he brushed past them. His firm grip forced her to look at him. “I see you, Starlight. And I love every single part of you. Dark, broken, bright and whole. Every single part,” he declared.
“And I see you, Ash. And I will you love you until the sands of time claim us, until my soul is nothing but dust in the Elysian Fields. My storm,” she answered.
As the words left her mouth, he began to move.
His strokes were deep. Intense. Filled with longing. Making up for lost time. They met each other, stroke for stroke. Their lips intertwined in a passion-filled dance. His hips rolled against her, pushing her to the edge again. Into a frenzy. Into another dimension. Their breaths mingled. Their moans interlaced with one another’s in a symphony of sighs. Their kisses, hot and heavy. Cracks started to form through Ash’s control. His strokes grew hurried. Sophie was eager to lose control with him. She needed to get closer. As if reading her mind, Ash moved his hand down to grip her hip, kneading her skin.
And that alone sent her over the edge. Sophie came hard and fast. A mess. Shock wave after shock wave. She screamed his name like it was the only prayer she knew, and he held her tight all the while.
With ease, he flipped them over so that he was sitting on the edge of the bed and she was sitting on his lap – her legs wrapped around his waist. They were still joined.
Sophie bent down to kiss him. Savouring the taste of his lips. The taste of him and the taste of this moment. She ran her hands through his long dark hair, gripped the soft white strands and leaned her forehead against his.
He started moving again. Pushing her up and down his length. Her thighs were soaked and so was his stomach. But they didn’t care. They had found each other finally. And they were going to savour every dirty, sweat-soaked moment.
Sophie gripped him tight, a hand on each shoulder, gaining control. She undulated her hips, moving to the steady beat of their hearts. He watched where they were joined, where she moved on top of him.
“By the fucking Fates, Starlight. I’ll never get enough of you.” He squeezed her hips, letting out breathy moans as she moved faster and faster on his lap.
And as the intensity of another climax faded into her vision and claimed her muscles useless, Ash took control. He lay down on his back so that she straddled him. He moved her relentlessly, up and down until his entire body tensed. His strokes grew desperate. His moans the only song she wanted to hear for the rest of eternity. Their eyes never left each other’s. They wouldn’t miss this for the world. Not a chance.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” Sophie cried, each of her syllables matching the beat of his thrusts. She could die here. She really could.
“Yes. Yes. Yes.” It was his turn to pray.
It was the sound of his pleasure, the hisses of his S’s and the roughness of his voice that sent her off the edge again, the shock waves, so violent she was screaming with pleasure and pain. He drew out her climax, placing his thumb onto her clitoris as he moved faster. Deeper.
“Fuck!” Ash groaned as he joined her climax with one, final stroke, her name now the prayer on his lips. She could feel him pulse inside her. Spilling into her. And she loved every moment of it.
As they both came down from the throes of ecstasy, she fell on top of him in a sweaty, breathless slump. He kissed her sweetly on the forehead, running his hands up and down her spine and along the ridges of her lilac wings.
They were sensitive. The feeling akin to someone running along their fingers along your sides.
They lay there for a moment. She could hear his rapid heartbeat as she lay on his chest.
“That was . . . I don’t even . . . you are incredible,” Ash breathed, a small laugh escaping his lips.
“Why did we wait so long?” Sophie laughed, looking up to him. He had an arm behind his head.
“Because someone wanted a clean slate.”
“Hmm, I wonder who that was? What a naughty girl. Maybe you could teach her a lesson?” Sophie laughed as she drew circles on his chest.
“Hmmm . . . I could,” Ash whispered into her ear. She felt his cock twitch against her thigh.
Sophie bit her lip.
Ash’s rough hand found her jaw and pulled her close. Their foreheads now rested upon each other’s, locked in a lover’s embrace. Two souls once realms apart, now here. Together. Where they were meant to be.
Like the mirrors they were, hand in hand, wings outstretched, they said, “I love you.”
Sophie knew it in then, that she had finally made it home.
They spent the entire night wrapped in each other’s embrace. Wading through the throes of pure, unadulterated bliss until they could no longer breathe. There was no telling where Sophie started and Ash finished. She could die in his arms tonight and she’d be happy.
It was well into the early morning before dawn when they both agreed to call it quits. Ash pulled her up from the bed and carried her to the bathroom. Of course, she kicked and squealed all the way. Her wings getting caught against things. She’d get used to them one day. For now, they were a flight risk.
Ash plopped her onto the toilet before standing guard just outside. When she was done heeding Eros’s words of warning he came in with warm cloths.
“What is that for?” Sophie laughed.
“Well, I’ve got to help clean up the mess I made, don’t I?”
Sophie rolled her eyes. “Who knew a mother hen was hiding under all those feathers?”
Ash scooped her up, earning a few more squeals. He placed her gently onto the bathroom countertop, the cold marble of it biting into her thighs.
“Ah, you forget.” Ash placed himself between her thighs, before reaching down, pressing the cloth between her legs, soothing her raw skin. Sophie bit her lower lip. “I am a purely selfish angel.” He bent down onto his knees, his face between her thighs. He looked up at her. Sophie couldn’t help it. Her fingers combed through his inky strands, a little rougher in texture than his white hairs. She placed a kiss on his forehead. “The faster you heal, the more I can—”
Sophie punched him in the shoulder instead. “You dirty, smut-loving angel.”
“Only for you, Starlight,” he teased.
She went to pinch his shoulder.
He dodged her advances, before kissing her on her thighs and standing up. With her hand in his, he led her back to the bed, and pulled her close.
“How about a bedtime story? You can choose a book?” Ash said as he held her hands between them.
They were weary eyed, neither wanting to fall asleep. Fearful that if they closed their eyes, they would wake up to a reality where this wasn’t real. Time, prophecies, and power tore them apart long ago, and they’d never let it happen again.
“I like the idea of that. Don’t move, okay?” Sophie smiled, slipping out of the black silk sheets of his bed.
Sophie quickly pulled Ash’s shirt over her shoulders and tiptoed out into the living room, across to the fireplace. The cold bite of the early morning pebbled her skin, but it didn’t stop her from reaching up to pull the right horn of the draekin mantelpiece. Like the first time, the fireplace spun and groaned to life. She ran down the spiralling staircase in a hurry, eager to get back to her love. Though the library was dark, the soft flickering of the candelabras helped her see. Sophie quickly scanned the oak shelves and settled on Achilles.
When she turned to leave, something snagged against her mana. Like a soft poke, a nudge. It pulled her focus to a set of leather-bound journals, upon a lower shelf, hidden out of view. She crouched down, brushing her fingers along the well-worn spines. She knew exactly what these were. Ash’s drawing journals. She remembered them from his nightmares. How could she forget? Little Ash. Nothing but the clothes on his back and the journals he loved.
She moved to the oldest, dated as far back as eighteen years ago. She pulled it out of the shelf, setting down the copy of Achilles on the ground. His drawings were vivid, real. No dreamy filter existed to dull their beauty. She knew the faces. King Gydeon. Riviera. Young Ash. As she flicked through the pages, the drawings got better and better. Gone were the harsh lines. In its place were soft ones that spoke to the time he spent on the renderings.
Her heart stopped when she spotted the drawing of herself. A draekin hatchling sitting on top of her head. More detail came through with each piece, the further she looked.
Sophie placed the sketchbook back, pulling out another from nine years ago. There she was a young girl at eighteen, hidden in the shadows of a tree. There were sketches of his own arms covered with the fated tattoo they shared, next to a feminine arm, much like hers with the same tattoos. There were sketches of his hands with a pair of feminine ones, their fingers intertwined.
Tears welled up in Sophie’s eyes as she flipped through each page. There was a small note scribbled along the margin.
I don’t know if I’ll find you again, but these dreams and drawings will do for now. If they’re all I ever have, then at least I was able to feel and see something . . . even if it’s just on this stupid piece of paper.
A choking sound left her throat. Sophie snapped closed the sketchbook and ran up the stairs in tears. So long. He’d been waiting for so long.
She busted through Ash’s bedroom doors to find him suggestively draped across the bed, a rose between his teeth. His eyes widened when he registered that she was crying. He quickly made the rose disappear in a puff of smoke and ran to her. “What happened? Are you okay? Was it the rose? I knew it was too much.” He pulled her close as she laughed through her tears.
“No, no. I found these.” She held up the sketchbook.
Ash took a step back and looked at the sketchbook as if it were a bomb. He gulped and straightened himself. He held his hands up defensively. “In hindsight, I can admit, it’s a little obsessive.”
“They’re beautiful, Ash.”
“They come from a dark place, Sofreya.” Ash’s head dropped a touch. He was ashamed of them. She hadn’t forgotten the nightmares he succumbed to. The sad place he spent most of his years growing up, pining for his true family and friends.
Sophie rushed to him, pulling his face into her hands and kissed him deeply. “I see you. And I will always see you. No matter what.”
Ash pulled her into a hug, burying his face into her shoulder, breathing her in deeply. “I know. I know.” Ash pulled back, to kiss her again. “You know, I used to think . . . what could possibly exist that equals to the dawn”—he brushed her hair back behind her ear—“Is as beautiful as the moon”—he nuzzled his nose against hers—“and more radiant than the sun itself.” He kissed her lightly. “Now I know for sure. It’s you, Starlight. Always and forever.”
He pulled her up into his arms. Sophie wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him like her soul was on fire, and his lips were the only salvation.