86
But I didn’t crash into the double doors.
I fell onto the floor in my room.
I took greedy breaths of fresh, clean air, trying to rid my body of that unhealthy, blood-filled smell I had inhaled in that terrifying room.
High black flames erupted from the stone tiles just a few steps away from me, and Mornon’s figure—both so terrible and erotic in my eyes—appeared between them.
He was here. Physically. It wasn’t an illusion.
I should attack him. Cast all of Calien’s power upon him without any mercy.
Instead, I couldn’t get over the fact that he hadn’t denied loving me. That he had thrown me away the moment I tore down the ice wall behind which he had lived for millennia and saw him for what he truly was.
A creature that felt terribly alone.
He half smiled derisively. Cruelly. “You’re so pathetic to believe so.”
His left hand’s fingers moved gracefully, mesmerizingly.
The next moment, excruciating pain in my rib cage cut off my breath. I had the impression that countless claws pierced my liver, lungs, and heart, and then scratched them so slowly that my mouth opened in a silent cry.
I leaned against the bench at the foot of the bed, struggling to pull myself up as I let out inarticulate, strangled sounds. A thick stream of blood poured from my lips, dripping onto the polished wood.
The light within the Crystal started to pulse.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mornon approaching with the slow, deliberate movements of a panther. He stood beside me, towering over me in all his dark majesty.
“Do you really think you can redeem me with love?” he mocked me.
I struggled to hoist myself onto the bench, as if an unseen force was pressing me down. I clenched the Crystal in my fist, blood bubbling in my throat and spilling from the corners of my mouth. Mornon slowly rolled his wrist, and against my will, my face lifted toward him.
“Or even beat me just because your granny is with you now?” he continued, almost with pity.
I wanted to lash out at him with all my pain, but it felt like I was suffocating in my own blood as his darkness tore me apart from within.
Mornon smeared the viscous liquid over my lower lip, gazing at it for what felt like a century. Then, abruptly, he seized my chin, digging his fingers into my cheeks so forcefully that I spat out a crimson spurt that stained his sleeve.
“Tomorrow I will invade your house and kill your family before your eyes,” he growled, making me realize he was extremely annoyed that he had stopped when I’d begged him not to slaughter my father and Araton.
“Then I will drag you away with me and torture you in ways I can’t even describe to you.
” He drew a breath vibrating with anticipation. “Until you give me this damn Crystal.”
No, he wouldn’t do any of that.
For it would be me killing him tomorrow.
Tears welled up in my eyes as I gazed upon that being, so treacherous and merciless. So cold and calculating. So hungry for power and destruction and depravity.
So far from the person I’d fallen for.
“Who are you?” I whispered, my voice thick with anger and pain.
He let go of my chin and wiped away my tears with the back of his fingers, his expression darker than ever as he ordered the darkness within me to subside. “I’m your mate.”
And my jailor.
He would remain so for all eternity if I failed.
A sense of complete and unrelenting destruction overwhelmed me, and I pulled away from Mornon’s hand in disgust. “Give me Amlach back,” I murmured in a broken voice.
He sighed quietly, his arm dropping to his side. “Amlach was never real, Elf.”
The black fire started to rise around his boots, but before he could turn and disappear into it, I impulsively grabbed his hand.
Just like I had done in the clearing.
Again.
Always.
Because I couldn’t let him go.
I knew I should. I should be strong, as hard as granite. I should be a warrior. But I couldn’t be one. Not right now.
Now, I was utterly and irreparably devastated.
Whatever happened the following day, I would lose.
My love, my heart, my soul, my body.
I would stop existing, either dying with my half or canceling myself out to prevent him from using me.
So, I embraced my weakness and chose to fool myself into thinking I could have a different ending. Into pretending it was once again the night when Amlach and I had given ourselves to each other.
“Come back to being him,” I whispered, “and spend the night with me.” I raised my eyes to him. “One last time.”
We would face each other tomorrow.
But tonight was our last chance to love each other.
Mornon frowned, the only sign of his inner conflict during the brief, wracking silence that followed. His gaze moved to Calien’s Crystal. Slowly, he removed his hand from mine and extended it toward the starry gem.
I held my breath as he slid his fingers underneath it, and I was shocked when he lifted it slightly from my chest.
He was touching it.
And the Crystal didn’t react.
I broke out in a cold sweat, confused about what was happening, why Mornon wasn’t being thrown away, and I prepared myself to attack. But then his eyes shot into mine, and I realized.
Mornon didn’t want to take it. He just wanted to take it off me.
Alert, I let him do it and, with my heart in my throat, watched him as he placed it next to me on the bench. A muscle twitched on his cheek, revealing that he was fighting with all his might to resist temptation.
So, I jumped to my feet and framed his face in my hands, pulling him to me and pressing my lips to his.
He stood stiff for a few moments before surrendering to that kiss filled with my blood and tears, greedily probing my mouth with his tongue as if he couldn’t get enough of that metallic, salty flavor.
When I unexpectedly fell onto the bed, bouncing slightly, I let out a giggle. He looked down at me, and as he removed one of my boots and then the other, a cocky smirk appeared on his face, dark with desire.
Amlach’s smirk.
Trembling with excitement, I watched him take off his boots and make a rotating hand gesture. Darkness arose, spreading along the walls and the glass ceiling and isolating us from the outside world.
So that we could scream without anyone hearing us.
From that moment on, only desperate passion prevailed. My armguards, shoulder straps, and gold bustier hit the floor with metallic thuds in different parts of the room. His clothes were ripped apart in a rush by my hands. Mine were torn by the claws that emerged at the ends of his fingers.
I wanted his violent hands on the parts of my body that only he knew.
I wanted his angry bites on my nipples and the shivers that shook him as I ran my lips down his sex.
I wanted his nails cutting into me and his saliva soothing the wounds.
I wanted his mouth sucking relentlessly between my legs and buttocks until I writhed on the pillows and his tongue sticking in me.
I wanted him to make the claws appear on my fingers as well, so I could lick the blood pouring from the deep scratches I was carving into him.
I wanted his guttural sounds of pleasure against my palm, pressed hard on his lips, as I rode him at an increasingly faster pace.
I wanted to feel his furious pulse beneath my pads as I wrapped my hand around his throat, pulled him up, and took him all the way inside me.
He let out a sigh of pleasure that blended with mine, but when I tried to kiss him, he drew back with a teasing smile.
“Give me your lips,” I commanded, tightening my hold on his neck until his muscles and tendons grew tense.
He squeezed my buttocks and pressed my lower belly even more against his, so that the tip of his erection would touch a spot inside my vagina that made me burst into a sudden scream.
“Give me the Crystal,” he replied defiantly.
“Never,” I snarled.
His eyes blazed with a combination of anger and lust. In the next instant, I was pressed against the mattress with his powerful body looming over me. I was captivated by his rugged, untamed beauty and the slightly waving locks that framed his face, tickling my cheeks.
He contemplated me for what felt like forever, so much so that I thought he would resume possessing me without ever kissing me again.
Instead, he opened his mouth wide on mine, and suddenly my entire universe shrank down to just him.
Him, him, him.