Chapter 47 #2
He growled something unintelligible, his chest thrumming with a barely restrained roar.
With one brutal motion, he thrust upward, his hips jerking.
I screamed as he entered me fully, the intensity shooting through me with violent fervor.
I spread my thighs wider. He hitched my left leg up, shifting the angle as he drove into me again.
White-hot pleasure exploded within me, lighting up my veins like lightning. I rolled my hips, taking him in again.
“Grab my horns, Sybelle,” he rasped, his voice strained. “I want you to hold them while you ride me.”
I obeyed, keeping the hilt of my dagger tucked between two fingers while I wrapped the others around his long, black horns. I clenched them tightly, and he let out a strangled groan.
“That’s it,” he said. “Squeeze them hard.”
My fingers clamped tightly around his horns, and his eyelids fluttered. I felt his cock pulse inside me.
“Sybelle.” He thrust into me again.
Heat flooded my veins. I gasped, my blood sizzling with electricity.
“You’re mine,” he moaned with another thrust.
“Yours,” I breathed, my insides turning molten.
“My wife.” Thrust. “My queen.” Thrust. “My goddess.” Thrust.
I cried out, each brutal motion sending fire up and down my body. Hot moisture burned behind my eyes.
He set a harsh rhythm, pumping wildly as he rammed into me harder and harder. Each thrust was more violent, more unhinged.
His animalistic grunts matched our pace, becoming louder and more savage. Shadows caressed my arms and breasts, and a tendril of smoke glided down my belly. The cool mist was a refreshing respite from the heat of our bodies, the friction of our movements as we came apart together.
He pounded into me mercilessly. Relentlessly. And I knew he wasn’t holding back anymore. I used my grip on his horns to anchor me, to keep me grounded; otherwise, his manic thrusts would send me flying. My throat was raw from my screams.
As he buried himself inside me again and again, something shattered within me, breaking who I once was. Together, Varius and I forged something new. A new version of myself that was perfectly aligned with him.
Not a human and a fae.
But a husband and a wife. A king and a queen.
Two sides of the same coin.
More shadows spilled around us, but these were different.
They were thinner and the color of the midnight sky.
I would have paused to study them, but my body was wholly consumed by Varius.
Sweat trickled down his brow. His mouth was open, his eyes closed in rapture.
His roars grew louder, and I knew he was close.
My pleasure mounted, churning faster and faster, ready to carry me into oblivion. But I welcomed it. I would dive off that cliff with Varius.
His eyes opened, and they were all black now, the darkness chasing away the white. I knew now it was a sign of him losing control.
And I wanted him to lose control.
“Varius,” I moaned. “ Varius .”
And then his voice was in my head. “Gods, Sybelle, you ruin me. You destroy me. Mother of Shade, take me… Take me hard. Oh gods, I need more. Gods, you are everything . I can’t hold it in.
Damn it all, I want to come all over you.
I want to taste you, to devour you. I want to go all night with you riding me like this.
Harder. Harder . Yes, like that. Tell me you’re mine.
Take it. Take all of me. I’m yours, Sybelle. Oh, that’s it. Yes, yes.”
Flames burst within me, singeing my blood and scorching my veins. I was on fire. My body was burning, but I didn’t care.
Burn, I thought. We will burn together.
“Yes, my love,” came Varius’s voice in my mind. “Burn with me.”
We both moaned, our voices mingling as our bodies crashed together. Release exploded through me, wrecking me, fracturing me into a thousand pieces. I was everywhere at once, my soul splintering across worlds and realms, carried away by pleasure I never knew was possible.
Varius spilled into me, but I couldn’t contain him anymore.
Hot liquid drenching my thighs, dripping onto the stone floor.
His arms stretched out on either side of him, his palms smashing into the floor around us.
The stone cracked as his claws sliced into it.
He roared, making the walls tremble. He slammed into me, hips thrusting once, twice, and then a third time before he finally collapsed underneath me.
My hands shook, but I kept my hold on the dagger, knowing the instant I released it, I would feel nothing but pain. I certainly needed my healing moonstone to recover from this; otherwise, I wouldn’t be walking for a week.
Shivers wracked my body, and I bent over, resting my head against his heaving chest. We both gasped for breath, our bodies sticky with sweat and other fluids.
I lay against him, eyes closed, focusing on the rapid thumping of his heart. I was too exhausted to speak, to move, to do anything at all. His arms settled around my bare back, holding me against him.
“You have destroyed me, dannahla .” His voice was in my mind again.
I licked my lips, finally able to focus on the strange sensation of hearing his thoughts. Was I hallucinating this? Was our lovemaking so violent that it had addled my brain?
“Really?” I thought in response. “You seem perfectly fine to me.”
His chest shook with a wheezing laugh, and I froze, realizing he had heard me.
“You are my wife now in earnest,” he said. “And I would have you be the queen of this land. Reign by my side, Sybelle. As my equal.”
I drew back to stare at him, eyes wide and lips parted. “Varius,” I whispered, my throat still raw. “Are you—did you?—”
“Be my queen,” he breathed. “Say yes, and I’ll have you coronated tomorrow. Just be mine, Sybelle. ”
My mouth went completely dry, and I was at a loss for words. What could I say? I knew enough about the previous human brides to know none of them had ever been coronated. They were wives and nothing more. Not unseelie queens.
And certainly not equals.
Varius was offering me something that had never been offered before.
“So, you don’t think I’m a traitor?” I asked.
He chuckled again, then leaned in and captured my lips with his. “Never,” he murmured against my mouth. When he withdrew, there was a vulnerability in his gaze I had never seen before. It tugged at my heart, making it twist and lurch painfully in my chest.
He was offering not only himself but his entire kingdom to me.
And he was worried I would refuse him.
“Yes,” I said quickly. “Yes, I accept.”
He grinned broadly before kissing me again, his lips moving hungrily, urgently over mine. He framed my face between his large hands to kiss me harder and deeper. I laughed at his enthusiasm, kissing him with equal fervor.
“Varius,” I gasped. “I—I need to tell you something. Well, lots of things.” I absently traced my finger along the hard muscles of his chest.
We had just bared everything to one another.
Now, it was time for me to be completely honest with him. He deserved the truth from me.
“I have to tell you something, too,” he murmured, stroking a lock of sweaty hair out of my face. “But you go first.”
I cleared my throat, suddenly nervous. “I—I have a dragon.”
He merely blinked at me. “A dragon?” His voice was full of doubt.
“Yes. She’s a Blue Amethyst, and her name is Azure. She—She’s my best friend. ”
His brows knitted together as he searched my face. Perhaps he thought I was joking. Then, his gaze dipped to the amber stone at my throat, and comprehension lit his features.
“She is who you communicate with through the stone.”
I nodded.
He wet his lips, and his breathing became uneven. “You have a dragon? A real dragon?”
“Yes. She came with me from the Earthen Court to protect me. She’s been hiding near the stables. But I swear she doesn’t mean you any harm. I mean, as long as you don’t hurt me…” I trailed off as I found Varius grinning. “What?”
“You have a gods-damned dragon .” He choked on a laugh. “That’s—That’s incredible , Sybelle.”
I found myself smiling, too. “You’re not angry with me?”
“Why would I be angry? There’s a dragon nearby! What is she like? I must admit, I’ve never seen one before.”
My smile widened. “She’s magnificent. Brilliant blue scales that can lighten or darken to help her blend in with her environment.
And she can sense the magic around her and describe how powerful it is and where it came from.
I can show her to you sometime. Maybe after a few days, though.
She is likely a bit wary of strangers, and?—”
Varius gently placed his fingers over my lips, silencing me. As he gazed at me, his eyes crinkled with warmth. “You can show her to me when you’re ready, Sybelle. There is no rush. I trust you.”
My chest cinched tightly from the affection burning in his eyes.
Would he still be looking at me like that after I shared my next secret?
He seemed to sense my hesitation. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s something else.”
When I paused, he said, “Go on.”
I took a shaky breath before I said, “I think the witch who cast your curse had a child in secret. And… I think it’s Tislora.”