Chapter 18 #3
“That’s…that’s good.” The knot of tension in my chest loosened. “Then I can let them go. It will be okay…”
I fell silent as my focus shifted. Thanatos had transitioned to massaging the oil into my neck, and now the caresses of his fingers over my pulse had turned undeniably sensual.
He gazed up at me with burning adoration, and the world beyond him ceased to exist. This god, who had glimpsed the beauty and ugliness of every departed soul, somehow still preferred to love mine.
A lazy smile crept across my face, and I leaned forward to stroke his wet hair.
“Hi,” I said, nuzzling closer. Light scents of rose and cinnamon wafted through the air around us.
“My love,” he murmured. “Everything is alright now.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck, and a happy shiver ran down my spine. It was true. My sisters were safe. The city would rebuild. And…
“No one can keep me from you,” I whispered. “You’re mine.”
“Yes. I am yours.”
I found his lips with my own, tasting him. Feeling his fear and love and longing. “Well, then. Carry me?”
Thanatos kissed his way to my ear. The whisper of his voice stood the hairs on my neck on end. “To the bed that’s right over there?”
“Yeah,” I giggled.
“Always.”
He scooped me into his arms and lifted me up, flapping his wings for balance as he stood. He carried me back to his bedroom this way, cradling me tenderly, kissing softly across my sensitive skin.
His bed was far too luxurious to be owned by someone who rarely ever slept.
Within the short window of our absence, the palace staff had replaced its dirty covers, removing yet another proof of our ordeal.
When Thanatos set me down, I arranged myself cozily beneath the fresh ones.
He stripped bare, then followed after me, and I pulled him into my embrace.
We lay together at last in the skyless realm below.
“My woman,” he marveled, tracing the curve of my jaw. “In my bed.”
I wrapped my leg around him, tangling our bodies even closer together. “Did you ever imagine it?”
“I have imagined many things in this bed,” he admitted. “Particularly when I was missing you.”
“What sorts of things?”
“To start? Just this.” He kissed me softly. “Just let me have you, right here. This has been my impossible dream.”
“Have me, then,” I whispered. I surrendered to his delicate kisses, sharing in his breath, feeling him with my lips and my tongue. It was surreal to love him here, to hold him and caress him in the place he called home. Even the simple pleasure of running my hands over his skin felt like a miracle.
He repositioned us to lay between my legs, and my heartbeat took off at a feverish pace.
Just feeling the weight of his naked body against mine was enough to make me squirm, but Thanatos took his time.
His kisses remained soft and slow, even as he stroked against me with his hard length.
He still touched me so gingerly, like I was a fragile thing under threat of falling apart.
“You don’t have to be so careful anymore,” I reminded.
“I know,” he said quietly. “But I will enjoy this on another night. Right now I cannot bear to touch you in any way but gently.”
I stroked my nails lightly down his back, grinding against him by needy instinct. “Take me gently, then,” I said, my voice rough with longing. “I’m yours.”
Thanatos interlaced our fingers and pressed my hand down into the soft sheets beneath us. “Mine,” he breathed, and he eased himself inside of me.
We moaned together. I wrapped my legs around his waist, whimpering, arching my hips until his cock stroked the spot that made me melt.
At long last, it was true, and our truth sent my desire soaring: after everything we’d faced, we finally belonged to each other.
Everything I wanted was here in this bed in the realm below.
I squeezed my muscles around him, drawing a hiss from his lips.
He nipped my bottom lip, then pulled the kiss deeper, all while thrusting into me with slow, full strokes.
Oh, this transcendent feeling. It was all I could do to keep from spiraling into unrestrainable moans.
I dug my nails into his back instead, clinging to him fiercely: my love in life and beyond.
“Don’t stop,” I whispered, feeling so perfectly, delightfully full.
“Please, don’t ever stop.” He rocked into me harder as if in answer, making me arch my back and draw a sharp breath.
Static and needy elation flooded over me in waves, in sync with his thrusting and the delicious sounds of his shuddering sighs.
We said nothing more after that. When he covered me with kisses, I knew what he meant them to convey.
The way he held me told it all: Don’t you dare leave me again.
I told him with my passion that no, I would never.
I would adore him always, for to love like this was all I could ever desire.
We chased our peak together until his ecstatic moans pulled me over the edge, and we came, trembling, in each other’s arms.