Chapter 85 Luka
LUKA
“Rise and shine, Sweetheart.”
I rolled on my side and placed a kiss on Lennox’s bare collarbone. She groaned, her nose scrunching as she stretched her arms above her head.
We’d taken advantage of our first few days back in Alethens, putting off all meetings until next week, allowing us to rest and relax for a few days before Nol’s ball.
Not that Lennox and I had done much resting.
We didn’t leave her—our—bedroom the first day back.
I made a promise to her I intended to keep.
But after a day locked away, she made us leave, much to my protests.
She’d taken me into downtown Alethens yesterday, showed me around the city and brought me to her favorite shops—declaring she was giving me a long overdue grand tour of Alethens.
She introduced me to her people and took me for lunch at her favorite restaurant, where the rest of our friends joined us.
I didn’t tell her I’d seen the city already—I let her bask in the joy of showing me her home.
I love seeing her act to freely. I had seen Lennox happy—but this—without the weight of the wellbeing of an entire continent weighing on her shoulders, there was a new lightness to her.
Her face glowed in a way I had only seen when she was looking at me.
After lunch, she dragged me to a tattoo parlor where she made me wait in the waiting room while she added something new to her existing tattoo.
A new something she still hadn’t let me see.
I want you to see it once it’s healed so you get the full effect, she said before she distracted me so thoroughly all thoughts of the tattoo fell from my head.
“Are you going to let me see your tattoo yet?” I pressed after we were both tired and sated.
“Hmm, impatient aren’t you?”
“Always.” I scraped my fangs over her shoulder, nipping slightly.
“Do you want to see my tattoo or do something else?”
“I want to see your tattoo.”
She scoffed. “That wasn’t the answer I was expecting.” She sat up, shifting so her back was facing me, the sheet falling to the wayside. “But if that’s what you want…”
She gathered her hair over her shoulder. “You can remove the bandage.”
I dusted my fingers over the scars crisscrossing her back. The wounds had healed, but the scars would remain. A permanent reminder of what she’d suffered. What she’d endured.
We both carried scars, visible and not.
I removed the white bandage covering the ink.
The tattoo she’d gotten redone while we were in the Aquatic Court sat in the center of her left shoulder.
The ink was darker than it had been originally, so you could see the markings over the scar slashing through the middle.
The center was still the same—the crescent moon cradling the sun with stars dusting around the two celestial icons, the entire tattoo shimmering in silver ink.
The tattoo that marked her commitment to all three of the witch covens.
But now—resting on the top of the moon was a crown made of delicate lines of gold. At the base of the moon, dripping off the bottom curve, were several teardrop-shaped droplets colored in red.
I traced my fingers across her tattoo, tracking the words written around the entire tattoo in a sloping script.
“Until the stars turn to dust,” I murmured. The words matched the ones tattooed across my heart, written between the flames covering my Vanir brand.
She looked over her shoulder. “It’s—It’s a crown to symbolize my commitment to Lethenia and the blood, that’s to represent you. My commitment to you.” The mark on my palm burned as my chest constricted.
“It’s perfect.” I kissed the top of her shoulder, over the fresh ink. “Just like you.”
“It’s not too much?” She faced me. “Getting a tattoo to mark my commitment to you?”
I brushed her hair behind her ear, letting my hand linger. “Lennox, we’re mated. We already have matching mating tattoos. And I have your flames tattooed over my fucking heart. It’s not too much. Nothing you could ever do would be too much for me.”
“What if I got your entire face tattooed on my back?”
“I mean it would be a little strange but not too much.”
“Noted.”
I stood at the base of the staircase in the grand foyer, waiting for Lennox and the rest of the females to make their arrival so we could enter Nol’s ball together.
Declan, Nico, Nol, and I were dressed in our finest. We looked pretty good, if I did say so myself.
“You guys ready?” Kara and Luce appeared from behind us, each of them dressed in glimmering dresses.
Luce’s was a deep purple that brought out the rich tones of her skin; her curls were slicked back with a headband encrusted with large gems of various colors.
Kara’s hair was loose, longer than I had ever seen it, it fell past her shoulders, dusting the fabric of her pink off-the-shoulder gown.
“Where’s Lennox?”
“She’s coming, don’t worry.” Kara flicked her gaze upwards as the sound of boots clicking on the stairs hit my ears. “The High Queen wanted to make an entrance.”
Like she had over a year ago, when I first laid eyes on her on these very stairs, she stole the breath from my lungs.
Her dress was a glimmering gold, the fabric itself looked reflective, the light danced off it as she moved.
It was cut close to her body, highlighting every delicious dip and curve. Her golden hair was down in soft waves today, with a crown shimmering on her head, the intricate design drawing homage to each of her four elements.
She looked like a shining star.
Or more like the glimmering sun, of which my life orbited around.
When she made it further down the stairs, she locked eyes with me, smiling as she shifted her leg to reveal the slit in her dress and the three black daggers strapped to her thigh.
Astria’s fucking tits, how’d I get so lucky?
“You look—breathtaking.” I took her hand in mine, kissing the center of her palm, over our mate mark.
“I look like this and all I get is a kiss on the hand? C’mon, Luka Rossi, I thought you were better than that.”
I gave her no warning before I banded my arm around her waist and dipped her, sealing my lips over hers as our friends hooped and hollered.
I swear, there was no better feeling than Lennox Adair’s lips on mine, her body pressed against me.
When we finally parted, she was breathless, we both were.
“Now that’s what I was talking about.”
“Alright, love birds let’s go!” I pulled Lennox to stand, following behind Nico as he slung his arm over Kara and Luce’s shoulders. “I’m ready to party!”