Chapter 22
It all felt like a dream. One moment Jessamine had fallen into her bed, more exhausted than she had ever felt in her life. And the next, she was here in Elric’s realm. Feeling fine. Feeling like she was not about to die anymore.
What a struggle it was to live these days. After all the episodes that had sent her into seizures, even Jessamine was starting to question whether or not she could continue on like this.
But in this realm, she felt like herself. And what a blessing it was to finally be able to breathe.
She could fill her lungs with air, walk as though she couldn’t ever get tired, and lean in to that feeling of being alive. It was… beyond anything she could have hoped for.
To turn around and see Elric there? It was even better. Sometimes she ended up here without him, and that was nice, too. Sure, Jessamine enjoyed time on her own. But knowing that he was here, while she was finally feeling like a person again? Oh, it made every part of her glow.
Color spilled out of her, filling the area with bright colors and flowers like stars. The brightness made her feel safer here, even though the shadows were never all that far out of sight.
Elric took another step toward her, looking like he’d seen a ghost. But she slipped her hand into his and allowed him to easily tug her into his arms. It made both of them heave a sigh as they melted into each other.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “I went to sleep and…”
“Gathering power,” he replied. “This is the only place where I can store the excess. And if we’re going to spread that to you, we’ll need every ounce I have gathered over many, many years.”
She could feel the troubled expression was back on her face. The wrinkle of her brows made it damn near impossible to hide what she was feeling. “How do you do that?”
He waved a hand, and some of the greenery she had spread parted. Suddenly, all she could see was darkness. It was a pool, she realized. A pool of dark water that spread until it was large enough for both of them to fit in, and who knew how deep.
The longer she stared at it, the more she realized it wasn’t just darkness. It was like looking into a galaxy. There were bright, sparkling lights within it, and stars that caught her attention with every glittering movement they made. A whirlpool lazily spun in the center of it all.
“Your magic?” she asked.
“Centuries of it.” Elric looked at her, then back at the gently moving water before tugging her toward it by the hand. “Join me, nightmare.”
“It’s your magic. Can I even touch it without it rejecting me?”
He gave her an unimpressed look. “Darling, it’s my magic. Do you really believe there is any part of me that doesn’t crave your touch?”
She felt her cheeks go bright red. It wasn’t that she was surprised all that much. But with everything that had happened, they hadn’t really had the time to… to…
Her mind stuttered and then stopped as he stripped his shirt off over his head.
All those coiled muscles on either side of his spine caught her attention.
Even the smallest ones that bunched between his ribs as he bent and worked on the tie of his pants before pulling that off as well.
She couldn’t take her eyes off the movement of that fabric as it went over his ass and then down those long legs.
She’d never thought a man was pretty until she’d seen him.
She had thought they were utilitarian, shaped like creatures who were meant to work.
But then she saw Elric, and her entire opinion changed.
He was just… beautiful. In every sense of the term.
Beautiful and captivating and so hard to take her eyes off of.
He stepped into the whirling darkness and then looked at her. “Come on, then, nightmare. Your turn.”
She’d never taken her clothes off faster.
She stripped out of her nightgown and then stood before him, naked as she had been so many times now.
But his eyes still danced over every inch of her, desire turning his gaze to liquid.
It never ceased to amaze her how much this man wanted her. Even in the most dire of circumstances.
She took his offered hand, allowing him to draw her into the pool of magic. He was clearly standing on the bottom, so it couldn’t be that deep. The black ink came right over her shoulders, while it was only at the middle of his chest. The water felt strange, but also…
“How is it?” he asked with a small laugh.
“Like I’m touching nothing at all.”
She’d expected a cold slickness and the shivering that would follow. Or perhaps that his magic would be warm to the touch, like a hot spring where her muscles would relax and she would feel like she was floating. Instead, this was the eerie absence of touch.
He smiled, his hand coming around her waist and tugging her into him. “I suppose I could have warned you.”
“Why turn it into a pool, then? If it doesn’t give any sensation?” She stared up into his eyes as he clearly tried hard not to laugh.
“Maybe I just wanted an excuse to get you naked, nightmare.”
Ah.
The man was anything but subtle.
“Elric, all you had to do was ask to get me naked.” Her hand danced down the planes of his chest, his muscles twitching at her touch as her fingers slid lower and lower.
“I refuse to allow us to be boring.” His words twisted, words hitching as her fingers danced down something hard and pulsing. “Besides, we haven’t had enough time together.”
“No, we haven’t.” Jessamine hadn’t felt this good in a long time, and she was going to make sure he remembered this moment, even if they only had a few stolen hours together.
Dropping to her knees, she felt suddenly uncertain if she could breathe. But she wasn’t underwater, even though the dark magic of his swirled around her. Her eyes were open, and those didn’t hurt.
She took a tentative inhale, coiling her body in case she needed to shoot up and awkwardly ruin this moment with a coughing fit.
His energy flowed into her lungs. It filled her with energy and a sense that she could do quite literally anything.
It was a shot of adrenaline, the same wild rush she might have had if she jumped off a cliff.
Her lips found the head of his cock, and she sucked him into her mouth.
The darkness had closed around her, but she felt him as his hands struck the back of the pool.
There were stones there, enough to hold him up as he slumped beneath the heat of her lips, her tongue, working around him as she’d craved for far too long.
He deserved this, and she damn well needed it.
How long had it been since they’d had a chance to connect like this? Jessamine could hardly remember. So much had happened, and continued happening. Now, she was just going to enjoy the feel of him. The taste of him. The flex of his body as he arched against her touch.
It was so easy to play him like an instrument, and the sound of his moans was her music.
After all this time, she knew what he liked.
How he wanted her to draw the sound out of him, teasing and tasting and licking until he was practically begging her for a firmer touch.
And she would give that to him. Only when he earned it, though.
She might be on her knees before him, but he was the one begging.
Just when she was certain he was going to lose control, his hands pushed her away. Jessamine almost grumbled at him. She didn’t want to let go, not when she was having so much fun tormenting him.
But then she couldn’t see where he was. The magic that surrounded them was like wearing a blindfold, and he slipped out of her grip before she could figure out what direction he was going.
She was almost frightened until she felt his warm hands against her thighs, parting them and forcing her backward.
She lay on the cold stones behind her back, unable to see anything other than sparkling starlight.
He traced his nose up her leg, right to the center of her, where she knew he could spend hours.
The man was insatiable, but she didn’t have hours. No, she wanted to feel him now. To know that he was alive, and she was alive, and that nothing was going to take them from each other.
Her thoughts splintered at the first touch of his tongue.
She couldn’t focus on anything other than his heat and the way his fingers clenched hard on her thighs to keep her still.
He made her entire body shatter, only to pull it back together with every stroke.
But she wanted far more than that. She wanted to be unmade.
She wanted him to drive her so crazy that she couldn’t even exist anymore.
Reaching for his hair, she tugged it hard enough that she was certain it hurt. He knew what she wanted, though. He ground his face against her core, every lick suddenly harder, his teeth grazing her folds. The slightest twinge of pain was nothing when desperation made them both animals.
Her thighs squeezed around his head, already shaking as he devoured her.
Her eyes flew open wide, but all she could see were stars as he worked her into a frenzy that ripped through her.
Her orgasm was fast, and nearly painful, as her entire body tightened around his tongue, which refused to stop even for a second.
He wrung every ounce of pleasure that he could out of her before surging up between her legs. He was breathing so hard, his lips already at her neck as he pressed kisses up to her throat to her lips.
“You drive me wild,” he snarled against her skin.
Then he plunged inside of her. She arched, trying to take him as deep as she possibly could. She needed to feel him stretching her, sinking into her body, proving to them both that they were still here. Still together, after everything that had happened.
Jessamine wrapped her arms around his shoulders, holding tightly to him as they found a rhythm they both enjoyed. His groans echoed in her ear as she clenched around him, rocking her hips.
She needed more than this, though. Faster, harder, everything he could give her until she was so full of him that it felt like nothing else could exist in her mind.
He knew her well. Because he pulled out and rolled her onto all fours before thrusting inside of her again.
This time, she could feel him everywhere, almost too much.
The angle made it hard to even think, especially when he gathered her hair up in one hand and used it like reins to hold her still while he pounded into her.
“You are everything to me,” he grunted in between every harsh thrust. “So fucking tight, so fucking perfect. I worship every inch of you.”
And then she saw stars. Not only from his magic, but from the need that burned white hot inside of her.
She gasped, and his magic flooded down her throat as well.
She could feel him pulsing deep within her, from his physical body to the magic that dug into her mouth and pressed deep into her lungs. She was full of him. Every inch of her.
She sucked it in again, and this time, she could see. The magic had lessened around them, as though they had consumed enough of it with their passion that it had disappeared. The well was running dry.
Looking over her shoulder, Jessamine watched him.
A dark drip of magic rolled down his chest as he inhaled all that darkness and exhaled it again.
He looked like a dragon expelling black smoke, his dark eyes covetously tracing from the base of her spine, all the way up her back, until he met her eyes.
Holding her gaze, he trailed his hand up her ass, slowly. The movement was one of claiming, which she wanted to tell him he had already thoroughly done, but it didn’t matter. With his magic now teasing her belly, all she could think was that this was what she had been born to do.
Her entire life had been dedicated to becoming the perfect princess and then the best queen this kingdom would ever have. But right now? She knew she had been born to be the consort of this god who freed every ounce of who she was.
His hand curled in her hair once more, tugging until she rose onto her knees with her back pressed to his chest. He claimed her mouth once more, his lips lingering on hers in a gentle kiss. As though he wanted her to know how much he cared for her, and that nothing could ever change such a thing.
“I love you,” he said, his voice a low, meaningful murmur.
“I don’t say it nearly enough. But I do, nightmare.
I love you with every broken, bleeding part of me.
I’d warn you that you shouldn’t want me back, but I know you’ve already fallen under my spell.
So instead, I will say this: In a thousand years, when the world has been built anew, when you can see all the good you have done and how your influence has spread throughout centuries, I want you to know that my love never wavered. Not once.”
Her heart squeezed in her chest. Jessamine reached back and held on to him as best she could. Their lips clung together, even as she whispered, “My soul has always been yours, Elric. I love you dearly, painfully, claws and all.”