Tobias
Icould feel her love like a balm, gentle yet electrifying and steadying all at once, even as it threatened to unmake me.
The weight on my chest seemed to lift, the last chain I hadn’t realized I used to bind myself.
It seemed too good to be true to be given everything I had ever wanted: her love, her trust. Just her.
The walls I built around my heart were gone, the iron and stone giving way to something terrifyingly alive.
There was nowhere left to lock my feelings away, no bars left to keep me from what I had always known.
I needed her, and more importantly, she needed me too.
After so long pushing her away, it was time to take that leap: To finally claim the life that I had always wanted but never thought I deserved.
Worthy or not, I would spend my life trying to be. And maybe that was enough.
My eyes caught on the window behind her and the darkness beyond, a waning moon perfectly placed between a gap in the curtains. We had only a few hours left until morning, the thought sobering. Wasting even a minute after pushing her away for so long seemed as criminal as it was impossible.
“Just a few hours until dawn breaks,” Quinn said wistfully, in an echo of my thoughts.
“Not nearly enough time for everything I want to do to you,” I agreed. “Though that list will take at least a few years.”
Her smile was fleeting. “We have so much left to do that it feels wrong to be this happy, especially while those we love are waiting on us to save them.”
I knew exactly how she felt, just as I knew she was doing everything she could and more. She had always carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. At least now, I would be there to help shoulder the load.
“There’s nothing else you can do until the morning,” I said gently.
“I shouldn’t have to tell you that creating a cure in the time you have is nothing short of miraculous, magic or no.
You’ve done everything you can and more.
” Quinn pursed her lips, still looking unconvinced.
“If I weren’t so selfish I’d insist you go back to sleep.
You could use some rest before you reap the rewards of all your hard work in the morning. ”
The look she gave me told me exactly how much of a nonstarter that suggestion would be.
“This is a forever thing, Tobias Maris, but if you think I’m going to sleep after that, then you don’t know me at all.
In the morning, we’ll save the realm as planned.
Tonight, I need you.” Her voice became almost painfully hesitant as she added, “but if you aren’t ready, we can go back to—”
I snaked my arm around her, dragging her closer. “I loved you before fate tore us apart, Quinn Sagray, and I’ll love you long after I take my last breath. When we save Eva and this is finally over, I’m going to keep you in my bed for a month straight and make you mine.”
Her breath hitched. “I’m already yours. I think I always have been.”
She loved me. She loved me.
I nearly laughed at the lightness in my chest, the strange sense of happiness I thought was forever lost. Her love had resurrected the self I thought long buried, breathing life into the ghost I had become.
It stripped away every doubt, every excuse I had clung to as to why we couldn’t be together.
All that was left was me and her and a love that would no longer be contained.
There would never be anyone else—not for either of us. Maybe it was because of that that the next step felt so simple.
“It’s more than wanting you though, more than even loving you.” I tilted up her chin so that her eyes met mine. “I want forever with you, sweetheart—although even that doesn’t sound like enough. And I think you do too.”
The look she gave me was both wistful and exasperated. “About time you figured it out, Maris.”
She stared at my mouth, looking almost insultingly astonished as I grinned at her.
“I’ve learned that fate doesn’t always grant second chances.
” I leaned forward, catching her lips in a quick kiss—a reminder of the one so long denied.
“And that tomorrow is never certain. Right now, I don’t want to wait another second, not with you.
” It was my turn for my tone to falter, old fears bubbling up despite the certainty in her eyes. “That is, if you’ll have me.”
“Of course I will,” Quinn breathed.
A thread of my light squeezed between our interlaced fingers, binding us together. This light didn’t aim to burn or break—it was warmth and love and something that felt like home. Her hands glowed in response, a mix of blue and red, as her magics melded with mine.
The world around us seemed to pause, grinding to a halt. Even my swirling light came to a standstill, like those twinkling orbs were holding their breaths. There was a strange resonance to my voice as I murmured the ancient words that would bind us eternally.
“You are my beloved.”
The acceptance slipped from her lips like those four words came from her soul itself. “And I am yours.”
Our lips met and the world burst back to life in endless color. This kiss was magic and wonder, joy and eternity, and a love so deep I could feel it in my soul. I gasped as I realized there was more to it—that the growing echo of the love in her heart was merging forever with mine.
It was a refuge and a reckoning. The slow build of a friendship blossoming into more, and desire so absolute that it might never be sated.
It was the way a single glance spoke volumes and the shared silences that felt as full as a conversation. It was the rawness of being known and the possessiveness of belonging to another.
And it was all building into a storm both dizzying in its strength and entirely consuming—one I would gladly weather with her by my side.
Most of all, it was a homecoming. The simple knowledge that no matter how the world shifted around us, and no matter what happened next, I would forever and always be hers.
My eyes opened to an explosion of light; both the blue and red of Quinn’s magics entwining with my own power.
Her healing and blood magics weren’t warring with each other—no, they complemented the other so completely I wondered if they weren’t one and the same.
My lightning streaked harmlessly around us, its branches an echo of the veins leading to our hearts.
I laughed, the unencumbered sound taking me by surprise. Quinn stared at me, her mouth parting.
After so long of not letting myself feel, it felt like I was drowning in her love. And I hoped with all my heart that tide would never stop sweeping me away.
I was hers. I always had been.
“I would live through all of it again,” I whispered against her lips. “If it meant we ended up here.”
Her joy echoed along our bond, like sunlight warming my face. I slipped the strap of her nightdress off her shoulder, tracing the line where silk met skin. Her desire merged with mine, the primal need to consummate this much more than simply some magical imperative.
“I wasted far too long denying this to waste another night without you.” It seemed like insanity now that I had ever tried to push her away.
This was how we were meant to be, the two of us eternally bonded to each other.
And if anyone tried to get in the way of that…
if Silvius tried to hurt her, I would sear the flesh from his bones.
Quinn’s eyes widened at the same time I felt my power flash, like a bolt of lightning behind my corneas.
“What’s wrong?”
Of course, she had felt the change in my emotions.
“If anything happens to you,” I gritted out. “The closer we are to a cure, the more danger you’re in. The thought of him trying to hurt you…”
“Your turn to breathe,” Quinn demanded. “Silvius will pay for what he did.”
“I don’t want to hear you even say his name,” I growled. “I don’t want him anywhere near you.”
Quinn just raised an eyebrow. I exaggeratedly drew in a breath, holding in for a quick four count, before releasing it. Whatever protectiveness I already felt for her had somehow multiplied, the need to eradicate the threat to her life almost consuming enough to distract me from my need for her.
She rolled her eyes. “Once more, Maris. With feeling this time.”
I obediently drew in an exaggeratedly loud inhale, and a soft smile curved her lips.
“You could always list off five things you can hear…”
I pressed a kiss behind her ear, my voice low as I commanded, “Remind me the other four?”
“Four things you can see, three things you can touch, two things you can smell…” Quinn’s breath stuttered as I dragged my lips down the side of her neck. “…and one thing you can taste.”
I smiled against her skin, then whispered directly into her ear. “I like that method. I’m dying to taste you.”
Her back arched as I nipped at her earlobe. Her voice was breathless as she asked, “Oh?”
“But first…tell me what you can feel.” My fingers dug into her thighs, lifting the hem of her nightdress. She gasped as my fingers grazed the thin lace separating me from my goal. “You’re already soaked for me, sweetheart.”
“I feel…” Her eyes were heavy-lidded as they met mine, her mouth slightly parted, begging to be kissed. I had dreamed of that look; thought about it with my hand wrapped around my cock too many times to count.
I slipped my finger inside her. Her core clenched around me even as her thighs fell open. “You feel?”
“Whole.” She let out a whimper as I brought that finger up to circle her clit, rubbing her wetness around her. “Like I was alone before, and now…it feels like my soul is smiling. I feel you.”
I could feel her need for me like a burning ache, her desire licking down my spine. She was wound so tight already. But I wanted to be inside her before I felt that tension snap.
With one twist of my wrist, I tore that bit of lace away.
Quinn laughed. “If you don’t stop doing that, I won’t have any clothes left.”
“Good,” I rasped. “I’ve had a long, long time to imagine every filthy thing I want to do to you, Sagray. Clothing isn’t necessary for any of them.”
The heat in her eyes matched the pulse of need across our bond. Slowly, Quinn tugged her nightdress over her head, revealing herself to me entirely.
I stopped breathing.
She was more perfect than I ever imagined, and I drank in every inch of her like a man drowning. The long line of her legs, the curve of her hips, her dark, peaked nipples, and what lay between her thighs. Her throat bobbed as I continued my blatant perusal.
I was so hard that it was physically painful, the thin sleep shorts I wore hiding nothing.
“Is that what you wanted?” The sultry edge to her voice nearly brought me to my knees.
Yes. But what I wanted wasn’t the goal here.
“It’s a good start,” I said hoarsely.
She smirked as she looked down at the evidence of my arousal. With a sharp tug, she yanked my shorts down, leaving us both completely nude.
“Tell me what you want,” I insisted. “Because I need to be inside you, in any way you’ll have me.”
“I want…” Hesitancy twisted down our bond as Quinn pressed her hand against my chest.
Her scent, her closeness, it was all intoxicating. And yet, I understood what she wanted in an instant. I leaned back, letting my head rest on my pillow.
“You want control?” I murmured. “Then take it.”
It was something I had never willingly given anyone. The few trysts I had allowed in this realm before my capture had been transactional—a moment of release and a means to an end, with the boundaries agreed upon ahead of time. They hadn’t been who I pictured as I made them come.
But for her…for her, I’d give anything.
As though sensing my acceptance, she moved forward until she straddled me. It would barely take a tilt of my hips to bury myself inside of her, but I waited for her next move.
I didn’t have to wait long. Her hips lowered, grinding against my hard length. I swore under my breath as she took just the tip of me inside her.
“You’ve always been the one in control, sweetheart.”
With a mangled moan, she sunk down, her wet warmth engulfing my cock.
That sound mixed with the rightness, that endless love flooding me like an eternal tide, almost made me lose myself right there.
The world narrowed to that blissful heat and pressure as she lifted herself up, then lowered again—taking exactly what she needed from me.
My hands gripped her ass, angling her against me. I was rewarded with the sight of her eyes rolling back in her head, her lips parting in a gasp.
“Eyes on me,” I ordered, yanking her down as I thrust upward.
Her eyes flew open, red overtaking the amber as her hand flattened against my chest.
“I feel your heartbeat.” Quinn sounded faintly amazed. “And feel how much you love me. I feel…”
Her hand dug into my chest almost painfully and her inner walls tightened rhythmically around me. My hands braced her hips, urging her to go faster. It didn’t take long for that tension to reach a crescendo; her pace grew faster as her body started to shake.
A deep groan vibrated through me. “That’s my girl. Don’t stop.”
“Yes, sir,” she breathed, and I nearly lost it right there. She leaned forward, bracing her hands on either side of my head as she panted against my mouth. “Come with me.”
I kissed her, hard. Then I pushed up into her, watching her breasts bounce tantalizingly with each hard thrust. That telltale pressure built at the base of my spine as I felt her start to shake. Her pleasure merging with mine brought me right to the edge.
“Quinn—”
Her climax took her a heartbeat before mine—the feeling of her clenching around me paired with the explosion of her release utterly unraveling me.
I plunged deep inside her, filling her as wave after wave of her orgasm rolled through her.
I barely noticed the lightshow of our magic as my light rained down around us, streaks of blue and red intermingled throughout like our own personal fireworks.
Quinn collapsed against me, her face tucking into the space between my neck and shoulder as we caught our breath. My fingers traced down her back, reverently memorizing the bumps and dips of her spine.
“I love you,” she breathed, the echoing emotion so unbearably vivid I kissed her again.
Gently, I slipped from inside her. She rolled from the bed, bare feet padding across the floor as I watched the sway of her hips, utterly entranced.
She disappeared into the bathroom, and even that short time away felt too much to bear.
When she returned, I pulled her into bed, then curled around her, watching the slow flutter of her lashes as her exhaustion caught up with her.
“I love you too,” I whispered, feeling like those three words would never be enough.
Though maybe now, she could feel its depth. The emotion I had spent so long burying behind bars had only grown stronger over the years, waiting for its chance to escape and feel the sun.
With every shared inhale, I could feel her love like my own heartbeat. That unbreakable bond pulsed between us as we fell asleep in each other’s arms.