Chapter 34 #2
Heat surged through me at the gruff tone of his voice.
The first time I’d asked him for help in Alaric’s workshop, I had still been terrified he’d touch me and learn my secret.
I studied him now. A dark lock of his shoulder-length hair fell over his face, and he tucked it behind his ear as he flipped another page.
Working together on that project had been one of the first times I’d offered him a shred of my trust. It had also been one of the first times he tried to offer me information in return.
“Remember, I’m an excellent stepper.”
I choked on a laugh, and though his tone was low and dry, when I glanced at him this time, his lip tipped into a smirk.
“So I’ve been told.” I waved the saw in my hand. “Today we’re using a hand saw and a clamp.”
My seat wasn’t the perfect height, but I had found a stump to sit on.
With the board placed over two stones, I had the closest I was going to get to a workshop table and stool.
I leaned in close and felt for the most intense heat before I determined where to cut.
Each slide of Father’s blade against the stone sent a shiver down my spine.
It wouldn’t be a smooth cut. I had to get over that.
My teeth clenched as I cut deeper, sawing away the quartz from the adamas.
When I held the piece again, it was even warmer to the touch—adamas.
I’d forgo preforming, but I’d attempt to smooth the jagged edge by hand if I had time.
For now, there were more stones to cut. It occurred to me that none of the Blessed’s usual trappings actually mattered.
The stone didn’t need to be set in a ring or pendant.
The bearer only needed it to touch their skin while they took or wielded.
I was already working on the second stone when Hart’s low chuckle broke through my thoughts. “Alaric included a line from Champions of Kavios here. Are you familiar with it?”
Every word on the pages was burned into my mind. “‘Rules create order, fire breathes chaos, forge your own path.’”
I didn’t look up but heard Hart’s grunt of acknowledgement. “‘Forge your own path’ is certainly in line with your theory on choice being the final trial. Not that I’d doubt your hypothesis after your mother’s words.”
“‘Rules create order, fire breathes chaos,’” I mumbled to myself.
Our first conversation in Linia surfaced.
The morning before we entered the library.
When Charon and I had discussed our connection—and why I’d heard him through the Oldwood.
He’d said we were connected through Eris’s magic.
As Hart had confessed, he was connected to the throne of Kavios the same way. It called to him.
My head snapped up, and I met his forest green gaze. He was waiting patiently. “It’s more than just the throne room,” I said. “The throne and a dragon. To make a choice worthy of Eris, I think we need both … together.”
Hart nodded, but he looked pensive.
I felt for the pendant beneath my blouse as I considered his hesitation. “I know we already assumed the throne room, but this means we also have to get Charon in.”
He studied me as I pulled the pendant free. The answer had been right beneath our noses in its shape. A dragon wrapped around the throne. “I suspect that’s true,” he said. “I also suspect Charon is more than aware of his usefulness. He plans to help.”
We fell into silence. I set the pendant down and forced myself to look at the gem on my workbench. Hart was right. This was no extra burden on Charon, and the castle entrance was more than large enough for him if we could make it past the Blessed.
Hart’s warmth appeared at my back as I finished another gem. His low voice in my ear sent gooseflesh across my skin. “You look like you could use a break.”
The pages remained by the tree trunk. I had more stones to cut, but with his mouth so close I could feel the heat of his breath, I couldn’t remember why all of that was necessary. All I could think of was how close his lips were to my neck. With a slight tilt of my head, he’d have full access.
“Don’t we have work to do?” I whispered, unsure what I wanted his answer to be.
Hart’s chuckle was low. “We do, but haven’t we learned that life is about choices? So many of ours are dictated by what is needed from us. We have so few chances to take something for ourselves.”
I turned on the stump to face him. He knelt and inched between my legs as they spread around his broad frame. “And this is what you choose for yourself?”
His green eyes grew deadly serious. “It’s the only choice that has ever made sense to me. I’d take Themis’s summons and all that came with it. I’d accept Eris’s curse all over again to find you. I’d choose you every time with no regrets.”
My breath stilled with his words, and though I searched for a response, I found none. I leaned into his heat, chasing that warmth that soothed a place inside of me I hadn’t even known was cold.
Rough callouses gently stroked my cheek. He cupped it like I was a precious gem, one worthy of his worship. I didn’t know what it meant, but I only seemed to come alive like this under his touch. He nipped my lip, a slight brush of his mouth against mine, and I wanted more.
We had no shortage of problems to solve.
When we took care of those, more would rise to require our attention.
I kept on thinking that things would be fine when we broke our curse, when we freed Hart from Themis, when we overthrew Rodric.
But was that even true? As much as I hated to consider it, we weren’t guaranteed success in our goals.
Even with these gems, the Feared and the Storm may not be enough to overpower the Blessed.
Waiting for the perfect peaceful moment had deprived me of any happiness I could find in the present.
The smoky taste of Hart’s lust mixed with my own. I was grateful for this connection—happy to know that his thoughts were so aligned with mine. Maybe I didn’t need to finish my endless list of tasks to find a moment of peace. Maybe I only need to seize those moments where I found them.
“Hart,” I whispered. The only word I seemed capable of.
He growled low in response. I assumed he could taste my desire as potently as I did his.
He pulled me from my seat on the stump slowly as he lay back on the ground, and I straddled him.
His hands roamed as we moved, along my spine, my hips, but always over the layer of my clothing, which I was desperate to remove.
I pulled his shirt from his trousers and let my hands skim the hard lines of his chest. His smirk was immediate, and he urged me forward to bring our lips together in a scorching kiss.
I rocked against him, unwilling to deny us this moment.
He hummed his approval as his tongue plunged into my mouth.
I groaned with each stroke. His teeth against my bottom lip sent my hands searching for a way to free him from the trappings of his clothing.
Hart jerked as my hand slipped beneath the waist of his trousers. In a single, fluid motion, he flipped us over. My back rested on the soft grass, and he hovered above me. “What am I going to do with you, Chaos?”
I hoped my smirk matched the one he usually wore. “Remind me about your fantastic stamina, I’m sure.”
He nipped my ear, and his mouth worked its way down the column of my neck as he promised to do just that.
Deft fingers removed my blouse and his tunic, bringing me the skin-to-skin contact I’d so desperately craved.
Heat built everywhere, but still I wanted more.
The inferno of our connection stoked my already present desire.
His trousers and my skirt were next, baring us to each other in the secluded patch of trees where we’d decided to spend our day.
His piercing gaze saw too much as he found my entrance. While his fingers moved in slow, teasing strokes, his mouth found my breast.
“Hart,” I whined. He thrust a finger inside me like hearing his name on my lips was worth rewarding. I tried again. “Hart.”
His laugh was low, but he followed my lead, granting me a second finger as he bit down on my peaked nipple. “You’re not playing fair,” he hissed as his forehead dropped to mine.
“You never play fair.” I arched into him, urging more. A whine escaped as I rode his hand. He was there, kissing, nipping, sucking. The tangle of our tongues grew frantic as everything inside me heated.
“That’s it, Chaos. Take what you need.”
But he didn’t make me take. He gave. His frenzy matched my own. His thick length strained between us, but his focus remained solely on me.
“Hart,” I whispered again. It was all I could find—my solid ground when everything around us shook.
I didn’t know how to voice his place in my life.
Words escaped me. Reason fled. My gut said I knew the exact words to use, but Hart didn’t require me to.
He pressed against my clit, and that fiery inferno flamed even hotter as I shattered.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered against my forehead as I rode the wave of molten lava cascading through my body.
It had barely crashed through my limbs when I reached for him.
I could bask in the afterglow of that orgasm for hours, or I could chase another one—with him.
I could ensure his pleasure matched my own, that we were together in this, like the future we fought for.
The words I so desperately wanted to say danced on the tip of my tongue.
I stroked his length as he hovered above me, and hoped that somehow he knew.
I hoped he knew that I dreamed of days like this—days with no agenda.
He read, and I worked. We sat and talked.
He told me about his life, and we made plans for the future where the future was subject to change, but the one thing that wasn’t was that we’d face it together.
But I didn’t need to wait for that, either.
We had that day now. We had that moment here, in the woods. I’d steal the moments with him where I could. I’d fight tooth and nail for the future I wanted, but I wouldn’t wait for perfect circumstances to afford it.
There were a million words competing in my head to express these sentiments, but I finally brought to the surface the four I required. “I love you, Hart.”
He froze with my words. His eyes widened, and too many emotions flickered across his face to catalog.
Then his forehead met mine as he pressed into me. His lip curled, but it wasn’t his usual smirk. It was a grin. “Say it again.” His voice was rough, but something bubbly and sweet danced across my tongue, mixing with the smoke of his lust. Hart was nothing if not full of demands.
“I love—”
His lips found mine before I could finish his request. His kiss was bruising, claiming.
If there was any doubt in my mind that he felt the same, he erased the thoughts with his tongue.
Each thrust took him deeper and responded to my declaration in his own way.
His hands were everywhere, all at once. His intensity brought me right back to my edge.
“Love doesn’t begin to cover my feelings for you, but it’s a start.” His words were a whisper.
I dug my fingers into his back and wrapped my leg around his hip. I sought closeness, I sought the fire of our connection. He seemed to agree, urging me higher with his hands, his cock, his tongue.
“I wouldn’t change a moment I’ve had with you.
I treasure every single one, whether the weight of the kingdom bears down on us or we’ve run away to the mountains and left it all to burn.
” His lips found mine. “So long as you’re with me, the shape of the future matters little.
My heart is yours. It has been since the day we met. ”
The rebuilding fire inside me erupted without warning. Hart followed with my name on his lips and his head buried in the curtain of my hair.
In the stillness, our heartbeats found a pattern. A call and response, like our curses, like our designations in this game of goddesses. Except this one was ours. Not one demanded of us. One chosen by us both.
“I love you, Ember.” The simple truth didn’t need to be stated after everything else he’d said, but it sent my heart racing all the same.
My lips curled into a smile as he held me, and I knew that a thousand days like this wouldn’t be enough.
That was why striving for perfection wouldn’t suit.
I’d seize every moment of joy I could—starting with this.
These stolen moments were mine without remorse, because the perfect day may never arrive, but a collection of perfect moments was more than enough for me.
The magic—which had become more physical between us with each trial—shifted.