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My breaths came in short. “I can’t lose you.”

“You won’t.”

Sliding between her bare legs, I threw the sheet off us, lining my face with her pussy. I licked her inner thigh, making my way to her center. She squirmed, and I held her hips down with my forearm. Slowly, I licked up the slit in her center, finding comfort in the fact that her taste was on my tongue. I groaned, locking my lips around her clit and rolling my tongue along it before giving it soft sucks.

After slipping my fingers inside, fucking her with my hand, it didn’t take but a few minutes before she was coming hard, all while I devoured her, drinking her in like she was my salvation. I lingered, lazily cleaning her with my tongue, reveling in her aftershocks.

I crawled over her, ready to claim her again. And again, until I felt sure this was real. That this wasn’t a dream.

We were real. She was mine. And I was eternally hers.

After two hours, I finally subdued the raging fear enough to be able to leave the room without being an absolute asshole to everyone.

Once again, she lay tucked into my chest. Her fingers traced the black ink that stained my gilded skin from my chest up to my neck. My silver currents glowed vibrantly. “What do the sigils mean?” she asked.

“Different things. They’re similar to the Kinetic sigils that we have branded.”

“I hate there’s so much about Elementals that I don’t know.”

“I know. Between me and everyone else, you’ll know it all in no time.” I kissed the tip of her nose. “It didn’t take me that long.”

“What’s this one?” she asked, tracing the one on my heart, right on top of the Freyr family crest. Two swords were crossed, and there was an outline of wings in the center. When I joined the Elementals after I fled, I wanted to cover it up in the most disrespectful way possible as a massive “fuck you” to my cold bitch of a mother by stamping an Elemental mark in its place.

One side of my lip quirked up. “It meansking.”

Gray laughed. “I wish so much that she could see that.”

“She will. Just before I fucking kill her.” She wanted a monster. Well, the cunt got one, but now that monster was her worst nightmare for what she did.

The wicked grin that slowly rose on Gray’s face was everything. “I can’t wait to see it.”

I pulled her closer to my chest, so grateful to be here. So fucking lucky. “I’ll talk to Blaize about the letter. I’ll find him as soon as we leave here.”

Gray tensed in my arms. “What if he doesn’t have it? Then what?” she asked, anxiety creeping into her voice.

“I’ll find it,” I promised.

Gray exhaled a shaky breath. She started pulling back to look at me. “I almost forgot to tell you what I found yesterday in Orion’s office. There is this drawing of a stone…” she started.

My brows furrowed, my head tipping to the side just the slightest.

“It only appears when I’m looking at it. I think it’s the source of power my father is hunting in Arcadia.”

My eyes widened. “You think so?”

Gray nodded. “Also, I keep thinking about the Endarkened.”

I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “What about them?”

“Something tells me that the Endarkened are not the natural order of our species. We know basically nothing of our origins.” Absentmindedly,she traced my tattoos and brands as she spoke. “It’s just…I feel like maybe, there could be a connection with the stone fromThe Book of the Arcaneand the Endarkened.”

I forced a smile, not wanting to crush the hope she worked so hard to hide. Her eyes glistened with it. “There might be. We’ll look into it more.” I pulled her back into my arms, resting my cheek on the crown on her head.

Gray cleared her throat. “So, are you going to tell me who the scout was and why the hell you decided to kill him?”

My heart lodged in my throat. I hesitated, feeling like ice water had been dumped on my bliss.

“Who was it? Did I know them personally?” she asked, her voice quivering.