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He leans in and kisses me, his strokes quickening, the exquisite friction setting my whole body on fire.

I gasp, my fingers moving to his back, where they dig in.

He’s pumping into me, all his massive muscles rippling and bunching with the action.

I writhe beneath him, caught in his relentless pace. If before he was able to keep his strokes slow and shallow enough to tantalize me, now his pace is almost too much. He’s too much.

I am going to give you the world, Empress, he vows, his voice lethally soft in my mind.It’s already begun.

I don’t know if Memnon meant for me to hear those words, so I ignore them as my hips meet his, my body hurtling toward an orgasm.

My gaze drifts down to where I can see the lower part of his thick shaft sliding in and out?—

“Eyes on me.”

My gaze snaps to his.

There’s no magic in this moment save for the deeper, richer power that links the two of us together.

I stare at him. My past, my present.

My future.

His eyes blaze.

I think he heard that.

Rather than being mortified at the thought, it along with his rough, merciless thrusts send me right over the edge.

My lips part as my orgasm shatters through me.

Memnon’s pupils blow wide. “Gods, I feel you…” His fingers dig into my hair, then he’s spilling into me, his gaze pinned to mine.

His climax echoes down our bond, stretching out my own. And still, the two of us continue gazing at each other, as though we truly haven’t seen each other for two thousand years.

We only break eye contact once Memnon slips out of me and gathers me in his arms. Tonight, even this feels sacred. I don’t know what’s happening to my heart, but I’m not nearly as terrified as I should be.

Memnon’s hand drifts to my stomach, his fingers idly stroking the skin there. For some reason, this touch—his hand on my stomach—will forever harken back to the child we briefly had, then lost with everything else.

“I am sorry,” he begins.

“What?” I say, bewildered.

“I willneverstop apologizing to you. My faith in you faltered when I woke in that tomb, and my faithlessness drove me to hurt you in ways I cannot take back. So I will apologize to you, my soul mate—my dearest and best friend. Again and again and again. Until you are sick of it. Because even once this bond between us breaks, my debt to you will not be paid. It won’t be until I draw my last breath and you and I meet the gods who made us.”

I place my hand on his cheek and lift my head to take him in. From the bond, I feel his yearning. I think I know what he wants.

“Are you wondering if the forged bond is still there?”

After a moment’s hesitation, he nods.

Only one way to find out.

“Tell me another secret you don’t want me to know.”

“I picked out a ring,” Memnon admits. He blinks, then— “Fuck, I really wasn’t planning on sharing that.”

He has an engagement ring. My heart is beating loudly. Memnon really is ready to marry me at the first opportunity.