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‘Even with…’ She touched her fate stone, lightning sparking there too.

Wilder closed a hand over hers and she once again marvelled at how it didn’t pain him, but seemed to answer his Furies-given strength in kind.

‘I want you to ask them,’ he told her. ‘For you. Not for us. For everything you have worked for. You deserve more than the hand you’ve been dealt.’

His words felt far away as Thea watched her lightning dance not only across her skin, but his as well, as she felt the thunder roiling in her chest. Her magic… It knew him. She felt the recognition deep in her bones.

Wilder Hawthorne didn’t flinch when she touched him with the might of a storm. He didn’t baulk at her power.

He had asked her where she was, where the Althea Zoltaire he’d known had gone.

Now, she looked up at him and smiled. ‘Here I am, Warsword.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

WILDER

The lightning at Thea’s fingertips seemed to pulse to a rhythm Wilder couldn’t hear, but with every flicker of that power, he felt her come back to herself, come back to him.

She was no longer the girl spying on Warswords or training in secret in the Bloodwoods. Gone was the shieldbearer desperate to make her mark. Gone was the Guardian who followed without question.

Here was a storm wielder, a Warsword-to-be.

And she washis.

Still standing there naked, Wilder watched Thea in awe as she took in her magic, magic that didn’t harm him as it danced across his skin with her touch.

‘It’s beautiful,’ he told her. ‘Like you.’

She blinked at the bright bolts. ‘How is this possible?’ she murmured.

A smile tugged at his mouth. ‘I must be a really good fuck.’

Her gaze snapped to his, amusement bright in her celadon eyes. ‘Is that so?’

A grin spread across Wilder’s face as he tugged her close to him and kissed her soundly. ‘Credit where credit’s due, Princess.’

Thea laughed, and he wished he could bottle the sound. Instead, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. He didn’t care for the late hour, not when he’d waited a year to have her again. He intended to worship her thoroughly, for as long as he could.

On the bed, he laid her down, surveying her naked body with appreciation, his cock already stirring to attention again. He ran his hands down the sides of her thighs, marvelling at the softness of her skin, at how her body responded instantly to his touch, her legs falling open for him, making his mouth turn dry. He’d never have enough of her – would never stop wanting her, mind, body and soul.

The way she looked at him told him she felt the same, and he swore by the Furies that as insatiable as they were, he’d never stop trying to please her. Making her happy and keeping her that way would be his life’s work.

Her eyes were hooded with lust, her hands caressing her breasts and teasing her nipples, tempting him.

‘Lower,’ he told her. ‘Move your hands lower.’

Challenge gleamed in Thea’s eyes, but she obeyed, her hands slowly trailing down her stomach, to the heat he knew so well between her legs.

‘Spread yourself,’ he said, taking his rock-hard cock in his grasp, stroking it slowly from base to tip. ‘Wider. I want to see all of you.’

He heard her intake of breath as she used one hand to bare herself to him completely, exposing everything.

‘Like this?’ Her breathing grew faster.

‘Exactly like that.’ His cock pulsed in his hand at the sight and he leant in, blowing a stream of cool air directly onto herglistening core. ‘Touch yourself, Thea,’ he told her. ‘You know I love to watch you.’

At his instruction, her fingers circled her clit and a moan escaped her that sent a bolt of pleasure straight to Wilder’s balls. He didn’t take his eyes off her, didn’t stop stroking his cock either.