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Our gazes locked as our bodies fused together, and I could see my own ecstasy mirrored in the gleam of his dark eyes, in the way his long lashes fluttered shut as he buried himself inside me over and over. Our breathing became a shared rhythm of panting madness. His cock stretched me impossibly wide as I met him thrust for thrust, every stroke driving me closer to a breaking point, until I could do nothing but feel, let the sensations wash over me and give in to wherever his passion was taking me.

My climax was a monster clawing free, agony and all-consuming wonder in equal amounts. I clenched around him so tightly it hurt, and he broke with me – slammed into me one last time and released a soundless growl I effortlessly read from his lips, flooding me with his seed as I convulsed through wave after wave of blinding frenzy.

All else was a blur. The world … the war, whatever that was … I’d forgotten whether I cared, why I would care. His body was warm and solid in my arms, and his lips against my forehead were soft like down, and when I rolled over in his embrace and kissed his shoulder, he tasted like desire and endless summer nights.

We lay tangled up in each other’s arms, panting quietly, as my heart settled back into a gentler rhythm.

When I finally looked up, he lay watching me with half-lidded eyes in the smoky light of the stained glass faelights. A smile brushed over his lips as our gazes met – a small one, but my breath hitched all the same.

Enough of an advance for you?his fingers said.

Even my snort came out breathless. ‘You may have to carry me across the continent.’

He laughed. I wiggled out of his hold, sat up, and rolled my shoulders, marvelling at the way they moved without aching, the way every fibre of my body had abruptly forgotten weeks of racing against time.

Creon was faster than my questions.Learning to fly, he signed dryly,is a very quick lesson in all the ways one can strain back muscles.

‘That explains a lot.’ I slid a hand over the lean bulges of his shoulders, then over the corded tendons around the onset of his wings, drinking in the power below his skin. When I pulled back, there were traces of blood on my fingers. ‘Oh.’

He followed my gaze and let out a lazy chuckle, flinging a quick spark of blue over his shoulder to heal the cuts my nails had left. When I clambered over him to check, there was no trace of the marks I’d given him.

Blue for healing.

And Iwasgoing to heal him – to hell with the Mother and the plague and public opinion in my way – was going to heal all of them, was going to break those gods-damned bindings and win that gods-damned war.

I just had to figure out how.

Chapter 5

Lynwasamiracleworker.

When I slipped out of Creon’s bedroom the next morning, the loud conversations from the living room quickly told me three things. Firstly, Lyn had managed to call the Council together over the course of the night and received permission to spend a strict maximum of ten days on the continent in search of the gods. Secondly, she and Tared had already packed their bags. And thirdly, Edored had stepped out of bed for just long enough to hear about the matter.

Quite as expected, he sounded unhappy.

Thank the bloody gods for Creon’s unpleasant strategies; there was little the alf’s ranting could achieve now that even Tared had decided to join this mad adventure. Nonetheless, I tiptoed into the living room with some caution, wary of alf swords and spontaneous bursts of phoenix fire.

To my relief, no one seemed on the brink of dying yet. Tared was eating his breakfast, looking grim yet composed. Next to him, Lyn sat on the edge of the table with her feet on the bench, arguing with Edored in a tone that suggested they’d been at this for a while. Naxi had burrowed into one of the plush armchairs in the corner, as had Ylfreda, who carried that look of annoyance which signalled someone had stupidly wounded themselves. Finally, Beyla had taken up her position at the far end of the table, bags by her feet and swords on her back, waiting for the rest of the company to be done with this nonsense and get on their way.

Tared was the first to notice me. He sent me a quick grin as he nodded at the seat next to him, and a small weight fell from my shoulders.

‘… haven’t been there for centuries!’ Edored was shouting. ‘You might be dragging the whole damn family into hell, Lyn sweetling, and—’

‘Which is why we’ll have two alves and two demons around, Edored dearest,’ Lyn interrupted, herdearestcold enough to freeze fire, ‘and why we—’

‘Gods-damnedHytherion? You’re going to let Tared’s life depend onhim?’

‘Morning, Em,’ Tared said dryly, ignoring his cousin’s swearing with impressive equanimity as I sank down next to him. Whatever Agenor’s revelations of the previous day had stirred up, the ripples had already been smoothed out with all the usual superficial nonchalance. ‘You’ll be glad to know you have once again managed to get the entire Underground in a frenzy.’

I huffed a laugh. ‘Those are the days I live for.’

He shook his head with a faint grin as he handed me bread, cheese, and butter. On his other side, an ominous flurry of crimson sparks burst from Lyn’s small figure, even though her voice remained cold and clipped.

‘Why exactly did you decide to come along?’ I added quietly to Tared while I cut off thin slices of cheese.

‘I don’t have a lot of options,’ he said and gave me a sour shrug. ‘Goes against my principles to lock you in your room. Goes against my principles to let you walk around plague land without adult supervision, too. So—’

I stamped on his toes. That seemed to cheer him up considerably; his curse came out with more vigour than anything he’d said so far.