Page 64 of A Flame of the Phoenix (An Heir Comes to Rise #6)

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

Faythe

F aythe sat by the fires in her old rooms, feeling like her spirit was detached from her body. She wouldn’t stay this still and useless for long—she just needed to recover her strength and magick before she could act again.

She gripped the handle of the jeweled dagger Marlowe had gifted her before her first fight with a fae in the cave. A part of her past that felt in another lifetime. She supposed it was, when day by day she drifted further away from her life as a human.

Unsheathing the blade, Faythe thought it was her sorrow for Marlowe giving off an energy. As if her friend’s spirit were embedded within the steel she’d forged. A vibration hummed along her fingertip as it traced the edge, and Faythe’s pain grew in her chest the longer she marveled over the craftsmanship. Something about it was ancient and timeless. The jewels of the hilt were an array of colors the likes of which she’d never seen before.

Her skin was a fraction of pressure away from being cut by the blade, but Faythe was transfixed, wondering if it could relieve some of the ache growing unbearable within her if her flesh was inflicted instead.

Faythe had lost herself so completely to a strange hypnotism invoked by the dagger that she didn’t hear Reylan return. His hand wrapped around her wrist, preventing her from applying more pressure with her finger against the blade’s sharp edge.

Her eyes slipped up to find deep concern swirling in his sapphire eyes.

“Marlowe gave this to me,” she explained, but that didn’t ease his worry.

He let her go tentatively. Then, instead of taking up the armchair opposite, he lowered to sit on the ground, knee bent, touching her legs. His hand carefully slipped over her thigh while his eyes scrutinized her every reaction, waiting to see if she would break in rage or tears. Amid her cold detachment, the only feeling she could spare was for him. Guilt that her emotions would always be his burdens too, as his would always be hers.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, not truly expecting an answer.

But Faythe’s lips cracked open for the first time since returning from Rhyenelle. “Do you remember the last time we sat here and you asked me that?”

Reylan’s brow flinched, and he nodded.

Faythe said, “You convinced me to go to Rhyenelle with you, but you couldn’t have known the curse you’d invited into your homeland.”

His jaw worked, and she knew the tells of his anger. “You’re not the curse, Faythe. You’re the liberation these lands have been waiting for.”

“The kingdom is in ashes because of me. I am pure destruction and will tear everything else down if you don’t stop me.”

“Then burn it to the ground. All of it. I will be right beside you as you do. From the ashes we will always rise. Agalhor knew this. We all know this, and we stand with you.”

Faythe’s eyes scrunched shut. It was the reassurance she needed to hear that Reylan and her friends weren’t horrified by what she’d done and could do. But even so, Faythe could hardly look in the mirror without seeing the monster she tried so hard not to become.

“We’re near the end, my Phoenix,” Reylan said, his voice a low, gravelly murmur. He shifted to kneel between her legs, sliding his hands over both her thighs and holding her with a claiming stare that promised every universe together beyond this one. “I have never once doubted you. Never underestimated you. And I take great offense at your negative thoughts about the one I love more than any creature could hope to love anything.”

Reylan was her home. Her anchor to her own humanity. Her guiding light in every darkness.

He stood, unstrapping his sword belt, from which hung the Ember Sword. Then he presented it to her on one knee.

“It may take practice to wield its size, or it can be used ceremoniously. But this is yours.”

Faythe smiled fondly, cupping his cheek. “It was never intended to be mine.”

“You’re the Queen of Rhyenelle—it belongs to the Ashfyre name.”

“Then carry it with me.”

Reylan’s hands dropped the sword to his lap. “Do you mean?—?”

“I need you by my side.”

“And I don’t ever plan to leave it, but Faythe…” Reylan swore, then he chuckled breathily, running a hand down his face. “I’m supposed to ask you to marry me, not the other way around.”

Faythe shrugged. “I don’t think anything about us has been conventional.”

He shook his head, with adoration and amusement sparkling in his eyes. “Regardless, Agalhor would want you to have this sword.”

“No. Before he died next to me, he told me I would know what to do with it. He thought of you as a son. You will carry the Ashfyre name as my consort. This sword belongs in the hands of Rhyenelle’s greatest protector, who will wield it toward our victory in the war to come.”

Reylan held silent for a moment, but everything spoke in his eyes. This moment, this passing of the sword from Agalhor’s possession to his, meant everything to him.

Faythe leaned forward, bringing their faces close. For him, there would always be a part of her that wanted to live through the horrors and losses of this war.

“Bond with me,” she said, slipping a hand over his cheek.

Reylan kissed her with a pained groan. Just once.

“You know I want that more than anything, but only if your full heart chooses it, not your grief in distraction.”

Faythe shook her head. “You’re not a distraction, Reylan. You are everything.”

He remembered those beautiful words he’d given her the first time he’d kissed her, and the emotion that creased between his brow unleashed in the slamming of his lips to hers. A kiss that claimed and transcended her soul.

She had no control of destiny and couldn’t promise the life of anyone with what was coming. This…she needed this. The thought of either of them dying without getting to claim their bond invoked such tragic fear she couldn’t wait a moment longer. If she had to sacrifice herself to win, she wanted to be fully, devotedly his .

Reylan lifted her from the chair to join him on the floor, slipping the Ember Sword aside.

“I missed you,” he said, kissing along her jaw. “I love you. Gods , I love you in every universe.”

“I love you,” she echoed. “More than anything.”

Reylan laid her down on the rug before the fire. He kissed her chest before easing off her. Faythe watched him collect the cushions and throw them from the bed, returning and beginning to arrange them.

“If we can’t be in our own kingdom for this, then we can be by our element. You are the flame of a Phoenix, Faythe Ashfyre, and it’s my life’s privilege to always be burning with you.”

Faythe lifted her hips by his silent prompt, and he slipped a pillow under her lower back. He leaned in, running his fingers up her curved spine while his mouth leaned in, blowing warm breath across her collar. His lips pressed to her throat, and Faythe pushed into him more with a soft moan. Her blood roared, heating for him to claim. To claim her. Wholly and completely.

“Please, Reylan,” she mewled at his slow, sensual movements.

“I’ve waited lifetimes for you. I’m going to take my time. You’re going to feel me claim every inch of your flesh before I take your blood. Then you’ll take mine. Take me inside you in two ways at the same time. You’re going to scream my name as you’re filled with me, and I won’t stop until you rock into your next finish knowing only this, only us, in all of existence.”

Between her legs rushed with heat, and her hips rose, thighs clamping around him, needy for any friction, but it wasn’t nearly enough.

His hands undid the fastens of her pants. Reylan kissed her lips once before pulling back, peeling her legs from the leather material. Faythe reached for her shirt, but Reylan caught her wrists, pinning them by her head.

“Keep your hands here. If you can’t follow instruction, I’ll have to use rope.”

Faythe’s shiver broke from the tips of her toes to her scalp. The thought of being bound completely at his mercy turned her on more than she expected.

Reylan smiled wickedly as though he’d read her curiosity and scented her surge of desire.

“My Phoenix,” he drawled—a low, sinful taunt. His fingers hooked around the seam of her shirt, pulling it over her head and leaving her only in her tight cropped undergarment. “I think I could do a lot with you and a piece of rope.”

“Then do it,” she challenged.

Reylan tore her undergarment as his mouth leaned to hers. “I was counting on you saying that. First, I’m going to devour you right here. Then I’m going to take you to that bed and make sure these legs can’t close until I’m done with you.”

He sucked her breast, and Faythe pushed into his assault with a moan. Something about his fully clothed body raking against her skin while she lay completely naked and vulnerable turned her on more. His lips trailed down to her navel. Then his arms hooked around her thighs, and she peered down to catch his devious smile between her legs before he kissed the inside of her thigh.

She was close to begging for his mouth on her apex, becoming so wet she was turning into a puddle. He took his time like he promised, licking and kissing her so slowly and teasingly she couldn’t help the undulation of her hips that silently begged him to devour her.

He groaned, licking from her sensitive bud and down, tongue curving inside her. In and out. In and out. She needed deeper. Fuller. Reached to slip her fingers through his hair. He chuckled darkly, then he obliged her body’s demands. Faythe cried out, back arching off the ground, as Reylan sucked and explored her with his mouth and tongue. His two fingers joined, sending her into a sprint toward her first finish line. She leaned into it eagerly, knowing it would be the first of many he would give her tonight.

“That’s it—take it how you need it,” he said, quickening his pace in time with her hips as they bucked, needy for release.

Faythe clamped down on his fingers, but he didn’t falter. He sucked harder, pushed in deeper, and Faythe’s moan choked in her throat while her legs trembled around his shoulders.

She was only just coming back down from her first high when Reylan hovered over her and his mouth claimed hers deeply. He’d removed his shirt, and Faythe’s fingers traced over the hard contours of him. Over his sides, over his scarred back. When she broke the kiss, she stared down at where the ruin had left an arrow-shaped scarring like a brand. The blackness had faded but still lingered around the edges like the vines of a petal. Many of them. Like a black rose.

Reylan’s arm curved around her back, lifting her into his lap. He stood effortlessly with her, carrying her to the bed. Being swept away from the caress of the fire made her shiver, but she knew the chill wouldn’t last long.

He laid her down, and she didn’t know when he’d thought to be prepared with rope, which he retrieved from a drawer.

“You’ve thought about this for a while,” she noted.

Pure lust glazed his eyes as he returned, looking over her naked body before taking hold of one of her ankles.

“You have no idea.” Reylan pulled her down the bed, and desire sparked through her core. With her knee bent, he tied her ankle before securing the other end to the bedpost.

His stare tightened her skin, and she wiggled with renewed need.

Reylan tied her other ankle in the same manner before crawling over the bed and straddling her waist. He took both her hands, tying her wrists together before leaning in, holding them above her head.

“Don’t move them from here,” he said—a deliciously tempting warning.

“Yes, general,” she said in a low lilt that flared his eyes.

Reylan’s hand wrapped around her throat before he kissed her with abandon. Devoured her like he’d done between her legs. Stealing her breath until she became lightheaded.

He pulled back abruptly, only to descend on her neck, which made her moan loudly, surging toward another climax already with the strong desire for him to bite her; claim her.

“Make me yours, Reylan,” she begged.

“I will, but I plan to be inside you in two ways as I do.”

His hand slipped down her body before two fingers plunged inside her without warning. The rope burned slightly against Faythe’s ankles as she strained, back arching from the sparks of pleasure. She needed more. More fullness; more of him inside her. He was driving her to the brink of pleasure-hazed madness.

Faythe tried to reject another orgasm, but Reylan demanded it from her. His fingers hooked inside her, dragging her toward that edge as if it had become a game between them and he was winning. Reylan chuckled, the low vibration teased over her nipple as he felt her resistance. He sucked her breast, throwing her over the cliff of another climax that burst warmth over her body, tingling from her core, up her spine, and pooling out from between her legs.

Her back flattened on the matures as she caught her breath, so spent but eager for more of his delicious torture.

She didn’t know when he’d removed his pants, but the feel of his length sliding over her wet core caused her brow to pinch tightly with the shoots of sensitivity after her climax. Faythe defied his order, bringing her bound hands down to slip between them and grip hold of him. Reylan hissed. His hips jerked into her palms. He glanced between them, watching her pump him over her slickness. His gaze of pure lust turned her on so much she was melting for him.

Faythe lined him up to sink inside her, and he obliged. Slowly. He lifted her hands away by the rope that bound them, and he kept hold of her wrists above her head this time as he watched himself inch inside her.

“This will never not be a sight to fucking worship,” he rasped. Reylan groaned when he was fully seated. His eyes met hers with such intense passion she lost herself in his gaze for a moment.

Reylan retrieved a pillow from behind her, and she already knew what he wanted. She lifted her hips for him to slide it under her lower back. Then Reylan let go.

He slammed into her with a pace that claimed her to her bones. Reylan made sure every inch of her would feel his claim on her tonight. She let him have his way with her, bound and vulnerable to his mercy, and she’d never felt so wholly worshipped and pleasured. Much as she wanted to wrap her legs around his hips and take him deeper, there was something so seductive about being under his control that pushed her toward yet another climax so fast.

“I’m going to…” Faythe swore, trying to hold some of herself together, but she was clay under his demanding grip.

Reylan leaned into her, his pants close to her ear surging her lust. “Come for me, Phoenix. You’re mine. I claim you under every God that bears witness, and against every objection the stars might have. I claim you in every realm and in every time, eternally.”

She’d tried to be prepared for the moment Reylan sank his teeth into her neck, but expectation was nothing close to the real moment. The sting of his fangs piercing her skin subsided under a fast tidal wave of euphoric pleasure like nothing she’d experienced before.

Within her, something snapped sharply, and she gasped. It tugged, finding another severed thread to join with. Her soul transcended with Reylan’s, forging through time and space and everything that existed beyond. Her body trembled but soared. Completely weightless, she was a shooting star.

All that was left was for her to claim him back.

Reylan undid her bonds after he let go of her neck. His pupils were blown wide and feral. He released her ankles, and Faythe couldn’t wait another moment.

She pushed him onto his back, straddling him and taking him inside her again. Faythe rocked her hips slowly, gathering herself back together from the climax and claiming he’d given her. She wanted to be fully present for this.

“I claim you, Reylan Arrowood. I have always been yours, and you will always be mine. No matter what forces try to come between us. It’s you and me.”

“Always,” he promised.

Faythe leaned in, closing her mouth around his neck near his collar. Her teeth pierced his flesh, an odd sensation, but the moment his blood trickled onto her tongue she was lost in him. She moaned at the divine taste—the single most delectable thing she would ever sample in her life.

Reylan thrust up into her, nearing his climax, and Faythe’s hand wrapped around his throat, needing it inside her the way his blood flowed down her throat.

With one final thrust he stilled, spilling himself, and she pulled out of his neck. Her thoughts spun. This kind of delirious high wobbled her balance, but Reylan caught her, lowering her beside him.

Her whole body tingled warmly, and within…a bright new thread pulsed.

Reylan idly traced her golden tattoos, which she’d only just noticed were glowing. “You are absolutely remarkable,” he said absentmindedly.

Faythe rolled onto her stomach, clasping her hands over his chest. “You’re quite remarkable yourself, general.”

A low groan vibrated in his throat. “I quite like it when you call me that.”

Faythe smiled coyly. “I know.”

Reylan pulled her up, hooking her leg over his hips. Her lust stirred again.

“Greedy,” she said, feeling him needy between her legs.

“You might want to cancel your plans for tomorrow.”

“We can’t,” she moaned as he kissed her neck. Though she really, really wanted to.

“You might be pretty sore by the time I’m done with you tonight,” he said with gravel in his voice. Reylan’s tongue flicked over his fresh bite wound, and Faythe cried out at the sensitive sparks shooting precisely between her legs.

“Do your worst, general.”

“Oh, I plan to.”