Page 81

“You’re incredible.” His voice is a caress down my spine.

They’re the same words he said to me the first night he saw the terrifying nature of my magic. But this time, he’s looking at me, at my eyes that meet his. Not at the magic, not at the shadows swirling around my entire body now. At me.

He drags his hands up my sides and comes to gently cup my full breasts in his hands.

He glides his fingers over the sensitive skin of my nipples, and they tighten in response.

It sends a jolt straight between my legs, desire pooling there.

Sitting up further, he traces the same lines with his tongue, and I clamp my teeth over my lip, stifling the cry that’s threatening to pour out of me.

“What did I tell you about that lip?” His voice is so low it comes out as a growl, an almost feral noise.

Those molten eyes make everything in my body melt with them. Evander rolls so quickly that I’m on my back in an instant, pinned beneath the weight of him. With his body pressed against me, I can feel the full thickness of him and I move my hips again, raising them up to meet his.

He groans. “Fuck, Bria.”

His mouth meets mine again but instead of his luscious lips, I’m met with his teeth as he bites my lower lip between them.

The sharp pain is brief before he pulls his head back and it’s swept away by the warm wetness I feel between my thighs, his hands now dipping below the low waist of my underwear.

Pulling them down to the floor, he grabs the leather looped around my thigh and slides it off, slowly and gracefully.

He watches me as his fingers creep down lower, until they meet their mark, rolling in circles over the most sensitive part of my body. I ache for more, my back arching with each flick of his fingers. I need more of his hands, his teeth, his tongue, him. Just him.

A smile tugs his lips upward, revealing that damn dimple.

I reached up to touch his face and see the shadows are still there, swirling, dark whorls of black around my hand.

My magic is filled to the brim and ready to erupt, but I ignore it.

I let go of the burning feeling in my body and give in to the feel of his hands.

I push my hips toward him, urging him to continue.

He moves his thumb over that spot once more before dipping his hand lower. He releases a strangled noise from his throat when he feels the readiness waiting for him there, and he slips his fingers inside of me, pumping one, then two. In and out in a steady rhythm.

“Mmm.” He hums. “You’re always so wet, so needy for me.”

“Just for you,” I breathe.

“Just for me.” He brings his lips to hover above mine, his fingers curling inside of me, pulling me apart bit by bit. “What do you want, Bria?” he asks, a whisper across my lips.

I reach my hands down, slowly unbuckling the belt at his waist, pushing the material past his hips until the solid length of him springs free.

My breath hitches in my throat at the sight, at the feel as I drag my fingers over the smooth, velvety skin of his cock. He shudders with a sigh at my touch.

“You,” I say, letting my words breeze across his mouth.

“You’ve always had me, Bria,” he responds, his eyes darkening. “I’m yours and always have been.”

His words crush me. The sense that he has been there all this time and it took me this long to find him…

The feeling that this was meant to be, yet I’m going to lose him.

Does he understand that? Has he truly ever understood that we can never be together the way he wants, that I cannot give him what he needs?

His fingers curl again and I gasp, the sensation bringing me back to the present, pushing aside any thoughts of the future.

Removing his fingers, he angles his body fully above me now, making me release my grasp on him.

His thick cock slides against the slickness below, teasing me with every motion.

I fully open myself to him and he pushes inside, a cry escaping my lips as he fills up every inch of me.

He keeps going and when I think I can’t take any more, his eyes are on me.

I suck in air at the feel of him, of my body closing around him, accommodating his size.

He begins to move slowly, pulling nearly all the way out before he settles deep again, letting out a rough groan. “Fuck, Bria.”

Everything is alight again, with fire, desire, and want.

My mouth finds his and I sweep my tongue in just as he thrusts deeper, seating himself fully within me.

Each slow movement of his rolling hips sends pleasure pulsing through my body, a different kind of flame racing through my veins and making my heart pound.

I grasp his smooth, silky hair in my hands and pull it, forcing his head back so I can look into his eyes.

They are so dark. Everything around us is dark.

Shadows drift throughout the room, caressing our skin and curling around our intertwined bodies—a rich swath of darkness that blocks out the world around us, that allows us to just be here, together.

He sees it too. I can tell by the way his eyes widen and he stops moving.

Looking around, he’s mesmerized by the shocking cocoon of darkness enveloping us.

I cup his cheek in my hand, aligning his focus back on me, trying to read the expression on his face, worried that the sudden release of power will be too much for him.

That the hovering shadows will scare him off at last, scare him off when I finally have him.

His molten eyes fix back on me, so inky in the black around us.

“What do you want?” I ask, worry flitting through me that he will leave.

His lips brush over mine again, grazing my jaw and settling next to my ear. “Everything,” he whispers. “Give me your shadows, your darkness, your everything, Bria. Give me you.”

I slam my mouth to his, bruising my lips against him as he starts back up, undoing me with his words and his body again and again. He saw my darkness and he stayed. Again, he stayed with me.

So I give him my shadows, my darkness. My everything.

Running my hands along the taught muscles of his back, I move with him, letting my hips rise to meet his, seeking out the friction from his body against the most sensitive parts of me.

He pushes deeper and I moan as he hits the center of my core, letting free that deep sensation, ecstasy raging through me.

He captures my mouth once more, sinking his tongue deeper as he drives into me.

He rocks his hips like that again and again until the pressure building up inside me has nowhere to go.

I feel as though I might break in two. Each thrust sends pleasure rippling through my body until it surges, a cry tearing from my lips.

Shadows pour from my fingers, wind whipping around us as they coil and twist through the air.

Evander tenses and shudders over me, freeing a low growl as he goes over the edge with me and my body clenches around him, warmth spreading through me with his release.

Evander kisses me fully, passionately after, and pulls my body against his as he rolls to the side, slipping easily out of me. We stay like that for some time after, facing one another, neither willing to move. I stare at him as he peppers kisses along my neck and jaw and my body calms.

My entire being cools with his touch, settling as he seems to smother the flames inside while stoking the warmth between my legs.

How he cooled me and caught me on fire with the same touch is unbelievable.

And when the shadows had surged forth, my body felt more at ease, the release of my magic colliding in space with the release of pent-up desire for him.

Now, the shadows have dissipated, fading into a cool mist of gray around us.

I stroke my hand across his chest, letting my fingers trail further down and over the ridges in his stomach. I eye the scars that decorate his skin and the deep V of muscles that taper down. It should be a crime to have muscles like this.

“I would caution you against moving that hand any further unless you’re ready for more,” he warns, his voice low and unbearably sexy.

Despite what we just did, and the fact that I am bare-ass naked next to him, my thighs slick with both our release, his words still elicit a flush.

One that runs from my chest up to my cheeks in a heated wave.

I pause my exploration of his body, not sure if I’m ready to push him when the look in his eyes tells me he’s not kidding.

“What exactly should I expect tomorrow?” I ask, shifting the subject even though I know it will likely irritate him.

“Bria,” he grumbles, his tone firm as he skates his hand across my hip, fingers tracing the edges of my body until he hits the curve of my ass.

I frown. “I need to know, don’t I?”

Evander forces out a heavy breath. “You really want to talk about this now?” he asks, his gaze wandering over my exposed body as he speaks and squeezes his fingers into the flesh of my ass.

I swallow and nod my head, wanting to take him up on his offer to go again but also needing to hear more about what will happen with the high priestess.

“She’s going to take energy from you, your magical energy.

I’m guessing it’s like what you did with Silas, but she never refers to it as feeding .

” The last word is nearly a growl, and I recall the way he reacted when he found out about Silas.

Jealous Evander is high up on my list of infuriating but unbearably hot things.

“Nor has she ever discussed a bond or connection. They are going to want you sedated so that you don’t fight back or remember much about it.

” He brushes his fingers back and forth over my hip, sending a shiver up my spine.

“She pulls it all into this orb, the blue orbs they use to harness and trap magic. You’ve seen them, the ones in the symbol of Vaohr and that the priests in the temple had with them.” He hesitates and looks as if he’s about to tell me more but stops.

“What do they do with the orbs?” I query, hyper focused on him as he talks.

“You saw yesterday during the rite. The priests say some spells and somehow make the magic work for them. I’m not entirely sure about the spells and how they work, but I know they got them from the witches.

And I believe the first high priestess helped them with that, she was a witch from what I understand. ”

“And no one notices they’re using spells? Wouldn’t that break this whole charade if people knew the truth?”

Evander smirks, letting the side of his mouth quirk up.

“It would, but the priests use magic very sparingly. It’s rare to see them wield it outside of the rite and various demonstrations by the king throughout the year, mostly holidays and such.

And they say prayers, not incantations, according to them. ”

“So where does it all go? If they are using it so sparingly.” I have so many questions I want to ask, so many answers that require fulfillment.

“That, my love, is not something I can answer,” he responds, rolling onto his back and stretching his arm out for me.

I scoot toward him and nestle into his shoulder, resuming my act of running my fingers down his body.

“The priests keep everything inside the temple very guarded. No one goes upstairs, no one knows where the magic is kept. Not even those of us who helped retrieve it and deliver it to them.”

I think for a moment about why the king and the priests would keep collecting more magic if they weren’t using it. What could the purpose be? Were they building up a store for something bigger, and if so, why? King Braddock holds control over the entire Kingdom of Azudora, the whole world.

Evander tenses and a low growl rumbles from his chest before he yanks my arm, sliding my body up on top of his.

I squeal, not expecting the movement, and he buries his face in my neck, nipping and kissing along it.

His cock, already rock solid again, slides against my body still dripping from before.

“What did I just tell you?” he mutters against my skin, and I realize then how low my hands must have been when lost to my thoughts.

I smile, letting my head fall to the side as he trails kisses along my collarbone and lower, letting the smooth, lush skin of his lips grace my body.

I let myself go, getting lost in him and the sense of being alive.