Page 41 of Bound to the Shadow Queen (Frostbound Court #2)
Draven
From the moment she rose over me, the world narrowed until it was only Everly—her breath, the quick rise of her chest, the heat pooling low and answering mine.
She was perfect in a way that made me hate us both for the time we wasted blaming one another for everything fate threw our way.
Navy waves tumbled over her curves, parting over her peaked nipples. Her wings shimmered in the rays of sun that peeked through the windowpanes, bathing her in an ethereal glow.
Her lips parted, and I traced the lower line with my thumb, dragging it from her mouth down to her jaw, then lower. I worked slowly, memorizing every inch of her, from the hollow at her throat and the slick sheen of sweat along her collarbone, to the breasts that strained against my palm.
When my thumb grazed the peaked tip of her nipple, she let out a gasp, so I circled back to it, teasing her until she let out a strangled moan.
On and on, I worshipped her as she moved slowly, setting an agonizing pace for us both. Her pace picked up little by little until she was panting out short ragged breaths, and the broken sound of my name.
“You’re perfect,” I murmured against her skin.
She shook her head, denial and pleasure wrapped into one.
She tightened her thighs around me, and the thought narrowed to a ridiculous, vivid clarity, the answer to the Archmage’s question.
Yes, I would have chosen her.
From the moment she joked about the decor in my ballroom, dark blue locks askew, crystal-blue eyes burning with the kind of stubborn bravery that defies fear entirely.
Even knowing everything that fate had in store for us, I would choose her now. Maybe she wasn’t my kingdom’s salvation, but she sure as shards felt like mine.
She threw her head back, her long waves cascading behind her and trailing along my thighs while her nails dragged against my chest, a combination of pleasure and pain so intense that I nearly came undone.
I moved my hand to her center and she let out a sharp gasp, murmuring under her breath as I traced miniscule circles on her core. Then she froze, every part of her seizing with need just before she finally let go.
When she finally shattered, something inside me broke apart too, coming together and reforming around the pieces of her soul.
The other half of mine.
I had begun to suspect when the intensity of her feelings grew. That wasn’t a side effect of the vow, and her mana was locked up far too tightly to overflow in the powerful tides of grief and fury and even amusement that sometimes cascaded from her very being.
From her soul to mine.
The hours we spent learning one another’s bodies were more stolen than borrowed.
Knowing that didn’t make it any easier when the Shard Mother demanded her payment for the brief moment of peace.
It started with a scraping feeling along my subconsciousness—the part I associated with the wards.
Everly jolted in my arms. She felt it, too. She always did, which made more sense now that I knew how closely her soul was tethered to mine.
Tension emanated from her, a stark contrast to the rare bit of calm we had carved out. She turned to face me just as the feeling intensified, a razorblade dancing along the edge of the wards.
Then slicing straight through them.
Frosted Hells .
Everly let loose a string of curses that made mine look tame, shooting upward in the bed. I was already moving on instinct honed by every last shards-damned monster attack that had torn me from my life these past ten years.
I tried not to think that this one felt different, and not just because of the wards.
“Did it break through?” she asked quietly as I was throwing my clothes on.
“Not yet,” I answered her. There wouldn’t have been room for anything to move through a slice that small.
But I wasn’t foolish enough to think that luck would hold. What would happen to the palace when the monster broke through the wards—assuming it even was a monster.
“The wolves will stay with you,” I told her.
She nodded, her wings emerging as she stood up from the bed, like she was preparing herself for a battle.
Aurora lights danced over her pale skin, highlighting every perfect inch of her, from the swell of her breasts to the tips of the shimmering wings I had been too stubborn to appreciate while we had the illusion of time.
I could have spent the rest of the night giving her body the worship it deserved after a lifetime of torture and pain, but now… I had the ominous feeling that our time had run out. This monster already felt more powerful than any I had encountered, and was clearly smart enough to hide itself.
What came after? How many more would be at its back, and now we had no end in sight. I refused to consider the possibility of losing Everly.
All along, I had thought she was chosen as a cruel joke by the Shard Mother. Maybe that was still true, sent to make me care just long enough to rip her away. The kingdom could burn before I let that happen.
Pulling on my boots, I cursed the monster and the Shard Mother herself for taking this single shred of peace that I had wrangled amidst a decade of destruction and death.
Instead of getting dressed, Everly stood with her fists clenched, eyes straining out the window as though she could see through the trees that separated this side of the castle from the wards.
Panic flared through the bond, suffocating in its intensity.
Striding over to her, I placed my hands gently over hers, prying her talons from where they were piercing into her skin.
“I’ll be back soon,” I told her evenly.
She looked at her ring, forcing in a shaky breath when it didn’t vibrate.
“All right.”
The wards trembled again with another sharp stab, and I knew we were out of time. I pressed my lips to hers for a second that was far too brief, then I stepped backward and disappeared into the ice.
I was far from the hero of anyone’s story, but I despised liars. Everly and I had been too many terrible things to one another, and still, I had promised myself that lying was one line I would never cross with her, even if the rings had allowed it.
When I told her I would be back soon, I had been telling the truth.
But the moment my feet touched the ground, and I saw the malevolent frostbeast that had finally decided to show itself, I knew that despite my best intentions, the words might still prove to be a lie.