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I ran my thumb over the band, meeting Archer’s eyes. “He knows I am related to Veravine. He must assume—”

“You would be dead, Sev, if he didn’t know. Forbidden quells are just that—forbidden. The bracelet he gave you is called a port, where a Serpent stores a memory.” We walked through the silent hall, the night still rung in my ears as the violin strummed a few final chords.

“Do you have a port?” I asked.

“Not yet. Only when we die does that memory get released. For most, it is their wedding band, but Veravine wasn’t married. Most Serpents use it for their wills.”

I tightened the chain in my fist, the glass stone pressing into my palm. “How do I—open it?”

“Not here. Keep it safe, and only open it in a place you trust. You are holding the last piece of Veravine. Who knows what is in there.”

The last piece of my grandmother. I put my fingers through the hoop that seemed to mend to the shape of my wrist. The silver was bright, catching the glow of the lanterns as we stepped along the flickered halls. We were alone at last. Archer leaned against the stone archway of the staircase.

“I suppose we shouldn’t get any closer.” I stared at his lips .

Archer shot a grin at me, his fingers stroking along the stone. “I think you’ll find a Serpent claim to be more powerful than whatever shield someone placed on you.”

“Archer, you didn’t have to bid the light in your realm. Your mother… gave her life for it.”

His eyes were a deep mix of piercing blue. He reached for my hand. “I was tired of a feud between my father. He would never have let up if I hadn’t. And if I can save your father… I will.”

I cupped his jaw, smoothing my palm over the afternoon shadow pricking below his chin. I pulled back quickly—afraid I’d hurt him. Afraid that shield would shock him when he gripped my wrist and held it above his heart.

“Why didn’t you tell me Naraic and Ciaran were born in Demetria? That you thought I could be your heir?” I clenched my jaw, holding my wobbling knees upright.

“How could I take that away from you? You fell in love with Ravensla. It is still your claim, Severyn. And I would be cruel to take that away from you. We are bonded between Gemini dragons. Naraic’s quell gave you flame, and Ciaran gave you shadows. The choice is yours.”

“Not when my father’s life is at risk. Archer, I don’t know what to do. I need to win Serpent, and Summer seems like a lifetime of bartering.” Tears brimmed my lids. They were not warm but chilled, as if a shadow had wrapped around us.

His thumb wiped my cheek. “Follow your heart, Severyn. If it is rushing canals you desire and the heat of the desert grazing your face, then you know your choice. I have many suitors who will take your place.”

“Take me to Demetria. Take me there now,” I whispered into his soft touch. “You claimed me. Now make use of it, Serpent.”

His lips inched closer to mine. He curled his fingers around my waist, pinning me against the stone wall. “Someday, but for now, you are entirely mine, Severyn. Every breath you breathe is owed to me.” His fingers slid under the slit of my gown and toward my thigh. “That includes every moan.”

He traced the seam of my panties. My gaze darted for anyone watching as a finger ran over the lace. My feverish body needed his touch, my thighs buzzing, heating as he circled the lacy strap with his thumb.

“Archer,” I breathed as he caught the gasp with his mouth, devouring any thoughts. I reached for his buckle, smoothing my hands over the metal straps, but a shadow of rope bound my wrists together. “What if someone sees?”

I cried in protest as his finger slipped out.

He portaled us to a room. My head hit the cotton pillow as Archer’s hands replaced the shadow binds. “Is this what you want? To silence our lust to darkness? For the moon to be our keeper.”

I nodded as he exposed my breasts, sucking each one until my head spun. His fingers untied the corset backing, slipping the gown off my body. His lips kissed my frame, claiming every inch and curve with his tongue.

“You do a great job at distracting me. Knowing my body will listen,” I whispered. “I asked you—to take me to Night.”

I grabbed his jaw, bringing him to my lips.

His tongue slid over my teeth, devouring every gasp as he edged a finger inside me.

“I can show you how it feels . How’s that?

” Then, another, and my body lurched into his chest, riding him with delighted moans.

He kissed my wrist, where a bruise formed from Monty’s tight grip.

Everything about Archer felt forbidden, knowing I was promised to him in another life. My body, my name was his.

And I wondered if he knew from his claim of marking my body where others had touched me because he knew I was his.

“Your body does more than listen to me,” he sang, unsure if the words were in my mind .

Shadows crawled under my veins as starlight tinged my skin, our skin.

His lips tasted like ash. We were bonding.

Flame and smoke whirled as I clawed at his tunic, popping three buttons to slide my hands over his chest. I needed more as I struggled to lift his shirt off.

Thunder rumbled outside, shaking the glass windows as he kissed my pelvic bone, lowering, his tongue gliding over the sensitive area before circling my opening with devilish licks.

I ran my hands down his bare back, gripping his clenched muscles as he teased me.

“Archer, I need you… closer.”

“You want me to fuck you because you wish for a bond to form, or do you want me?”

“Both.”

He twined our palms together, relic to relic. Then, he laid me on my back, arching me into him as his legs locked my hips wide.

My other hand traced the serpent on his neck. “You are mine,” he hissed.

Closer. I needed him closer.

“I am yours,” I whispered, his body pressed into me, hips squared on top, hardening as he fiddled with his belt. Blue eyes soaked me with one devilish look.

I felt him grow hard on me, the pressure of him between my legs. “Are you sure you want this, Severyn? There are other ways we can bond.”

“I want to. I want our bond to be strong.” I’d blame it on the bond, but I wanted him more.

His knees spread my legs open, locking my spine to the woven sheets. He grinned at the dampness between them, kissing me harder and claiming every curve on my neck with his tongue as he thrusted inside my shaking legs.

Deeper with his strokes, I saw the depths of ebony within his eyes .

Stars lined my vision with each breath and moan of my name on his tongue.

The headboard creaked. His chest echoed in mine as our rider bond snapped in place.

My body sang to his, matching his infatuating moans.

It’s his heat I’m narrowed to, my heat. My world slim and faint with each thrust deeper inside me until I swear he can’t possibly fit more of him inside me.

I’ve never been sure of anything besides Archer.

That thin wall of our bond was solid, lined with molten steel along every crack and surface.

His relic glowed with embers, while mine was outlined with a dark glow.

The blue of his iris rimmed with a soft red.

I kissed him again, licking the ash off his tongue.

Then, a swirl of ebony consumed my mind.

And time seemed to stop. Each pound of him inside me. I swore I’d never felt pleasure, never breathed pure air without his breath choking down my lungs.

I believed I loved him—that nothing besides him tethered me to this world as he stoked a soothing shadowed finger along my shaking thighs. “Do you accept our bond?” I asked.

He moaned, “Yes,” nipping at my lower lip again. “Nothing, Severyn, could keep you away from me. Not a shield, a ward, or distance.” He kissed each rib, the underside of my breasts, as he slowed his swaying hips in tune with mine.

“Cum for me,” he said. “I want to feel it through the bond.”

He spread me wider. Grinding his hips into me. I was close, narrowing into that heated touch. “Archer,” I moaned.

I came twice, one after the other. But I’d lost count after he flipped me on my stomach, chest taunt against my spine.

He devoured my body for an hour. Fucked me until shadows held my mind—my desires. His tongue marked me in no place I’d allow another man to touch. Restlessly, I rolled over, and our hands thumped over our beating chests .

He got close to my ear. “Feel my pleasure rise.” He came inside me, and I was thankful I’d smoked mycris a few weeks ago.

My thighs sweltered from his grip. “Just a shield once your claim wears off,” I whispered, eyeing him from my whirling head.

His blue eyes, still ringed with ash, swayed to meet mine.

“We could do that again until the sun rises. I know a trick that slows midnight,” he snapped playfully, hoisting my legs over his chest. I swear there was never a more beautiful man to exist. I swore darkness didn’t need light as his shadows reeled my burning skin.

He didn’t flinch from my cindering palms as I placed them on his cheeks. “Why doesn’t my flame hurt you?”

He smiled. “I’ve never been afraid of your burn, Severyn. Shadows and flame exist within us. Besides, I think we balance the other out. I am still getting used to the taste of ash in my lungs.” He chuckled low.

I stared at him, knowing the moments when we were alone were sparse. Knowing every power-hungry Serpent slept walls away.

Archer glanced at the door. “I’m not staying tonight. I’m portaling back to Night to take care of some things.”

He meant the bid he’d made with his father. He would need to prepare for the sun to be stripped away if I were to claim the title. “Take me with you. I’ll portal back myself or have Naraic fly me.”

“You’ve never attempted portaling, Severyn. Let alone the dangers of portaling through realms, which can be deadly. I can’t ensure your safety through the shadows, and I’m not willing to risk it.”

“I don’t care. I want to see Night—show me Demetria, please.” The words hung from my parted lips .

I thought he’d say no. But instead, he cupped my cheek with one hand, the other resting at the small of my back. Cool shadows crept beneath my skin, encasing my beating heart in a clenched fist of darkness.

“Stay still,” he whispered in my ear. “Focus on our bond.”

A flurry of shadow and starlight rippled around us. In his eyes, I glimpsed jagged mountains beneath a bright, cratered moon. Darkness unfurled over us, stretching for miles in a galaxy of blinking lights across the hills and peaks of the Night Realm.

Bats cried out above, circling through a swirl of yellow, orange, and blue—the last remnants of sunset.

Moths hovered, their eye-patterned wings flickering around lanterns like tiny ghosts.

And then I understood: night was not the terror I had always feared.

It was not constant darkness, nor the screams of death beasts and night crawlers.

It was every shade of night, from the soft glow of twilight to the deep hush of midnight.

A waterfall spilled like silver thread down the crystal mountains, winding through a valley where cabins lined narrow, cobblestone paths. The scene was alive, a harmony of shadow and light, fear and beauty.

Archer dropped his hand, and I was back at the estate where we had never left.

“It’s beautiful,” I whispered, lowering my eyes briefly. “How long will you be gone?”

“Only a few days.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “You can speak to me through the bond.” He didn’t hide the crooked grin on his mouth, the one I couldn’t stop staring at. “Will you miss me?”

I didn’t have it in me to lie—not after tonight, not after missing him, teetering on the edge of love.

“Yes.” He closed his eyes, resting his hand on the curve of my jawbone. “How strange the world works. Most do not find this. ”

I wondered what he meant by this , how the universe had conspired for us to find each other.

Even though our bond had survived death and been reborn, we were together in this moment.

I had been promised to him in a different life, knowing that being with him destroyed all my father had done to give me a life of my own.

For us to find each other, a life had been lost—possibly two.

The universe cooed in satisfaction, but its greedy claws knew no bounds. Just as the king had described his love with Veravine, Archer’s and mine could never exist in daylight.

He dressed swiftly, leaned in for a fleeting kiss on my knuckle, and vanished without a trace. No lingering shadow, just a sudden void that ripped away the coolness in my heart.

A yearning for him to stay lingered, but such desires were hollow—he had no obligation. My wish for him to stay was merely a surface-level craving. I yearned for Archer’s company because it brought comfort, not out of necessity.

And falling for a rival was insanity. But falling for a Serpent? I knew it was na?ve.