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FORTY-FIVE

SERAPHINE

T he wind howled along the volcanic cliffs, tearing through the heavens like it was trying to carry the world’s last breath away.

The moon was full, fat and silver, its light a pale blessing stretched over the jagged rocks and ash-streaked sea.

Seraphine stood barefoot at the edge, her cloak caught in the wind, hair streaming behind her like a banner of flame.

She could feel the earth’s hum beneath her feet—restless, but calm.

The Hollow was sealed. The realm was safe. For now.

Still, her heart beat like a war drum.

Behind her, his footsteps were deliberate. Quiet, but never hidden. Cassian didn’t sneak. He stalked, bold and sure, even when the world was crumbling beneath his feet. Even now, when peace felt fragile and the only danger left was the pounding in her chest.

He stopped beside her. Didn’t speak at first. Just stood there, hands in his pockets, watching the ocean breathe fire.

“You should be asleep,” he murmured eventually, voice gravel-slick and low.

She didn’t look at him. “So should you.”

He let out a soft, almost laugh. “We’re getting married in the morning.”

“I know.”

He stepped closer. “And you’re standing on a godsdamn cliff.”

“I needed air.” Her voice cracked a little. “It’s…a lot.”

Cassian exhaled like he understood. And he did. He always did.

“I keep thinking I’ll wake up,” she said. “That this’ll all be one of Mirael’s sick illusions.”

“It’s not,” he said. “She’s gone. You burned her out of the world.”

She turned to him then, and the wind wrapped around them like smoke. “I didn’t do it alone.”

His eyes found hers, stormfire and shadow, but soft now—only for her. “No. But you finished it.”

They stood in silence, shoulder to shoulder, as waves crashed below. Seraphine’s fingers twitched, aching to reach for him, and when she did, he caught her hand in his like he’d been waiting for it all along.

“Do you regret it?” she asked quietly. “All of it?”

Cassian turned fully toward her, his other hand coming up to cradle her jaw. “Not for a godsdamn second. You saved me, Seraphine. And I’m not just talking about the Hollow. You pulled me out of the wreckage of who I was and gave me something real.”

Her throat tightened. She pressed her palm flat against his chest, where his heart beat hard and steady beneath the scars. “It’s not just us anymore.”

He stilled. “What?”

She looked up, tears burning the corners of her eyes—not from fear. From something fiercer. Brighter.

“I’m pregnant.”

It was almost funny, the way all breath left his lungs at once. He blinked like he hadn’t heard her right. “You’re…?”

She nodded. “Three moons.”

He stepped back, just half a pace, like he needed space to take it in—but his hand never left hers.

“Gods,” he breathed. Then, softer. “We’re really doing this.”

“We are.”

Something cracked in his expression then, some old barrier falling away, and he pulled her against him like the world would rip them apart if he didn’t.

His lips found her hairline, then her temple, then lower, slower, over her cheekbone, her jaw.

He held her like a man desperate to etch her into his skin.

He carried her over to the bed all smiles and laughter.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked.

“Where I can make suer you remain with child,” he growled as he kissed her neck and laid her down under the skylight.

The wind quieted.

The obsidian cliffs no longer howled, no longer threatened to swallow the sky. The sea burned quietly below, ash rolling in smoky tendrils over black stone.

There was nothing chasing them.

Just them.

Cassian’s laugh had just faded. The one about their child being worse than both of them.

When Seraphine shifted beside him, one bronze-toned leg slipping over his thigh.

Her hand stayed over her belly, but her eyes found his in the dark.

That gold-flecked fire hadn’t dimmed. If anything, it shimmered with something new. Softer. Wilder.

“Cassian,” she murmured, voice low like a secret, “do you know the last time we touched like this without battle on our backs?”

His hand slid up her waist, over the subtle shimmer of scales that caught in the moonlight. “Never.”

She nodded. “So don’t waste tonight pretending we’re still running.”

He didn’t need more than that.

Cassian rolled to face her fully, dragging her into his arms with a groan so deep it rumbled through his chest. His storm-gray eyes flashed. Literal flickers of inner lightning threading behind his lashes as his mouth claimed hers.

She moaned against him, one hand sliding into his hair, fingers threading through black strands streaked with silver. “Gods, you taste like smoke,” she whispered. “Like home.”

He pulled her onto his lap in one smooth motion, strong hands settling at her hips, guiding her over the hard line of his cock through the thin layer of his leathers. “Then stay right here,” he growled. “Burn with me.”

Seraphine rocked her hips against him, grinding slowly until his breath hitched and his grip tightened.

“I missed this,” she said softly, kissing down the side of his throat. “Not just your cock—though I definitely missed that, too.”

Cassian let out a shaky laugh, the sound cut off by a hiss when her fingers dragged over his belt.

She undid him with practiced hands, eyes locked to his as she peeled back the final barrier between them. His cock sprang free—thick, flushed, already leaking at the tip.

Her voice dropped to a murmur. “Still perfect.”

He growled, reaching down to slide his fingers through her folds, finding her already slick. “And you’re so fucking wet for me.”

Seraphine gasped when he rubbed her clit with slow, lazy circles, the pad of his thumb stroking her like he had all night to worship her. “Keep talking like that,” she whispered, eyes fluttering. “I might come before you’re even inside me.”

Cassian sat up, pressing his forehead to hers. “You deserve to feel everything. No fear. No fire on your heels. Just this. ”

He kissed her like a vow, then laid her back on the obsidian. Her hair fanned out around her like embered silk. The wind tugged at the edges of the cloak he wrapped around them both, but the night stayed warm—held by body heat and the faint thrum of magic in their blood.

He kissed down her body—slow, worshipful. Her breasts, full and sensitive, made her whimper beneath his mouth. He sucked one nipple between his lips, tongue flicking gently, then harder. Her back arched.

“Cassian—please?—”

“I know,” he murmured. “I feel it too.”

His hand slid lower, between her thighs, spreading her wide. When he licked her pussy, she cried out—head thrown back, eyes wild with need. He teased her clit with the tip of his tongue, then licked a long, slow stroke that made her hips jerk against his mouth.

“You taste like heat and starlight,” he growled into her, voice wrecked. “Like something holy.”

She came suddenly, body tensing, her pussy clenching around nothing as she moaned his name into the sky. He didn’t stop until she was shaking, breathless, slick and spent beneath him.

He rose above her, stroking his cock once, twice, eyes fixed on hers.

“I want to be inside you when you come again,” he said. “I want to feel you fall apart around me.”

“Then do it,” she breathed. “I want all of you. I want your cock—deep, slow, and real. ”

He pressed the thick head of his cock against her entrance and pushed in—slowly, reverently. Seraphine’s eyes fluttered shut as he filled her inch by inch, the stretch delicious, the pressure perfect.

“Gods,” she gasped. “You feel so fucking good. ”

“You’re so tight,” he groaned, holding himself still once he was buried to the hilt. “Like you were made to take me.”

She wrapped her legs around his waist, dragging him deeper.

“I was. ”

He began to move—deep, grinding strokes that rubbed against every sensitive spot inside her. His cock dragged along her walls, slick and throbbing, making her gasp with every thrust.

She clung to him, nails dragging down his back, her hips rising to meet him stroke for stroke. “Harder,” she panted. “I want to feel this tomorrow.”

He gave her what she asked for—slamming into her harder now, faster. His mouth claimed hers, stealing her moans, swallowing every gasp as their bodies moved in sync.

“Say it,” he growled, lips at her ear. “Tell me who you belong to.”

“You,” she moaned. “Always you. Fuck—Cassian—don’t stop?—”

Her orgasm hit like fire in her veins, her whole body locking around him, her pussy pulsing as she screamed his name.

He wasn’t far behind. He thrust twice more and spilled inside her, cock jerking as he filled her with heat. His breath stuttered, his body curling over hers like a shield.

They lay there after, tangled and slick and trembling.

Cassian kissed her shoulder, then her hand, then the place just below her belly button.

“I can feel them,” he whispered. “Like they’re already here.”

Seraphine brushed the sweat-damp hair from his forehead, her chest still rising fast.

“They’ll come into a world we bled to make,” she said. “But it’s ours now.”

Cassian nodded, forehead pressed to her sternum.

“Then let them inherit the fire.”

They curled beneath the cloak, skin to skin, still joined.

The cliff held them.

The stars crowned them.

For the first time, there was no war—just love. Just breath. Just beginning.