Page 29

ESALYN

I sit across from Domno, the fire between us casting shadows that dance across his battered face. My heart thunders against my ribs like a trapped animal, his words— I've fallen in love with you. With Erisen —echoing in my mind.

The weight of everything presses down on me: Erisen's safe return, Vorrak's death, the truth of who Domno is and why he found us. A bounty hunter. The very thing I've been running from for years.

And yet, he's the one who saved my son. Who chose us over wealth, over his own safety. The one who sits before me now, bleeding and vulnerable, asking for something I've never given anyone—a second chance.

"I never meant for this to happen," I finally say, my voice barely audible above the crackling fire. "I never meant to get close to you."

His golden eyes reflect the flames, making them look molten. Despite his wounds, despite the exhaustion etched into every line of his face, he watches me with such fierce attention that I feel exposed. Seen in a way I've never allowed myself to be seen.

"When I first let you near Erisen, it was because I couldn't bear to take away something that made him happy." I twist my hands in my lap, callouses catching on each other. "I told myself that's all it was."

"And now?" His voice is a rough whisper.

I close my eyes, summoning courage I'm not sure I possess. "Now I don't know what to do. Because somehow, in the middle of all this fear and running and survival, I've fallen in love with you too."

The admission feels like jumping from a cliff—terrifying and exhilarating all at once. When I open my eyes, Domno's expression has transformed, hope and disbelief warring across his features.

"Esalyn—" He shifts forward, wincing as the movement pulls at his wounds.

"Don't." I hold up a hand. "I'm still angry. I'm still afraid. Everything I've built, every wall I've put up to protect us—you walked right through them all."

"I know." He slips from his seat to kneel before me, his large frame making the movement look graceless and desperate. "I know I've hurt you. Let me at least properly apologize."

It's like he knows what a mess my head is right now, how words won't help much when there's so much to sort through. I am still hurt. He lied to us. But he nearly died protecting us, too, and I can't overlook either.

Before I can respond, he's reaching for me, his scarred, blood-stained hands impossibly gentle as they settle on my knees. His eyes hold mine, asking silent permission as his fingers trail up my thighs.

"Domno—" My throat closes around his name.

"Please." The word is rough with emotion. "Let me show you what I can't say."

I should push him away. Should remind him of his injuries, of the sleeping child just inside the temple walls. Should guard my heart that's been broken too many times.

Instead, I part my legs.

His breath catches, golden eyes darkening as his hands slide higher, pushing up the worn fabric of my dress.

The night air is cool against my skin, raising goosebumps that his touch immediately soothes.

He leans forward, pressing a kiss to the inside of my knee, then higher—reverent, worshipful touches that make my body tremble.

"You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," he murmurs against my skin.

I've been called beautiful before, by men who only saw me as property. But Domno's eyes hold something different—not just desire, but awe. As if I'm something precious rather than something to be used.

He kisses the inside of my thigh, his lips warm and insistent, and a shudder runs through me. My hands find his hair, tangling in the dark strands, unsure if I want to pull him closer or push him away. He looks up at me, his expression so vulnerable it makes my chest ache.

"I'll spend the rest of my life proving myself worthy of you," he vows, each word a promise etched into my skin. "If you'll let me."

Then his mouth is on me, hot and demanding and perfect.

I gasp, fingers tightening in his hair as heat explodes through my body.

He rips the fabric out of his way before devouring me in a way that has every thought leaving my mind.

He groans against me, the sound vibrating through my core, his hands gripping my hips to keep me from bucking away from the intensity.

My head falls back, eyes closing as sensation overwhelms me. His tongue is relentless, tracing patterns that make coherent thought impossible. All the fear and tension I've carried for so long melts away, replaced by waves of pleasure that crash over me like a storm.

"That's it," he murmurs against my most sensitive flesh. "Let go for me, Esalyn."

I bite my lip to keep from crying out, too aware of Erisen sleeping nearby. But Domno is merciless, his mouth working me with single-minded determination until I'm trembling on the edge of something vast and terrifying.

"I can't—" The words catch in my throat.

He lifts his head just enough to meet my gaze, his eyes burning gold in the firelight. "You can. I've got you."

Then he's back, tongue circling the bundle of nerves that makes my entire body jerk, and I'm falling, shattering, coming apart under his mouth with an intensity that steals my breath. My fingers tangle in his hair as wave after wave of pleasure crashes through me, leaving me gasping and boneless.

When I finally come back to myself, Domno is looking up at me from between my thighs.

His expression is one of pure wonder, like a man who's found salvation after a lifetime of darkness.

Blood from his wounds stains the ground beneath him, but he seems oblivious to his injuries, to everything except me.

"There you are," he whispers, voice rough with emotion. "There's my heart."

I reach down and pull Domno up my body, unable to bear the distance between us any longer. Maybe tomorrow I'll regret it, but right now, I need this connection. Because that has always been real between us. His weight settles against me, solid and real, as I capture his mouth with mine.

The taste of myself on his lips is sweet and lights something up inside of me as I open my mouth to him.

He groans against my mouth, one hand cradling my face with a gentleness that contradicts the desperation in his touch.

The kiss deepens, his tongue sliding against mine, and suddenly I'm drowning—in sensation, in need, in the certainty that this is what I've been running toward all along, not just away from.

"Please," I whisper against his lips, my body trembling beneath his. "I need you... need all of you."

The admission costs me nothing—I've given him everything else already. My trust. My heart. My future. This final surrender feels inevitable, like the last piece falling into place.

Domno pulls back just enough to study my face, his gold eyes searching mine. The scars across his gray skin gleam silver in the firelight, telling stories of battles I'll never know. But I can read the one battle playing out in his expression now—desire warring with concern.

"Wait," I start to protest, reaching for the gash across his ribs. I hadn't been thinking when I asked him for this. "Your wounds?—"

He silences me with another kiss, this one fiercer. "I've lived through worse." His voice is a rumble I feel in my own chest. "And if I were to die, then this would be the best possible way."

Then he's laying me back against the rough blanket spread before the fire, his movements deliberate despite the urgency I can feel thrumming through his body. The flames cast his broad-shouldered silhouette into something ancient and powerful—a creature of legend come to life in my arms.

His fingers work at the laces of his pants while his gaze never leaves mine. There's a vulnerability in his eyes that makes my throat tight, a silent question even as he positions himself between my spread thighs.

"Yes," I answer before he can ask, wrapping my legs around his waist. "I'm sure."

The first press of him against me pulls a gasp from my throat.

He's large, intimidatingly so, but my body welcomes him with a readiness that would embarrass me if I had any shame left to give.

His restraint is visible in the tension of his shoulders, the tight clench of his jaw as he works himself into me with shallow, careful thrusts.

"You feel like coming home," he murmurs, pressing his forehead against mine as he stretches me slowly, giving my body time to adjust to his intrusion. "Like everything I never thought I deserved."

I arch up, taking him deeper, and his control fractures. A groan tears from his throat as he buries himself to the hilt, and for a moment we're both frozen—connected, complete, overwhelmed by the raw perfection of it.

"Move," I whisper, digging my heels into the small of his back. "I need?—"

He doesn't let me finish, withdrawing almost entirely before driving back in with a force that steals my breath. His rhythm builds steadily, each thrust more demanding than the last, until he's claiming me with a primal hunger that matches the storm building inside me.

Yet even as his pace grows punishing, his hands remain impossibly tender—one braced beside my head, the other cradling my hip with a reverence that makes my heart ache. He handles me like I might break, even as he takes me like he's breaking apart himself.

"You're everything," he growls against my neck, his voice rough with emotion. "Everything I never knew I was hunting for."

The double meaning isn't lost on me, but there's no sting to it now. Not when I can feel the truth of his devotion in every fierce thrust, every gentle caress, every worshipful kiss he presses to my throat.

The tension builds between us, winding tighter with each roll of his hips.

I'm climbing higher, faster than before, my body clenching around him as pleasure spirals through me.

When he reaches between us, his thumb finding the spot where I'm most sensitive, I shatter with a cry I barely remember to muffle.

Domno follows moments later, his powerful body going rigid above me as he spills himself deep inside with a broken sound that might be my name or a prayer or both.

We collapse together, our ragged breathing the only sound besides the crackling fire. His weight should feel crushing, but instead it anchors me to this moment, to this impossible reality where I'm safe and loved and free.

Once our hearts slow, I pull him closer, uncaring of the sweat cooling between us or the various fluids marking our union. This closeness feels too precious to break.

"I forgive you," I whisper against the curve of his shoulder, tasting salt and smoke on his skin. "I love you too. I know who you are now—who you really are—and I'm not afraid anymore."

He answers with a kiss that feels soul claiming and I want to let him have it.