Page 90 of Exquisite Monster

A tear spilled over. No words were needed. I kissed him once more, lifting my hips to meet his and ask for more. My mate gave it to me.

The low-burning coals of our fire grew with us until we could not cling to the illusion of slowness. I clung to Zovai, wrapping myself as far around him as I could manage and held on like he wished he could have held on to me. The rising heat burst into true flames, our voices mingling and echoing through the quiet of the trees together.

“I would go back to those cells for an eternity if it meant you were whole,” he said against my hair.

“No.” I gripped him harder. “Because I cannot be whole without you. I just?—”

I opened my bond to him as he’d done to me. So he could feel how much I wished it hadn’t happened. How much it still hurt and what made me fear. These days felt like counting down to something that could be even worse. That we were running out of time. How much I loved them and wanted them and was still so fucking angry at everything that wanted to choose our paths for us. How unfair it was that we were at the center of everything when all we wanted was each other.

And there was so much I couldn’t even speak of it without exploding like I’d done with Endre.

Zovai pressed his forehead to mine. We breathed together, with him still buried to the hilt inside me. I never wanted to move. In the space filled with our breath, nothing could harm us.

“Thank you,” I finally said. “For taking me to see it. It was beautiful.”

“I hope someday you can see it without having to hide. Look at it closer and let me buy you every little thing you want.”

“I wish that too.”

A cool breeze off the sea made its way through the trees, raising more chills on my skin.

“You are cold. Let me take you inside.”

He went to move, and I didn’t let him. “Not yet,” I begged. This was too perfect. A tiny bubble where nothing could reach it, and no matter the cold, I wasn’t ready to leave it yet. “Not yet, please.”

Zovai kissed me long enough to bring heat back, but he didn’t move again. Simply held me close.

As long as you need, Princess.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

________

KATALENA

Light streamed from high in the sky when I finally woke, exhausted from the night before. Zovai’s bond lit up with delight, Sirrus’s felt like focus, and Endre?—

Endre was gone.

Panic struck hard and fast. Where did he go? Was he all right? His bond felt the same way it had when we were separated. Now I realized I hadn’t felt his reaction to me with Zovai last night, had something happened?

All the possibilities whirled in my mind, my heart pounding.

Come to the balcony, Princess. Sirrus spoke gently in my mind.

The bundle we had taken from the seamstress had some clothes inside it, and I currently wore one of the thin, simple nightdresses it had contained. I didn’t bother to change, needing to know what was happening.

Neither Sirrus nor Zovai felt worried, but I couldn’t erase the thick, oily panic that gripped my chest.

I walked out onto the open platform and looked down. Sirrus stood on the ground below, looking up.Jump.

“Are you serious?”

His mouth quirked in a grin.Don’t trust me?

“Of course I trust you. I’m just not used to jumping off buildings,” I mumbled.

I will catch you. I promise.