Page 54 of Sun, Moon & Shadow (Fate of Aemoria #1)
Time ceased to have meaning.
Callan didn’t know how long he’d been lying beside Nova on the bed; it could have been seconds, or perhaps hours.
He slid off the mattress and entered the bathing chamber.
Returning with a soft, wet cloth, he knelt before her again.
Gently parting her knees, he ran the warm towel over her upper thighs and between her legs.
She moaned appreciatively, smiling with her eyes closed.
The sight of her open to him sparked his arousal, and he fought the urge to pull her close.
To have her again that very moment. Releasing a slow breath, he brought her knees back together.
“Lay with me.” Nova tugged on his forearm and pulled him down onto the soft sheets beside her.
Callan rolled onto his back and tucked one hand behind his head, resting the other on his chest. Perhaps he’d died on that soldier’s blade, and this was his eternal paradise in the After Realm.
He ran his fingers over the newly formed scar tissue on his side before tracing them along the soft arc of Nova’s hip.
He grinned.
No. He wasn’t dead.
Nova turned onto her side to face him, propping herself up on one arm. She touched the solid black marking on his wrist, then moved lower, her delicate fingers dancing along his right hip to the dagger inked on his thigh. His muscles tightened in response.
“Show me the one on your back,” she ordered playfully.
Callan grunted as he pushed himself up into a sitting position, resting his forearms on his bent knees.
Nova shifted to kneel behind him, examining the ornate design of a sword running diagonally from his right shoulder along the length of his back, the point ending at his left hip, just above the curve of his ass.
“It’s beautiful,” she said softly, tracing the black lines. “Are these markings part of your vow to Nivali?”
“The sword and dagger ensure I’ll always have my weapons, even in death.” He turned his face toward her. “A charming custom.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, as if needing confirmation that he was not a figment of her imagination, but warm and alive.
He closed his eyes, appreciating the softness of her breasts and stomach pressed firmly against his back.
He loved that she was soft in all the places he was hard. His cock stirred at the thought.
“The warriors of Nivali certainly take combat seriously.” Nova nuzzled against his neck, just below his ear, and breathed deeply. “You always smell so delicious, like the air before a snowfall.”
“I love the scent of you, too,” he said, shifting onto his hands and knees and crawling toward her, guiding her down onto her back.
Lowering himself onto her once again, he rested his hips between her warm thighs.
Starting at her shoulder, he planted a trail of slow kisses along her collarbone and up the side of her neck, nipping lightly at her throat. “It led me right to you.”
“And what do I smell like?” Nova asked as he peppered kisses along her jaw, making his way toward the waiting softness of her lips.
“Sweet, like vanilla, mixed with something darker. Something smoky. It’s intoxicating.”
She smiled before their lips met in a kiss, tongues exploring one another curiously.
Callan broke away, rolling onto his side and drawing her to him, so their bodies lay nested with his chest at her back.
Her body had changed somewhat since they’d been separated, the muscles of her arms and back firmer and more defined.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked.
“Just admiring your figure.” He pulled her tight against him.
“I’ve been training for four hours a day with Lucan.” She stretched out her arm and twisted it, inspecting the toned muscles of her forearm and bicep.
“He’s quite a character,” Callan said. “We became friends of sorts while we tracked you.”
“Did he tell you he thought I was an assassin at first? Once our training began, I think he quickly realized how wrong he’d been.” Nova chuckled, and Callan laughed along with her.
“The look on his face the first time I landed a solid punch to his jaw . . .” She broke into a fit of laughter. “The shock. And . . . outrage.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, struggling to catch her breath.
Callan himself didn’t dare breathe, afraid to break whatever spell had her showing emotion so freely.
He’d never seen her so expressive, apart from the anger and sorrow she’d unleashed outside the Temple of Illora.
Callan watched her quietly, smiling to himself and wondering what he could possibly have done to deserve her.
Nova regained her composure after a moment.
“When I bested him with a sword for the first time, he was proud.” She swiped at a tear with the back of her hand. “He’d never say it, of course. But I knew.”
Callan’s chest swelled with gratitude for the odd commander who’d taken Nova under his wing and become a friend to her. He traced Nova’s markings—the pearly scars stretching from the top of her left shoulder down to the middle of her back. The markings of a warrior.
“These remind me of the moment I first felt connected to you,” he murmured.
Nova perked up, turning her head so her ear lay close to his mouth.
“I found you in the clearing beneath the lycane, and I started toward you. But you cried out, and the sound froze me in place. You were so powerful, so beautiful, in that moment. I can’t explain what happened to me.
It was as if I’d been trapped beneath a sheet of ice.
In that instant, you shattered the ice, and I began to breathe again.
” He placed a light kiss over her scars and watched her skin prickle in response.
He brushed his lips against the back of her neck. “Thorn asked if I’m bonded to you.”
She shifted on the bed, twisting to face him.
“What does it mean to be bonded?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.
Callan took a lock of her hair between his thumb and forefinger.
“It’s like being two parts of one whole. Fated to find each other, and destined to be together.”
“What, like a soulmate?”
“Is that what they call it in the Human Realm?”
“If you are bonded to me, does that mean you have no choice but to be with me?”
“Of course I have a choice. As do you.” He tucked her hair neatly behind her ear.
“Common Fae still honor the bond, but for nobles, bonding has been out of fashion for thousands of years. But I believe my heart and my body will always call out to you. Will always be connected to you. And I will choose you every day for the rest of my life. I can’t imagine denying what I feel for you.
I don’t believe such a thing would even be possible. ”
A smile bloomed on her face, and he reached over, brushing away a tear as it slid down her cheek.
“I choose you, too,” she whispered. “I was a fool to deny this. To deny us.”
“The gods have never favored me, Nova, but if they’ve decided to make you mine, I’ll travel the Realm and make an offering to each one,” he said, stroking her bottom lip with his thumb.
Nova kissed him softly, then pushed him down onto his back and straddled his thighs.
His cock rested a breath away from her core.
Callan shot a glance at the sacred space between her legs, pink and wet, nestled below a patch of soft black curls.
His cock stirred, instantly hardening against her inner thigh.
He growled low in his throat and reached out to grasp her hips, but she swatted his hands away, a playful smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
“You took your time with me, my love,” she teased. “You can hardly deny me a chance to return the favor.”
She dragged her hands down his chest at a leisurely pace, alternating between the soft pads of her fingers and the scratch of her nails.
Callan’s back arched when, finally, her fingers curled around the base of his cock.
Moving her hand up and down, she pumped him slowly with a firm grip as she had watched him do before.
Her mouth hung open slightly as she kept her eyes trained on him, intently observing his every reaction to her touch, as if pleasing him was a skill she intended to master.
When she brushed her thumb over the glistening tip, he bucked his hips beneath her, inhaling sharply through his teeth. He spoke her name aloud, his voice choked and pleading. Nova shushed him before leaning forward and kissing him deeply.
Repositioning herself over him, she rocked her hips so his cock slid against the waiting warmth between her legs.
She teased him mercilessly, pulling away each time he tried to enter her.
Taking his hands in hers, she kissed and nipped at the tips of his fingers before placing them on her breasts.
She threw her head back as he massaged them, moaning softly before her gaze connected with his once again.
“I’ve touched myself with you in my thoughts, guiding my hands, but nothing compares to this.”
Callan gritted his teeth at her admission, resisting the urge to roll her over and pin her beneath him.
To claim her as his own. She hovered over him for an instant.
Just when he thought he couldn’t withstand another second of being so close to her but not inside her, she lowered herself onto him, taking him fully.
Nova let out a soft gasp, and her eyes fell shut as she began riding him in earnest. Her hands covered his on her chest, cupping and kneading her breasts along with him.
Callan couldn’t tear his gaze away as she rose and fell above him, taking his cock deep into her warm cunt.
He was so godsdamn close to her. As close as two bodies could be.
And still he craved more. In truth, he knew very little about her; he hungered to know everything.
Nova’s movements intensified, and she moaned softly as a pale glow shone beneath the surface of her milky skin.
Callan’s own climax built as he watched her in complete awe, afraid to blink.
Nova cried out as she took him fully a final time and ground against him.
The sound, a wild whimper, ignited something primal in Callan.
He grasped her hips then, thrusting but finding he was as deep as he could go, and spilled himself inside her.
A moment later, Nova stretched out beside him on the bed, her head resting on his shoulder and an arm thrown over his chest. The room was silent except for their labored breaths.
As Callan lay there with the length of her body pressed against his, he prayed to the gods—the same ones who had taken nearly everything from him—that he wouldn’t wake and find it had all been a wonderful dream.