Page 61 of The Deathless One (The Gravesinger #1)

“You are coming home?” Sybil asked, drawing her hood up over her face.

“I have matters to attend to first.”

“Your familiar misses you.”

She smiled, the soft expression feeling odd on her face while she knew men were dying in droves in the buildings behind them.

She’d taken clothing off one of their dead bodies, after all.

But the moment she stepped out into the morning light, she tilted her head up to the sky and breathed in fresh air.

“I wish to be free of this for a few moments,” she whispered. “I want to let it all go for a few hours before I dive back into fighting for a kingdom.”

When she looked, Sybil wore a grin on her face. “Then run, gravesinger. Let your god chase you, and may you both be blessed with what you find at the end of the hunt.”

Jessamine didn’t question the desire. She just bolted down the alleyways of the Factory District.

Before anyone noticed the two women who left behind a building full of dead bodies, before the screams woke anyone up.

Of course, there would also be the rumors of black magic clinging to the skin of every dead man in those buildings.

But it would take a while for people to understand that a god had returned.

She raced through the dark streets. Alive. Having faced death multiple times, she now knew there was no fear of the end. She would fight for this kingdom, for her people, and no one was going to stop her.

Sprinting past shop owners who had woken early to open their stores, Jessamine felt more alive than she had before she’d died the first time. Power crackled at her fingertips. Strength flowed through her veins, all because she was connected to him.

A god.

A deathless god who had not only saved her life again, but shed a tear when she died. What did that mean? She had no idea. She only knew that he had told her to fight for him, and if the beating rhythm of drums in her chest wasn’t a warning, she didn’t know what it was.

It was impossible to ever truly love a god. He wasn’t a creature who would be satisfied with something so mundane. She loved her mother. She had even loved Callum once.

What she felt for Elric was beyond that. It blended obsession and need and the greatest surge of want that she had ever felt in her life. Just as she had summoned him, now she wanted him to summon her.

She was ready to kneel before her god. She wanted to worship him as only she could.

Elric had gifted her with more than life. He’d given her knowledge and power so unlimited, it was almost unfathomable. He was the end and beginning of all things in her life.

She couldn’t imagine why she’d been fighting this for such a long time.

It took hours for her to get out of the Factory District, then another day to get through the Water District without anyone seeing her.

Jessamine didn’t stop once, even as she backtracked and moved into different parts of the districts that she’d never been in before.

She didn’t feel like she had to. She wasn’t breathless or tired, nor did her body need food or water.

She was full of magic and power, and every time the moon came out, she swore something in her cast silvery tendrils out into the world.

Magic sang at the tips of her fingers and burst out of her chest. She was magic. Power was in the very core of her.

Now she understood. She realized why so many witches were willing to do whatever it took to get more of this. But oh, there was power in him, too. Power in having a partner who wanted her, needed her, had mourned her .

Finally, she stopped at a cliff’s edge, overlooking the sea. Just to her right was the shadowy outline of her former home. The castle stood at the edge of the sea, open to the elements there and surrounded by stone walls.

Was the king still there? The foolish man who thought he could overthrow her with a coup rooted so deeply in her court it was hard to find its seed? The rat’s nest she had to untangle was firmly knotted. But now she had all the tools she needed.

“Soon,” she said, her voice carrying on the wind toward her home. “Soon you will be mine again.”

A hand coiled around her throat, strong, scarred fingers flexing against her skin. She knew exactly who it was the moment he touched her. How could she not? He was so deeply ingrained in her skin, she would know him from anyone else.

Leaning back into his grip, she trusted him to take her entire weight.

“Say it again,” he growled into her ear.

“That castle is mine, and soon we will take it back.”

A low hum rumbled against her back. His hand slid down her throat, gliding between her breasts and down her belly. That scarred hand caught on the fabric of her shirt, dragging it lower with him until he flattened his palm between her hips.

A swift tug was all it took for him to press her back against him. The hard bar of his cock ground into her back as he shifted her against him, slowly rocking them together as his fingers slipped lower between her legs. “You resurrected me, nightmare.”

“I did.” She kicked her legs a little wider, one slipping over the edge of the cliff and dangling over the waves. But he held her, and wouldn’t let her die anyway, even if she fell all that way to the crumbling rocks below. She’d plummeted into those waves once before and survived it.

Another low growl against the side of her neck had her pulse racing as he kicked her feet even wider. “You and I have unfinished business.”

“What’s that?”

His hand flexed around her throat, holding her almost too tightly to breathe. Stars sparkled at the edges of her vision.

“The last time I had you in my embrace, you made me get on my knees for you.” His lips pressed to her racing pulse as his fingers slid even lower. “Now I have questions for you.”

“What questions?”

“Are you willing to die for me?”

“Yes,” she moaned, and he finally cupped her between her legs. His pointer finger lazily traced circles around her clit, tiny little movements that sent lightning scattering through her body. “Because you’ll bring me back.”

“Will you destroy this kingdom for me, just as you promised when I gave you back your life?” His tongue traced a line up her neck, then he sucked her earlobe into his mouth. “Will you become a villain with me?”

She’d promise him anything. Anything if only he would touch her a little harder, grind into her palm as she wanted him to do.

She needed friction. She needed to release this powerful energy that was building inside her until it was almost painful.

“Yes,” she whined. “Yes, I will destroy this kingdom with you.”

“Good.” He bit down hard on her neck. “Because we’re going to build it in a new image with a glorious witch as its queen.”

A pulse of power rocked over her, shredding her clothes into ash that coated her body with little streaks of black. Just like she’d been in that realm with him, while he was trapped in the shadows and he couldn’t really see her. Taste her.

Touch her. Like this.

Jessamine let her eyes flutter closed and just felt .

The same pulse of power had dissolved his clothing as well.

Now she could feel the hot brand of him against her flesh, the heavy weight of his cock pressing against her back and the warmth of his muscles surrounding her.

She could feel every twitch and flex he made as she arched against him, and feel every groan echo into her.

His fingers delved between her legs, plunging into her wetness with an almost obscene sound. But it didn’t matter, because he was behind her, holding her above the edge of a cliff, and all she wanted was to come apart in his arms like she had before.

His free hand came up to palm her breast, the pinching sear of his fingers against her nipple sending even more sensation spearing through her body. She tilted her head back against his shoulder, panting as he toyed with her.

“Come for me, nightmare.”

She opened her eyes, watching as he stared down at her form. His eyes lingered on the swells of her breasts, at the sight of his wrist working between her legs, and she did almost come on command.

“No,” she whispered, wrapping an arm around his neck and drawing him down for a kiss. “I want to come with you inside me.”

His cock kicked against her back, but then he shifted his grip. Both hands grasped her by the hips, and suddenly she was lifted, her back still braced against his chest, but now his cock was between her legs.

The broad head of him nudged at her entrance, teasing her with subtle strokes that weren’t anywhere near enough. He was big, so veiny it made her mouth water, and still, she wanted to feel him split her open.

“No,” he growled, suddenly spinning her in his arms so she had her arms and legs looped around him. “You’re going to scream my name when you come, but first let’s give you one last test, my nightmare.”

And then he walked them off the cliff.

The wind whipped through her hair, obscuring her vision of anything but him and the darkness that surrounded him.

And though they were plummeting toward their death, surely about to dash themselves to pieces on the rocks below, she still kissed him with every inch of passion in her body.

And then, right when they were about to hit the stones, she felt the shift of magic as they blinked out of existence and he impaled her.

He truly was larger than she’d expected. Her core spasmed around him, suddenly full to near splitting, and it still wasn’t enough. A low whine ripped from her throat. Passion rode her hard. He slammed into her harder.

She didn’t know when or where they’d landed, but all she knew was that there was something for her to lean on now as he thrust inside of her.

His pace was punishing, but his gaze on hers held the heat of a thousand suns.

He wanted to consume her. To bury himself so deep inside her that they were the same person.

“More,” she said, wrapping her hand around the back of his neck and bracing him closer to her. “Harder.”