Page 33 of The Princesses of Ruin (The Princesses of Ruin #5)

Chapter thirty-one

Kazimir

W inter wind tears at our clothes and rattles the chains of our harness. Alyse hugs our packs to her chest, keeping herself as small as she can to speed our flight.

North. I bank, avoiding a towering cloud of ice. She speaks directly into my mind so frequently now that I’m not certain if it’s her or my imagination, but I follow the directions dutifully.

“It’s me, my love.”

Her voice is a caress, solace in the long journey of howling storms. We’d flown all morning, breaking off from the Seter fellowship at noon after a quick meal. Perhaps our last shared meal. Alyse had hugged Liliana long and hard. I wonder if she thinks this is the end for us, too.

She doesn’t reply to my thoughts, a small, pretended comfort of privacy. Or maybe it is what she believes, and she can’t bear to say otherwise and lie to me.

“Drop lower in elevation, we’re close.”

I find a break in the relentless snow and plummet through the clouds. Ice pelts my cheeks, and I feel the sting of it through the thin leather hood over my face. The warmth between Alyse and my body becomes the only thing I care to focus on as we break through to soar among the mountaintops.

“We will need a fresh kill. He’s hungry.”

I sense the location of the dragon in my mind and look to the frigid obelisk of stone the creature calls home.

A thick forest covers the base of the tallest mountain and peppers the smaller peaks that surround it.

I fly lower, circling and slowing as we look for a place to land.

There’s a gap of pushed-over trees from an avalanche not long ago, and I follow the stream of white snow to its resting point.

I use my magic to carve a hole through the top of the mound, then dig through the side, creating a makeshift dwelling for us. I drop down, and though I want to hug Alyse tightly, holding her intentionally for the first time in hours, I unbuckle her instead.

She drops the packs and shakes out her arms, then turns and wraps them around me. I return the gesture, feeling her sincerity in it.

She’s been so distant for a week, but I know it’s the immense pressure she’s under. Her power has grown so significantly since the queen’s crystallization. The weight of her increased range and sensitivity is a great burden, something I can do nothing about. It cuts through me.

“You can hold me,” she whispers, and the sound of her actual voice against my ears constricts my throat.

I squeeze her tighter.

The storm howls at the end of our icy cave, but the air here is warm enough with our bodies heating it. It’s dark, but the ambient glow of the sky glittering through our igloo is enough to see by. The snow crunches under Alyse’s feet as she leans back, her arms relaxing.

I don’t let her go. Not yet. I can’t.

“We should set our camp and prepare,” she says.

“Please,” is a rasped whisper from my lips. It’s all I can manage through the lump threatening to strangle me.

I’ve needed her so much more than I can say. I’ve missed her more than the breath that isn’t coming into my lungs. More than the peace I needed as a child-slave.

She holds me harder, squishing her face into the wet leather that covers my neck. I peel the hood off with one hand and unravel her scarf with the other. I need to feel her. I need her skin on my skin.

Her face emerges from the coverings and I press my lips to her cheek. She’s warm and soft, the sweetest balm for the fears that have gripped me for months. She holds my face and turns into the kiss, meeting my lips with hers.

The affection burns my chest. I want to consume her. Make her live inside me forever so I can keep her close.

More.

Please, more.

Alyse unhooks the fasteners of the harness, each snap threatening to unleash me upon her. Our kiss turns fevered as her hands move to the buttons on my flight jacket. I undress her with frenzied movements until our clothes are a pile below us.

My magic keeps the warmth of our bodies close to us as I kneel and sit back onto my heels. I draw her onto my lap with hurried movements. She’s wet and welcoming as I brush her entrance with my fingers. Her moans urge me on as I massage her in little circles. The sound has me craving more.

More.

Please.

She changes the angle of her hips and slides onto me. I groan, but the noise is strangled in my ruined throat, sounding more like grinding gravel. She doesn’t care, moaning her own pleasure as I stretch her open.

Her heat envelops me inch by inch, but the hunger for her doesn’t abate. I feast on her lips, thread my fingers in her hair, grope her hip, thrust her against me harder. Harder. More. Deeper. Until I’m chasing that blissful release that only she can give me.

“Kaz,” she mumbles through my assault. “I love you.”

I eat her words, swallowing them down deep into the pit of me. It’s only made me hungrier for her. Starving. I need to hear her come. I need to know that her body still loves my body.

I push my thumb into her hip and change her position so her clit is striking me with every thrust. This changes her tune. There aren’t words anymore, but a sensation I can feel. Her presence surrounds me, raking invisible claws down my mind. I let her flay me open and she crawls inside.

Finally, I’m sated. The dire hunger is fulfilled and pleasure rocks through my core.

I heave deep, groaning breaths against her lips as I spill inside her again, and again.

The wet shlick of her grinding down on me gets louder.

I ride the wave of ecstasy to the point of pain, not caring if I die chasing her release, too.

She breaks our kiss and holds my face, staring at me with such intensity that I can see the universe through her golden eyes. Stars are born and die inside her. Gods rise and fall. Worlds are swallowed by fire and darkness only to explode anew.

Alyse’s eyelids flutter shut, and she cries my name to the ceiling. The air around us trembles. Her legs squeeze my hips. She screams, her back arching as she rides me harder and deeper.

Just as quickly as she came, she’s curling into me.

She nuzzles into my chest and I clasp her there.

I love the beat of her heart and the pant of her breath.

I love the sweat soaking the hair at the base of her skull.

I love the gentle swell of her belly against mine and her thick thighs cradling me.

“Kaz,” she whispers, her voice shaky with fear.

What is it, my love?

“I…” She sighs, holding me with conviction. “I love you more dearly than anything in all the realms on all the worlds.”

Her words hint at the immense weight she’s been carrying. The nine hells is not a euphemism for the ways a dead man can be tortured, but a reality. There are nine realms of the Underworld, each one layered on this realm. The Overworld, the place of the gods, is tenth, and Gaien is last.

Zephrom explained it to me, and I didn’t believe it, but…

It’s obvious Alyse can sense the life in other realms. The voices of every soul, living or dead, their thoughts and dreams, their pain, are hers to know. The darkness that surrounds her, the distance in her eyes, it all reveals the burden of her knowledge.

I pray my distraction was enough to quiet them. I pray that I’ve brought her as much comfort as she’s brought me.

“You have,” she whispers.

We embrace for another moment. I release her, clean her, kiss her, and help her dress in fresh clothes from our pack.

I wriggle back into my flight suit, for I need to hunt.

Alyse begins setting our camp for the night, and I seal her into the ice cave to keep her warm and safe.

I’ve pushed hard enough on the walls to compact the snow to a point of stability. She will be safe. But I won’t go far.

I’ll never go far from her.

My soul.

My reason for being .

I dart off into the growing darkness in search of our offering, praying it’ll be enough to soothe a dragon. Alyse knows the will of the gods and the weavings of fate; she wouldn’t lead me astray.

I flip down my magus goggles and begin the hunt.