Page 27

Kiara

The binds that tie two hearts together cannot be easily severed. Once fashioned, such a silent oath is just as potent as any magic, if not more so.

Cerys, God of Love

“Kiara,” Jude breathed, his voice deeper than usual. It was a plea, a prayer, and I was all too keen to answer it.

My skin vibrated with raw awareness, Raina’s magic practically reaching out for him, as impatient as I was to touch and mark him as my own.

His eyes burned, his stare piercing, seeing beyond my barriers and walls. I gazed right back, past his doubts and insecurities, past the mask he wore for everyone but me. The raw truth of him was perfect, made for me, and my pulse danced with anticipation.

I wanted him. More than anything. I craved being as close to him as one could physically be, the need almost painful.

We collided, our power, our lips, our bodies, and Jude swept me into his arms, never once abandoning my mouth. His kisses were feverish, frantic, and behind my closed eyes, our combined light became golden flames.

My shadow beast opened an eye, a hint of ice mingling with the fire coiling around its phantom form. Jude pulled away to lay me on the stone ledge, the polished marble cool underneath me. He glanced over my body, at the wisps of shadows peeking out. He smiled then, his leisurely perusal causing me to blush.

“Kiara.” He said my name with such care, like he was savoring each syllable. “Look at yourself. You’re magnificent.”

I’d been too focused on him to notice what I’d become.

I peered down.

My skin was the shade of the moon when cradled by shrouds of onyx clouds, my shadows shimmering as they danced about in his gold. When it touched Jude, he shivered, letting out a deep rumble. His body flickered with magic, each flash matching his thumping heartbeat.

The adoration in his eyes was a puncture wound, a blow to the chest that both slayed and restarted my heart. He looked at me like I was something heavenly, a star out of reach, a wish he dared dream.

A lifetime of scorn and lies and hatred was shredded by Jude’s faith in the span of a stuttering breath. And a new pathway opened up, leading to a future where my life was what I could make of it—

And gods, I wanted it to be beautiful.

My fingers were in Jude’s hair and my lips were on his before he could take in his next breath. Instantly, his arms were around me, pulling me forward, his mouth moving with mine in equal fervor. This was home, my safety.

“I missed you,” he spoke against me. “I told myself I’d give anything to embrace you again, but this”—he pressed a chaste kiss to my lips—“this is a gift I’ll never be deserving of.”

I shook my head. I tightened my fingers in his hair, pulling his head back so he was forced to look at me. He groaned, seemingly upset with the fact that I kept him from my lips. My grin was wicked.

“You, Jude Maddox, are absolutely infuriating.” Confusion furrowed his brows. “I want you for purely selfish reasons. You make me feel invincible. You make me feel strong and capable and powerful—without magic. You, Jude, simply make me feel .”

He traced his fingers down the side of my face, down my neck, my shoulders, my arms. When he met my gloved hand, he lifted his eyes, a question burning in them.

“Then don’t hide from me, Kiara,” he said. “I fell in love with all of you.”

My shadows wavered at his words. They caressed his skin, speaking for me when my voice failed.

I felt his declaration well beyond flesh and bone. Well beyond fate and destiny and gods.

Jude held my eyes, his fingers on my glove, waiting for permission. I awarded him with a subtle nod. Gently, he removed it, taking his time, holding my stare. Fresh air kissed my skin, and I shivered again, though it had everything to do with Jude and not the magic in our veins.

He moved for the other one, peeling it off and placing it beside its twin.

I was free.

“There she is,” he murmured, laying a kiss on my temple. The tender act broke me further.

I slid my bare hands into his hair and brought my mouth to his scars, kissing them lightly. He shut his eyes as I worshiped them with all the tenderness in my soul.

His entire body shook with restrained control as he held himself aloft over me, waiting for me to make the first move. Always the gentleman.

My very own moral assassin.

“They could arrive at any moment now,” he groaned, eyes darting to the silver archway we passed through.

“It’ll be a long, long climb,” I said with a pointed grin, earning a smirk from him.

Jude inhaled sharply before he grasped my hips and rolled over, hauling me into his lap. I relished how firmly he clutched me.

“That’s more like it.” I grabbed onto his shoulders, steadying myself, my thighs resting on either side of his.

Jude tilted his head, his throat exposed, his eyes barely open. This close, an ache built deep within me, insistent and erratic and entirely electrifying.

“I do enjoy your demanding side,” he nearly growled, lifting his arms, his hands moving leisurely up and down my spine. Even fully clothed, I could feel him—his heat, his desire—and my knees trembled in anticipation.

We were heart to heart , pain meeting hope and finding a tender compromise of love.

Jude’s hands found my backside, and he let out a deep noise from his chest, the sound of torment. As if by merely touching me, his body shattered and broke.

I loved that sound. I would make it my life’s mission to hear more of it.

His touch turned teasing, and he took his time exploring me, my hips, my waist, my curves, driving me closer to the edge. I wanted more of it. I was greedy for it all.

I tugged at his shirt, yanking it up and off. My ungloved fingers explored the hard planes of his chest, the sinewy muscles that comprised his glorious body. Jude snaked a hand in my hair, fisting the strands, watching me as I hungrily drank him in. When I lowered my exploration, moving down, down, down, he groaned.

“Gods,” he rasped, “you’re killing me.”

“Good. Now please, return the favor.”

The instant the words left me, his hands worked to remove my shirt, his fingers undoing the buttons with graceful dexterity. Soon, cool air caressed my upper body, and when he connected with my bare flesh, I became delirious, so very drunk from the power of his touch.

His lips never ceased tasting me, coasting along my jaw, gliding down my neck, paving a delicious trail to my chest. He was everywhere all at once, and I wanted more.

Jude swept a reverent hand across my ribs before moving up to skim the curves of my breasts, his body quivering with need.

When he pulled back, stealing his warmth, I let out a sound of protest.

“I want you, Kiara. I want your mind. Your body. Your strength. Your innate stubbornness.” He was smiling brilliantly, so uninhibited, that I tried to memorize the shape of it.

I captured his face, cupping his jaw. “You make me feel like no one has ever truly seen me before you.” I placed a gentle kiss on his temple, and he shut his eyes, a shiver running through his frame. “I want you,” I whispered against him. Our lips were an inch apart.

So close. Too far.

Still, Jude drew away, hesitation in his eyes, a silent question. His breathing was labored, his doubts laid upon his chest like stones.

“Please,” I begged, knowing exactly what I wanted. “ Please , Jude.”

His golden eyes darkened. One moment I was straddling his hips, and the next, he placed me gently on my back. I stared up at the boy who had thoroughly ruined me in the best way, my heart thumping wildly against my ribs.

Its beating became erratic as Jude lowered himself down my body, his fingers toying with the band of my trousers. He smiled, savoring his decadent torment, his hot breath fanning across my stomach, igniting every nerve.

“Let me enjoy myself, Kiara,” he chided, smirking triumphantly.

“Enjoy yourself faster,” I mumbled.

He laughed, deep and low, the noise going straight to my core. Slowly, too damn slowly, he pulled off my boots and then my trousers, treating me as if I were a delicate creature made of glass. Like I was his greatest treasure.

Jude disappeared for a second, but it was to free himself from his remaining clothing. In his hands, he held an unopened black packet. My cheeks reddened when I realized what it was. “Dimitri uh…he gave this to me in the woods,” he said by way of explanation, his cheeks flushed.

“I’ve never been as grateful for Dimitri as I am at this moment.”

Jude tsk ed . “Let’s not think about him too much.”

My eyes tracked Jude’s form.

“I don’t think that will be a problem,” I said.

Hells, he was so remarkably beautiful, and I couldn’t help but drink in every stunning inch of his exposed and battle-worn flesh. I couldn’t believe he was mine.

He caught me admiring him as he prepared himself with the protection, a devilish smirk on his lips. Suddenly, my mouth was too dry.

Jude knelt and brought his muscled arms to rest on either side of me, his head moving to meet mine. But he didn’t kiss me, not yet.

He stared at me for many long moments, and I swore I could hear his heartbeat hammering out of his chest.

“My beautiful goddess.” He moved his hips, and I gasped at the feel of him, his weight.

And then Jude didn’t hold back.

A moan slipped out and I lifted my hips in reply, greedy for more. More of Jude making me his. Completely .

I’d hidden behind so many barriers and walls and excuses. Sarcasm and steel. I pretended death never frightened me or that I was never just a girl searching for acceptance and a place in this world. Jude burst through my walls with such ease, planting flowers where bricks and stone used to be.

I lost myself to him, to his kisses, his rhythm, the way the world of night shifted with our every ragged exhale. The way he moved had me seeing stars. I called out his name , and Jude replied by taking my bottom lip between his teeth. He gently bit down, slowly releasing me only to lower his head to my chest. I arched my back as he kissed and teased, turning me into a mess of desire. We fit together so well. Light and dark. Anger and hope. Complete opposites that couldn’t help but fall in love with the other’s missing pieces.

Bliss filled me completely, and I let out a strangled moan, the noise causing Jude to unravel entirely. He spoke my name, murmuring it over and over again until it might be the only word he knew how to speak.

I was soaring and drowning and alive and destroyed all at the same time, and I’d never been happier. My arms were around his neck, in his hair, my lips on his, and everything in this rotten and cruel world, for just a fluttering heartbeat, became right.

Jude’s mouth found my ear, and he said three words, three tiny words that shattered me.

Tears of joy dripped down my face, and he kissed away each one, his lips devouring my glimmering drops of happiness.

The monsters and nightmares that lay ahead would have to wait. Tonight was ours.

…

I dreamed I was a bird soaring into the stars, racing to catch them like raindrops.

Someone called my name, whether it was the night or Jude or even myself. All I knew was that I had to fly, to spread invisible wings of the darkest magic.

Higher , the night whispered, and I obliged. But before I touched the edges of the expanding universe, I peered down into the tunnel with its silver boats, Jude sleeping soundly on a rocky bank. I hesitated, wishing to return to his arms, but the night was insistent.

There was something I had to do, an important thing, but I was dreaming, and as it often happened in dreams, I delved into the story, eagerly awaiting where it would take me. What it would reveal.

Yet with every blink, I grew more and more wary. That feeling of something missing pulsated within me like a beating heart, and I ignored the now - screaming night and glided down, away from the vastness of the open sky.

A spiraling palace of smooth , snow-white rock twisted up from the clouds. It reminded me of a fairy tale and a nightmare all at the same time, and as I landed on an arching bridge before a towering wall of smooth marble, fatigue swept me away, forcing my eyes to close.

I plummeted from one dream to the next, until the chilled dampness of the floor froze my human bones, and I realized it hadn’t been a dream after all.