Page 24 of Blade of the Nightking

And for a heartbeat, my vision swimming, my body still rocking violently with aftershocks and tremors, I thought I saw it.

A dark swirl marked the inside of my thigh, like ink blooming beneath my skin.

He stiffened suddenly, thrusting once more with a broken sound, his body locking against mine. The mark vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.

When it was over, he collapsed over me, his forehead pressed to mine. A bead of sweat slipped from the tip of his nose onto my cheek. I wrapped my arms around him, holding him close. Holding him inside me.

As the stillness returned and our breathing calmed, the pleasure slowly faded.

Reality rushed back in, harsh and unforgiving.

This wasn’t Solmire. Solmire was dead.

The Firstborn were free.

Rìan was hunting us.

Trembling ran through me from head to toe. But whether it was his or mine, I couldn’t tell.

CHAPTER 6

Despite the warmth of his chambers, the sweat cooling over my body felt clammy and cold. I curled tighter into myself, but it made no difference. I couldn’t stop shivering.

Aedric pushed himself upright. Strands of golden hair had fallen loose across his forehead, shadowing eyes that still looked wrecked around the edges. His chest rose and fell unevenly, breath slow to settle.

“Are you…” He hesitated, his brow pulling tight. “Did I hurt you?”

My fingers drifted to my throat, my neck tender where his hand had squeezed.

“No,” I said, glancing at him over my shoulder. “It was⁠—”

Good. The word died on my tongue.

The pleasure had been overwhelming, but it had carried an edge of violence that should have terrified me. Heat flooded my face as the truth settled over me. I'd welcomed his crushing grip. I'd wanted it. I didn’t know what to make of that.

He let my unfinished sentence fade, his gaze distant in a way I’d never seen before.

I reached for my discarded dress, gathering the ruined fabric to myself despite the blood and grime caked into it. It was little more than burned tatters, yet I clutched it tightly against my chest all the same.

Where I normally felt warm, settled, quietly happy after being with Aedric, instead I felt… empty. Dazed. As though I were looking at us from very far away, unable to quite find my way back into the moment. The silence that settled between us felt wrong somehow. Heavy and unfamiliar, unlike anything I’d ever known with him.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he spoke.

“It’s gone.”

I didn’t ask what he meant. I knew.

“It’s where I grew up. The capital of this Court.” His voice thickened. “And it fell under my watch.”

There were no words that could help him. No words capable of healing his grief.

“They were under my protection. They trusted me.” His throat bobbed. “And in the end, I killed them all.”

“You didn’t.”

“I did. Kyndralis…” His voice broke, despair threading through every syllable. “I gambled with their lives to appease my own selfish desires.”

He turned then, his gaze searching my face… as though he were reminding himself that what he'd sacrificed had been worth it. I hated that look.