Those were the days she let herself find comfort in Az’s touch and lips, letting him kiss between her thighs and cup her breasts and bring her to climax. In the bathwater, when everything was slick and wet between them, he’d lift her in his arms and set her on the edge of the bathing pool, spreading her thighs and consuming her with his mouth.
She no longer feared the water.
Bastian touched her, too, though, rarely. His touches were more kisses, teasing her and leaving her breathless as he pushed her into Az’s arms.
Sometimes, the vampire wouldwatch. Luella would awaken and find herself filled with need. Az would wordlessly answer her cries with a touch, rolling up the hem of her nightgown, fingers snaking between her legs. Her pleasure-dazed eyes would find Bastian, sitting up by the headboard, knuckles white as he gripped the sheets and watched her come undone a mere hair’s breadth away.
Her eyes were wide as they flew. She took in everything. The mist cut through her skin, making her shiver. Graves’s arms tightened around her. It was just as she’d remembered. Breathtaking.
Her breath was stolen by the wind and the sights of the water below. Golden sun cut through the low-hanging puffs of clouds, making the water’s surface sparkle. It was early enough that most Fallen were still asleep.
A faint smile graced Luella’s lips, and her head fell to Graves’s chest as she watched.
Her eyes burned from keeping them open—but she couldn’t stand missing a thing.
He flew higher, wings spanning out with honed skill and grace, sweeping through the air as they cut close to the mountains. So close, she yanked her feet back, fearing her toes would crack against the rocks. Graves’s chest rumbled under her cheek.
"Are you laughing at me?" she asked quietly, wondering if he could even hear her.
His thumb dug into the soft bit of flesh beneath her hipbone. "Maybe."
He flew between two mountains. Wind echoed up the high stone. The distant sound of water tickled against her senses. She lifted her head, searching for the source.
Nestled between two towering mountains lay a waterfall, where jagged rocks dropped into the sea and oddly shaped flowers dotted the grassy cliffs.
Brilliant blue fell in delicate streams to the smooth circle of rock—eroded by what she imagined were years upon years of the water hitting the surface. This was where Graves descended.
His boots splashed in a tiny layer of water on the smooth stone, and carefully he let her slip from his arms, sliding down the length of his body. It was an intimate motion; she was so aware of how her breasts brushed his chest, and the hard lines of his chest pressed against her softness.
The water was cool against her feet. Reminded her of her dream—the water against the stretching darkness.
Luella shivered, bundling her robe tighter around her.
"Are you cold?" Graves asked.
She met his eyes. "No… I just remembered something from my dream." She shook the thoughts away. "But that is not why you brought me here. Why did you?"
She stared at the privacy of the place he’d taken her. Mist from the water dotted her cheeks. They were tucked between the towering arches of the rocks, unable to be seen. Even if a Fallen were to fly overhead—which she doubted would happen with how far away they were from the archipelago—they would not be discovered.
Graves’s wings folded against his back. Her midsection tugged as her wings rippled involuntarily. The shivers had become less constant with her growing control of them, but around Graves, all of her carefully earned control evaporated.
"To speak with you." Graves sat on a stone tucked next to the mountainside, its surface slanted. He began unlacing his boots,and her heart crawled up her throat. "We’ve had no time alone. You may not want that, but what if I do?" He tugged free his left boot, then moved to the right. "I loathe this tension between us—but I have no one to blame but myself. I just thought that if I told you things I’ve never shared with anyone else—except the others—you would understand." Boots free, he rolled up his pants legs above his knees.
"Like what?" Her voice was small.
When it was just the two of them, he was wholly different from the male he portrayed to everyone else. If this was the Graves she had all the time, maybe she never would have let her anger drive a rift between them.
"Why I left the Fallen Isles, why I never came back, and why I pretended none of it was real." He scrubbed a hand over the hair along his jaw. "Sit down," he demanded.
Her feet led her to the rock upon which he sat. The water on the surface dampened her gown and sent a chill through her bottom. Their thighs nearly brushed; their wingsdidbrush. The edges of his touched the edges of hers, and she wanted to feel that spark of nearness and pleasure forever.
She studied the scar on his face.
"Then, tell me. Why?" Luella implored. "So that way I can know whether it was all in vain."
He met her eyes. "What was in vain?"
"My trying to stay away from you." She swallowed. "I feel like I’ve not d-done a very good job of it." She tripped over her words.
