His curses were a weak roar while he climbed to his knees and dragged them toward the dais. Every nick and abrasion sizzled with the sound of water on a hot iron as his blood seeped out to stain the pale grey. Cutting his hands and arms upon the stone’s jagged edges, he pulled himself to his feet as trails of wispy smoke tickled his nose with the scent of burnt cedar. Pulling Aida onto the gleaming surface took all of his strength and more, his shattered cry as the last of his power scraped his soul raw following him down as he collapsed beside her.
“Wake, Aida,” he hissed on a faltering breath, his hand too heavy to do more than give a rough stroke to her shoulder where his mark oozed fresh blood. “You… you are not allowed to leave me. Do you hear? The stars gave you to me, and I will burn it all to ash if you do not open your eyes.”
He wasn’t making sense, and he didn’t care, not as he dragged himself closer, slicing his palms open so that he could lay his head upon her shoulder and breathe in her sweetness. Spring and snow—it was the most perfect scent, and one he would not surrender.
“Mine. You are mine. Always.” Gasping when his lungs constricted, his throat felt thick as he put his lips against her neck. He kissed her cold skin and added in a fading murmur, “My heart and soul. My desire. My love.”
Er’it could scarce hear the screaming wind anymore or Kal’s trumpeting calls, though he knew both echoed through the temple. At regular intervals, perfect circles were cut into the stone walls, showing the specter of flames and ice lashing at the structure. They would all of them die here. He mourned that Kal had bound his fate to his own, but Er’it would not leave Aida. Not now, not ever. She would continue to weaken, her power sapping her physical strength until there was naught left. He would follow her.
It was meant to be, their souls too tangled and ensnared in one another. Er’it knew now that he could never take her life, no matter the visions from the Hat’or or their promises of power. His heart beat for her, but it grew wearier with every breath. Er’it was at peace with it. He’d promised vengeance and had followed with unfathomable horrors, and Aida had been right that it was all at the sake of his soul. Er’it had only cared for revenge, never once about his undying spirit. Until her. The timid, weeping creature he sought to subjugate and destroy had mended all the jagged pieces of him, putting him to rights.
She deserved more. Better. He would be thrice cursed if anyone but him would give it to her, though.
“My love,” he whispered, letting his eyes slip shut as he released the last of his straining breaths.
Her scream forced him to pry them open again. Unable to aid her, his hand fell uselessly to her hip as she bent into a painful arch. With numb fingers, he tried to grab hold of her. No air would fill his chest, but his lips moved with comforting words as his hand slipped down where he managed to curl it around hers.
It agonized him to watch her in such pain as vivid cerulean arced from her body, the crackling power searching the domed ceiling for some way out. There was nothing he could do, not as his body went as dead and cold as she’d been mere moments ago. The blue energy ripped open the temple, sending huge stones crashing around them. Somehow, they remained clear of the falling debris as the earth rumbled and shook, the deafening roar of it ringing in his ears. Flames licked up the walls, the flickering golden reds surging through the opening dome to swirl through the sky. Azure and red crashed together over and again amidst the deafening thunder.
With his vision fading and edged in a black void, he struggled to see her face one last time. His lips twitched in a not-smile at the star-strewn darkness of her eyes as they filled with tears and were made into glassy pools. Unable to keep his eyes upon her any longer, his lashes met once more. Her screams faded, becoming distorted as the blackness took him. He could no longer feel her hand.
Mayhap she’d live still. He would haunt all her days and nights and curse any who dared try to touch his Omega, but she might live. This time, he did smile.
Er’it waited in the black void for some sign. The Hat’or were said to come for their children in a blinding golden light, their hands soft and warm as they brought in the lost souls. The wandering spirits, however, were left in a murky half-life, unable to be with their loved ones but just as incapable of leaving. He vowed to be the latter and would fight the goddesses he’d devoted himself to if he must. He would see his Aida again, and he would hold her in his arms. Perhaps he would even divine some way to make her scream his name just once more.
Yet, nothing came.
There was just a trickling heat against his cheeks and pressure upon his chest. So slight it didn’t even strain his breaths, it squirmed and bounced.
That couldn’t be right, though. The dead felt nothing, or at least only the shadow of sensation. He shouldn’t feel the slap of a hand against his cheek or a dainty palm slamming into his shoulder as miserable, hot breaths panted at his neck.
With a groan that hurt every inch of his body, Er’it realized he was alive. Alive and breathing, with Aida screaming at him, he could feel her tears trickling over his skin as she begged for him to wake much as he had done with her.
“Open your eyes, you stupid ass. Wake up, you-you Shukai slug fucker!”
“Where did you even hear that?” Er’it asked, words grinding through his throat and leaving it a bloody ruin.
Aida screamed, throwing herself down upon him. Now he felt every ounce of her, crushing what little breath he’d managed to drag into his aching chest. He’d die before telling her to move, not while her sweet kisses feathered over his neck and cheek to land square upon his lips where she breathed the intoxicating rush of bitter sadness and sweet elation into him.
Sobbing as she continued to kiss him, Aida grabbed at his arms, and they both tried to force his lax arms to close around her. Blood and strength seeped back into him in a slow tide until he was able to grab hold. Crushing her against him, he growled when she pulled her lips away.
“Kiss me,” he said, putting as much command as he could manage into the weak request.
“I need to get the others, get you help!”
Aida was already trying to free herself from him. Er’it wouldn’t surrender her, not now that he had her back when he’d thought her lost to him. With a guttural groan, he managed to tumble them over, pinning her beneath him. It didn’t matter that he was still so weak. His weight was more than enough to keep her where he wished. Lips turned into a sly smile at the sight of her wide, red-rimmed eyes, he captured her mouth in a ravenous kiss. Starved for her from even a few moments apart, he knew, no matter the length of time, it would always be too long.
“You must rest,” Aida said, breathless when he released her.
“I’ve rested enough.” And he had. Feeling more alive than ever, rejuvenated as he stole more precious kisses from his sweet Omega, he ground the thickening length of his cock against her thigh.
“Er’it, I—”
“Do you refuse your king?” he asked in a dangerous growl, wedging his knee between her legs.
“I am not your—”
“You are mine andonlymine!”
