I kissed her harder, deeper, pouring every unspoken word into it.I see you. I want you. I’m terrified of how much I need you.My tongue swept into her mouth, claiming, tasting, worshipping. She moaned softly, and the sound vibrated through me and straight to my cock, which was pressed against her belly.
I backed her against the viewport, the cold glass at her back, the endless stars blazing behind her like a halo. My hands slid down her body, gripping her hips, lifting her just enough that I could press my throbbing length between her thighs. She gasped and rocked against me instinctively, the friction making us both shudder.
“Naeris…” I breathed against her lips, voice wrecked. “My light… my Aelyth…”
A single tear slipped down her cheek. I kissed it away, then kissed her again, slower this time, tender, reverent, full of all the things I didn’t know how to say. The bond sang between us, bright and pure and overwhelming. For the first time in my existence, the darkness inside me didn’t feel like a curse. It felt like it had finally found its missing piece.
We broke apart only when we needed air, foreheads pressed together, breathing each other in. Her lips were swollen, her eyes glassy with unshed tears and raw desire. She looked at me like I was something worth loving. And for one perfect, devastating moment, I almost believed her.
Without warning, Naeris ripped herself away.
A broken sob tore from her throat. “I can’t?—”
She stumbled back, her eyes were wide and glistened with unshed tears, her lips were swollen from mine. For one agonizing heartbeat, she just stared at me—raw, conflicted, terrified—before she turned and ran.
“Naeris!”
The sound of her footsteps echoed down the corridor as she fled. Every instinct I possessed roared at me to chase her. To catch her. To pin her against the nearest wall and finish what we had started until she understood she was mine. I took one step. Then another. My hands clenched into fists so tight my nails drew blood.
No!
I forced myself to stop. My breathing came out hard, every single muscle in my body locked in brutal restraint. If I caught her now, I would lose complete control. I would take her—hard, desperate, unrelenting—and damn the consequences. I would bury myself so deep inside her that neither of us would ever be the same.
I couldn’t do that to her.
Not like this. Not when she was still running from the weight of everything between us. Not when she deserved better than the monster the Abyss had made me.
I slammed my fist into the wall instead, the impact reverberating through the ship. The pain was sharp and grounding, but it did nothing to dull the ache in my chest or the throbbing need in my cock.
I leaned my forehead against the cool metal, closed my eyes, and fought to regain my equilibrium.
She ran from me.
The thought cut deeper than any blade. But beneath the pain was something quieter, something almost hopeful. Before that, she had also kissed me back.
She wanted me too, at least for those few perfect seconds.
I stayed there in the empty corridor for a long time, listening to the distant hum of the ship and the thunder of my own heart, the golden thread still burned between us like a lifeline she wasn’t ready to fully grasp.
I wouldn’t chase her tonight.
But I wasn’t letting her go.
Not ever.
I ran.
I, who never ran from anything in my life—not Sythari priests, not battle, not death itself—ran like a coward down the corridor. My feet slapped against the deck plating. My heart hammered so hard I thought it might crack my ribs. The golden thread between us screamed in protest, pulling taut, begging me to turn around and go back to him.
But I couldn’t.
I reached my quarters, slammed my palm against the panel, and practically fell inside. The door hissed shut behind me, and I leaned back against it, breathless, shaking, tears burning in my eyes.
What have I done?
The kiss replayed in my mind on an endless, merciless loop. The way Thyros had cupped my face like I was somethingprecious. The raw hunger in his mouth. The way he had growled my name like a prayer and a curse at the same time. I had never been kissed like that. Never. Not by any of the lovers I’d taken after Kael’Varyn freed me. Those had been releases, quick, fierce, meaningless ways to remind myself I was free. I drank. I fought. I fucked. I lived.
But that kiss…
