Arching my back, I rise up slowly, then slide back down over his cock again, taking him in one delicious moment, one delicious inch at a time. Baz traces his fingers down my throat, my chest, drawing tantalizing circles around my nipples.
I melt beneath his touch, a wave of pleasure building behind the dam once again.
Palming my breast, Baz rocks his hips, so slowly I’m not sure he’s moving at all. But the pressure between my thighs is building to a red-hot crescendo, my blood simmering, my nerves singing as a shock of heat races to my core.
Without warning, Baz bolts upright and fists the back of my hair, capturing my mouth in a fierce kiss, his body shuddering beneath me as he finally lets go, setting off a chain reaction that explodes between us.
I’m right there, holding tight to the edge of the cliff, torn between terror and bliss. Maybe Ishouldbe terrified—Terrified of this moment. Of everything Baz told me tonight. Of his past and his present and all the monsters he’s still trying to outrun, even if he didn’t name them all out loud.
Or maybe it’s okay to lose myself to this, to trust that I will always find my way back again. To trust my feelings. To trusthim.
“Starla,” he breathes against my lips, and my choice is made.
I let go, tumbling over the edge of that cliff, hurtling toward the unknown, trusting that he’s going to catch me before I hit the ground.
Twenty-One
BAZ
Stevie’s thrashing around in bed again, but this time it’s not because of me.
“Wake up, Little Bird.” I wrap my arms around her and pull her against my chest, stroking her back. “It’s okay. You’re safe.”
Jolting away, she pulls back, her wild eyes searching my face in the moonlight. “Baz? What… what happened?”
“Another nightmare, from the sound of it. Do you remember anything?”
“I… yes.” She turns over onto her back, then pulls her hand out from beneath the sheet. She’s clutching a bouquet of crushed black dahlias.
“For me? You shouldn’t have.” I take them from her hand, inspecting the flowers. Their dried and desiccated, their edges burned. “Youreallyshouldn’t have.”
“I guess it’s a new thing with me now.” Stevie sighs, staring up at the ceiling. “It was just like last night. The battle on campus, the Princesses. I followed them through the Breath and Blade lands, but then they vanished before I could figure out where I was. I wandered into the holly bushes again and I… I saw him,” she says.
“The Dark Magician?”
Stevie closes her eyes and shakes her head, dropping her voice as if she’s afraid of saying the name out loud. “Dark Judgment. At the cave with the Fool.”
I set the flowers on the nightstand. “Are you hurt?”
“I don’t think so. Not this time.” She turns toward me again and rests her head on my chest, her warm breath ragged against my bare skin. “I’m at the cave, feeling like there’s something I’m supposed to see there, to find… But then I’m just standing there watching him devour the Fool and incinerate you. All of you. You’re there, and then you’re just… just gone. Ash. The worst part was IknewI could fight him—defeat him, even—if I had my sword. But all I had was that bouquet of black flowers, and there was so much mist and I couldn’t find anyone to help… I felt so powerless.”
“Okay, first of all, you’re not powerless. Far from it.”
“Then he’s got a hold over me in some other way, because I couldn’t access any magick. Couldn’t even move.” She shudders against me, and I tighten my hold on her, kissing her forehead. “There’s more—different from last time. The ashes—your ashes… He brought you back, Baz.”
“What do you mean, brought us back?”
“With the staff. There was a chant… ashes… something…” Stevie sighs, then repeats the words from her nightmare:
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
With flame and with fury, the ends are just
Cleansed by fire, Arcana must die
From Death we return, in Darkness we rise
“He said the spell three times, then pointed his staff at the ashes, turning them into a massive white fire. When the flames finally died down, the four of you were standing there as if you’d never been burned in the first place. You were back.”
