“Elorie.”My name is a song in his head.
Music in his heart.
It’s a chant that I cling to as he drinks me down. His tongue caresses my skin with each drink, and my body is a string pulled taut with every swallow. I’m ready to snap.
Wilder’s hands find my hips, and he lifts me up until my legs wrap around him, and he’s steel against my core. I’m no longer in control of my body as I rock my hips against his hard length and submit to this euphoria.
With every slow drag of his tongue on my skin. His teeth slide deeper. I grind my hips, searching for a release unlike anything before it. It’s beyond the heat pooling in my core. I’m a furnace erupting. My heart is thundering in a cage, and I need him to set me free.
The dots on my cheek sear, no doubt glowing in the night. Then it quickly spreads through me, the heat of my magic stirring with my building climax. My nails dig into the back of his hair as he angles his hips, helping me chase my release.
The higher I climb, the deeper he drinks. Until we are not separate. We are one. Our magic swims together like that of our two realms. Battling for which one will burst before the other.
“Wilder.”My heart hammers, on the verge of bursting.
I can’t tell where he ends or I begin. This thread is twisted. Tangled. We’re wrapped around each other. Until he presses close, and I come undone.
My scream is buried by the cries of battle, but it has Wildergripping me harder. Grinding deeper. Drinking more. Until he’s consuming me as much as I’m consuming him.
A peak with only one outcome, and that’s to plummet.
Wilder retracts his teeth, licking the wound at my neck. It trickles with blood as he pulls back, and I stare up into his eyes, watching him lick his blood-stained lips. He drags his thumb over the holes, binding them with his magic.
Cupping my face in his hand, he rubs a bloody thumb over my lips as he tilts his head back and takes a deep breath. Between us, I feel his magic surging. The trees shiver, even though there’s no breeze. The sand quivers.
When his gaze meets mine, his eyes are so bright they’re practically suns, slicing through the darkest night. His hands haven’t left my face as he lets out a flicker of something. Like he harnesses every bit of aether in Ruse Village and pushes out anything unwanted.
Over his shoulder, the ravagers simply vanish. Guards look around, lost in confusion.
My chest calms as I come down from what happened. Wilder sets me on my feet, but he doesn’t step back.
I’ve heard of the euphoria of blood sharing but never understood it until just now. How it heightens every touch. How it connected us in ways I could have never imagined.
It’s deliciously dangerous, and it makes me feel things I shouldn’t.
“It’s a side effect.” Wilder grazes his hand down the side of my neck. “It’s not your fault.”
Not my fault.
Something akin to pain flashes in his eyes as he moves my hair, hiding where he bit me.
I wish it were as simple as he makes it sound. That what I felt was a side effect of what we did. But the truth is, that’s an excuse. Iwantedhim to drink from me, and I enjoyed every moment of it.
Noise crackles on the beach, pulling my attention as Wilder steps back. The loss of his heat chills deeper than the winters back home. I reach for the dagger I dropped to the ground and sheathe it.
“You’re alive!” Greer’s voice cuts through the chaos. She pushes between two members of the Guard; her leathers are shredded, and blood drips from multiple wounds, but she’s moving as if none of it is fatal. “I lost you. Gods, you really do bring trouble anywhere you go.”
Her gaze darts between me and Wilder, who doesn’t say anything.
“We need to leave.” Greer tugs my hand, but I resist.
“But the troops from Alyssium.”
Greer shakes her head once. “The ships are still at sea or lost. I don’t know where they are, but we can’t wait. The Crown Guard is here to take us home.”
Home.
It might be hers, but mine is across that sea. Through those turbulent waves. Home is something I may never see again. And even if I always knew that, my stomach is lead with this sinking realization.
