“What? Why?”
“Just do it.”
I could practically feel the annoyance radiating from him.
“So fucking bossy,” I muttered, but I closed my eyes.
He ran a hand across my bare arm, along my collarbone. My body hadn’t seemed to get the message that I was pissed at him, because it leaned into his touch.
“What do you feel?” he asked, his fingers still trailing delicately across my skin.
“You,” I answered truthfully.
“And do I feel any different to you?”
I licked my lips. “No.”
“Do I smell different to you?”
I inhaled deeply. Sweat, blood, leather, peppermint,him. All of it heightened now, but still very much familiar. “No.”
I felt the air stir softly around me, and then his mouth was on mine, his hands gripping my waist gently. My lips parted as his tongue licked at the seam, desire flooding through me.
“Do I taste any different?” His voice was husky and raw.
“No.” I pressed my lips back against his.
His fingers gripped my hip bone, digging into my flesh. One hand lightly traced the seam of my leathers, his mouth absorbing my moan, before tearing away to whisper, “Do I make you feel any different?”
He was doing something with his hands that made speaking very difficult. And all I wanted was for him to unzip my pants and take me right on the floor of the sparring room.
But his tongue was on my throat now and the sensation was overwhelming. “Answer me, Lirah.”
“No.” The word tore from my chest.
“I am not claiming to be anything other than what I have always been. I am Kilian. And I am Azrael. I am the same person you have fallen in love with. Can’t you see that?”
He set each and every one of my nerves alight. When he bit down on my earlobe, I whimpered softly. At this point, with the way he was teasing me, I was not above begging for more.
“I fucking love you,” Kilian said in my ear. “Does knowing everything make you love me any less?”
I finally opened my eyes and stared at him. His eyes were a silver beacon in a sea of chaos. And I knew then, I would never be able to stop loving him. “No.”
A sense of calm washed over me and the thing prowling beneath my skin yawned awake. Darkness unfurled inside my chest, and whispered,Hello, wicked lovely. Have you finally come to wield me?
I tensed but did not pull away from it. For so long, I’d thought the darkness was a manifestation of Kilian’s power. A piece of him bestowed upon me through the link, but the link was gone, and it was still there. It still called out to me exactly as it had as a mortal. I wasn’t hearing voices. I was hearing the magic. And the only reason was the simplest one. It had always been mine.
The shadows rippled through me, soft and familiar.Welcome back, Aerie.
I shivered, and Kilian ran warm hands up and down my arms. I blinked, my tether to the darkness disconnecting.
“What’s wrong?” Kilian’s brows were knitted in concern.
“Nothing.” I rose on my toes to kiss his clavicle before stepping back, the decision finally settling in my core. “Tell me what I have to do to break your curse.”
CHAPTER 27
“I’m coming with you,” Lana said, plopping down beside me.
