Roiven slides back inside me, and grinds himself deeper, until my body is so full and tight I can’t take any more. My fingers dig hard into his back and a cry escapes my lips.
He thrusts harder. I sob again, wordless with pleasure, my whole body tight and arching and balanced on the edge of shattering.
“Caiteven,” Roiven growls.
He stumbles back from the wall with me clutched around him,and lays me carefully down on the floor with my legs still clasped around his hips.
With the hard floor beneath me, he digs his feet into the stone and drives into me, harder and faster until the pleasure is unbearable, until I break into a thousand shards of light. I see stars. The ocean’s crash is dimmed to nothing more than a distant hum.
Roiven finds his own release, like an earthquake that shatters the world into something new. He collapses on top of me, heavy and warm and breathing hard. I slowly tangle my hands into his hair as we melt together onto the stone floor beneath me.
“Cai.” He whispers my name like it’s a prayer. And then he slowly stands and lifts me up off the floor, and I should stand on my own but I don’t particularly want to. So I let him carry me, like I’m flying, my eyes shut and my head pressed to the heartbeat of his chest.
When he lowers me to the soft bedding of the mattress I nuzzle against him, hardly caring we’re getting the bed wet with our fresh-washed skin.
And Roiven’s mouth finds mine, again, tender and sweet.
I know the Empire is still out there, hiding behind a barrier enchantment we cannot breach, and this ancient war is far from won. But right now we’re home, and safe, and this is all that matters.
48
I pause at the top of the stairs to compose myself. It’s been a month since the Hellions retreated. Roiven and the others insisted I take the day to prepare instead of working on removing enchantments.
I agreed, reluctantly, since we’ve already gotten through the worst of it. The Enchanted are all healing and have free will, even if there’s more magic to pull. Most remain at the Tower but some have moved to the smaller hidden villages around the Wild Seas, preferring a quieter life as they heal from what the Empire put them through.
But tonight is the night I speak the pacts and become a member of the Coven of Ancients.
The large hall at the top of the mountain is dark, and empty except for one man. I smooth my dress with anxious hands and stride across the hall, toward the ramp that leads back down into the room where the coven meets.
Roiven leans against the wall at the top of the ramp, toyingwith something in his hands. The sun has set, and only moonlight filters through the slits in the tall ceiling overhead.
He straightens off the wall as I draw near, his orange eyes burning bright. He’s dressed in a soft white shirt that billows off him, the lacing up the front loose to show off his chest, and black leather trousers. And he’s holding a single clipped rose. Even after these weeks the sight of flowers still takes my breath away.
“Hello, beautiful,” he says.
“If you say so.” I shrug and look down at myself. The silk blue dress ripples around my legs, caressing my skin with each step I take. It's tight over my chest, hugging my muscular waist and my breasts, baring my shoulders and my arms: one living, one metal. I like the way the dress feels. I like being at a point in my life where I can wear one, without fearing it’s as silly as decorating a Hellion ship with frilly bows.
But I’m still not used to it.
“I do,” Roiven says. He tucks the rose into my hair, takes my face in both hands, and kisses me so hard my knees buckle.
“Ready, then?” I ask, trying to keep the wobble from my voice. I smooth my sweaty palms against my thighs as my heart pounds harder.
“Almost.” Roiven clears his throat and takes a step away. “I need to say something.”
“What?” I ask when he pauses.
“If you ever decide you don’t want me, we can build walls between us to block the bond. I could leave the Tower, even, so…”
I squint at him, my lips curling down. I can’t read him.
“Is this your way of saying you don’t want to be with me?”
“That will never happen. I just want you to knowyouhave the choice. I never want to be the reason you feel backed into a corner again. You never agreed to be my wife. And with you joining the coven, I wanted to make sure you knew…”
I snort, grab his chin, and kiss him to shut him up. Roiven’s tense shoulders soften after a moment, and he pulls me close by my hips.
“Do I look like a woman who’d let herself be trapped, if she didn’t want to be?” I ask. He laughs silently, his shoulders shaking.
