Page 75 of Fate of the Sun King

Her mouth crashes into mine, and there is only heat and teeth and the frantic grab of our hands. This is bone breaking, lung crushing, and it consumes me.

I frame her face with my hands and kiss her like I’m drowning. Like I’ve forgotten how to breathe. My tongue plunges into her mouth, and she moans. The sound vibrates through every cell, ending at my already rock-hard cock.

We kiss as the room spins and the world melts away. There is nothing but this moment and her. Her. Lor. All she’s done is fight me every step of the way, but I don’t care. She’s the summit of an unscalable peak. A distant, unreachable planet in the heavens.

I will fight back until the end if that’s what it takes.

She tears at my shirt, fumbling with the buttons with her shaking hands. I pull them away and rip it open, the ping of buttons hitting the floor. She shoves the fabric over my shoulders, and then I press myself against her as her hands claw at my back, trying to get closer. I want her to mark me. Draw blood and leave scars staking her claim.

I don’t even know what I’m doing as I fumble with the laces on her vest. I can’t seem to make my hands work right. “Argh.” I let out a sound of frustration and then reach for the dagger in her hand, finding it empty.

“Where is it?” I demand.

She grabs it from the window ledge where she left it and holds it up. We both pause as our eyes meet. A moment ago, she wanted to slice me open, and now? Now her gaze simmers with that fire that drew me to her from the moment we met. It wouldn’t have mattered whether she was my mate; I would have gone to the ends of the world for her even if we never exchanged a single word.

My hand closes around hers as I take the dagger, then slowly hook it under the first set of laces. The sharp edge slices clean through as she gasps. With my gaze on her, I move to the next as her chest moves up and down. I’m torturing myself, but part of me wants this moment to last forever.

We’re on the edge of whatever comes next, and I want to remember her like this for the rest of my life.

We both watch the progress of my slow, deliberate movements as I slice through another set of ribbons.

“Nadir,” she whispers, and the sound is so pained that my dick throbs. She wants this as much as I do.

“What, Lor?”

“You’re fucking killing me right now,” she says, and I smile.

“Good,” I say before I finally slice through the last two ribbons, and we blow out twin gasps of strangled breath. My hand cups the side of her face as I press myself against her, and she looks up at me with that raw mixture of strength and vulnerability in her eyes. Then I kiss her as she melts against me. I take my time, luxuriating in the sensations consuming me, feeling every inch of her mouth and her tongue. Every whisper of her breath as I inhale her scent—that curious mingle of roses, rainstorms, and the crack of lightning that feels exactly like home.

But the moment stretches too thin, and we both snap, once again clawing at one another. I pick her up, folding her legs around my waist as I carry her back to the bed. I don’t drop her any less gently than last time, but she doesn’t seem to care. After dragging her closer by her ankle, I grab her shirt collar and rip it down the front.

“This time, I know you have more clothing with you,” I snarl, referring to our night in the Heart Castle, and she nods before I capture her mouth with mine. Her hands fist into the strands of my hair, and she pulls me down hard enough to make my roots ache. I could lie here kissing her forever, but I’ll also die if I don’t get inside of her soon.

She palms my cock through my pants, and I nearly fold like I’ve been kicked in the chest. But I force myself to pull away. She looks up at me with that open gaze. The same one I saw that first time in Aphelion when I was already falling.

“What?” she asks.

“I just… I don’t think I can do this again if you’re not all in. It almost killed me last time, and I need to be honest with you because I’ve just told you how I feel and…” I break off, not sure how to finish. I’ve never been this vulnerable with anyone in my life, but with her, it feels right. It feels necessary. I can’t hold anything back.

She sits up, smoothing down the sides of her hair like she intends to take this seriously.

“I freaked out that night. I’ve belonged to men trying to use me for half of my life, and hearing you say those words triggered every dark memory I’ve tried to suppress.

“When I realized Atlas had lied to me about so much, my trust was broken. Not just in him but in everything. I’m trying to fix these pieces of myself with nothing but fraying threads.”

I try to correct her. There’s nothing to fix. That wasn’t how I meant it, but she holds up a hand.

“I know that was never what you meant, Nadir. It just took me a while to come to understand that. I know you’ve never wanted to cage me. You’ve become not just my rock, but my soft landing too. All you’ve ever done is give me room to spread my wings.”

She stares at me, and some feeble hope flutters in my chest. Is she saying what I think?

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, sitting up on her knees and cupping my cheek with her hand. “I got scared that night, but I’ve regretted that moment so many times since it happened. I was worried that I—”

She looks away, but I direct her face back to me. “What?”

“That I ruined it. That this was over. When I saw you talking to that woman, I thought…”

“Lor,” I growl, clamping a hand to her lower back and dragging her closer. “I told you that I didn’t want anyone else. I meant it then, and I mean it now. Yesterday, when you thanked me for rescuing you, what I really wanted to say was that I would have torn apart the entire fucking world to find you, and how could you ever think that I wouldn’t come for you?”