Page 78 of Fate of the Sun King

I crawl over her, peppering her with more kisses. On her thigh and her hip. Up her ribs before I pull a nipple in my mouth and then bite down hard enough to make her cry out.

“You kept pushing me away, Lor. Now it’s your turn to suffer.”

She gives me that fierce look that always makes my cock ache, but who the fuck am I kidding? I possess no willpower to carry out that threat.

I lift up her leg and then position myself at her entrance, and this time there’s nothing gentle about it. I’m inside her within a moment, and we both gasp.

“Tell me if it’s too rough,” I order, but she shakes her head.

“It’s not,” she says, clawing at my back. “Don’t stop.”

“Then eyes on me, Heart Queen. Because I’m going to fucking ruin you.”

Slowly, I pull out, savoring how hot and tight she is, the way she fits me so perfectly. And then I thrust back in with force. This is it. This is my claiming. My mate and my heart. I will love her from now until the day that I become dust. All I can feel is her. All I can think of is her.

We both moan as I push in again, inch by inch, until I’m fully inside. I’m standing on the edge of a precipice, and I’m about to jump, and it’s both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. The wind in my face and that tumbling feeling in my stomach. I want to hold on forever, but it’s too late. I’ve already fallen.

I keep thrusting, and she keeps trying to pull me closer like she can wrap me into her soul. I press my mouth to hers as my hips churn, and I can feel her getting close as she clenches around me. My magic filters out, twisting around us as her faint, barely there traces of red lightning rise to the surface, our individual powers melding. Soft curves and hard edges, fitting together like two pieces that were always meant to be one.

“That’s my girl,” I whisper. “Fall apart for me.”

She cries out, and then her back arches as she comes, squeezing me so tightly that I follow a moment later, my orgasm tearing through me with a force that nearly splits me wide. My mind whites out, everything spreading apart. I keep riding her, wanting to prolong this feeling forever. She moves with me, and we kiss again, panting into each other’s mouths.

“I love you, Lor,” I say as our magic hovers around us like curls of smoke. “I love you. From now until the Evanescence takes us, I will love you. Even then, I’ll follow you to the ends of time.”

She looks at me, not saying anything.

“And if you never feel the same, then I—”

She silences me by pressing her finger to my mouth and shaking her head.

“No, stop that. I love you too,” she says, and my heart nearly explodes out of my chest. “I love you too. I’m sorry it took me so long to see it.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

LOR

I stare up at Nadir, the warmth of my declaration spreading through my limbs. The look on his face makes my heart melt out of my pores. I know it’s true. I love him.

I want to say it happened in a blinding flash, like some great awakening, because I fought so hard against it. But it didn’t. It was there all along, happening with each touch and look and word, stacking and forming themselves together until I had no choice but to acknowledge what was there.

“Zerra, you really made me work for that,” he says, but he’s grinning from ear to ear, and I can’t help but laugh as he leans down and gives me a deep kiss that fills the dark space behind my heart with liquid drops of sunshine.

“I’ve known it for a while,” I say. “Though I’ve been too scared to admit it. It’s been so hard to get past everything you once represented to me, but I know that’s not who you are. And I understand you were never trying to claim me in a way I didn’t want.”

He revealed his hand, and now it’s my turn to lay it out, but this no longer feels like I’m stumbling through silver fog, trying to reach for safety. Along with my growing but complicated feelings, I’ve come to trust him with everything. My heart. My soul. And now my future.

His face softens, and he rolls off me, tucking me into his side. “I understand that. I’m sorry for everything he did. For every moment of hurt he caused you.”

I shake my head and touch his face. “I don’t want this to come between us anymore. I should never have been so hard on you. None of it was your fault. I was just so angry.”

His eyes darken, and he pulls me tighter. “What if he’d killed you, and I never got the chance to meet you? If Atlas hadn’t stolen you, who knows what would have happened? Maybe I should be thanking him.”

I smile at the echo of the same thought I’ve had before. “I’d probably still be there, wasting away.”

Nadir shakes his head. “No. I don’t actually think so. Fate meant for all of this to happen. I’m sure of it. It felt like destiny the first time I laid eyes on you in Aphelion. I just knew something had changed.”

“I did, too,” I say. “When Gabriel told me your name and that it was your ring I had to ‘borrow’ for the challenge, there was this moment when everything just… shifted.”