Page 76 of Tale of the Heart Queen

I pull away, framing his face with my hands.

“Forgive you for what?”

“What my father said about helping him—”

“I know it wasn’t true,” I interrupt.

“You’re sure?”

“I only doubted for a moment. He got under my skin, and I’m so sorry. Nadir, after everything, how could I doubt you? From the second we met, you’ve done nothing but share every truth and give up every secret in your heart. Of course I’m sure. I know you would never have done that.”

“Oh, thank gods,” he says. “I thought . . . I worried . . .”

“He was just trying to drive a wedge between us, but that will never work. Do you hear me? I don’t care what happens—nothing could ever make me stop loving you. Do you understand?”

He nods, his eyes searching my face as though he’s trying to confirm I’m really here.

“I’m sorry I killed you,” I say, choking out a sob.

“That really happened? Zerra told me, but—”

“It was an accident. But I did it, and Nadir, it killed me, too. I died in that moment and have been dying through every moment since. I’ve been doing everything I can to get back to you.”

“What happened with her?” we both ask at the same time.

“Fuck, she’s insane,” he says, and I nod. “I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

Then he kisses me, our mouths clashing together as we drink in the calming power of each other’s presence. “Gods, I was so scared I’d never see you again,” he murmurs against me, his hands gripping my thighs.

“Me too,” I say. “When I thought you were dead—” I can barely get the words out, but he swallows them down, kissing me again like a man drowning in the abyss.

We kiss, and we kiss until we can barely breathe as the rain coats our skin and lightning flashes overhead, thunder shaking the earth. We don’t need words to convey how much we need each other as he drops me to my feet and tugs on my leggings, pulling them off before he lifts me up again. I reach between us, fumbling with the laces of his pants, shoving them down, freeing his already erect cock. My hand wraps around it, and it’s so warm and soft and hard, and he groans into my mouth.

“I’ve missed you so fucking much,” he murmurs into the curve of my throat. “I thought you’d hate me forever.”

He moves me against a tree, my back hitting the rough surface as the curve of his thick cock dips into me. It slides in slowly, spreading me apart as my head tips back, and I cling to his shoulders. He thrusts his hips, filling me with a long, deep sigh.

Thunder and lightning continue flashing overhead as rain drenches us in sheets. But I don’t care. A few moments ago, I was cold and scared and lost. But Nadir is here, and I have been found.

“Fuck,” he hisses. “Fuck, I was so scared, Lor.” He pulls out slowly, each inch like an awakening before he thrusts back in so hard I feel it to the depths of my very spirit.

“Me too,” I sob, unable to hold back my tears as we move together, our heartbeats, our souls, our minds once again whole. “When I thought you were dead, I died too, Nadir. I never, ever want to feel anything like that again.”

His hand grips the back of my neck as he brings my head towards his. Our foreheads touch as his other hand digs into my thigh, and he churns his hips.

“Never,” he says. “We will never be separated again. I don’t care if I have to chain you to my wrist.”

“Okay,” I say, not caring how ridiculous that sounds.

As we continue fucking, our movements become more erratic. I cling to him like I’m falling, knowing I nearly lost him. My magic sparks under my skin, red lightning twisting up my arms and legs as his ribbons of light filter out, both forms of our power melding together. I remember this from the last few times we had sex, but my magic is no longer locked away.

“Nadir,” I whisper as he thrusts into me. “My magic. I can’t control it.”

“I’ve got you,” he whispers back. “Look at me.”

Our gazes meet, and he buries himself into me as his magic wraps around mine—not to repress it but to soothe it. It responds to his power, my sparks lining up into some form of order. It sings against his magic, and for the first time since we left Aphelion, it doesn’t feel like it’s spinning out of control.

He tells me he loves me, and I do the same, and then we come together in a burst of heat and slick, wet desire, my soul reborn from the earth and molded back together. I’ve never wanted to be anywhere so much. Our magic flares bright, exploding around us in a halo of red and green and blue. There’s no destruction, though—it’s just . . . beautiful. The perfect marriage of our spirits. He helped control it. I knew he could.