Page 143 of Stormbreaker

Bursts of ultraviolet light illuminate the clouds like puffs of powder smoke. Out here in the open, I feel even closer to it, like I might become one with the sky.

My mouth parts as a cloud explodes and jagged streaks of Spark spear toward us.

It knows we’re here and we’re waiting.

I brace myself for the onslaught. For the agony before the calm, not sure if the last time was a fluke.

We’re struck. I gasp as the light sizzles through me, burning in my limbs and bones, but not with the same shredding force I know. Rook’s hand squeezes mine, and it’s like the combination of our touch concentrates the power, filtering it through me instead of into me. Every cell in my body fizzes and pops, coming to life.

Laughter bubbles up my throat. A heightened euphoria that twists and bends in on itself, and I don’t just feel the burst of plasma and crackling sparks around us.

I feel everything.

The sky and the stars and the distant planets spinning in the heavens.

I am vapor and breath.

Churning earth and rushing water.

I open my mouth, scream into the wind, and just let everything go.

A twist of emotion. Of sorrow. Of losing my best friend. My family.

Walking away from everything I’ve ever known.

I chose a different path, and now I’ll have to find a new way to exist.

Maybe that starts today.

I look over at Rook, who’s watching me with a grin on his face. Skies, he has a beautiful smile. It’s not even the physical perfection; it’s the way he smiles with his entire body, like he understands joy.

I wonder if everything I’ve ever believed is wrong.

Purple sparks dance through his hair and clothing. I reach out to grab one between my fingers, but he pulls me toward him, his arm banding around my waist.

My heart races as he breathes against my mouth.

“Rook,” I whisper.

And then he kisses me, and I forget everything else.

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His hands slip into my hair as he holds my head and tips it back. Purple sparks fizzle in the spaces around our skin, buzzing in the air, almost like they sense this thing swelling between us.

I try not to examine it too closely. I lose myself in the moment. In the warmth in my limbs and the heat in my stomach as our tongues slide together. He moans into my mouth, flattening himself against me, his hips guiding mine against the cold stone at my back and the feverish blanket of his body.

His hands slide lower, curving over my rib cage and my hips, while I slip my hands up the back of his shirt, exploring velvet skin stretched over valleys of bone and muscle.

He leans in to suck on the curve of my throat, and I tip my head, inviting him in. A small gasp escapes my lips when his leg presses between my thighs. He grabs my hips, fingers digging into flesh, generating a desperate sort of friction.

My stomach swirls, molten ribbons spiraling out as his fingers slip under my top, the fire of his fingertips pulling up gooseflesh over my skin.

We move together, hips churning and bodies flush. The swirl of my hips meets the breadth of his thigh, the heaviness beneath my navel tightening. I light up. I burn down. I become liquid.

It takes only a minute before I burst apart with a breathy moan, deep and bottomless like the shadowy reaches of some unnamed universe. I cling to him, and he devours me as the wind howls and amethyst light explodes across the sky. He sighs into the curve of my throat, collapsing against me, caging me between his arms, drowning me in his scent.

We come up for air, our gazes meeting in a hazy darkness illuminated by the storm. His expression is bright with fire and want. Brimming with a thousand words. Slowly, he peppers kisses to my shoulders and throat and finally meets my mouth before pulling away.