Page 18 of A Sea of Fate and Starfire

Whenever, I answered back. As long as you don’t leave me again.

Fucking never. He slid his thumb into my mouth and my lips closed around it, testing the suction of my tongue. Kye’s eyelids fluttered. Never will I do something as stupid as not duck.

Never will you leave me behind.

Never.

You stupid man.

So fucking stupid.

I paused only to calm the release building inside me. I didn’t want it yet. I was greedy. Hungry. Starving. Deprived of the sensation of Kye under my skin. But my body ruled with a different appetite, and I suddenly caved, bolting forward to brace myself against him as wave after blinding wave crashed through. Stark and bright and clear. It left me a trembling mess, my face lost in my hair, every muscle vapid, spent.

Kye, I murmured as my temple met the notch between his shoulder and neck. He wrapped his arms around me, letting me drizzle into him like melted butter. Turned me over with soft precision, laying me into glittering stardust and leaning away to study every inch of me as he tucked my hair behind my ears.

He kissed the edge of my cheek with heartbreaking care. I’d kill myself for leaving you if I weren’t already dead.

My lips twitched, though I was unsure whether it was a joke. And even if it was, I’m not certain if I was ready to laugh at such a thing. I threaded my fingers through his. The faint lines of my tattooed knuckles shimmered, disappearing where his hand met mine. Come here, I simply whispered, willing him to enter me again.

Kye obeyed. He sank into me, and I buried my head into the side of his neck. Ribbons of hot pleasure wrapped around my hips like a listing axis, sending me off-tilt and righting me again with every movement he made. His hand trekked the star-kissed sand below us, fixing mine above my head to kiss the underside of my arm.

Thick lashes closed against my skin, and he freed a wild shudder, grip tightening over me as he moaned and writhed and trembled against me until he stilled.

We laid together, listening to the quiet whoosh of the tide overhead. The exhale of stars. Water washed over us in sparkling waves, the canvas of endless night sky twinkling beyond our reach. Kye played absently with my fingers. Looping mine within his, tracing the grooves of my knuckles.

What do you want, Leihani? he asked again, a soft wind in my mind.

I took my time to respond. Turned the question over in my head. The possible outcomes. All the things that could go wrong. The countless lives Thaan held under his thumb. The risk of being the reason for their deaths.

Or their salvation.

And when I rolled to face him, I knew the answer shone in my eyes by the way he gazed back at me. Not disappointed. Not saddened. Those molten hues hardened into determination. Pride.

He leaned forward to plant a kiss on my forehead, but I slowed him with a hand to his chest.

Not just because of Thaan, I murmured into his thoughts. I want the chance at a life with you. A full life. Without motives or secrets or other people choosing our fates. I think we deserve that chance.

Kye swallowed, tracing the glowing tallied tattoos of my arm. Is this about the cordae? You want to try and claim it again?

No, I shot back. Perhaps too quickly.

He hooked a fingertip around one knuckle, his own thoughts carefully tucked out of my reach. Then he snuck a kiss into my hair, rolling onto a hip to pull me up. Come on, he said, leading me out of the water and reaching for his baldric. He fastened it back over my shoulder with a wink. Let’s find Theia.

10

Maren

Palms grew in the distance, though they disappeared as we grew near, a mirage in the sand. Hills, too, seemed to collide with the horizon, though we never reached them. The air tasted old, like brimstone left under burning rain.

We passed buildings erected from ancient slabs of marbled white, though none of them looked like houses. Pillars marked entrances and walls, grand and smooth and ageless.

Kye led me up stone steps to the largest one.

Silver fire danced from the tips of torches, the flames smokeless. Naiads roamed in and out of the open pillars, that prickle still snapping down my spine as my eyes met theirs, nodding at them as they bowed. But ordinary humans filtered out as well. They milled about, often in groups or with a partner, floating dreamily by.

We stepped into a wide room, its ceiling tall and deep. It reminded me of the throne room in Laurier Palace, though there was no throne here.

A translucent sheath hung ahead. Shimmery like a calm waterfall, shapes and lights moving behind it. Kye halted over the moonstone floor, nodding at the attendant who waited at the curtain’s entrance, a young Naiad with white hair and pale eyes.