Page 94 of Ashen Wings

“What are you doing?” I snip. Our interlaced fingers wrap around cold steel.

“Keep this ready, Nova.”

That sentiment should terrify me, but instead my damned body sparks with the thrill.

Oh yeah, this is about to go terribly wrong.

“I’ll recite the incantation and make our offering. You’ll feel it when the bond is complete.”

I nod and armor myself for the impending agony, just as I had weeks ago with Finnick.

“Oh, and Nova…if I shift, and you hesitate…fully expect that I’ll find you.”

My eyes widen, and again that violent delight blooms right between my thighs. Gods be fucking good, this man will be the death of me.

Jace closes his eyes and draws in a long-winded breath. I drop my eyes to our intertwined fingers and the gleaming dagger pointed at his chest. His body goes rigid.

My heart is a battering ram against my sternum when energy crackles between us. Pure, starlit power drips from his skin, and when Jace reopens his eyes, they snap right to me.

“Don’t drop your dagger,” he bites, the words strained like he’s battling for control.

My lips part, but I follow the command and secure my stance against him. The tip of my blade prods his bare skin, drawing a bead of crimson that trails down his abdomen, and for a moment, I allow my gaze to follow its path.

“Last chance, Nova Lindwen.”

“Do it,” I say, voice trembling.

Jace whispers a murmur of the incantation, but his eyes never waver. Sharp, predatory, and merciless. His fingers twitch around mine as he speaks in the language of the cosmos. The candles burning around us blow out one by one until we’re soaked in moonlit shadows.

“Jace…” I whisper, but he drags a canine over his bottom lip, silencing me instantly.

He offers one last verse to Morvayne.

Then, he rotates our intertwined hands and forces my fingers loose. The rune and dragonstone pair fall into the well, disappearing through the blood-stained water column. When the last ripple of disturbance dies out, the water shifts. It thickens. Copper and salt prick my nose when I draw in a breath. Fuck, is that real blood? I’m half tempted to skim a hand through my terrified reflection, but I stop short. The dagger wedged between us thrums with the reminder—don’t drop your blade.

A rush of sheer, cosmic current scatters our image along the well’s surface. I tense my posture against the impending agony of the bond snapping into place. Jace grits his teeth and squeezes my hand tighter.

But the pain never comes.

Instead, another sensation builds, like a quiet spark in the night. It grows and buds until my vision goes out of focus.

I don’t want to run screaming or put five hundred miles between us. No, my chest heaves with rapid breaths, my thoughts scatter like glass on stone, and every inch of skin ignites in a wildfire of pure, unwavering need.

The dagger in my hand falters.

Holy gods, I’m about to combust from the inside out. My skin pleads for relief from the building tension, coiling like a serpent between my thighs.

“Fuck…” Jace’s curse is a low rumble at the back of his throat. Jaw clenched, he squeezes his eyes shut. “The…dagger…Nova.”

A groan slips from him and my nostrils flare. My thoughts tunnel until all I can feel, breathe, think, is him. His hands on me. Those lips molded to mine. Tension builds to the point of discomfort, begging and screaming for release.

“What is…what the fuck is happening…?” I ask through sharp, shallow breaths.

Every thought stampeding through me is of him—his scent, his skin, his mouth. My body burns for his touch, my center aches for a delicious friction that only Jace Ashborne can provide.

“It’ll pass, just breathe,” he says, words taut with wavering control. My eyes flick to his hands, now clenched around mine. Fuck, those fingers, long and perfect. My inner walls pulse to feel them inside me, stroking, circling, guiding my climax.

“Do you feel it, too?” My words are an agonizing groan.