Page 64 of Daughter of the Dark

“Please,” she whispered, voice broken. “Finish what you started.” A relieved exhale brushed her lips, and then that slight space between them disappeared entirely as Reyes’s body aligned with hers, as he filled her with pressure and reckless abandon, his teeth at her neck, her breath heavy and fleeting. Solana groaned low in her throat and then smiled at the way Reyes pressed into her further, as if they could get any closer.

Everything was forgotten as he moved within her, both his body and his gift, a trace of cold lingering beneath the heat of his touch stoking and soothing as he pushed and pulled.

“So wet for me, Sol,” he murmured, and his words encouraged another groan, another pulse of pleasure that was almost her undoing. But Reyes wasn’t done with her yet and she hoped, despite herself, that he never would be.

His body lifted from hers and he leaned back on his knees, changing the angle and pressing against parts of her that hadn’t been awoken in so long. It had never been like this with anyone else. Never so visceral and demanding and good.

“Are you still with me, Solana?” A hand wrapped around her shoulder, his long fingers extending to her throat and the top of her breast, the pressure rooting her to the spot, the moment. “I want to see your eyes.”

It took a moment for her to gain the courage to open them, to look into Reyes’s as he wrapped his other hand around her hip and lifted her to meet him. Then he was pushing into her maddeningly slowly, delicious desire licking along her spine and demanding more. It slipped her lips, that plea, and Reyes’s eyes were on fire with the impulse to grant her every wish.

There was no space for thought, no time to question or ponder as he moved over her. She felt incandescent in that moment, more alive than she had ever felt in her whole life. It was terrifyingly magical, disastrously altering. Solana didn’t know how she would continue to exist after this.

The pressure was almost too much. She thought she might explode with it, bits of herself flung across time and rearranged into someone new.

“Do you want to come for me now?” Reyes asked steadily, and she railed against the control he had. She wanted to watch him come undone. She wanted to feel that powerful body writhe beneath hers.

As if reading her mind, Reyes slid a hand underneath her back and lifted her to him, stealthily turning so that he was sitting on the edge of the bed, and she was straddling him. One hand on each hip, he guided her backward and forward. A rush of chills made Solana go limp.

“Let go,” he whispered against her neck. “Come for me now.”

“And you,” she said, her voice ragged with the need to obey. “Come with me.”

Reyes pulled back and she looked into his eyes, deep and sparkling like the most dangerous night sky. He smirked, and Solana felt it inside of her, a twitch of excitement that made her thrust closer. “With pleasure,” he said.

The result was that of a storm brewing for so long before finally breaking. It swept them away to a new realm, washed them of their discord, forged them into a new and vulnerable thing that was terrifying and invigorating all at once. Solana clung to him, her nails digging into his back, her tongue licking and tasting the sweat on his skin, and Reyes murmured into her neck, words she couldn’t decipher and yet imprinted themselves onto her soul all the same.

They held on to each other, even after it was done, even after their sweat cooled and the only thing left to do was return to who they were before. Neither of them was quick to let go, and Solana didn’t argue as Reyes gently placed her in his bed and tucked her into his chest, as his fingers ran over her stomach and his gift painlessly made quick work of their union. She could feel him dissolving and soothing, and she closed her eyes, knowing that she was safe, that she was cared for, that there was nothing to worry about for this one night.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The peace she felt while entangled in Reyes’s arms didn’t last long. Nightmares came to find her, filled with visions of pulsing walls and screaming mouths and untamed gifts. She bolted upright in an unfamiliar bed, heart in her throat.

At her fingertips, she felt the edges of the curse tethered to the land. Felt the skin of Nikolas’s chest give way beneath her blade. She curled that hand into a fist and pressed it into her belly, and then curled her body over that fist as if she could hold herself together the way Reyes had held her together.

It scared her, the force with which she missed the pressure of him. He was lying right next to her, deep in a restorative sleep, and yet it was not close enough.

It had been a mistake to allow him so close, to allow herself to feel need and want and hope. Her chest felt tight with the weight of it. She needed space. She needed air. She needed—

“Do you always panic first thing in the morning, or is this all for me?”

Reyes’s voice was husky with sleep but light with teasing. A hint of familiar ground that eased her panic the smallest bit. “Don’t flatter yourself,” she said, gasping as he turned and pressed against her. “I’m not a morning person.”

“Good thing it’s afternoon,” he murmured into her ear. The dusting of his beard scratched her cheek as he moved his lips to the hollow of her neck and inhaled deeply. “I can smell your gift. It lingers so beautifully.”

“Speaking of lingering.” Solana pushed him away. She had to use two hands to gain the slightest ground. “I can feel your gift whenever you’re using it. How?”

Reyes gave her a sly smile. “Your body knows what it wants.” Solana went to slap his chest, but he caught her hand and his smile softened. “It’s familiar with me. With my gift. You know me now.”

“I know your gift better than my own.” Shame burned its way up her neck and cheeks. “I don’t know that I can do what you think I can.”

“We’ll try again,” Reyes said firmly. “We have time. The curse isn’t going anywhere, and neither am I.”

Solana smiled, but it felt flimsy. We have time, he said, as if the clock of her contract wasn’t steadily running down. As if she wasn’t counting down the days until she was free.

Even if it felt less and less like something she wanted.

“Next time, we make sure we’re all well rested. Oskar’s gift can only extend so far, and I—”