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“Why?” He smirked. “What a great question: why?”
The woods around the house were still eerie and silent, still mostly dead. Some crickets chirping would have made this silence more bearable.
He caressed her face. “You know what just happened? We’re married according to human laws. You know what that means?”
Many things. She thought for a moment, until she realized what he meant. “No more waiting.”
His answer was a smile.
Her heart was speeding up, despite thinking she’d been ready for a long time. “Couldn’t you wait until the end of the party?”
“It’s boring. We’ll talk more to everyone tomorrow.” He glanced at her lips, then looked her in the eyes again. “Unless you want to go back. Nobody’s in a hurry. I mean, I am, but…”
Naia pulled the ribbon tying his hair. It looked good, but she wanted him to look more like the River she was used to. “Ishouldmake you wait. As revenge. Torture you with wanting.”
River kissed her lips briefly and had a mischievous smile. “Please do. Torture me until I beg.”
For some reason Naia burst into laughter.
He frowned, but in a playful way. “Or maybe laugh at me.”
“Or both.”
He wrapped his arms around her, then they were in their little, cozy bedroom. She loved this place so much.
When she touched his chest, instead of fabric she felt his soft skin, as his suits disappeared. It was surprising. “You were glamoured?”
He smiled. “Genius, right?”
At least he was still wearing pants. It would be awkward if he had his stuff hanging during their wedding. Sometimes she still found him a bit weird, but the truth was that she liked that about him.
“May I?” He was gesturing as if to help her get her dress off.
Naia turned around. “Go ahead.”
His fingers on her neck brought a chill down her spine, followed by a kiss there. Then he unbuttoned something, and the whole dress and her undergarments came out at once. Fae design. She should have suspected there was more at work than sparkly stars. He cupped her breasts with his hands while kissing her back. She loved his hands with his beautiful dark nails, loved the feel of them against her skin.
“You need to take off your pants.”
“They’re off.”
“Am I mistaken in thinking you were in a hurry?”
“Take your guess.”
He turned her around and laid her over the covers, then laid beside her. That dance of hands and mouths was not new for them. They’d done it many times, each time better than the one before, as they learned more about each other. His body was a map she’d been studying, every day finding a special treasure.
Their magic was blending, as they always did when they kissed and got close, and yet this time she feared she was about to burst on fire as she felt one of his hands on her tights, getting closer and closer, until finally he caressed her in that way that felt so good. He lay on top of her and kissed her, his hair around her face, the soft feel of the covers on her back, the wonderful touch of his skin against hers, that familiar, amazing closeness. Then he was inside her, their magic pulsing as one. Dragon magic, human magic, fae magic entangled together, becoming something more powerful, larger than the both of them, larger than life, imbued with the energy of love.
* * *
Leah watchedher city through the window, her heart beating fast with the anticipation of what she had to tell Fel.
At least the city was healing, and now that it was summer, it was actually nice not to have that dreadful dome. The damage hadn’t been as bad as it should have been, thanks to Fel and Ekateni, who had burned many of the creatures, and thanks also to Ciara and her shapers. Her shapers.
Leah had never heard of them again, even if she knew they were in Aluria. At least they were keeping their word that they would hide. Still, sometimes she saw a strange shadow move, sometimes she saw a movement from the corner of her eye, and could swear there was something else among them. But the shapers were benign, and apparently, didn’t need to eat people. Hopefully they were happy now.
Venard had been keeping his promise to make up for his family’s past mistakes. Leah had even found herself having to defend Ironhold, since a couple of other kingdoms were quite eager to retaliate against the iron kingdom for their own gain. As to Venard himself, Naia had told him that he’d been keeping his old beloved’s corpse somewhere in the Iron Citadel, but Azir had verified the Ironhold castle, and didn’t find anything like that. Leah’s best guess was that Venard had given up on reviving her after seeing the effects of forbidden magic in Ironhold.
