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CHAPTERFIFTY-ONE
THE MEMORY THIEF
I woketo heat running down my middle. Unbidden, a groan slipped out when my eyes cracked and Kase’s mouth was slowly devouring my body.
“Is this how you will wake me from now on?”
“If you ask it of me, I have no complaints,” he said, kissing my inner thigh.
I shifted my hips, fitting him between me. “Nor would I, Nightrender.”
Kase covered me with his body and crushed my mouth against his. His hand slid up my ribs, teasing my breast. I wrapped my legs around his waist, holding his hips against the heat of my core and arched into him.
“Are you making silent demands of me,” he whispered against my neck.
I whimpered when his teeth tugged at my ear. “Yes. I don’t know why you’ve left these demands unsatisfied. You are wearing pants Kase, and I hate it.”
He laughed, nipping, and sucking on my throat as he lifted enough to remove his trousers. There was a frenzy unlocked within me when his skin touched mine. A desperate need to be as near to him as I could.
I dug my fingernails into his hips, urging him closer. Kase’s eyes darkened with need and gave one thrust, joining us.
The frenzy didn’t ease.
Kase held my gaze and rocked his hips against mine as he filled me completely. Every rough breath and gentle touch claimed every piece of me.
My ankles locked around his hips. I held on tighter, desperate to rid us of any space between our bodies. The way he made love to me was different. It was deeper. We’d fought our whole lives for this moment. A time when we were free to love each other. When no one had sinister plans to separate us. We’d dreamed of the day when we could use our mesmer, not as the Malevolent of the Black Palace. Not as a memory thief who was born to be hunted.
As Kase and Malin. First loves. Only loves.
I scratched at the scars on his back as each movement deepened until my body couldn’t take more of it. I cried out his name, burying my face against his neck. His release came in the next thrust. He held me, trembling, then collapsed over my body.
I adjusted, so his cheek was on my chest. For a long moment, we didn’t move. Only our heavy breaths filled the quiet of the room.
“I love you, Malin Strom,” he whispered.
“Eriksson.”
“What?”
I kissed the top of his head. “You call me Strom often. When are you going to finally let your house claim the orphan girl from the hayloft?”
Kase propped onto his elbows, the gold of his eyes flashing playfully. “You were part of House Eriksson from the first time you held my hand during a nightmare. I’m a little offended it took you so long to catch up.”
“Me? Gods, you’re infuriating sometimes.” I pinched his sides, drawing out the laughter he shared with so few people.
A sound I would have with me until the end of days. No. Even longer.
* * *
I swallowed,embarrassed that the reflex was rough enough it made a gulping noise. Kase squeezed my hand, his smile encouraging.
Hells, he looked formidable and delicious all at once. Dressed in black, shadows draping off his shoulders, encircling the both of us like a dark mantle.
“This is your moment, Mal,” Tova said in a rough whisper. She bit into one of the many honey cakes left uneaten and not smashed after the battle. “Give them their new queen.”
Once everyone had been roused from a night of fighting; once wounds had been cleaned and bandaged; once our dead were properly prepared for the many funeral pyres, we’d gathered in the long council room.
Folk of the East, nobles and common alike, filled the gaps and alcoves. On his knees at the head of the room, Niall Grym stared at the floor. He would meet his fate today.
