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In a split second,my heart was in my throat and the world around us had melted away.
Draven’s eyes met mine, cool, green, and familiar, and I felt my face splitting into a smile wider than any I could remember as tears pricked the corners of my eyes.
He was whole. He was alive. He had made it.
What folly was this?
At times, I had wanted to kill this man.
And yet I couldn't seem to live without him.
He walked towards me and my body screamed out warnings. But looking at him was like returning home.
I was trapped in this palace, but worse, Draven was trapped inside ofme.
He was in my heart. In my very soul. Cracking me into pieces. Shattering the girl I once used to be. Creating me anew.
Had I had even a fraction of the same impact on him? Did it matter?
His face was grave as he walked towards me, his gaze intense and unswerving. I shivered a little, under that hard stare. But it was no wonder he wasn’t smiling. He'd fought a battle while we'd all stood on the sidelines and watched, as if the lives and deaths of those below were merely for our entertainment.
And unlike Avriel, I had no doubt Draven would mourn the ones who had fallen. Rhea. Malkah. Brasad.
He would see their deaths not as Avriel’s doing or the goblin’s doing but as his own failure.
Because that was the sort of man he was. A man who was made to lead empires.
And as for me? Who was I in all of this?
A bystander. An outsider. A woman trying to get back home.
But for now? At this moment? I had a role to play.
And fuck it, I decided. I was going to start playing it well.
I moved towards him, feeling the gossamer fabric of the snow-white gown swaying around me like the wings of a butterfly.
I knew with every movement I made the cuts in the gown gave teasing glimpses of bare midriff and curving thighs.
Like the Lyonessian woman I had watched with not a little envy at the Rose Court ball that night so long ago, I felt filled with the knowledge of my own power and allure.
There was silence around us as I reached Draven, my slipper-clad feet light on the marbled floor.
He looked down at me, a line of dried blood along one side of his jaw, and I lifted a hand up and did what I had wanted to do so many times before.
I pushed away a falling lock of dark hair from his brow, then lifted my chin and kissed him full on the mouth.
I kissed him as if no one was watching us, as if we were the only two people left in all of Aercanum.
I kissed him as goosebumps sprang up all over my skin and until I could barely breathe.
I kissed him as I remembered the touch of his lips hot on my skin as I climaxed under his mouth.
For a moment, Draven seemed frozen and I doubted the wisdom of what I had done.
Then he kissed me back.
Reaching out his arms, he pulled me towards the sanctuary of his chest. Strong hands delicately cradled my jaw. His thumb slid along the nape of my neck, sending tremors of bliss along my skin.
