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“Oh my fucking gods.” Together, we rode an unending wave of bliss, every deep stroke teasing out my orgasm, branding me from the inside, and I crested again, as if this might never have an end.
I squeezed my eyes shut as the climax crashed through me.
How could this be so perfect? How could he know me so well that every touch sent my heart racing, every kiss making me fall deeper in love with him?
“Fuck, Anaria, I’m going to…”
I locked my ankles behind his back and held him deep within me as he finished, cock jerking as he spilled, my hands sliding over sweat-slicked muscle and smooth skin, his body undulating like a wave.
Perfect. He was fucking perfect.
And I was never letting him go.
* * *
I snuggled deeperinto Raz’s arms, my leg trapped between his. There was something delicious about how well we fit together, his fingers sifting through my hair, at least until my eyes locked on that godsdamned collar.
“Why can’t we cut that off?”
His eyes slid away, his shoulders sagging. “Like I told Tavion, freedom isn’t an option for me.” He lifted his gaze to mine. “It’s enough that you’re free of that life, Anaria. That you’ll never wear a collar again. If that’s all I get in this life, it will be enough.”
“Not for me. Not until you’re free, too. You shouldn’t have that thing on. Like Tavion said, we’re a world away from the Shadow King and Blackcastle. We could cut that hideous thing off tonight.”
He hesitated for so long my nerves got the best of me.
“It’s just cold iron, easy enough to cut if you have the right tools—blacksmith’s tools,” I urged gently, gauging the darkness in his eyes. “What’s stopping you, Raz?”
“It’s not just me who pays the price if I cut the collar off.” He rolled onto his back, one arm folded beneath his head.
“There is blood magic nulling my power. Magic that was cast when the collar was welded onto my neck. The moment the collar is removed, the king’s spell will break and the male who welded this onto my neck will die. Instantly.”
“Fine, he probably deserves to die, anyway.” I huffed, hardly seeing the problem. Maybe I was a bloodthirsty bitch, but whoever did this to Razshoulddie, as far as I was concerned.
But obviously, Raz didn’t agree. He just went still, a deep, abiding sadness seeping from him like poison. And his eyes…What I saw sent a shiver of fear straight through me.
“It was Zorander. If I remove this collar, Zor dies. His blood went into creating the spell and the Shadow King, while he doesn’t have powerful magic…he is a clever spellcaster.”
No.
That couldn’t be right.
That was…impossibly cruel, a trap Raziel could never escape from. I searched his face, my heart crumpling in my chest as I saw the truth in his eyes.
“Zor knows?”
Raz shook his head slowly. “Nobody knows. For the last hundred years, this was mine and the Shadow King’s secret. And now it’s yours.”
16
TAVION
In the Wynter Palace’s sumptuous foyer, my head spinning from drink, I paused outside the door leading to the secret passageway, clenching and unclenching my hands, trying to release the tension building inside me.
I knew what I wanted to do right now.
Knew what Ishouldn’tdo, those two things warring inside me, a tangle of conflicting emotion made worse by the amount of alcohol I’d consumed tonight.
My insides were in knots, my self-control shredded apart. I stood there for far too long, warring with myself. But I had to see for myself because not knowing was killing me.
