Her curls tickled my cheek when she shook her head. She might change her mind, but the thought of her wanting this—wanting me—made me so deliriously happy that my hollowness sang.
She reached for my waistcoat. I removed it and my shirt with a spark of magic.
“How shall I unravel you, human?” I asked, unable to wait any longer, tearing her undergarments at the seams and throwing them aside. “Tell me what you want.”
I needed to hear her truth. To be certain I didn’t cross any line she would regret.
She gripped my cock in her hand, stroking slowly. “This. This is what I want.”
Far be it from me to deny her anything. I undid my belt, searching for any hint of reservation in her hooded eyes. “Shall I take my time?”
“Make it last,” she whispered.
I managed to get my breeches down, then painted myself in her desire. “Lift those lovely hips.”
She did as she was told, lifting, adjusting, sinking, melting. I fought to keep my eyes open, to remember her pain even as I found only pleasure. “There you go . . .” My darkness screamed to take control. To throw her onto the table and bury myself so deep she’d feel me in her soul.
“How does that feel?”
Her throat bobbed when she swallowed. So fragile. So delicate. “It hurts,” she whispered.
I’ll make it better. She needed to relax, but telling a woman to relax usually had the opposite effect. So I replaced the command with a kiss. To her neck, her collarbone, her breasts, giving her body time to adjust. As it did, I felt her taking me deeper. When I bit her breast, she clenched around me. When she shifted, my eyes rolled back in my head.
I raised my hips, urging her to meet me with hers. The moment she did, I found paradise. “I knew you’d be perfect. I feckin’ knew it.”The way our bodies fit. This strange heat building in my hollow chest. The smile tugging at my lips as I watched her begin to lose herself in me. No. Not in me. Inus. Together. Connecting over and over and over again. My darkness roared to drive myself into her hard and fast, to tear a scream from her throat.
But darkness colliding with light could never hope to win.
She was good and selfless. All the things I was not. And yet, in her presence, I found myself basking in her glow.
“Help me,” she begged, her legs trembling.
My biceps strained as I lifted and lowered her, forcing her to slow her pace. “Not too fast. I won’t last if you go fast.” And I wanted this to last forever.
“Rían . . . Please . . .”
I felt my missing heart beat.It’s beating for her.
I caught Aveen’s chin, forcing her to look at me. “Say it again.”
Her brow furrowed. “Please?”
As much as I loved her begging, nothing sounded sweeter than hearing my name on her lips. “My name.”
“Rían,” she gasped. “Rían,” she moaned. “Rían,” she cried.
So close. So feckin’ close.Our souls colliding. Melding. Forging something new. Stronger.
I closed my eyes, focused on not losing myself until I knew I’d pushed her over the edge. It was my turn to beg. “Don’t stop.”
She whimpered my name. The moment I felt her walls clench around me, I let go, freefalling into bliss. This human, thiswoman, was my beginning and my end. My life. My purpose. My soulmate.
“Is liomsa tú,” I whispered against her pounding heart.You are mine.A promise. A prayer.
How could I let her go to her death tomorrow? If she left me now, I’d never recover.I’d barely been living before her. After her, I would surely die as well.
“What does that mean?” Aveen asked, chest heaving against mine.
“It means you are beautiful.” I kissed her pounding heart, knowing that wherever mine was, it beat the same rhythm. “You are perfect. You are all that is right and good in this world.” My candle in the night, my flame calling me home, leading me away from darkness.