Court of Claws (Blood of a Fae, #2)

by Briar Boleyn

No one ever wanted to cry. But sometimes you got to a point where the tears just couldn’t be held back.

“But you,” he continued, ignoring me. “I will never apologize for saving you. I will never fucking regret coming for you. And I would do it again in a heartbeat. So don’t ask me to say sorry. Don’t expect me to. And don’t you ever, ever fucking say you didn’t deserve to be saved again, do you hear me? Listen to me clearly, you are worthy. You deserved saving. You deserved much more.” A dark look came over his face. “So much more than I’ve given you.”

“You have the most beautiful laugh, you know. You rarely use it, but when you do...” He took a breath and to my shock I felt him tremble. “It shakes the world. My entire world.”

“This. The touch of your waist, your hips, your skin beneath my hands? It sets me on fire, Morgan. I'm in awe of you, every part of you. Can't you tell? I'm spellbound. You've awakened something in me I thought was long dead. Something I never thought I'd ever come close to feeling again. And now I live for your presence. For the hope of your laugh, your smile. All of this. The court. The throne. Bringing you here. I know I can never convince you, but it is all for you. What I do is for you, always.”

“Your scent is intoxicating. Do you have any idea what your fragrance does to me? The longing I feel when I'm this close to you?”

But I see you, Morgan Pendragon. I see you truly for everything you are and everything you will be and I claim you as mine.”

“They just left out the whole part about how our brother had already murdered Kairos’s wife.”

“Now be a good girl,” he murmured, as his hands came down to caress my thighs.

“There's a good girl. Fuck me back like you mean it.”

We would enter a place the plague could not touch us, hidden between worlds, concealed in the fabric of time itself. And we would not emerge until the world was safe for us once again.

“Everything is just a legend. But legends hold truths. Sometimes frightening ones.

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 of me. He was in my heart. In my very soul. Cracking me into pieces. Shattering the girl I once used to be. Creating me anew.

But while you're laughing all alone, I'll be here thanking the gods I have a woman beside me who leaves me with no doubt that she is my equal in every way. Morgan Pendragon is far from insignificant. She's a force of destiny and you would do well not to trifle with her or ever let her name cross your lips again.”

“You're mine,” he growled. “All mine.”

“Do you know how hard I've tried to stay away from you?” he whispered. “Do you know how long I’ve waited? And in the span of a few nights, all of it has been undone. I can't keep away. I know I don't deserve you. You've forgiven too much already. But I’m not strong enough to resist. You're my every weakness, my every temptation.

“You're mine,” he growled, as he set his mouth to my neck. “You're mine, Morgan. Here, now, always.” He bit down. “You were fucking made for me. Do you understand?”

He was mine. I was his. We belonged to one another. It couldn’t end like this. Not with us separated. Not like this. We had so much more to say. There was so much I still had to tell him. The words I had been hiding...

“No! I fucking wanted you. Just you. Alive. But by my side against your will? No, I didn’t fucking want that. Who would want that for anyone they loved?”