A Dawn with the Wolf Knight (Married to Magic, #5)

by Elise Kova

“Would you like to—uh—ride Evander, instead?” I fight laughter at the absurdity of the question. Must my mind really venture to the most inappropriate of places? Aurora bites her lower lip, holding back a chuckle. She must’ve known where my thoughts wandered. “He wants you on him.” A snort escapes me. Her grin says the phrasing was on purpose.

“If I am completely honest with you, Faelyn, the warmth of a woman next to me is more satisfaction than the act of having her,” Evander says. “But to answer you directly, yes, I want to hold you. I want to know a different kind of intimacy with you.”

killed him. I killed a man. I used my magic. The magic of my ancestors. The magic that Grandma taught me to use to protect and serve. A spirit that is innocent of mortal conflict. I used it to end a life.

“Why…” I stare up at Evander, his silver eyes shining as if he, too, wept. “Why did you come?” “You called.” Two words. So simple. Somehow better than every “I love you” that could’ve ever been said.

“This will guide you through the woods. It will guide my heart to yours.” “That’s not the spell I wove.” I shake my head. “It’s not⁠—” “It’s the spell I wove when I tied it to your finger and wished, with all my might, that someday you would be my bride.”

“It is what I desire. But also not what I desire,” I admit to myself and him. “My heart is knotted.” “Then allow me to untie it.” He opens his eyes again. “I do not wish to leave you. I will spend forever with you, whether forever is years, or one last night. If forever is free, or chained.”

“I do not see you as a tool to use any more than you see spirits in that way. You are not measured in your ‘usefulness.’ Your value is inherent because you are my mate—the other half of my very soul. A half that I fear might be crushed under the weight of this place and its scarred history.”