Amid Clouds and Bones

by Ella Fields

“Let me make myself crystal fucking clear, little thing.” My eyes widened at the ease with which he’d cussed. “Out of all the dangers awaiting you in my court, I’m the one you’ll need to be protected from.”

His presence was a flare of heat at my back, and his voice low and scathing. “Remove your hands, or I’ll remove them from your body and make you eat them.”

“If you so much as think about playing with anyone but me, I will tie you to this bed with their entrails and paint you in their blood while I fuck you.”

But it softened the longer he looked down at me, and disappeared entirely when he murmured, “Enough to make me miss the creature I loathe the most.”

“I want you. I want you as much as I loathe you—so much, it feels like I can’t breathe.” His parted lips dragged across my cheek, his whisper scathing near my ear. “Give me back my fucking breath.”

“Atakan.” My voice croaked. “Tell me what really happened.” He halted before the door. Without looking at me, he dragged his hand through his hair, pushing it back over his head as he exhaled roughly. “We mated.”

“You’re right. You’re not my lover. You’re now my wife, yet that doesn’t seem quite enough either.” I nearly swayed when I rose, and he went on. “What do you call the only creature you want to watch and touch endlessly?”

“You must put your mouth on mine and kiss me until I tell you to stop.” My foolish heart skipped. Still, I taunted, “But what if you never do?” “Trust me.” He dropped his forehead to mine. “I never fucking will.”

“I might not care for much of anything outside of my desires, but that doesn’t mean I’m completely heartless.” Her hand settled on my hip, and my clinical tone roughened. “That doesn’t mean I cannot love you.” I clasped her chin, my head lowering. “That doesn’t mean I don’t need you to be as obsessively in love with me as I am with you.”