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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
E.K. Pomfret
Read between
February 11 - March 1, 2024
“I did not know until now that it was you I had been searching for. Solace, born of the sun, my mate in this universe. I will not let you run from me.”
Come home with me today. Iris said she’s willing to test my theory about you being a changeling. She can help you. I chew on my lip as I ponder his request. Do I really think I’m a changeling? If this was some trick he was playing on me, why be so adamant about getting answers? Don’t do it because I asked you, do it for yourself. To get answers about what you are. Who you are at your core.
He had touched what belonged to me. She is mine.
“I can smell him on you, Solace. You ran to him, didn’t you? You’re pathetic. You put on that fucking top, to remind him of the first time he saw you, like a fucking whore. You ran right from my bed to his.” I was spitting as I screamed at her, I couldn’t control my anger peaking. “Stay away from me. Like I said the other night. I would have loved you, Solace. I would have loved you for the rest of your fucking life.”
“How dare you speak to her like that.” He spat down at me.
“I should fucking kill you for making her feel that way. You dumb brute bastard.” His voice was low and threatening. He spat on my face and I flinched.
“You never deserved her attention.” He said quietly as his foot caught my ribs sending a shooting pain through my side. I curled into the fetal position under him. He squats down getting closer to my face and snarls at me. “She was never yours to have. I let you believe that you had her for too long and then you got cocky. Don’t make that mistake again.” He stands and walks away, leaving me beaten and broken on the floor. It’s what I deserve, he was right, I was never worthy.
His with love tattoo is splattered with dried blood.
“I had a debt to pay.” His eyes darken in the mirror, causing a shiver to go up my spine.
responds to his presence. “Who hurt you, Solace?” I can practically feel his lips on my neck. “You.” He tenses and a pain shoots through my head and into my chest. I never meant to hurt you, Solace.
He lifts his eyes to meet mine, the emotion in them leaves me breathless. Don’t ever apologize for what pleases you, Solace. I drop my wall, release a breath, and allow my soul to reach out to him. He meets me and our mouths collide. Our teeth clash with a blazing passion. It feels as if he is going to eat my soul right from my body.
me. I’m experiencing whiplash from his emotions. “Grab your stuff.” He gestures to my bag on the floor as he dries his hands. “And do whatever you do with your eyes, we have a debate.” I frown as he unlocks the door beside me and I step around him to the broken mirror on the wall. Glass litters the sink, and I look in the broken pieces left on the wall at fragments of my reflection. My hair is messy from where Quenen’s hands had been in it, I can tell there are traces of blood from them as well when I try to smooth it and feel moisture against my palms. My eyes are puffy and red, I lean in
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“She was with her mate.” He turns fully toward me again, raising a hand. “But do not give her a hard time today, Ophelia. She is going to need you.”
“What are you?” He seethes.
prayers had also summoned Quenen. Where are you? Are you safe?
“Quenen’s eyes,” I say, losing the confidence I had felt. I spoke his name and his presence came flooding back, losing my hold on the wall I had been trying to keep up. Come to me Solace. I will keep you safe here.
“No, she hid your eyes from a world that won’t understand who you are.” He rested a large muscular arm on his knee. Even kneeling in front of me, he had a massive build and I had to look up at him. “No one can take your identity from you, your eyes are a small window to the soul that resides in your core, but that does not mean everyone chooses to look through that window.”
“You can try to hide from me. You can try to deny me.” He stands so close I can smell his cologne, feel the rise of his chest as he takes a breath. “But I will always be here, in your mind.”
“I am a part of you, Solace, and you are a part of me. I’m as real as you are. Standing here.” I squeeze my eyes shut tightly, trying to breathe through the urge to give in to him.
“Mates are one thing. Matching eyes, two halves of a soul. You know the stories. But a bond like this is special.”
“Don’t speak to me.” I snap. He deserved it, and I don’t regret it. This still counts as you speaking to me.
I thought through everything. Why was he able to get into her mind? What kind of fae powers did he have and had he used them on me without me knowing? Maybe he was controlling her, maybe he got into her mind and made her believe she had wanted to kiss him. That fucking bastard. He used her. Breached her privacy and manipulated her into thinking she wanted him. He had been trying to get between us from the first day he laid eyes on her. I always knew he was bad news, from the moment he stepped on that elevator and stood between me and Solace. He was trying to distance us. Why did he choose her?
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I sit and allow my head to take over, swirling thoughts of why Quenen had nothing to say.
“What the fuck is your problem.” I point my finger at him and he laughs, exasperated. “You, Solace. There’s no winning with you.”
“It is an ancient language of Grec, before Kaius, before Kings. It translates to sun.” Suddenly I’m drowning in the realization. His tattoos, and his dreams, he had chosen this house for the sunrise. He had spent his whole life looking for me in everything. How could I be so naive to believe this male had been trying to trick me into something? My mother confirmed it. He is my mate.
His eyes. My eyes. Our eyes.
Beg for me, Solace. Tell me why I should taste you. He lets go of my body and sinks backward into the pool, his eyes on me. “Please, come back.” “I said, beg.” His tone is rough and demanding. I slide back into the water, trying to get closer to him. I can smell my pleasure on his mouth as I approach.
Pleasure me. Where are your manners? Please Quenen, pleasure me, fuck me. “Not here.” He gestures for me to get out of the pool. I obey and he follows behind me. His presence a looming shadow. Water drips off me and the cold air rushes over my damp body. He picks up his jacket and places it over my shoulders. “Go to my bed and touch yourself, make me believe you want it. But leave this on.” He runs his fingers from my hip up to my breast along the bodice. I want to be the one to decide to take it off of you.
“You’re going to stand there and let me pleasure myself?” I ask, moving in toward him. “You haven’t experienced pleasure yet.” His words stimulate a heartbeat between my legs. His hand grazes my chin and he pulls me up to my knees. Pressing his mouth gently to mine I sink into his exposed chest. Where do you want me to touch you?
Everywhere. Manners. Touch me, please.
“Do you understand why I make you beg?” He doesn’t allow me to answer as he shoves his fingers into my throat. I try to suck them, showing him how good I’ll be. “I make you beg, so that tomorrow, when I’ve fucked you in so many positions, multiple times over that your legs shake when you stand and your back hurts from being bent over, you’ll remember asking for it. You’ll remember begging me for it and you won’t be able to tell me this wasn’t what you wanted.”
You are everything, Solace.
I’m naked and glowing in the reflection, the chrome coating of my light blue eyes sparkles in the gentle light from behind the mirror. I can’t help but admire how right I feel. How the reflection I’m looking at completes me in a way I’ve never felt before. These aren’t Quenen’s eyes, they’re mine and I can’t find it inside me to feel guilty about it.
“You smell like mine.” The words send a pulse through my body. It cries out for him. This time he doesn’t make me beg, he releases himself, the counter the perfect height for him to enter me.
I look up at him, his eyes meeting my gaze. The sun reflecting off those electric blue eyes. The sight sucks the breath from my body as I watch gold shimmering across them.
I’m trapped in the moment, drowning in the sea of light staring back at me.
I’m his. I rise from the bed, unable to sit in the silence any longer. I grab my clothes and put them on. So much has changed since I wore these clothes last. Quenen has been inside me, wrapped around my soul. It had been everything my body had longed for since that first day in philosophy.
“I’m making breakfast for everyone,” Jace says looking at Quenen. “Last night it seemed you two weren’t interested in sharing your midnight snack.” My jaw drops, I heard footsteps in the library last night. Did Jace come down and see us here on the counter? “I could have told you that by the sounds coming from upstairs,” Sepehr grumbles, taking a sip of his juice. My face flushes with embarrassment.
Quenen tries to soothe my anxiety down the bond, and I side-eye him. Leave my emotions alone. How had he done that? It felt like he was rubbing a hand along my back from across the room. “The only sounds you heard were Solace’s snores coming from my bed.” Quenen teases, rounding the counter to me and nuzzling my hair.
It is everyone else's opinion that you fear, but what about your own? I hadn’t said a word to him, but I knew based on the way his temperament was readable down the bond, that so was mine.
“They might look at you differently at first but remember this is who you are. It is not a reflection of me. I may be your mate, but it is your own soul finally being free. If they love you, as you love them, they will see that.”
“You basically screamed down the bond when she told you I was your mate.” I feel his gaze on me. “Solace. He never saw you for who you truly are. He wanted you to be something you never were. He fit you into an unrealistic box and expected you to find joy. He wanted to possess you, keep you locked away.”
“My soul reached out for you, as I know yours did to mine. I feel it settles when I’m with you. I can feel the rough bits of my own self smoothed by your presence. I long to be with you, close to you, a part of you, not just inside of you.” He reaches out and takes my hand in his. “I searched for you in everything before I found you. But I do not want to possess you. I do not want to keep you from anything that brings you joy. I want you to be filled up, and complete, never longing for something. I want you to feel empowered and able, never as if you need to rely on me or are in debt to me.”

