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“Can you—look, can you just behave yourself out there?” I murmured under my breath. He looked bemused, the faintest hint of a dimple forming in his right cheek. “I can,” he answered. “I can’t promise that I will.”
As we walked past him and out of the chamber, Taladaius advised, “You should leave Nimerelle here. They’ll see you carrying a weapon as an act of aggression.” “Good.” My mate’s expression went dark with the promise of violence. “It is.”
My name is Saeris Fane, and I am your queen.”
You can own your fantasies with me, Little Osha. There is nothing in this realm or the next that I won’t give to you if you desire it. All you ever need do is ask.
I can run drills with you, Osha. I can raise a sword to you and pull my blows. I can show you footwork and teach you about warcraft. What I cannot do is attack you like it’s real. And that’s what you need, if you truly want to learn how to fight with a sword. The stakes must be genuine for you to learn how to think and react under pressure. And I will never come at you with everything I’ve got. You are my mate. I’m in love with you. I couldn’t do that even if I wanted to. Which… he added softly, I do not.
“You taste like the end of the fucking world,” he purred. “Just kill me and be done with it. Nothing will ever be better than this.”
I didn’t know your name. I didn’t see your face. But I knew, Osha. My soul recognized a flicker of itself burning inside someone else and it knew.
When other people are full of the kind of fire that burns inside her, it eats them alive. It hollows them out until there’s nothing left inside them but the fire. They burn everyone around them with it, until all that remains is scorched earth. But not Saeris. Her fire keeps others warm in the cold dark. It is her strength, not her weakness. Being around her reminds you that you’re alive.”
“There’s only one way to learn how to endure pain the way I have. You have to suffer through it. Again, and again, and again. It galvanizes you. Tempers you like steel. But I wouldn’t wish the kind of pain I’ve lived through on anyone. I’ve borne it because I had to and for no other reason. Feel the pain you’ve been given, Carrion. Don’t be fool enough to ask for more. It’s a curse I would spare you from, believe me.”
“I could spend the rest of eternity right here and die happy,” he rumbled. “I could fuck you and feast on you until the ages turned and the suns all died and burned out in the skies, and I still wouldn’t have had enough of you.”
“I had no idea what you would mean to me. I had no idea what I would do to keep you safe. When I close my eyes, you are all I fucking see, Saeris Fane. I could be dead in the ground five thousand years and the frosts could have taken my bones, and still no other male will ever have loved another female the way that I love you.”
“Tell me, Elroy. How many promises have you made to Saeris and then broken?” The human’s eyelids shuttered. “None.” “Me either. And I plan on keeping it that way. Make no mistake. I will burn worlds to keep my word to her, old man. There isn’t a single person in this realm or any other that I wouldn’t sacrifice to make sure I don’t let her down. I promised her that I’d bring her brother home. Will you test my resolve in this?”
An army wasn’t as effective if it didn’t hate its enemy.
I had been born into the light, but my salvation had been waiting for me in the dark.
“That sound haunts my fucking dreams. I want to make you moan for hours.”
“There are worse ways to go mad, Osha. If I get to fuck my way to insanity with you, then I’d call that a win.”
“The good comes with the bad. The pleasure comes with the pain. I’m going to make this hurt so good for you, Osha. Are you ready?”
“I’ll never tease you for this, Osha. This is the hottest thing in the world to me. It drives me to madness like nothing else. And I want you just as badly as you want me. Always. I walk around this hellhole with the head of my cock tucked into my waistband so that these leeches don’t get the wrong idea.”
“I’m going to make you come now. And for the rest of the night, anyone who comes within five feet of you will scent the orgasm I’m about to give to you.”
I’m here now, and just because I am your mate and you are mine doesn’t mean that I expect you to sit around looking pretty, or… or put down your weapons and adopt a different way of life. I would never want that for you. But you don’t have to be one thing here, Saeris. You can be many things. You can wear your leathers and fight every day of the year. I would never ask you not to. But sometimes, if you wanted to… you’re allowed to soften, Saeris. You’re allowed to stop baring your teeth at the world and take a breath. Because I’ve got you.”
Because I’ve got you. He did have me, didn’t he? He was the anchor that kept me from drifting away. Even here, in this horrible place, he hadn’t left my side.
“I would go with you, Osha.” He spoke as if I were insane to think he would do anything else. My heart squeezed tight as a fist in my chest. He was serious—I saw it in his eyes—and he wasn’t slightly fazed about the prospect. “I’m young in the eyes of this place,” he said. “And yes, there are plenty of things I still want to see and experience in this realm. But I wouldn’t want to see any of it without you.”
“My name is Carrion,” he said. “Nice to meet you all. I really like your horns.”
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Rise, Khydan Graystar Finvarra, in honor of the name you were given at birth! Rise up and fight!
