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“You never considered that it was you I couldn’t stay away from?”
“Relax. It’s just me.” A ghost of a touch skims my cheek.
No one stays friends forever, Mira. Eventually those closest to us become our enemies in some way, even if it’s through well-intentioned love or apathy, or if we live long enough to become their villains.
“Don’t do that,” I whisper, and he lifts his head again to hold my gaze. “Don’t do what? Tell you I can’t get you out of my head? Or speak directly into yours?”
My knees give out and Dain catches me, pulling me into his familiar hug as relief floods my system.
Again
“He cares about keeping me alive. There’s a difference.” “Not for him there isn’t.”
“I hear it’s all the fashion,” Tairn brags.
“Fuck, that stubborn, feisty look always makes me want to kiss you.”
I am the sky and the power of every storm that has ever been. I am infinite.
Tairn roars with the unmistakable sound of pride. “Lightning wielder.”
“I’m proud you’re mine.”
He rubs his hand over my back.
Again
“Stop. Fucking. Coddling. Her.” Xaden bites out every word at Dain. “She is not a child. She’s a full-grown woman. A rider. Start treating her like one and at least have the decency to give her the truth.
If Sgaeyl is right, and signets reflect who we are at our core, then I’m exactly as Xaden nicknamed me…Violence.
You want to keep Rhiannon’s nephew alive in that little border village? This is how. You want to keep Mira alive when she’s behind enemy lines? This. Is. How. You are not just a weapon, Sorrengail. You are the weapon. You train this ability, own it, and you’ll have the power to defend an entire kingdom.”
“Go,” Tairn urges. “But do not wallow in guilt, Silver One. Whatever you feel is natural. Allow yourself to feel it but then let it go. The wingleader made a valid point. With a signet like that, you are the best hope the kingdom has against the hordes of evil that seek to harm it. Rest and I will see you tomorrow. I’ll get my own saddle off.”
Keeping my eyes locked on his, I fling the dagger at the target. The satisfying sound of split wood tells me I hit true. “Fuck, that’s hotter than it should be.”
“So then why are you here, Xaden?” “Because I can’t seem to stay away.” He sounds anything but pleased by the admission, but my breath catches anyway.
“All this time, I had this tiny, driving hope that I would be like Brennan, and that would be the twist in my little fable. That my signet would be mending, and I could put all the broken things back together. But instead, I’m made to split them apart. How many people will I kill with this?” His eyes soften. “As many as you choose. Just because you gained power today doesn’t mean you lost agency.”
“Good.” I tilt my head up to his and draw his bottom lip between mine, sucking before gently nipping him with my teeth. “Because I only want you, Xaden.”
Mine. In this moment, Xaden Riorson is mine.
“Does this feel like I don’t want you?” He takes my hand and slides it between our bodies, and my fingers curl around his length through his leathers. I whimper with pure want at the feel of how hard he is for me. “I always fucking want you.”
“Violet.” He says my name like a warning, as if he’s something I should be wary of. Violet. He only says my name when it’s just the two of us, when all the walls and the pretenses fall away, and gods if I don’t want to hear it again and again, just like that.
All I ever want to do is kiss you, even when you piss me off.”
“Fuck, Violet,” he groans, slipping his hand between my thighs. Never mind. That is how I want him to say my name from now on. Just like that.
His voice is ragged against my mouth. “If I get my hands on you, really, honestly get my hands on you, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop.” He would. I know it in my soul. That’s why I trust him with my body. My heart? It isn’t playing into this decision. “Stop being so fucking honorable and fuck me, Xaden.”
“Look at you. You’re fucking beautiful, Violet. Let go for me.”
“More.” I’m too busy kissing him to speak. “I need all of you.” “You’re going to be the death of me, Violet.” Whatever’s left of his control slips, and he takes me completely with one hard thrust.
“Fuck, I’m never going to get enough of you, am I?” he says, his face buried in my neck as I arch into him. “Shut up and fuck me, Riorson.”
“That was…” I didn’t even get the man’s pants entirely off, and my dressing gown is haphazardly hanging from one shoulder. “Frighteningly perfect.”
Finding a jar on my nightstand with a handful of spring violets? My heart swells. I’m in so much fucking trouble.
“Should I get the wingleader?” Tairn flat-out laughs in my head.
There’s nowhere in existence you could go that I wouldn’t find you, Violence.”
Tairn chortles. “Not a single fucking word out of you,” I warn.
It only takes one desperate generation to change history—even erase it.
“You’re going to be the death of me.”
His touch is gentle when he cups my cheek.
Again
“I’m just…his.”
There’s more than one way to fall. Shit. That ache in my chest burns brighter than the power coursing through my veins. I’m in love with Xaden.
I want to be wherever you are.”
“And you are strong and fierce and have a ruthless streak, too. Not to mention you’re the smartest person I’ve ever met. That mind of yours is sexy as hell.
“Gods help me, I’m only looking at you.”
“There’s only you, Violence. Is that what you needed to hear?” I nod.
“Even when I’m not with you, there’s only you.
“I’ve wanted you from the first second I saw you, Violence,”
“Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?” His voice lowers. “If not, I’m a fool, because you are magnificently beautiful.”
don’t deserve you.” His arm curls around my hips and he tugs me closer. “But I’m going to keep you all the same.”
“Xaden.” My heart thunders. “I fucking need you, Violet. Right now. And I don’t need anyone, so I’m not quite sure how to handle this feeling, but I’m giving it my best.
He pulls back only long enough to rake his ravenous gaze down my body. “So fucking beautiful.”
“Oh gods.” “Which one are you calling out for?” he asks against my flesh. “Because it’s just you and me in this room, Vi, and I don’t share.” “You.” My fingers tangle in his hair. “I’m calling out for you.”
