A light in the flame

He laughed, the sound rough but warm. “Bloodthirsty.”

I didn’t even try to deny it.

Ash was quiet for some time. When he spoke again, his voice was barely above a whisper. “Thank you.”

My eyes opened. “What are you thanking me for?”

“For just… Just for being you,” he said.

“I’m sure many people would not thank me just for being myself, but you’re welcome.”

“Those people should die, too.”

I laughed softly.

“Sera?”

“Yeah?”

“I wish…” His voice thick, he trailed off and then swallowed.

“What?”

Whatever Ash had been about to say was lost as he tipped my head back and brought his mouth to mine. He kissed me until the ugliness of Veses faded into the background, until any concerns or worries about what we would find in Irelone went away, and until there was no space for anything but the feel of his lips against mine. Then there was nothing more than his arms around me, holding me. Me holding him.

Nothing but this moment.

Us.

It was all that mattered.

Chapter 43

I awoke sometime later to the feel of Ash’s body through the linen shirt I’d borrowed after he’d patiently undone every single tiny button on the coronation gown.

The garment was no barrier against the hard, icy-hot press of his body, nor had it stayed in place as I slept, riding up to my hips. I knew this because absolutely nothing separated his rigid cock from the curve of my ass.

I blinked open sleepy eyes, unable to make out much in the darkened chamber. I had no idea how long we’d slept, but it didn’t feel like that much time had passed after we’d left the couch and gone to bed. Together.

To sleep.

I’d thought both of us were exhausted—physically and emotionally—from the coronation, the carriage ride, and what we’d discussed upon our return.

And I figured he was still asleep, his body’s response some sort of physical reaction and not necessarily a purposeful one. Which meant I also needed to go back to sleep and not dwell on the feel of him or think about that carriage ride. Which was easier said than done as I wiggled restlessly in his embrace—

The quick, deep rise of his chest against my back stilled me. Was he awake? I started to turn my head but stopped as his hips shifted behind mine. I bit my lip as his cock slipped over the curve of my ass, eliciting a sudden, sharp slice of pleasure.

My heart kicked up. “Ash?”

“You shouldn’t call me that,” he said, his voice rough in the darkness.

Confusion rose. “I thought you wanted me to.”

“I do.” A pause. “But that may have been an unwise choice.”

“Why?”

“I would think it’s obvious.” His breath stirred the hair on the top of my head. “Hearing you call me that makes me think of the other things occupying my mind for most of the night.”

Heat slipped through my veins as sleepiness vanished. “The one in first place?”

“Especially that.”

“Do you want to hear me call your name when I come again?”

“What do you think?” His body hardened even more behind mine.

The flame of desire was shockingly quick to ignite. “You can have that,” I whispered, and he groaned as I rocked my ass against his cock. “You can take me if you want.”

“I want to, but I’m…”

“What?” I reached up, finding his cheek in the darkness. His skin was cooler…harder, almost like stone. My pulse skittered. “What’s wrong?”

He didn’t answer for a long moment. Then he finally did. “I’m hungry. And if I get inside you right now, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself. I shouldn’t even be in this bed right now. I was going to get up, but you feel… You’re so warm.”

I flashed cold and then hot. “Will taking my blood harm me? Because I’m so close to the Culling? Even if you took just enough to ease you?”

“It’s not that.” His voice had roughened. Thickened. “It wouldn’t hurt you for me to take a little.”

I forced a swallow. “Then feed.”

He didn’t move.

And in the quiet, I remembered how he’d wanted to feed when we’d been on the floor of my chamber but hadn’t. I began to understand his reluctance. It went beyond what Kolis had made him do in the past. Feeding had become tied up with Veses, even if he hadn’t fed from her. And I knew he didn’t feel worthy of taking from me, no matter what I told him.

Only the gods knew what kind of emotions were associated with feeding, but I knew he needed to feed, and the only way I could help was to offer myself.

Drawing in a shallow breath, I arched my back, stretching my neck and exposing the length of my throat as my rear pressed against him.

His shudder rocked me.

I slid my palm down his cheek to his granite-hard jaw. Then I placed my hand on the bed before me. “I’m your Consort now, and I want to be of aid to you,” I whispered, hopefully choosing the right words. “If you will allow it.”

Ash went silent and still behind me. I didn’t feel his chest move, and a deep sorrow rose. A pain that was not for me but for him—

Then he moved in that fast way of his. I was suddenly on my belly, my cheek on his forearm, and then he struck.

His fangs pierced my flesh with shocking speed. The burst of sharp, burning pain left me momentarily stu

Ash drank.

He drank deep as his fingers dug into the flesh of my hip, and mine curled into the soft sheet beneath me. His mouth moved hungrily against my throat as the heat spread from his bite, flaming those earlier sparks into a wildfire. I wanted to move beneath him, to lift my hips to him, but I remembered what he’d told me. How she used to push the limits. So, I held myself still. I flamed. Burned. But I didn’t move. I let him have complete control. He needed that more than I needed him to seize it.

And he did.

Ash swallowed as the weight of his body settled over mine, trapping me between the bed and him. A heady thrill joined the flush of desire as he lifted my ass and thrust into me. Hot, wet, and aching, I was more than ready to take him.

And I did.

He moved over me and in me, hard and fast. There was no chance of catching his rhythm or following it. He set the pace, and he didn’t slow, not even when I came apart, calling out his name so he could hear it. Feel it. He still didn’t stop, his hips pounding into me as he took and took, and I loved it—the wildness of him in control. The drag and pull of his cock, of his mouth. And when he came, I whispered his name over and over, and it was a brief forever before I felt the slide of his tongue against my throat and his hips slowed. I wasn’t sure how long we stayed that way, with him inside me, and his cheek pressed to my shoulder. All I knew was that I wanted to stay there, and I immediately missed the feel of him as he eased onto his side, tugging me so I was once more nestled against his chest.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yes.” I cleared my throat as my heart rate finally began to slow. “You?”

His hand slid across my belly to my hip. His warm hand. “I wish…” Voice thickening, he trailed off into the darkness, never finishing what he’d been about to say.

Telling me what he wished for.

Ash and I shadowstepped into Massene, a village not too far from the capital of Irelone, the following afternoon.

We arrived in a forest on the outskirts of Cauldra Manor in a blink of an eye. Maybe two. It had felt like the last time, but a strange nervousness invaded my system, making me jittery.

“That was quick,” I whispered.

“It was.” His gaze searched mine.