Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 153795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 769(@200wpm)___ 615(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 153795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 769(@200wpm)___ 615(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
He gradually kisses me as he slides inside me, filling me inch by every savory inch.
“Oh shit,” he curses on my mouth. “So fucking tight.”
He begins with slow strokes and fervent kisses. One hand keeps steady on my hip while the other wraps around the back of my neck. His guttural groans fill the confines of the washroom as he swallows my moans.
“It feels so good being lost inside you.” He groans into the bend of my neck. “If only I could stay buried deep within you for the rest of my days… Life would truly be marvelous.”
“You have no idea how much I want the same thing,” I say as his steady strokes evolve into rigid thrusts.
He curses again, sucking on the soft skin of my neck. His thrusts pick up in speed, and his deep moans become twice as loud. The room shines gold from his ignited hands—the same hands holding my face. I circle my legs around his waist to guide him deeper, pleased by the burning light of his clear excitement and enjoyment. I feel him swell inside me, on the brink of release as I inch closer to the edge yet again.
The light brightens the thicker his breathing becomes, to the point it’s nearly blinding, but he doesn’t stop—not until I feel that familiar heat rise up through my toes and burst through me. I can’t help but cry his name as I fall.
In a sudden movement, he snatches his mouth away, jerks back, and pulls out of me. I reach out and fist him until he, too, reaches that precipice with a groan and spills on my thigh.
“Shadows,” he rasps, breathless. The glow fades ever so slowly, putting us back in dim, flickering candlelight. “You are so good.”
I blush when he gives me a lazy smile. We linger like this for a moment, basking in the bliss of what we’ve done. Eventually, he snaps out of his trance to pull his trousers up, then finds a hand towel in the bin under the basin to clean me up.
I hop off the counter, smiling up at him as I fix my rumpled tunic and then put my spectacles on. He smiles back, palms one side of my face in his large hand, and kisses me softly.
“I hate that this has to come to an end,” I tell him in a soft voice.
He studies the details of my face, his thumb stroking the lobe of my ear. “It’ll be for the best, little mortal. You know it.”
Sighing, I press my forehead to his chest, but that’s when I notice his necklace again. I pick my head back up to lift the scorpion-shaped pendant. It’s bumpy and has a thick tail.
“Does this necklace mean something?” I ask.
His eyes darken a notch. “It was a gift for my brother. I gave it to him a few months before he died.”
“Oh.” I release the pendant. “Why a scorpion? If you don’t mind me asking.”
He’s quiet for a moment as he lifts the pendant to study it himself. “He cried one day because he lost a fight during training. He was beating himself up about how he should’ve taken a certain punch but didn’t want to hurt the other person too badly so he held back. When I gave him this, I told him: ‘We can’t afford to be doves, Koa. We don’t have the privilege of flying high and soaring in peace.’” His throat bobs. “I told him since we weren’t raised with grace, we have to be scorpions instead. If we don’t strike first—if we don’t sting to protect ourselves—we stand to lose everything.”
“Wow.” I take a moment to let those words marinate. “That’s very…profound.”
“Not profound enough, obviously.” He tucks the pendant away.
We leave the washroom, but before heading to the cabin, Thane walks toward the side of the boat to chuck the hand towel overboard.
“Good idea.” I giggle. No one deserves an encounter with a crusty towel.
When Thane sits on the bench, pensively staring at the endless horizon, I join him. I huddle up against him, basking in his warmth. The ocean sound is soothing, almost enough to make me sleepy again.
“I want him dead as much as you do,” Thane says after a while. “You know that, right?”
I take my head out of the crook of his arm and look up at his face, which is now bathed in moonlight. “Seferin?” I ask.
He clenches his jaw. “He took everything from me.”
Goose bumps dot my flesh when I realize he’s about to open up again. This time, they’re not from the cold.
“Seferin was one of The Divine’s biggest advocates once. Did you know that?”
I shake my head.
“For years, he helped generals and trained some of the soldiers, including me and Koa. We believed in him because he believed in us.” Thane scoffs and shakes his head. “He told us that he was going to launch a special unit and recruit some of the strongest guards from The Divine. He promised me and my brother so many good things, said we’d be unstoppable in our magic, and swore he’d never separate us. That’s all I cared about—never being apart from my brother.”