Page 66 of The Breaker of Stars

He turned his head slightly, and his lips melted against mine, a slow answer to my desperate question. Then, the need ignited between us.

Cypherion scooped me up and carried me to the bed. Placing me down gently, he hovered over me with his elbows on either side of my head, caging me in a way that somehow made me feel more free, more alive.

As his lips skimmed my jaw, I widened my legs on either side of his hips so I could feel all of his weight against me, his heart beating against mine through our clothes. Locking one leg behind his back, I pulled him closer.

“What do you want, Stargirl?” he breathed as his mouth worked down my neck, erasing my worries. “Anything you want, all of me. It’s yours.”

My head fell back, heart beating faster with each press of his lips against my skin.

“Please,” I begged and rocked my hips against him. “I just need you now. Need you to remind me.” Remind me of the world beyond this manor and all we’d fought through to get here.

Cypherion braced a hand beside my head, looking into my eyes. He searched for something I wouldn’t let him see.

“Are you sure?” he asked, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear.

I nodded. “Positive.” It wasn’t a lie, and I was glad he didn’t insist I talk about why I wanted this so desperately. What I was preparing for.

Instead, he pulled me to my feet and untied the bindings of my gown, letting it sink around my ankles.

“Horrible dress,” Cypherion said as he wrapped his arm around my waist and lifted me back onto the bed.

“Hideous,” I muttered against his lips. Frantically, I unbuckled his leathers, and he tore off my undergarments.

We didn’t take our time, didn’t stop to indulge. He was plunging into me with one quick thrust, and the pleasure of being with him drowned out the fear of what came next.

He dragged his hips back, snapping forward and watching me for even the smallest reaction. Timing his movements to wring the highest amount of ecstasy from me. When a moan slipped up my throat, he held my hips at that angle to continue driving into me with perfect pressure.

“Cypherion,” I gasped, reaching for him. He dipped his head to capture my lips with a searing kiss.

“That’s right, Stargirl. Just us. No one else fucking matters.” As if to seal the point, he thrust punishingly.

Cypherion interlocked his fingers with mine, bringing my hand to his mouth and kissing it. Then, he placed it on the bed beside my head as he pounded into me again and again, every stroke hitting deeper.

I memorized the feel of his hand in mine. The image of him above me. The way sweat glistened across his brow and his abs contracted with each movement.

“I love you,” I whispered.

And Cypherion didn’t hesitate. “I love you, too, Vale.”

He kissed me, one hand still locked with mine, the other holding my hips in place.

And as I tumbled over the edge, and my heart stopped racing afterward, he held me tightly. “You’re never going to be at his mercy again so long as I live,” he promised. “You may be in this manor, but something is different this time.”

“What?” I asked.

“You’re not alone.” He kissed the tattooed brand on my shoulder. “It’s us against the Fates, Stargirl.”

And because of the raw conviction in his voice, I didn’t tell him that I feared he was wrong.

It was not us against the Fates, but us living in the wake of everything they’d already planned.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Cypherion

Two guards knocked on Vale’s door to escort us to the dining room. They didn’t seem the slightest bit surprised at finding both of us in her bedchamber.

We were dressed, sitting in front of the balcony doors she refused to open as I asked her to recall her favorite moments from this spot. Storm clouds rolled over the city, dark and heavy and foreboding, and Vale told me of a festival day where she sat on the balcony with one of Titus’s staff, and the girls shared some of the recreational rolled herbs she’d brought to Renaiss all those months ago.

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