Page 43 of Flame and Starlight

He paused there, hovering his face over mine, making me be patient and feel every hard inch of him. I pushed my fingers through the feathers on his wings, and he buried his face in my neck before pulling out and slamming back into me with so much force I thought I’d see stars.

I continued my assault on his wings, moving in and out and gripping their hard spines. With every thrust inside of me, he touched new places I didn’t know existed. Warmth pooled in my core as he hit every nerve ending in just the right spot. When the familiar tingling started deep in my belly, his wings disappeared, and he flipped us over, him sitting up on the side of the bed and my knees on either side of his thighs.

“Bring your wings out for me.” His fingers dug into my hips, making me move in circles against him. I closed my eyes and brought them out, stretching them like tight muscles. “Take what you need from me, Alys.” And I did exactly that, taking the pleasure I wanted from him. I moved slowly on top of him, grinding him deeper inside of me. His hands found my wings and stroked them softly from top to bottom. Pleasure rocked through every part of my body, and I moved harder and faster against him.

“Oh, my God,” I murmured as I found his eyes and held them as the pressure between my thighs built. My magick pulsed along with it, just under the surface, and just as I broke, shattering around him into a million little pieces, my magick flew out of me and shook the entire room. Our eyes never left each other’s, and just as I was coming down, he caught my lips in his and groaned into his release. He planted sweet kisses all over my face and then cradled me against his chest as I tried to catch my breath.

After a few minutes, he kissed the top of my head and brought my face even with his. He pushed strands of hair off my cheeks, damp with sweat, and out of my face.

“You are beautiful,” he said, kissing the pulse point below my ear. “Your power is beautiful.” He kissed along my jaw. “Your eyes glowed a brilliant warm glow, just like Nyxa’s. It was magnificent. My own personal Goddess.” He kissed my cheeks and finally claimed my mouth. Too tired and satiated to worry about the fact that my eyes had fucking glowed, I sighed into his mouth. He unlatched the dagger from my thigh and sat my tiara on the table next to the bed. His fingers gently unclasped the necklace and sat it next to the tiara.

He stood up and carried me to the bathroom, still inside of me. I lay quietly against his shoulder, breathing in the scent of him and twirling my fingers through his shadows. My wings hung limp from my back, and it took everything in me to magick them away before we made it inside. He snapped his fingers, and the bath was full and steaming. He lowered us slowly down into the warm water and eased himself out of me. My muscles melted, and my eyes were so heavy I could barely keep them open.

“Rest, princess,” he said as he began to wet my hair. “I’ll take care of you.” My eyes closed and darkness found me.

CHAPTER TWENTY

I awoke to the sun shining in through the wall of windows, and surprisingly, my head wasn’t pounding. Asher’s and my limbs were tangled together, and my head was tucked into his chest. I breathed in the sweet smell of him and ran my hands up his back as I looked up at his sleeping face. His face was relaxed, lips slightly parted while he breathed evenly in sleep. The shadows encased us both and lay still against our skin. I reached up and pushed the stray strands of his midnight hair back out of his eyes.

“I was thinking about teaching you how to fly today, but if you keep looking at me like that, we won’t leave this bed.”

I smiled wide. “I thought no one could see my wings?” I asked between the kisses I planted along his jawline.

“Zemira, after scolding me for not teaching you how to use them and your powers, told me I could take you into the mountains to teach you today.” He finally opened his eyes and lazily stroked my hair.

“My eyes glowed last night.” It was a statement and a question, and my cheeks burned at the memory. I buried my face in my hands.

“They did,” he said with a small laugh. He peeled my hands away from my face. “All magick, all power is different. You have parts of Nyxa in you. It’s really not a surprise that your power would mimic hers.” I watched him stretch and stand up out of the bed. His shadows lingered on my body, letting me see more of him in all his naked glory. “I’ll go get you some coffee, and when I get back, we’ll head out.”

I nodded and sat up, holding the sheet over my chest, and watched as the shadows that lingered stayed with me as he got dressed and left. I held out my arms and watched as they danced over my skin.

“Do you lot not need to go with him?” They curled tighter around me, so I shrugged and crawled out of bed to get dressed. Mavka had packed a few pants and shirts that would work much better than a dress.

I knew when he came back because the shadows around me began to pull towards the door, and his leaked down the hallway towards me, mingling together. After tying my boots up, I gave them what they wanted and walked out to the front room, grabbing my coffee out of his hands.

“Thank you,” I said as he kissed my hair. “Some of your shadows stayed behind with me.”

“I saw that. They must find you somewhat tolerable as well.” I gave him a pointed look, and he planted kisses across my frown.

“Take me to the mountains so that I can kick your ass in this flying lesson.”

He chuckled and picked me up. “Brat,” he said. I punched him in his chest as he took off in the air.

“I am not jumping off of that cliff, Asher!” I was yelling, but we had traveled out in the middle of nowhere, so I wasn’t concerned someone could hear me. “Can’t we just start off by having me flap them a few times?” My wings were out but tucked tightly against my back.

“If you do that, you’ll just end up falling on your ass. Go ahead. Give it a shot.”

I shot daggers with my eyes but rolled my neck and stretched my membranous wings out to each side and then gave a hard thrust. I was pushed backwards and landed flat on my butt. Asher was hiding his mouth behind his hand, but I could still see him laughing.

“Fine,” I said as I stood up and dusted the snow off my pants. “But if you let me fall and die, I will haunt your ass.” I walked over to the edge, and he followed me.

“I’ll fly down a bit and wait there to catch you in case you don’t get the hang of it. I really think it’s going to come naturally to you. You’ll be fine.” With a mock salute, he leaned back and fell off the edge of the cliff. I crossed my arms and peered over at him.

“Show-off!” I shouted against the wind. He hovered out in the air, his wings pushing him up and side to side as he waited for me. Heights was another fear of mine. My knees would even get weak when I watched Spiderman swinging from rooftop to rooftop on a TV screen.

But Asher was waiting out there, and this was a new life. I had wings, and I needed to learn how to use them. I’d rather learn how to use them when I knew he’d be there to catch me instead of when I needed to use them and could end up crashing down.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I could feel him out there, patiently waiting, giving me the time I needed to work up this amount of courage.

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