Page 60 of Twisted Magic

Never had she felt so alive, so fluid, so very much in love. Winding her hands behind Jadren’s neck, she sank into the kiss, pressing every part against her. Already liquid and open to him, she received him as he sank into her, joining their physical bodies with such keen pleasure, such immediate erotic lightning, that she began to climax and kept going, each thrust propelling her higher, their magic as intertwined as their bodies. And when he shouted his completion, hands vising into her human flesh as if he’d never let her go, she sank her teeth into his shoulder, scenting her feline mark on him, setting her human one atop it like a seal. Mine.

She hadn’t been aware of saying it aloud, but Jadren nodded against her, body melting into hers so they had one skin, one mind, one magic. “Yours,” he said. “Forever and always.”

A long time later, they stirred, swimming up from the depths of the—literally—transformative experience. Jadren buried his face against her throat, pressing a kiss to the sensitive hollow there, echoing her groan of protest as he rolled away, bringing her with him so they lay on their sides facing each other. He studied her with somnolent, satiated black eyes, lovingly brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. Gazing at her with tender affection, he whispered, “This floor is really hard.”

She burst out laughing. “So much for sweet nothings.”

“I’ll tell you all the sweet words you like—though they won’t be nothing—in the comfort of a cozy bed.”

“I’m holding you to that,” she replied, sitting up and registering stiffness in her body, no longer so boneless and languid. Jadren might have a point.

He grinned back, easily, no bitterness or cynicism in it, as he sat up also, casting a measuring look around the quiet room. “Well, that was fun,” he said. “I like having an arcanium.”

“Then you better aim to win tomorrow, so we can keep it.”

“Today,” he corrected. “And I plan to.”

“It’s already today?”

“Very early today, but yes. We were at it a while.”

“I lost track of time,” she admitted.

“Understandable.” He smiled at her fondly, trailing a finger down her cheek and giving her a sweet, lingering kiss. “That was a remarkable experience. Life-changing.”

“I’ve never heard you laugh like that,” she told him. “When I had you pinned, licking your face.”

“I don’t think I have ever laughed like that,” he replied, a hint of wonder in his voice. “I certainly never felt like that before. You are a miracle, Seliah.”

“You’re the one who worked the miracle, all-powerful wizard of mine.”

“It was remarkably easy,” he said, almost musing aloud. “Once I found the key, it was practically automatic. You’re right about how my magic works. I felt like I simply shifted you to the correct form, like repairing an artifact, a simple realignment of its inner workings.”

“Alas,” she said on a dramatic sigh. “In the end, I’m only an object to you. Just another enchanted artifact to employ in your rise to glory.”

“My favorite enchanted artifact to employ in my rise to glory,” he corrected with a jaunty grin, patting her bottom as she rose to stand. “Best get dressed, poppet. I’d like to get some sleep in a real bed before we clean the floor with Bogdan the blustering bully.”

They slept late into the morning, having made their way through the early, dark, and mostly silent hours back to their new apartments atop the house. Seliah awoke a few times, feeling that she should be up and about, always lulled back into drowsy slumber by Jadren’s soft caresses, soothing and luxurious, feeling as if she purred in human form under his stroking hands and murmured reassurances of love.

As he’d promised. And, as he’d also promised, the sweet words meant far from nothing.

When she awoke for the final time, Jadren was gone, leaving her alone in the bed.

With a stab of terror, she sat bolt upright, staring wildly around the quiet room, late morning sunlight streaming in. No sign of Jadren anywhere. He’d left her again, this time without even a note on her pillow and—

He appeared in the doorway, bare-chested, wearing half undone, close-fitting trousers in his signature black, a shiny leather that caught the light, with gold lightning bolts forking down his lean thighs on either side. “Did you think I left?” he asked quietly, no mockery in it.

Watery with relief, Selly nodded, shoving back the tangled mass of her hair, which seemed to have gained a level of sentience of its own overnight, the way it persistently coiled about her. “I should have known better,” she offered weakly, a bit embarrassed now by the extent of her panic.

He shrugged a little, coming toward her and sitting on the bed, taking her hand. “I did teach you otherwise,” he said, with a lift of his brows, “leaving you as I did. But I promise you, Seliah: never again. You were right about everything. We are stronger together and nothing will part me from you, not even death. Which is easy to promise since I can’t die.”

A horrible thought struck her, surprising her with its force. “But I can. I’ll grow old and eventually die, while you—”

He laid a finger over her lips to stop her, his somber expression revealing that he had thought of this before. “I’ll keep you healthy and in prime condition. We have many, many years ahead of us together. Yes?”

Moved, she nodded, giving him a kiss.

He returned it with relish, then broke off, placing a last kiss on her forehead. “You get the easy prep this morning, not needing to dress, but I have to finish getting groomed. There’s food for you, if you want to eat before I transform you.”

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