Page 105 of An Empress of Earth & Darkness

“I love you,” he breathed against her cheek as he gave her everything that he had. “I loved you before you would even look at me that way, before I knew this was possible.”

Every breath, every moan, was sending her closer to the edge of that spiralling bliss, and he loved it.

“I love you too,” she managed. “I’ve loved you from the minute you challenged me to use my magic to the minute I took your name. I love you, Torin Blacksteel. Endlessly.”

The sound of his name on her lips sent him crazy. Her climax exploded and he tumbled over with her as he called her name. With his last thrust, they collapsed into each other, snapping the pole and taking the tent down with them as they hit the ground. Heavy fabric surrounded them, and Emara quickly snuffed out any flame with her magic.

Torin couldn’t even register what had happened fully, but all he knew was that he had somehow twisted and Emara was now on top of him. A tremor shook through him, and he blinked away the stars from a mind-blowing release.

Emara laughed and batted away the tent’s fabric. “Did we just break the martial tent?”

He bit into his lip to hide how much he enjoyed it. “I think we did.”

So…” Artem and Breighly melted against the mossy forest floor, spent of everything. “You really still have no feelings for me? Even after that?”

He had fucked her hard against the tree, and she had greedily taken everything he had to offer—every stroke, every thrust, every bite. It had been wild, untamed, euphoric.

Why must he be so talented with his body? Why couldn’t she get enough of it?

Breighly considered the question and blinked. “Nope.”

Her head rested on Artem’s bulky arm, and as they lay together, she noticed the ink on his body as he stroked his fingers down to her navel, enticing goosebumps from her skin. He was relentless. His endurance was impressive. And he was totally distracting her from the sword of Thorin that marked the skin on his stomach.

He gave her a grin. “I thought you females released a hormone that meant you had attachments after sex.”

Breighly rolled onto her side away from him and snatched up Artem’s ripped tunic that lay an arm’s length away. She flung it over her shoulders. “I can see that your cocky arrogance continues to fill your head with utter nonsense. You really should stop listening to all that male drivel they teach you in the Selection.” She flung him a daring scowl over her shoulder.

He rolled onto his side with a grin plastered over his face. His hand landed in the space she had been, and she noted the beautiful black and red rose on it. “Really? No feelings whatsoever?”

Breighly hesitated for a second longer than she would have liked. “Absolutely not,” she said, getting to her feet. Her fingers acted like a comb as she dragged them through the front of her hair, brushing out a few small twigs and moss.

“Nothing?” His voice was a little higher than normal, like he didn’t believe her. She heard him pulling on his leathers behind her.

“Zero feelings,” she said, her heart thundering as she lied.

“Then why does this need to stop?” Artem caught her off guard, and she turned to look up at him. “You said it yourself that you like no strings attached. Why are you so insistent in pushing away something that works? If this is what you say it is and you don’t have feelings for me, why end it? This doesn’t need to be the last time.”

She took a step towards him. “Why are you so insistent in getting your heart broken?”

He scoffed. “You think that you can break my heart?”

She bit down on her tongue; she had learned from her mistakes on Tolsah Bay and she needed to keep her inner wolf in check. “I know I can.”

“Look…” All six feet and five inches of statuesque warrior moved towards her. “I like you. You make me laugh and you keep me on my toes. Plus, I can’t stop thinking about how you make love.” He knew those two words would rile her heart, and he waited for a beat to see what reaction he had provoked. All Breighly did was roll her eyes and scowl.

Rein in your inner wolf! she screamed in her head.

He chuckled like he’d heard it. “Why do we need to end something that works for both of us?”

“Because the world doesn’t look at you like you are whore for enjoying sex.” She was quicker and snappier than she had wanted to be, and she had to pull back the fierceness in her tone. “I am a guard now.”

His brows pulled down and his lashes fluttered a little. “Emara didn’t care about you having sex, Breighly. I don’t even think she cared about us having sex. I think it was just because it was in her bed.”

She let out a dramatic sigh. “The fact that you think it’s Emara that I am worried about says it all about your male privilege.” Her gaze bore through his soul, and he shifted his weight to his other leg. “It’s not about the sex or the bed or even you. It’s about the fact that I am a guard and I need to be—”

“Respected?” He cut in.

“Not sexualised because I am a woman. Can you imagine if the men in the clan found out about us? They would think I got this post as Emara’s guard because I fucked the chief commander’s son. When I worked in the tavern, it was normal for a guy to look at me and notice my body. I was fine with that because it was what earned me money there. Fuck, I am not even ashamed to say that I played into it. I am not embarrassed about my sexuality. But you have no idea what it is like to be a woman in this position, trying to earn the respect of men who see you as an object of either pleasure or childbearing.” She only came up to his chest, but she looked him in the eye as she continued. “They see me as the weaker sex and nothing more. Someone who should get married and have kids. I should stay at home and bend to the will of my husband. They don’t see my teeth or my claws or my speed. They don’t see how easily I can kill. They don’t see my clever decision-making. They see a girl who wants to prove a point, and they want to see me fail because that’s how they built the world for people like me.”

---