Page 107 of Shade of Ruin

All the while, his body slides in and out of me, and the inferno that he lit inside me grows with each thrust. It’s desperate to explode, and I cling to him, not sure what will be left of me at the end of this.

I don’t care, though. I want to feel everything. Even if there’s nothing left when he’s done. My eyes don’t leave his. My body shakes under him as the pressure inside me becomes too much to hold back.

A deep moan leaves my lips, and my back arches. “That’s it,” he growls into my ear. “If tonight was my last night, I would be happy now.”

I can barely comprehend the words as my body shakes. He’s not done, and his body only moves faster, sending little lightning bolts through me. His jaw tightens as he looks down at me, purpose in those glowing eyes, and he pulls me tighter to him. Only for a few seconds, and then I scream as my body explodes with those sensations again.

And his fingers tighten against me hard enough to bruise as he roars out his own release. I don’t know how, but something has changed. I stare into Cole’s eyes even as my body writhes under him as he slows and finally stops. Something has changed. Just like that night on the river when we tied our souls together.

Not something tangible. Not something truly describable. But something, nonetheless.

“I never expected to do that,” I whisper. I spent my life not believing that my world would ever be anything beyond the forest. “I…”

“You’re incredible,” he says, completely ignoring my words. He’s not being rude. Those eyes that seem to peer into my soul couldn’t be trying to be rude. That’s when I recognize it. I don’t want to think about my past. The days before I met him. “There’s only tonight,” he whispers.

I smile at him. “You’re incredible, too,” I say, and he leans forward to kiss me. Soft. Kind. A kiss that is not supposed to incite desire, and yet… I still feel that drumbeat quicken. His finger traces a line from my collarbone to my breast.

“Now, if only we’d remembered to bring snacks,” he says with a grin. I just shake my head and relax, not at all unhappy with my shadows as a bed.

“Lay down with me,” I whisper. “We don’t need to be anywhere tonight.”

I rub the solid shadows beside me and grin up at him. “You know that when you wake up, you might have to do that again, don’t you?”

He chuckles, and flames sputter to life in the air beside him, his desire fading and being replaced by excitement. “I’d be happy to bring you to earth shattering ecstasy twice a day every day forever.”

Forever. That’s a thing for Immortals. I think I could get used to that. Cole sits back, and I lay down sideways on the shadows, the makeshift bed that’s perfectly soft. It’s more like a cloud than any bed could ever be. When Cole curls up beside me and puts his arm around me, I don’t think I could ever feel safer.

This is what I’ve wanted. This exact feeling. My body thrums in contentment. Not desire. Not anger. Not joy or pride or excitement or annoyance. Contentment.

Something that I could never have found in Blackgrove. Something I could never have found in the forest.

Only in Cole’s arms could I have found it. Only having his arms around me, his naked body pressed against mine. And I smile.

Because tonight is the kind of night that dreams are made of.

Interlude 4

22 years ago

The child squirms in the High Fae’s arms. A beautiful little girl that was born with a purpose that no one, not even she, can know. The Forgotten Ring hangs onto her finger just as tightly as it had held onto the female’s finger so many times in the past.

The ring was not meant for infants only a year old, but the female would have to trust that her handmaid would watch over the child and prevent her from removing the ring. Soon enough, her powers will begin to stir.

Already, the female can feel the shadows pushing through her resolve, desperate to be released into the world. Unlike the other Great Houses, the stronger High Fae from the House of Shadows are incapable of keeping their shadows completely leashed.

The child means so much to her, more than she’d expected. “Little Star, I’m going to miss you, but know that I’m watching you. Just like you watch the stars in the sky every night, I’ll be looking at you more than you’ll know. I just won’t be able to touch you. I won’t be able to hold you or play with you. But I willwatch you. And one day, I’ll hold you again. Until then, you’ll have to be my Little Star.”

She’d expected this moment to be easy. For other Immortals, it would have been, but she’d been here with this man for years now, and he’d taught her things. A human. Absolutely powerless against the world around him. He was different from what the female had imagined.

When he kissed her, it was not like when High Fae had kissed her in the past. Her bedroom partners had been many before she’d left Draenyth, a normal thing for a female from the House of Shadows. But she had never had alover. She had never known the emotions that stirred inside her now, nor had she known what it was like to have them stir inside her partner like this.

The pain that he would feel rips at her heart in a way that shouldn’t be real. Why should she care about a worthless human’s pain? About his emotions? It’s a weakness, and she should purge it from herself.

But the thought of losing these emotions would be worse than hurting the human. To go back to being that cold, heartless Queen seems like giving up everything that matters. The little girl in her arms would just be a tool to her, then. Not her Little Star.

“It’s time, isn’t it?” the man asks from behind her. She’s sitting on their porch holding their daughter. The rocking chair he’d built her to sit in while she watched the night fall squeaks just a little as she rocks the child one last time.

“No. Not quite, Sandor. I… I would like to do a very stupid thing first.”

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