Page 20 of Court of Bone and Amethyst

“The Book of the Court of Bone and Amethyst,” I say softly. “The history of House Otreyas.”

His brows lift. “And you read all of it?”

I nod.

“Did you discover anything that can help us?”

“I’m not ready to talk about it yet.” My eyes meet his, and a flinch of emotion moves through them, as if he’s hurt by my response. But he merely nods. “There is something else I want to see first.”

“Oh?”

I point down the dark tunnel that continues on the other side of the room. “Earlier, I heard the ocean through there.”

“I’ll go first,” Zyren says.

“There is nothing here that will hurt me,” I say, “but if it makes you feel better.”

He shoots me another look filled with unspoken emotion, then turns and leads the way down the tunnel. It does not go far, only half as long as the distance between the library and the room. The sound of the crashing waves grows louder as we walk, and the scent of salt, and the moisture in the air. Moonlight becomes our beacon, a silver carpet illuminating the path, and then, the passage opens onto a narrow stretch of cliff covered by an overhang of rock.

The ocean and the night sky seem to reflect each other, stretches of inky blue-black, one glimmering with waves, the other glittering with stars. A yellow moon hangs high overhead. I walk to the edge of the cliff, tiny pebbles skittering over it to fall into the waves far, far below. I stand and I stare at the vastness beyond, my hair whipping in the strong wind. I wish I had not dyed it. I do not want to hide anymore.

I want vengeance. And I want my throne back.

“There doesn’t seem to be a path down from here,” Zyren says, his tone disappointed.

“That’s not why I came out here,” I say, shaking my head. “I know another way out of the castle, a better way, big enough to take the horses.”

“From the book?”

I nod. “Yes. I just wanted to see this place. Clearly one of my ancestors took the time to finish this tunnel and connect it to the ocean. A private view of the sea, I suppose. Or maybe a good place to practice magic.”

Zyren watches me as I watch the sky. “You seem… different. Something about you has shifted.”

“I’m not different,” I say. “I’m just finally the person I was always meant to be.”

“The Queen of Valaron,” he says, his voice holding a rumble like distant thunder across the waves.

I glance over at him, our eyes sparking gold and silver against the night sky. He takes a step closer to me, his fingers brushing against mine.

“These last few hours have been torture,” he says softly. “I exist to protect you. I exist to beyours. But I could do nothing. Hours and hours I waited, and wondered, and prayed you were okay, and I could do nothing to help you.”

“I didn’t need to be helped,” I respond gently. “Not this time.”

His voice holds an urgency when he speaks. “Don’t ever leave me like that again.”

Then his hand slides behind my back, pulling me against him, and his lips find mine. They are hot and desperate, as if he can brand his words into me. His tongue probes against mine, claiming my mouth, and his free hand snakes into my hair, grabbing a fistful of it. It’s everything I’ve craved since that night in the meadow, body and heart and soul. And it’s everything I now know I cannot have, not ever again.

But in this moment, I forget the horrible truth I’ve learned, and I melt into my desire.

My hands race underneath his tunic up the strong, hard length of his scarred back, my nails digging into him, pulling him closer, leaving their own mark. Zyren growls and shifts his lips down to the side of my neck, kissing and biting his way down the sensitive skin there. He sinks his teeth into my shoulder, the top of my breast. I let out a cry of pleasure and pain, and I feel him harden against me.

He peels my shirt off me, and then his own. Then he lifts me, and I wrap my legs around his hips as we crash into the stone wall behind us, the roar of the waves at our back. His muscularbody wraps around me, his arms encasing me, his hips pressed to mine. Our lips meet again, and he gyrates his hips against me until I see stars. My hands work quickly at the buckle of his pants, and I pull the length of him from within. He yanks mine down just enough, and then he thrusts into me.

Our cries merge and rise together into the sky. It feels so perfect I can’t imagine that it could ever be wrong, that our fate could ever be so cursed. Each time he enters me, the night spins around us, and my pleasure builds to a crescendo more powerful than the waves. And each time he enters me, I think the same word, over and over again.Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye…

When bliss explodes within me, Zyren also lets out a cry and shudders, pulling me close as we lose ourselves. For those few precious moments, I truly forget. I collapse against him as we recover from the intensity of our climax, and I listen to his heart beating beneath my cheek.

“I’m sorry,” Zyren whispers against me. “I know I’ve been distant, and that I said so many things…”

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