Page 85 of The Other Side of the Mirror

Then I crushed my mouth to hers, savoring every sound I tore from her throat.

“I’m going to come,” she moaned against my mouth.

“Then come for me, hellion.”

I felt it as she let go, my order pushing her over the edge. Her entire body quaked with the force of her orgasm; her inner walls gripping me so firmly I couldn’t help but lose myself inside her. I held her tightly as she went limp against me, my lips still hovering over hers.

“Let’s have at least two when the time comes,” Eva breathed, a twinkle in her half-lidded eyes.

I trapped her chin between my thumb and forefinger, bringing her mouth to mine. Then I kissed her thoroughly, coaxing a shiver from her that I felt down where I was still inside of her, unwilling to let her go just yet.

“I…I never thought I could be so complete,” I whispered, the words achingly true.

There was something almost heartbreaking about the hesitant wonder sparking across our bond. Like Eva had gone too long without letting herself love anyone, and she didn’t entirely know what to do with the enormity of her feelings. It made me want to spend the rest of my days making sure she never went without it ever again.

“I know,” Eva responded softly, her eyes dancing. I nipped at her shoulder, and she laughed. “I love you too. More than I ever dreamed I could love anyone. And one day, when this is over, I’d like it if we could take that love and bring a child or two into the world we build together.”

We spent the rest of the evening tossing out baby names, laughing at each other’s vetoes. Her previous apprehension was mostly gone except for the occasional twist of anxiety snaking across our bond, a worry line gracing her forehead. I kissed it away every time I saw it, relishing the way her face relaxed into a smile.

When the full moon gleamed off the snow-covered awnings, I wrapped her tightly in my arms, stroking her hair until she nodded off. Her soft, sleepy sounds and the gentle rhythm of her breathing quickly took me with her.

* * *

While we waited for my rangers to report back, Eva and I spent the next few days wrapped in each other, making love on every surface of our room as well as a few others. Our escapades in the mountain air always ended in having sex against a tree, or with Eva bent over whatever she could find to hold onto while she moaned my name loud enough to make the birds flee their nests.

When we weren’t all over each other, we trained—Eva quickly gaining back her strength—and we planned. Her wounds were fully healed, but she would always bear the marks of her imprisonment. A pale band wrapped around her throat where the collar had sapped her magic, stark against her tan skin. Two thin scars sliced around her wrists. And a jagged crescent marked where he had bitten her.

I found the symbols of her survival beautiful and told her as much as I worshiped them with my mouth. Eva had quietly agreed as she traced the deep scar on my side. My warrior…my hellion. Though it would take time to heal from the trauma of what she had gone through, we would work through it together, one day at a time.

But finding a way into Morehaven’s dungeons took the majority of our focus, and I could feel the growing tension across our bond as Eva dwelled on her brother’s continued captivity. While I knew Aviel wouldn’t kill Tobias—not when he could use him to lure her back to him—I had a growing sense of unease as time ticked away and the prince stayed in his castle, along with his retinue of soldiers. So we waited as our best spies and scouts tracked the guards’ movements in and around Morehaven.

As we waited, we gathered what intelligence we could. Eva recounted the layout of the castle from her tours and unsanctioned wanderings, drawing neat little maps with different pathways to escape. Marin, who had left for Imyr to keep an eye on things there, sent schematics she located in the keep’s library from before the war. Rivan stockpiled everything we would need once we got inside, including a saw made to cut through iron should we not find a key to Tobias’s manacles, and the magic absorbing device my mother invented. The one Marin had used to free Eva from that collar.

I shuddered as I remembered the blood and bruises marring Eva’s throat when the metal cracked in two, and sent my mother a silent thank you for her forethought that I hoped reached her in the beyond.

All too soon, yet somehow not quickly enough, my rangers sent back their findings in a flurry of parchment, and we finalized our plan.

As Eva and I hurried to our room to get our packs, I grabbed her hand, sensing her anxiety like a frenetic hum.

“We’ll get him back,” I promised.

“You can’t know that.” Eva countered, obviously struggling to get her breathing back under control.

I wondered if she was picturing the last time she had been there and the evil bastard we might encounter should things go wrong. While a darker part of me wanted to have the chance to cut Aviel up piece by piece for what he had done, and what he had tried to do to myanima, I knew Eva deserved that killing blow, should the opportunity arise.

Reaching under the bed, I pulled out the gift that had arrived this morning by way of my fiendishly smiling sister. Silently, I handed it to her, hoping it might ease the fear and trepidation on her face for even a moment. Eva’s eyes widened at the black leather scabbard, her mouth forming a perfect O as she gaped at the sword in her hands.

I watched her take in the weightlessness of the blade, even before she unsheathed it with a practiced motion. My smile widened as she gasped aloud.

The blade itself was made of the same rare black metal as my own, strong as steel and dark as midnight. And conducive to magic, unlike its iron brethren. Its elegant basket-hilt swirled around a black leather grip that melded into an obsidian pommel. A single black diamond gleamed darkly at its base.

“It’s for you, if that wasn’t clear,” I said lightly. “Hopefully it’s not too on the nose.”

“It’s perfect,” Eva sighed, expertly spinning it around in her hands.

Her mouth curved into a small smile as it sang through the air. But there was still something tight in her face, worry drifting down our bond as she secured it back in its sheath.

I lifted her chin with my hand so her eyes met mine, the gold around her irises glowing like embers. “I’ve always known exactly how strong you are. Which is why I know you can do this. But I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

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