Page 38 of The Mirror in the Mountain

“You take me so well,” I murmured, watching as a flush crept down her chest. My shadows snaked between her thighs, teasing her before my thumb took their place.

Just when I was sure I was about to finish far too soon, I splayed my hands wide around her hips, dragging her up my body until she was straddling my face. Eva let out a surprised squeak that quickly turned into a moan as I breathed against her, “One more, hellion. Come on my tongue one more time before I lose myself inside you. I made you a promise, after all.”

Then my mouth was moving on her, her greedy hips rocking against me with abandon. I circled her more roughly with my tongue, feeling her thighs start to quake on either side of my head. My shadows streamed up her stomach, circling around her breasts, nipping at her peaked nipples.

Her gaze met mine, her eyes wholly black—then they rolled back in her head, followed by a surge of familiar darkness as she came apart. Wispy tendrils trailed down my arms, lacing around my wrists as she sagged forward, my shadows surging to keep her upright as I wrung every last shudder from her body.

I pulled her astride me, watching her gaze meet mine with an entirely sex addled expression. Then her darkness tightened around my wrists, holding them above my head.

Her eyes met mine. “Can I…”

My answer was instantaneous. “I’m yours to command, my queen.”

If she needed that sense of control, I would give it to her. Especially when the act in itself set my entire body aflame.

“Then it’s my turn,” Eva said as one of those wisps wrapped around my base. My hips jerked in surprise before she sank back onto me, the squeeze of her paired with that ring of darkness nearly making me finish right then. My shadows twisted aroundher calves as she moved on me, our magics twining together against her skin.

I couldn’t get enough of the breathy little moans she made, the way her breath caught as she seated herself fully. The way her hands tightened against my chest as she moved against me, her breasts bouncing as she picked up her pace. How much I loved the way she used me, taking exactly what she needed.

She leaned down, kissing me hard, then drew in a little gasp at the new angle as I thrust up into her, my shadows bracketing her hips. Her eyes locked with mine, the raw pleasure I saw in them stealing my breath.

One hand pressed into my chest, holding me in place as she used the leverage to slam herself down again and again. Her pace grew frantic, her fingernails clawing into my skin as her inner walls tightened around me. She let out a desperate cry as one of my shadows slipped over her center, swirling exactly where I knew she needed it.

“That’s it,” I urged as my impending release coiled at the base of my spine. “Come for me. Comewithme.”

“Bash.”

My name on her lips was my undoing. Our pleasure peaked together, and I lost myself in her.

She collapsed against me, a mass of thick hair covering my face as we just breathed together, my arms wrapping around her as her magic receded. I nipped at her ear, if only to hear the hitch in her breath, as I rubbed a hand at the small of her back. “You’re so beautiful.”

Her muffled laugh against my throat was the most perfect sound in the world. “You can’t even see anything.”

She gave a sharp twist of her head, her hair whipping off my face.

“Doesn’t change what I said,” I mumbled.

She smiled, the sight of it making my heart clench at how much I had longed for it in our time apart. Then she moved to my side as I slipped from inside her, already missing that intimate connection.

I tugged her closer, listening to the familiar cadence of her breathing as I kissed her temple, her cheek, the space next to the barely scabbed-over mark on her neck that made a fresh wave of fury flood through me. Belatedly, I realized she had felt my reaction as her muscles tensed, then trembled, a wave of emotion spilling from her that mingled with my own devastation.

I braced myself on one arm, brushing her hair back from her face with the other.

When she finally looked up at me, there were tears in her eyes. “I wasn’t sure if…if we’d ever have this again. If when I gave myself up to him, I’d ever see you again.”

I pulled her closer, unable to stop the growl low in my throat at everything I hadn’t been able to stop from happening—at everything she had willingly given up to save us. “What part of forever didn’t you understand?”

Her watery laugh lasted for a second before it dissolved back into tears. But I would take even a moment of feeling that heaviness ease on the other side of our bond.

Eva’s hand brushed my neck. It halted there, her other hand pressing against her heart. Her head cocked, then she nodded as if in confirmation.

“What is it?”

Her mouth twisted in a small smile. “Our heartbeats. They’re in sync.”

Our eyes locked together—the air between us crackling.

“My heart is your heart, Eva,” I said, covering her hand with mine. Pressing down against the beating of our hearts, keeping time together. “Don’t you know that by now?”

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