Page 386 of Heat of the Everflame

“Then maybe I need to hurry you along,” I purred. I slid off of him, huffing out a sigh at the sudden emptiness, then laid a brief, featherlight kiss on his lips.

“Diem,” he rumbled.

“Yes, my heart?” I said sweetly.

Veins rose beneath his sweat-glistened skin as he pushed at my restraints. “Let me go.”

I set another kiss in the hollow of his throat. “But I’m rather enjoying this.” My lips trailed down the center of his chest and over his chiseled torso. “I think you’re enjoying it, too.”

His skin was warm and remarkably soft despite the steel-strong core that hid beneath it. It was an odd contradiction to who he was—his stony outer facade, so cold and impenetrable, concealing the selfless heart that burned at its center.

“I’d enjoy it more if I could touch you,” he gritted out.

I hummed thoughtfully, then continued my mouth’s torturous path along the line of dark hair that trailed down his stomach.

He went completely still.

“Diem,” he warned again, low and deadly soft.

I took his cock in my hands and swirled my tongue in teasing circles around the glistening head. He hissed, his hips jerking. The movement pushed him into my mouth, and at the salty taste of him on my lips, my thoughts clouded. I lost my focus, my magic flickering, and Luther ripped free from its grip.

His hands flew to my hair. He fisted the ivory strands, tugging my head back and forcing my gaze to his. “You’re going to pay for that.”

“Punish me, then,” I goaded.

I dragged my tongue along him, base to tip, smiling as he twitched against my lips.

His eyes flared at the challenge. His grip on me tightened, the tingle of pain on my scalp setting my skin aflame.

This was quintessentiallyus, two warriors who craved peace but reveled in the fight. Even when we chose to submit, neither of us ever fully gave in. We were doomed to eternal battle—and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I parted my lips to let him know what I wanted.

“Wider,” he demanded, and I obeyed.

His eyes lit with something fierce yet reverential as he guided me down his shaft, filling me in a new, thrilling way.

His hands and hips moved in a slow, delicious rhythm. My nails dug into his thighs in encouragement, and his thrusts became harder, deeper, faster, pushing me to my limit—then pushing me even more. I welcomed it with a soft moan that choked off as he brushed against the back of my throat.

“Fuck, Diem,” he breathed, looking like a man undone. He swept a thumb across my cheek. “Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?”

Ifeltbeautiful. More than I ever had in any gown or jewelry. Even on my knees, with messy hair and watery eyes, body battered from the day’s attack, Luther looked at me like I was the most stunning thing he’d ever seen.

He pulled me to his base and nearly unraveled, uttering strangled psalms of worship to my name. The sound of him so out of control had me aching at my core. We were liquid fire and lust incarnate, so overfull with pleasure we might burn ourselves to ash.

He began to thicken in my mouth, and I pulled back, gasping and pleading for more. He sat up and tugged me into his lap, then sank inside me with a growl as he clutched me tight against his chest. He murmured his undying love against my neck in a rough, desperate voice, and with the Everflame watching over us, we tumbled over the cliff together, each other’s names echoing through the library halls.

His godhood slipped its leash with his release, sending sizzling light and prickling darkness tumbling around us. Cords of his magic encircled my body and caressed my skin, coating me in energy that felt so overwhelmingly ofhim. My godhood pleaded to join it, and I finally let her free.

The whole of the Kindred’s magic shot through the room. Fire and flowers, sparks and snowflakes, billows of wind and hoots from owls nesting outside the roof. The nips and bruises we’d left on each other healed away, and my mind opened to let himfeelthe love that bloomed inside. His magic melted into me, leaving my skin moon-bright and shimmering, and a distant harmony resonated in my ears.

He sank back onto the cushions and wrapped me in his arms. Neither of us spoke—neither of uscouldspeak—so we simplybreathed. Our deep pants slowly merged into a single, quiet pace, and our magic ebbed, the room left mercifully unscathed.

Eventually, Luther kissed my temple, then dragged himself away. I whimpered out a protest, and he smiled fondly and tucked a pile of cushions beneath my head and back. My eyes drooped with a long sigh, my body tired and my heart utterly content.

A few minutes later, a steaming cup of tea nestled into my hand. A plate of food appeared at my side, and a book on the history of mortal queens opened in my lap.

Luther crouched at my legs. “Get to reading.”

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