Page 35 of Salt & Blood

He leaned in and captured her plea with his lips, drinking in her frantic breaths. He caught her lower lip between his teeth and tugged. A soft whimper escaped her. Her hands trembled as she ran them through his hair.

Tension built and coiled inside him, driving him closer and closer to that edge. He moved faster, harder, pounding with furious intensity, eliciting all manner of desperate sounds from her. His tongue met her throat, tasting the sweat on her. His teeth clamped down on the small space where her neck met her shoulder, and he bit down hard.

Her body quivered as release exploded within her. He felt her spasm around him, and it sent him over the edge with her. He gave one more powerful thrust as he spilled inside her. He ground out her name again as he came undone inside her, letting himself fill her, savoring the way their bodies fit perfectly together as she met his need with her own.

“My wife,” he whispered, his body spent and his breaths still hard and fast. “My queen.”

Her hands came around the back of his neck as she gazed up at him, her eyes still wild but full of bliss. She was satisfied.Hehad satisfied her completely.

Even as a human. A mortal. Someone weaker than she was. He had elicited those sounds, that pleasure from her.

“I am yours,” she murmured, tracing her hand down his cheek. “No matter who you are. Orwhatyou are. I am yours, Cyrus. Always.”

He kissed her again, and she met his mouth eagerly as if they were making up for lost time, kissing and touching for all those moments when they had been apart.

Prue pushed against him and rolled until she was on top of him. Cyrus leaned his head back, still gasping for breath, and managed a weary chuckle.

“I—I can’t,” he groaned. “You’ve exhausted me.”

Prue only smiled, tugging at the sleeves of her dress. When she lifted the fabric over her head, leaving her in nothing but her thin shift, Cyrus felt his mouth go dry.

“Prue—” he began, but she cut him off with another kiss.

“Let me do the work this time,” she breathed before kissing him again. “I just want to be naked with my husband. Is that all right?”

He found himself nodding as she undid the strings of her shift before pulling it off and tossing it to the floor.

She was bare before him, and he let his gaze rove slowly over her tanned shoulders, her perfect breasts, her smooth stomach. She was utter perfection.

“Gods, you are a masterpiece,” he said softly.

Her cheeks flushed again. “As are you, husband.”

She kissed her way down his throat, then worked on unbuttoning his tunic. He resisted the urge to recoil, to hide himself and his pale expanse of unmarked skin. She had always liked his tattoos. Would seeing him now without them only remind her of how different he was?

But Prue didn’t react when she opened his shirt and tugged it free before discarding it on the floor. She withdrew from him, lifting her hips so their bodies were no longer connected, and he immediately mourned that loss. But then she resumed her mouth’s exploration of his body, dragging her lips down his chest and abdomen. He jerked when she hovered just above his arousal, which was still coated in his seed.

Her tongue met his length, tasting him thoroughly, and he gasped, hips jerking. He wasn’t hard again, but he could stillfeelher lips and tongue, the minute sensation quivering over him until he shuddered.

“Gods, Prue,” he groaned.

Prue smiled before taking him completely in her mouth.

And he let her. For hours, he let her touch him, kiss him, lick him anywhere she pleased. Because he belonged only to her. Even when his body could do no more, she continued to worship him as he had her. And when his goddess was finally spent, they lay tangled up in the sheets, legs twisting together as they held one another, rekindling what had been lost between them.

And not once did he think of his lost magic or his god blood. Not once did he regret being alive. Because nothing could compare to the bliss of holding Prue in his arms, of binding their bodies together.

She was his. And he was hers.

And that magic was more powerful than anything else in all the realms.

MIDAS

PANDORA

Pandora was acutelyaware of Sol standing so close, even with Evander between them. She secretly wished Mona had ordered Sol to stay with the witches. But deep down, she knew it was pertinent for him to meet the king with them.

Pandora had heard of Midas. He had once been an alchemist who worked for Apollo. When Midas discovered a magic that could turn light into gold, Apollo stole the power from him and cursed Midas. Pandora never learned what became of the alchemist after that; she was only well-versed in Apollo’s history to better serve her plot for revenge.

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