Page 106 of Anchor

“I wish we could stay here forever, too, though,” Taland whispered eventually.

I climbed higher on the bed so we could be face-to-face. “Can’t we just charge those pieces of rock ourselves? We have plenty of magic. Nobody will find us here.”

“We can’t. Only the people who made them can do that,” he said with a sad smile that weighed heavy on my shoulders.

“Then maybe we can make new ones,” I offered.

He arched a brow playfully. “How many old and forgotten spells to ward small spaces do you know?”

“None?”

“Thought so.” He kissed me hard. “Same number as me.”

I sighed. “I feel like I’ve lived inside this rose-colored glass box my whole life.” All those things that the IDD and the Council had been doing behind everybody’s back. So…absurd, yet I didn’t doubt it for a second. We were talking about the same people who created and ran the Iris Roe here. Those people werenotwell.

“But you broke out now,” Taland said and pulled me down so he could kiss me. “I wish you didn’t have to, not right now, but I’m proud of you, baby. There’s nobody like you.”

I rolled my eyes for show, but my cheeks flushed bright scarlet. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. You’re just saying that ‘cuz we’re naked,” I teased.

“Nope. We could be wearing clothes, or drinking tea outside, or going through a fucking storm, and I’d say the same,” he said. “I’d love you the same.”

There went my breath again, catching in my throat while my heart skipped too many beats. For so long now I’d told myself that Taland never loved me, thatnobodyever loved me, that I was simplyunlovable.But he said those words and looked at me like they came from his very core, and everything I thought or believed before just ceased to exist. Simply didn’t stick anymore.

My eyes closed to hide the tears pooling in them. “That day in the Whitefire challenge, when you asked me to lie and I saidI love you,” I whispered. “It wasn’t a lie.” It was never a lie.

He smiled. “I know, sweetness. I knew then and I know now.”

“Good,” I said, laughing a little, though a tear escaped me in silence. He saw it—of course he did—and kissed it off my cheek before it reached my jaw. “Good, because I am not leaving you out of my sight again.”

Taland kissed me. He wrapped both arms around me tightly, and he kissed me until I couldn’t breathe anymore. And when I could, I realized he’d moved us, had put me on the bed and had climbed on top of me.

“Whatever happens tomorrow, baby, remember it. I’ll love you early in the morning, and late in the night, too.” He kissed my forehead, then the tip of my nose. “I’ll love you through summer breezes and fucking hurricanes.” His lips hovered over mine and he paused for a moment, our eyes locked. “You’re all that matters. Always.”

I wanted to say the same. I wanted to say so much more. I wanted to promise him the world and the sky and every single star that sparkled when he kissed me, but somehow, I knew heknew that, too. Words were redundant; kisses communicated better, anyway. So, I gave into the kiss, wrapped my arms around his neck and held him to me with all my strength.

There would be time to talk. So many questions remained unanswered still, but I’d get to the bottom of them together with him in no time. And I no longer feared looking his brothers in the eye, either—he’d be there with me through it all.

Right now, all that mattered wasme.All that mattered washim.

And that was more than enough.

He wrapped a hand around my neck, reached the other for his raven feather that was over the bedside table, and whispered a healing spell that barely made him flinch because…

“I need to make your throat happy again.”

I didn’t really need a healing spell because he hadn’t hurt me in the least, but I didn’t complain. The heat of his magic slid on my skin and inside, soft like a caress, mending what little irritation I could have had from his cock in my throat.

Then I was on all fours on the bed, and he stood at the edge of it and fucked my mouth while ordering me to raise my ass higher, and put my fingers inside myself, too.

I obeyed, naturally, but he didn’t let us come like that. Instead, he pulled me up on the bed until I was standing, and his face was level with my boobs. He wrapped his arms around me and dove in, taking them in his mouth, biting and sucking and licking like he was doing this for the first time, and he was insatiable. All I could do was cry out and hold his head against my chest with all my strength.

Eventually he moved back with me still in his arms and went closer to the windows. He put me against the wall, my nipple still between his teeth, and he pulled the drapes to the sides without looking. I didn’t know what he planned to do, and I didn’t even bother to ask. It was enough that I knew I would love whatever it was—and I was right.

Taland let go of me only for a second, put me down on my shaking legs. He pushed the window open, then pulled me closer. Gripping my waist, he carried my weight easily and sat me on the windowsill, and said, “Can you hold yourself upright so you don’t fall, sweetness?”

I nodded and gripped the wood of the window frame tightly. “They’re flying away,” I whispered, noticing the sparks that had been in the room slowly floating out into the darkness of the night.

“I’ll make you new ones,” Taland said, then went down on his knees in front of me.

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