Page 507 of Kingdoms of Night

Stunned stupid, I blabbered, “You want me—your queen?”

“You are already queen by virtue of being my wife.” He trailed down my throat, making me drop my head back in enjoyment as he reached my chest. “But becoming a goddess will ensure you never leave my side, ever.”

Relief helped me fully commit to the moment, sinking into the sweltering throes of excitement until I felt overheated, but not in a sickening way. I felt like I was accumulating heat that grew out from my center, all powered by my pounding pulse.

“You seem so surprised. Did you think I wouldn’t do either for you?” he asked in disbelief.

“It didn’t occur to me that I would be of use to you once I fulfilled my purpose here,” I admitted.

“You were never a means to an end, but the beginning of a new age.” He abandoned my chest for my face, kissing all over it, saying my name over and over like a prayer until he reached my lips and I felt like I could breathe flames. “Meeting you was the only good thing to come out of that curse—”

Overwhelmed with all the ways he made me feel, I tried not to tear up. The only response I could manage to such a statement was to let out a shuddering breath.

“—and I don’t care if I have to spend eternity convincing you of how much I love you!”

“You love me, well and truly?” I asked in a small voice, all the sensations he inspired clashing together within my burning chest.

“How can I not? How many are there like you in all of existence, mortal, divine and in-between? What can I do to start convincing you of such?”

In need of avoidance and levity, I pulled at the tunic with both hands. “You can start by taking this off!”

Impatience proved far more forceful than I anticipated, ripping it half so it slid down his arms. He looked from the ruined clothes to me, thick brows matching my frown of confusion. “That was an unusual feat of strength.”

I gaped at the torn cloth when he slid it off. It hadn’t come apart at the seams, it was torn. “I don’t know how I did that, I can’t even crack walnuts with my hands.”

Tamuz got a devilish look in his eye. “Hmm, this might require some investigation.”

“How so?”

“We could try wrestling.” He pounced on me and my giggles rang off the walls. He ended his trail of kisses between my legs, maintaining my volume, but changing the noises from ones from laughter to pleasure.

The smoldering sensation radiating off my body grew with each moan he pulled from me, so much that the friction from shamelessly squirming beneath him felt like it was releasing sparks.

After bringing me over the edge twice with his tongue alone, he rose up, flexible tongue licking off the results of efforts. But the self-satisfaction didn’t last long, as shock had him sitting back.

I rose on my elbows, panting. “What?”

“Meissa, you’re glowing.”

I rolled my eyes fondly. “Yes, you’ve told me.”

He took my hand, raising it to my face. “No, look!”

It was like the part he held didn’t belong to me, rays of light emerging from each pore in a faint but vivid golden glow. And it wasn’t just that arm, but it had spread throughout my whole body, the brightest spot concentrated in my chest.

Turning my arms over, I took note of a cloudy overlay to my skin, adding a cooler, even greener tint to the shine I exuded. “What is this?”

A snap of his fingers turned off the lights, leaving us in the dimness lit by the balcony and myself. “I believe I know what this is.”

He came alight, a beautiful blue-tinted white turning his sculpted body to luminous marble, and his hair and eyes became silver.

I reached for him, touching with reverence. “Is this moonlight?”

“It is—a display of my concentrated power as a celestial being. Just like yours.”

“But this isn’t like yours, it’s like…” I recognized where I had seen this precise sight before. “Ashtara.”

“It seems the dagger did for you what it was meant to do for her when she attacked Mahala,” he said in wonder. “This is the reason her implosion didn’t kill you, because you absorbed that power.”

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