Page 112 of The Tenth Muse

“What plan?” I demanded, struggling to make sense of her words through the haze of arousal and old pain. “What are you talking about?”

Her lips curved. “The plan we made together, all those years ago. To grow stronger, smarter, to tear down the corrupt institutions that sought to keep us under their heel.” Her eyes flashed. “Tell me you remember, Kaelen. Tell me you haven’t forgotten our vow, our purpose.”

I swallowed hard, mind racing. A plan? A vow? I forced myself to think past the feel of her skin on mine, the scent of nightshade and sex that clung to her. There was something, a wisp of a memory ... Late nights huddled together, whispering our dark dreams to the stars ...

I met her hungry gaze, lips parting. “I remember,” I breathed.

Arisya’s smile turned triumphant. With a wave of her hand, the shadows of the devil’s snare melted away, replaced by a shimmering vision of our younger selves, tangled together beneath a canopy of stars.

I watched, transfixed, as the memory played out before me. We were little more than children then, all sharp edges and rumbling bellies. But there was a fire in our eyes, a fierce determination as we mapped out our futures between fevered kisses.

“We’ll get out of here,” my younger self vowed, trailing reverent fingers down Arisya’s spine. “We’ll rise above the gutter, fill our pockets with gold and jewels. Dine on fine delicacies and dress in silk and lace. And then we’ll burn it all down, my love. Raze their glittering towers to ash and build something better from the rubble.”

Arisya pulled me closer, pale skin gleaming in the moonlight. “And we’ll do it together,” she promised fiercely. “Always together, no matter what it takes. Even if we must spend years apart, grow strong in the shadows ... We will find our way back to each other.”

I watched, breathless, as our younger selves sealed their pact with a searing kiss, stars glinting overhead. Arisya’s fingers dug into my shoulders as she steered us out of the memory, the devil’s snare reforming around us.

“Do you see now, my heart?” she murmured, dark eyes boring into mine. “Do you remember the promises we made, the future we dreamed of?”

Shame burned through me, sharp and acrid. How could I have doubted her? How could I have let the long years dull the vividness of our visions? I’d been so focused on surviving, on the next score, that I’d lost sight of what truly mattered.

“I remember,” I whispered hoarsely, leaning into her touch. “I’m sorry I ever forgot. But I’m here now, I swear it. We’ll see our plan through to the end. Together.”

Arisya’s smile was a flash of white in the gloom, fierce and triumphant. She leaned in to capture my lips with her own, the kiss searing me down to my bones.

“Together,” she agreed, the word thrumming with power, with promise. “Now and always, my heart. Now and always.”

five

. . .

Back in my own body,still entwined in the devil’s snare, I tried to lighten the heavy, charged atmosphere between us. “You know, you left us right when things were getting good back there.”

Arisya’s lips curved into a familiar smirk, sending heat skittering down my spine. “Did I now?” She trailed her fingertips down my side, each point of contact sparking like lightning against my overheated skin. “I suppose I’ll have to make it up to you.”

I shivered as her hands mapped the curves and planes of my body, lingering in all the places she knew drove me wild. The touch was different in this form, every sensation magnified, my nerves singing with a fierce, desperate ache. “I missed this,” I admitted, voice ragged. “Missed you. Missed us.”

“Oh, Kaelen.” Arisya’s expression softened, full of tenderness and remembered passion. “I never stopped missing you. Never stopped loving your body, your mind, your spirit.”

Her magic pulsed around us, within us, tugging at my core. It felt as if she were reaching into my very soul, filling me up until I thought I might burst from the intensity of it. Pleasure coursedthrough my veins, building and building as her power sang in harmony with the frantic beat of my heart.

“Please,” I whimpered, straining against my bonds. I was aflame, consumed by the need for more—more of her touch, her kiss, her everything. “Please, Ari, I need ...”

“I know, love. I know.” Arisya’s hands skated lower, brushing the curves of my breasts, the quivering plane of my stomach. Lower still, until her clever fingers were stroking me exactly where I craved her most. “I’ll give you what you need. I’ll always give you what you need.”

I cried out at the first touch, back arching as much as the devil’s snare would allow. The pressure was exquisite, maddening, stoking the fire in my blood to an inferno. I lost myself in her caress, in the wicked promise of her gaze, the whole world narrowing down to this single, shining moment. To her. To us.

“That’s it,” Arisya crooned, fingers moving in merciless, devastating circles. “Just let go, my heart. I have you now. I’ll always have you.”

The oath pushed me over the edge and I shattered in her arms, stars bursting behind my eyelids as ecstasy ripped through me. Arisya held me through it, whispering words of praise and devotion, her magic wrapping me in a cocoon of warmth as I slowly drifted back down to earth.

“I love you,” I murmured when I could speak again, the words ripped raw and bleeding from my chest. “I don’t ever want to be without you again.”

“You won’t be,” Arisya vowed, sealing the promise with a kiss. “From this moment on, we walk the same path, fight the same fight. And when the dust settles, when our enemies lie broken at our feet ...” Her smile was a blade, bright and vicious. “The world will be ours for the taking.”

The air crackled with energy as Arisya’s fingertips grazed my skin, igniting a slow burn that spread through me like wildfire. “I’ve always loved your form,” she murmured, her voice a sultry whisper that wrapped around my heart. Her touch was languid yet deliberate, every stroke sending ripples of magic pulsing against my body, enveloping me in warmth.

I felt her essence weaving around me—an intoxicating blend of sensation and sound that thrummed in tune with the very core of my being. It was as if she were diving deeper than skin, swimming into my soul, pulling at the strings of pleasure that lay dormant within. I gasped as she plucked my nipples, the sharp bite of sensation causing a whimper to escape my lips. “More,” I begged, urgency threading through my voice.

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