Page 60 of A Spell of Bones and Madness
“You do not need to be delicate with me. I can take it. All. Of. It.” The lust in her eyes was intoxicating, unlocking the feral beast within him.
He felt awful, he wanted to ease her in. But then she bucked her hips up, sliding along his cock and he lost it. Placing one of Ember’s legs on his shoulder, he grabbed her thigh tight, using it as leverage as he thrust as far as he could into her. A moan flew out of his mouth as he pulled out and thrust once more into her slick core, rotating his hips slightly so he could hit that spot she seemed to like so much. If she kept doing that thing with her eyes, the flutter of eyelashes before rolling back slightly accompanied by the lowfuckshe kept whispering, it wouldn’t take him long—and he wanted it to be long. He wanted to savor every tiny piece of this moment, clinging to it for eternity as the day he finally got what he’d begged the gods for—a woman to claim as his own. A partner. An equal. Another thrust had him inching toward the edge.
“Ajax,please,” Ember whimpered, her breathing choppy as she arched her back up off the bed.
Ajax’s pace quickened, slamming into her sweet, tight core again and again as Ember began to suck in tiny breaths, her eyes closing, digging her nails into his hand that pinned her hands above her head.
“I’m going to…” her voice trailed off as she began to pulse around his cock and her whole body seemed to loosen.
It was his undoing. A guttural moan stirred in his throat as he rode out his orgasm, spilling into her until there was nothing left. He leaned down, planting kisses along Ember’s collarbone and back up to her lips, delicately placing her trembling leg back on the bed, and wrapping her in his arms.
Burying his nose in her hair, Ajax breathed in Ember’s scent, now mixed with his own. It almost had him hard again, thinking of the way the pack would smell him on her, knowing that she was his—andonlyhis.
“Can I stay here tonight?” he whispered into her ear.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she whispered back before clutching his arm and letting out a deep sigh. “If we make it out of this, promise you will spend every night by my side.”
Ajax held her even tighter. “I promise.”
Chapter Forty-Five
Katrin
The rocky shores and jagged cliffs that lay before them were nothing like the lush lands described in the history books. No sandy beaches lined the shore, only never-ending rock rolling as far as the eye could see. Rough waters surrounded that dangerous space, leaving a solitary path through choppy wake and blackness to get to the shore—that is, if their small skiff could make it in unharmed.
Leighton and Ander had lowered the skiff on the starboard side of the ship, using the pulley system to delicately place it in the water far enough out thatThe Nostoscould anchor without risk of crashing ashore or encountering an underwater obstacle. Aervading to the shore was out of the question—Ander had warnedher of that on their journey here. Even after they’d passed through the wards, magic still lingered around them, pulsing in the very air they breathed. Their elemental powers would remain—nothing could prevent those except the gold-coated shackles hidden in the mountain—but aervading was a unique form of magic, a manipulation of time and place that required sacrifice and they could not risk that. Not when they were so close to the very being that could destroy them all.
It would be difficult, navigating these uncharted waters. Leighton drew them as much of a course as he could, from the ship all the way to the mountain’s core. But he would remain with the ship—if their plan failed, someone would need to escape back to Skiatha, to warn Thalia and Ander’s brother about what was coming.
Crisp late autumn breeze should be caressing her skin, but the air around this wicked place was as hot and humid as the height of summer. Sweat dripped down her neck, clinging between her thick cotton tunic and her skin beneath. A change of clothes was in the pack slung across her, but they would not have time for that now—not as they attempted to reach the shore.
“There’s supposed to be a break in the rocks up ahead.” Ajax pointed at the weathered chart that he held in his hands threatened to be cast back out to sea by the wretched gusts of wind.
“Thank the gods,” Ember muttered under her breath.
Katrin had tried to get her sister to stay behind, but Ember refused.“Father entrusted me with this thing, not you. It’s my duty to protect it and mine alone.”Quite honestly, Katrin was proud of her sister—this formidable woman she had become—but it did not mean she wished her sister to walk with her to almost certain death.The creeping feeling of disaster and destruction was ever present in the recesses of her mind, and for the first time sinceThe Typhon,Katrin was afraid. So if she—someone who had resolved herself to death by another’s hand long ago—was wary of landing upon this rocky coast, what must her sister be feeling? What horrors now clouded her mind, altered her judgment?
“Hold steady! The waves are too fierce, even in the break. We are going to have to take the impact and hope it doesn’t crack the hull!” Ander shouted over increased roars from above. Was a storm coming? Despite the howling wind and tumultuous sea, the skies were a strangely clear blue—almost as if the depths and the heavens battled for which side of nature would hold up.
“I said hold steady!” Ander threw himself around Katrin as the small skiff splintered against the rocky coastline, rolling them onto the floorboards of the ship as he took the brunt of the force.
Katrin blinked her eyes furiously. The impact had come so fast she hadn’t had time to react. Crimson stained her palms, the tunic she wore, pooling on the ground around her. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” She tried to balance herself, to stand, but her ears still rang from the force of the blow. Her eyes drifted next to her, to where Ander lay, his hand clutching around a thick piece of the hull that had lodged itself in the side of his gut. Thick, hot liquid poured from the wound. It wasn’t her own blood she was covered in then. “I—I did this. It’ll be alright. I’ll fix it—I promise I’ll fix it,” Katrin spoke, a quiver in her voice.
“I’m fine, Starling.” His eyes met hers, deep silver pulsing in his irises. “It’s just a little splinter.”
Little!The thing was the size of her forearm—jagged and rusty at the end from the nails that had welded the pieces together.Ander gripped the piece firmly, pulling it out in a swift motion, dropping the now sanguine object beside him on the rocks. Katrin covered her mouth as a feral scream left her lips at the amount of blood that began to seep from his body. But Ander simply waved his hand over the gash, wisps of fog coating the now retreating liquid, holding steady even as he moved his hand away and stepped toward her, scanning her body now for any damage that may have been done.
“I said I was fine, Starling. No need to worry your pretty head about it.”
“How—how did you do that?” She fought back tears that had begun to line the rims of her eyes.
“God of Shield, remember? It’s not healing magic, per se, but it’ll bandage the wound long enough for my body to do the trick.” Ander flashed his signature smirk, but a crinkle remained next to his eyes and his voice strained just slightly as he spoke.
“What are you two doing, standing about over here? If there are guards posted at any of the locations Leighton warned us of, we could be sighted.” Ajax’s gruff voice came from behind them. “We need to stay moving, at least until we make it to the woods. We are sitting targets on the rocks.”
For a moment, Katrin had completely forgotten about Ajax and Ember, her mind so jumbled from the impact. “Yes—I believe the commander is correct. We should head for the tree cover as swiftly as we can. Are you two alright?” She took in the commander, who stood with his hand on his hilt, eyes scanning the shoreline and cliffs for movement. Ember was next to him, arms crossed, one brow arched,tap, tap, tappingaway with her foot.
“It appears the only one who was injured was our chivalrous prince over there.” Ajax pointed at Ander, a soft chuckle replacing his strict tone from only moments ago.
