Page 331 of Night's Fall
The painting was ofLaurain a swirl of purple butterflies, mist, dragon fire and bright white stars, done inTerrinton’sindelible style, which married realism and stark fantasy with hints of illusory, all of this chaotic, but fascinating.
It was remarkable.
“I want it mounted in here,” he declared.
“Ugh,” she grunted, rolling her eyes.
He grinned at her.
“Right there, above the bureau, across from the bed,” he said, teasing, because he knew she’d hate it there, so it would not be mounted there. “Thatway, whenI’mtaking you on all fours with you facing the end of the bed,Ican fuck you and look at your face at the same time.”
“Gah!” she cried and attacked him.
He pretended to defend.
And as such, eventually accepted his defeat graciously.
* * *
“Gardening?” she whispered to him in the dark.
Fuck.
“Yes,” he replied.
She was silent.
Aleksei was on his back.Laurawas resting down his side.
It took long moments, but her whisper came back.
“And you intervened about him serving time?”
Fuck.
“Yes,” he replied.
She pressed into him, pushing her face into his throat, and doing it hard, before she kissed him there, settled and finished, still whispering, “Gods,Ilove you.”
Aleksei exhaled.
Then he turned into his mate, tangled their limbs—and wound up in each other in their bed in their gothic castle—theTrueHeirand hisTrueBridefell asleep.
* * *
In the end, they compromised about the painting.
Her portrait was mounted in the solar whereAlekseicould gaze at it every day over breakfast.
Which he did.
When he wasn’t gazing at hisLaura.
* * *
Tatra
Sky’sEdge
