Page 143 of Trials of Dusk and Dreams
“It is because love is not something you see,” Maebh continues, her words weaving a spell around us. “It is something you feel. Love is not something you consume. It’s something you earn. If you were to suddenly understand that pain, well, then cruelty would not be so delicious. You would starve, would you not? And so, my dear unfortunate souls, you are destined to hurt those closest to you for eternity.” She pauses. “The day you stop is the day you cease to exist.”
Golden feathers float in the air, stained with blood.
Willow spins to face me. Disgust glimmers in her waterlogged, red-rimmed eyes. She hates us. She abhors us. A calamity against my heart. How will we ever . . .
“Bodin?” She reaches for me, her bottom lip trembling. She runs into my arms, almost bowling me over with the force of her hug. “You came for me. Even though you had to relive this tragedy.” She glares at the memory—her disgust aimed at Maebh—not me—as my shameful past fades and swirls into a bright, sunlit meadow. “How did you find me?”
“With this.” I place her palm on my chest, where my heart beats hard—where it sings to be in her presence again. The wind changes, and her intoxicating scent hits me anew. Our bodies are pressed together. Need and desire violently surge within me. I want to kiss, taste, and know she’s real.Ours. She gives me a mischievous grin, then squeezes my aching erection with her hand. “You sure it wasn’t with this?”
A laugh erupts from deep in my belly. I’ve never felt this much . . . joy. At something so . . . It was a joke. Fun. This is what Canary wanted. For us to live.
I recall all the other, hotter ways to live. Most of them revolve around her taste, her body—my hunger to swallow her star whole.
“We need to get out of here,” I growl, take her hand, and search around the meadow.
“There,” she points. In the distance, we see a door. “I can sense the magic.”
Together, we run. Time moves differently. It colors the grass beneath our feet, raises the sun over our heads, and shifts the sky from dusk to day.
We push through the door and stumble into the stairwell inside the keep—the padlock clatters to the ground. I close the door behind us and crouch to pick it up. Memories sink into my soul and settle, finding a home. I piece together the past and the present. Rage simmers in my blood.
“Emrys knew,” I grind out. “He fucking knew.”
She makes a little sound, that breathy one caught between a grunt and a whimper. I glance up, and she’s wincing, doubled over with sweat dappling on her upper lip. Pheromones leak from her pores, a heady aphrodisiac.
I feel unleashed and hungry. Complete, even without full access to my powers.
She must see the change in my expression. She backs up the steps to the hallway, but I launch at her, taking us both down. My face buries into her, seeking around her stomach for the source of that delicious scent sparking such passion within me. She gasps and tries to slow me.
“Bodin!” she cries as my nose digs under her shirt. Sweet, sweet, smooth flesh. I lick her stomach. Good. This is good.
“You need relief,” I groan against her flesh and head south to where the nectar smells strongest. “I am here, my Calamity. Tell me what you need.”
My nose roams over the crotch of her pants and finds the damp center. I bite her mound. She moans but then tries to shove me off. “Stop.”
“Why?” I nuzzle her sweetness. Lick over the fabric. Can almost taste it.
“I don’t want to manipulate you into?—”
“Manipulate me?” I growl, eyes flashing as I stare up the length of her body. “I have fantasized about you since before you were born. All we want is to please you.” My voice deepens. “To pleasure you.”
Her lips part. A blush hits her pale cheeks.
Fucking Emrys. His insecurities have hurt her. I ease off her body and step down the stairs until she is above me, where I hope she feels safe.
“Your suffering ends now,” I declare. “You will never have to explain yourself, fight for yourself, or save yourself again. You are our queen, Willow.”
She smirks. “I think you mispronounced that word.”
“Mate,” I correct, proving I remember everything, including our time here in Avorlorna. “And mates provide for their mates, especially when they are in need.”
“Do you mean you or me?”
“Both.” I put one foot on the step above, testing her reaction.
She gives me a reproachable look. “I said no.”
“Did you?” My lips curve when I see her eyes sparkle. “Is that what you really want?”
