Page 54 of Steeling Light
I groan as he bottoms out, and there are still several inches between us. Rhion’s panting below me, but he doesn’t put his hands on my hips. He knows how different in size we are. He can feel the pain through the bond, but he also can feel how happy I am.
I reach below me and wrap my hands around the base and squeeze. Rhion can’t help himself. His hands go to my hips, and then he’s in control. He lifts me up just a little and thrusts. Each time he bottoms out, and pain rockets through me. I don’t cry out. I don’t try to stop him.
This is what I want. To experience him as he is and as I am. I need to know the man I’m betrothed to.
I stare into his eyes. I watch as he takes me without reservation, and something inside me changes. It’s not a shift. It’s… anevolution.
I am not the woman who came to Selithar a month ago. When I arrived, I didn’t fit with Rhion. We were enemies. He was one of the most dangerous people in the world in my mind. I only wanted to finish my task and go back to Stormhaven to my friends.
Now… Now, that is barely a conscious thought. All I truly want right now is to be right here with Rhion. I want him to show me who he is deep down without having to protect me. I need him to feel the way I love him because I do not have the words to portray it.
And I change. Maybe it’s my magic. Maybe it’s the bond. Or maybe it’s what happens when two Immortals both grow to fit each other.
But there is no scent of forged metal. No possibilities have changed my body. It’s something else.It’s something I’ve never heard of.
Suddenly, the pain changes. It’s still there, but it’s not all-encompassing. When he thrusts, he doesn’t bottom out until his hips connect with mine. His fingers grip me even tighter, and his thrusts become lightning fast.
All I can do is moan. Just a long, low moan as he takes what he’s dreamed of for all these years. I have to put my hands on his abs to steady myself as my knees threaten to give out on me. My entire body quivers as the pain turns into ecstasy.
Rhion roars as he slams me down on his hips, impaling me completely. The throbbing release inside me sends me soaring, and I can’t stop from crying out as my legs give out. He keeps me still, anchoring me to him as if he were the only stable thing in the world.
I take a deep breath as the aftershocks roll through me, and my legs only twitch a little. As Rhion continues to stabilize my quivering body, he whispers, “I don’t think I’ll ever have a dream as perfect as reality.”
The man underneath me is the most wonderful, beautiful man I could have ever imagined. “I know the feeling,” I say with a grin. With a sigh, I roll off him. Before I turn to lie on his shoulder, he says, “Wait. I have something for you.”
A frown crosses my face. What could he have for me? And why’s he thinking about it right now?
He reaches into his travel pack. It takes him a moment to find a paper-wrapped object slightly smaller than my fist. He hands it to me and says, “I made this for you when I was in Draenyth. I had planned to give it to you as soon as I got back, but everything was so chaotic, it didn’t seem like the right time.”
I unwrap the paper, and inside there’s a necklace. A piece of hematite with red veins running through it hangs from a silver chain. It looks so familiar, but I don’t know where I’ve seen it before.
I look from the necklace to Rhion. “Why do I know this stone?”
“It’s my half of the hematite we found in that crystal cave all those years ago. Do you remember? I took you…”
I nod to him, the memory coming back in vivid detail. “We went for a walk in a crystal cave that you thought might feel like the Keep of Light. You found the hematite, and it broke into two pieces. You’ve kept it all these years?”
“It was one of my favorite days, Ainslee. It’s more than that now, though. Put it on.”
I don’t quite understand what he means. I want to, though, so I turn my back to him and hold the chain behind my neck for him to clasp. For someone with hands as big as his, he doesn’t struggle with the tiny clasp.
Everything is forgotten as I feel pulled into another world. No, it’s not quite like that. I’m watching a scene as if it’s my dream. I realize what’s happening as soon as I see myself standing in the Moonlit Pools.
It’s not my dream. It’s Rhion’smemory. I’m seeing all of this from his perspective. He bends down to kiss me, and I can feel all the fears rolling through him. The fear of rejection, the fear that I’ll hate the way he kisses me, the fear I’ll never want this again. The greatest of all, though, is the fear he’s ruining what happiness he’s found with me.
Laughter between the tears. Nothing more and nothing less.
I’d wanted him to kiss me so badly, but feeling this moment through him is something I hadn’t ever imagined. Then our lips touch, and I kiss him back, and every fear disappears in a moment. Pure happiness is all he feels. It’s the only thing he’s ever truly wanted. More than a Throne. More than his father’s approval. More than friends or strength or power.
He wanted me to want him. He wanted to kiss me, to feel this intimate touch, and not to have me recoil. He never believed that someone like me could love someone like him. The most he’d dared to hope for was a friendship like we’d had as children, but this kiss changed him.
It made him realize that there was a possibility for more. When I explode with light, all he can think is that there will never be a better moment. And I see myself how he sees me. Perfection. Truly, the most beautiful creature in Nyth. Happiness. A woman with more life than he’s ever known.
I can feel every emotion he had as the world is filled with light. I see myself as he saw me. I understand the level of devotion Rhion has toward me, and even more than the betrothal, I know there isn’t another person in the world I trust more.
He would worship at my altar if that’s what I wanted. But it’s not, and he knows it.
Then the vision is gone, and I’m staring at Rhion’s naked body again. “I love you, Ainslee Emlyn. I will always love you. No matter what happens. No matter how far apart we are or how long we have to be separated. You are my heart, and you always will be. I needed you to understand.”
