Page 23 of The Coveted
Daelon grinned, shrugging. “Well, my distraction methods worked. You’re making the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard. Well, actually, I do quite enjoy some other sounds you make.”
I stilled, feeling heat creep to my cheeks. “Oh. Are you sure you don’t prefer Renata’s?” I asked, my eyes narrowing.
Daelon rolled his eyes. “It’s cute that you’re jealous, buthell no.” And in a flash his hands were around my waist, and he was on top of me. “The sounds you make when I touch you are the only ones I ever think about. The faces you make. The way you tense up, the way you shake…”
I felt my toes curl, my body responding to his words and the way his hips met mine. I took a breath. “We have so much to talk about, so much we didn’t get a chance to say with Amos there. What—”
“Later,” he said, and his words were final. “We’ll figure it all out. Together.”
Together. It was such a simple, straightforward word, yet I found myself lost in its possibilities. Back at the cabin, I always had one foot out the door without even realizing it. It was a necessity when there was still so much unknown, doubt, and confusion. But now it felt like we were finally standing on solid ground, even if that ground was barren and cold. We were standing here, together.
Daelon’s lips found mine, his hand cradling the side of my face. I’d never been kissed like this—ever—in my life. All of my racing thoughts and unanswered questions began to melt away as our lips moved together. They moved slowly at first, like our bodies were becoming reacquainted, but soon the temperature began to rise. We mirrored each other hungrily. My hand reached into his waves of hair as his moved down to the tender part of my throat. My breath hitched when he pulled away, only to trail his lips down to my neck, across my collarbones, and then back to my lips. We lost ourselves in each other. And in our touch lay desire that went so far beyond physical that it touched the deepest, most hidden parts of my soul.
I tried to pull away, but he chased after me, and I was lost once again. His hips pressed against mine—more than his hips, actually—and it took everything within me to put a hand on his chest and stop him.
“Wait,” I breathed. I needed him to know this before I was under his spell again, utterly and completely, stuck in that space where I couldn’t even form a single coherent thought. His touch was featherlight as he trailed his hand along my cheekbone, and our gazes locked. “I love you too.”
He grinned, kissing my knuckles. “I’m sorry that the first times I said it were… less than ideal. I was desperate for you to know. I was terrified I was going to lose you forever after what I had to do. But Áine, I love you more than I ever thought possible. I’d lost hope that love like this even existed.”
“Me too,” I said, and I meant it. After so many years hiding and suppressing who I was, even to my closest human friends, I forgot how it felt to have someone know and love every single part of me. Not since my mothers. And now I understood that Daelon had been living exactly the same way since he’d lost his parents too. “But…”
His brows creased. I didn’t want to ruin this moment, but I knew it would nag me until I said it. It was something that had crept up after I’d shown him the depths of my power on our visit to the beach, before Nathaniel ruined it all. Sometimes when he looked at me, it felt as though he was seeing my purpose, my magick, and my capabilities. What if he thought he lovedme, but it was the forces that moved through me that he really loved? The forces that connected us to our lost home.
“Would you still love me like this if I wasn’t who I was? I mean, if I wasn’t some kind of cosmicchosen one. I don’t know…” I trailed off, kicking myself for even saying this out loud. It made me feel strange, like I was as narcissistic as the evil Witch King.
But Daelon just smiled, kissing beside my lips and then shaking his head at me. “Yes, actually, I would. I love you, and I love the Divine that I can see reflected through you. It’s not about all that you have, Áine. It’s about what you do with it. How you handle it. You’re clever and strong, and you could definitely kick my ass, but you’re also the most compassionate person I’ve ever met. You heal little birds and get excited about snow, for fuck’s sake. I don’t know how the Universe works, but I have to believe it is because of who you are as a person that you were given this gift, not the other way around. Do you get that?”
I couldn’t help but smile. An immense wave of gratitude flooded through me, like my power agreed with him. I didn’t know what to say. I was just so thankful that I had him in my life—and that he didn’t actually betray me. I pushed that thought out of my head. “I don’t even know who to thank. For sending you to me.”
“Funny, I was about to say the same thing about you.” He brushed his thumb over my lips. “I think our parents would probably say to thank their Goddess. Maybe that’s something we’d do if we hadn’t been exiled so young.”
“Maybe. I wish I knew all the ways they worshipped and practiced magick. Even the things my mothers taught me feel so far away and lost now.”
“Lucius has worked hard to drive away that knowledge. It’s hard for anyone to remember these days, but I’ll teach you all that I remember. We’ll bring it all back, one day.”
“I’d like that.” My eyes welled up, overcome with loss. All of who we once were had been stolen from us. I could feel it slowly being erased, like a murky, fading dream. “Together,” I repeated, like I needed to hear it roll off my own tongue. It felt like an act of defiance, like the beginning of the revolution.
“Together.”
And we were kissing again, all-consuming and desperate. I was barely aware that he had scooped me up into his arms, our lips still locked as I wrapped my legs around his torso. Soon we were on his bed, the comforter below me as soft and puffy as a cloud—just as I remembered it.
“Oh god,” I groaned, hiding my head with my arm as Daelon tugged his shirt off.
"What?” He grinned down at me.
“Just remembering how I was last night.”
“I thought you were adorable.” He chuckled, low and gravelly, while pulling my arm away from my face. “Well, except when you were testing my moral code, which I thought was impervious to anyone’s charm… until I met you.”
“Oops, sorry,” I murmured, losing my train of thought at the sight of his toned body.
“I kind of want to make you feel even more sorry,” he growled. “Because you have no idea the things you made me want to do to you.”
“Oh, poor you,” I teased, and no sooner than the words had left my lips had he flipped me over onto my stomach. His hand was on my back, trailing lower until it found my ass, then lower—reaching up my dress and pulling down my panties with decisive quickness. His fingers traveled back between my thighs, and I gasped as they found their mark.
“Such a good girl. Already so ready for me.” I could hear the satisfaction in his voice.
Anticipation curled my toes, letting him remind me just how well he knew my body. He knew just what to say and just how to say it, where to touch me and when to go fast or slow, rough or gentle, when to give me everything or take it all away. Daelon wanted me to cede my power, and the rush I felt to give it over to him was like no other. I was often overwhelmed with my gift—this entire cosmic ocean of choices and possibilities—but with him I found a way to let that all go. During these moments when my body met his, he took all of the control. I needed him to.
