Page 100 of Throne of Dreams
She didn’t want this. She didn’t want to spend an eternity away from his side. She never wanted to feel such heartache, such tremendous loss, ever again. Without him, her heart was empty. Cavernous and sweeping, cold and desolate.
The Strand binding them together warmed. It was a promise. A vow. And it was in that moment she knew, with every fiber of her being, she loved him. Fiercely. She loved this male who offered her his soul, who would do anything for her. Through it all, she would do the same for him. She would burn the heavens and scorch all the seven circles of hell for him. She would rather die than live in a world without him.
“Tiernan.” His name fell from her lips on a sob, and she threw her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest.
For a second, he was motionless, and she feared she’d lost him forever.
But then he drew her close and one hand slowly stroked her hair. She looked up and blinked, his face still blurry from the outpouring of tears.
He started to pull away and panic coursed through her, hot and fast. “Tiernan, wait,” she begged. “I’m so sorry, I—”
“No,astora.I’m the one who must apologize to you.” The High King of Summer dropped onto his knees before her. He captured both of her hands in the security of his own. “I hurt you. I allowed you to think you meant nothing to me, gave you cause to doubt the Strand between us. It is something I will always regret, and I willneverlet it happen again. You…” He paused, drawing in a breath, gazing up at her in agony. “You are my everything.” He kissed each one of her fingers. “You are the sun within my storm. The star in my eternal night and the glowing ember of my soul. And I will cherish you until the fates decide I am no longer worthy of the dawn.”
ChapterTwenty-Nine
Maeve slid down into his lap and cupped his cheeks in both of her palms. Her thumbs lightly glided across the faint scruff lining his jaw. She whispered across his lips, “You are mine.”
Fire lit within the depths of his eyes and passion sparked to life in flecks of gold. His warm lips found hers, and he wrapped his arms around her, tugging her closer to him. His kiss was soft at first. Sweet. Romantic, even. But his hands…his hands were everywhere.
Her hips and thighs. Her waist and breasts. Groping. Squeezing. Heat flared at her core, and she clenched her legs together, wishing he’d slide his hand beneath the slit of her gown and touch her where she wanted him most.
“Gods, this dress of yours,” he mumbled as one hand encircled her neck, tipping her head back so he could graze his teeth along the column of her throat. “All I’ve wanted to do, all night, is take it off.”
He was already hard. The press of him nudged against her and she nestled herself against him further, relishing the way chest rumbled in response.
“I had it ordered especially for you.” Maeve tangled her fingers into his dark strands of hair. “I wanted to bring you to your knees.”
His laughter caused her heart to soar. “It worked.”
Suddenly she was in his arms, and he was standing on the balcony. His wings, twilight and midnight, unfurled, and he spread them wide. On instinct, she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking you somewhere special.” Tiernan darted into the night sky, soaring above the floating city of Niahvess, toward the twin mountains.
Wisps of clouds drifted past them like ribbons of silver satin, and the breeze lifted them higher as he flew closer to the mountains bordering Summer and Autumn. The sharp slate peaks jutted upward across the horizon.
Maeve memorized his outline. Chiseled jaw. High, prominent cheekbones. Pointed ears. Full lips that curved into a smirk. “I can fly too, you know.”
“Yes.” He grinned and his fingers pressed into her thighs and waist. “But carrying you gives me an excuse to touch you.”
“Fair enough.”
He touched down on a balcony in a small, inviting house near the top of one of the twin mountain peaks. Looking around, Maeve wasn’t even sure she would classify it as a house. It was mostly just a room with floor-to-ceiling glass windows on either side that faced the east and the west. There was a fireplace in one corner and across from it was a sofa piled with pillows. A plush indigo rug was spread out across the hardwood floors, and tiny faerie lights danced across the ceiling encased in glass orbs of violet. There were a few shelves filled with books and a leather chair with an ivory throw tossed over it. In the far corner was a plush bed piled with blankets and satin pillows. The space was cozy. Comfortable. The kind of place where she could sit and read from sunrise until sunset.
Carefully, Tiernan set her down, and her gaze trailed out the eastern windows in wonder. From their vantage point, she could just see the snow-kissed peaks of the mountains in the Winter Court. And below her, bordering the other side of the mountains, was the Autumn forest.
It was breathtaking.
She turned to face him, outlined in silver pools of moonlight. “What is this place?”
“This is The Vista.” He shoved his hands into his pockets, gently rocking back onto his heels. “I come here sometimes.”
“Just sometimes?”
Tiernan shrugged. “When I need to gather my thoughts.”
“I can see why.” Maeve folded her arms over her chest, sensing he was showing her something special to him. Something secret. Like his own slice of heaven. “It’s lovely.”
