Page 98 of Bound to the Shadow Queen
A sweep of his tongue had me surging forward, my claws dragging across his shoulders again, a plea spilling from my lips in a broken whimper. I pushed up onto my elbows just in time for my wings to break free.
He finally relented, a wicked smirk tugging at his lips as he crawled back up my body with predator’s grace.
Relief flooded me as his mouth crashed against mine once more, his tongue and his teeth answering every unspoken question racing through my mind.
Each one another promise. Another vow. Another way he lay claim to me, to us. The moment he pressed his body flush against mine, it was like a lock finally finding its key, a click of absolute rightness.
Our bond flared, consciousness weaving together. I felt his hitch of breath, his answering groan, and knew he felt it too—the wild, spiraling pleasure of us giving and taking in equal measure.
We fit together almost too easily, as if we’d been carved to the same shape.
And for the first time, I wasn’t afraid of breaking.
Draven
From the momentshe rose over me, the world narrowed until it was only Everly—her breath, the quick rise of her chest, the heat pooling low and answering mine.
She was perfect in a way that made me hate us both for the time we wasted blaming one another for everything fate threw our way.
Navy waves tumbled over her curves, parting over her peaked nipples. Her wings shimmered in the rays of sun that peeked through the windowpanes, bathing her in an ethereal glow.
Her lips parted, and I traced the lower line with my thumb, dragging it from her mouth down to her jaw, then lower. I worked slowly, memorizing every inch of her, from the hollow at her throat and the slick sheen of sweat along her collarbone, to the breasts that strained against my palm.
When my thumb grazed the peaked tip of her nipple, she let out a gasp, so I circled back to it, teasing her until she let out a strangled moan.
On and on, I worshipped her as she moved slowly, setting an agonizing pace for us both. Her pace picked up little by littleuntil she was panting out short ragged breaths, and the broken sound of my name.
“You’re perfect,” I murmured against her skin.
She shook her head, denial and pleasure wrapped into one.
She tightened her thighs around me, and the thought narrowed to a ridiculous, vivid clarity, the answer to the Archmage’s question.
Yes, I would have chosen her.
From the moment she joked about the decor in my ballroom, dark blue locks askew, crystal-blue eyes burning with the kind of stubborn bravery that defies fear entirely.
Even knowing everything that fate had in store for us, I would choose her now. Maybe she wasn’t my kingdom’s salvation, but she sure as shards felt like mine.
She threw her head back, her long waves cascading behind her and trailing along my thighs while her nails dragged against my chest, a combination of pleasure and pain so intense that I nearly came undone.
I moved my hand to her center and she let out a sharp gasp, murmuring under her breath as I traced miniscule circles on her core. Then she froze, every part of her seizing with need just before she finally let go.
When she finally shattered, something inside me broke apart too, coming together and reforming around the pieces of her soul.
The other half of mine.
I had begun to suspect when the intensity of her feelings grew. That wasn’t a side effect of the vow, and her mana was locked up far too tightly to overflow in the powerful tides of grief and fury and even amusement that sometimes cascaded from her very being.
From her soul to mine.
The hourswe spent learning one another’s bodies were more stolen than borrowed.
Knowing that didn’t make it any easier when the Shard Mother demanded her payment for the brief moment of peace.
It started with a scraping feeling along my subconsciousness—the part I associated with the wards.
Everly jolted in my arms. She felt it, too. She always did, which made more sense now that I knew how closely her soul was tethered to mine.
