Page 88 of Empire of Death
His eyes remained focused on the fire, the most he’d ever avoided my stare in a conversation. His hands came together, and I saw the stress in his knuckles when one hand squeezed the other before he let go. “We have more important matters to deal with.” He turned back to look at me, his intensity returning the longer he stared at me. “And right now, I want to make love to you like you’re my wife.”
With his arms hooked behind my knees and his massive body on top of mine, he thrust into me with deep and even strokes, a slower pace than usual, his eyes on mine with that same intensity that burned my flesh from across the room.
My hand glided over the smooth skin of his body, warm and inviting to the touch, tight over the thick muscles that hung on his frame. He was like a bear without fur, a mountain of a man that dwarfed me in size.
He dipped his head and kissed me as he continued to thrust, taking my mouth gently but with masculine force. He was always so good in bed, always knew what to give at the right moment. Could read my emotions like he could feel them in his heart.
My fingers slid into his hair as our breathy kisses continued. “I love you.”
His thrust was momentarily interrupted before it resumed, and his big size suddenly became a little bigger. It wasn’t dirty talk that turned him on, but declarations of love, at least from me. “Xivin…” He pressed his forehead to mine as he thrust a little harder. “I love you with all my heart.”
We made love throughout the night. In the breaks in between, I would doze off for a short while. The flames in the hearth in my bedroom burned low, but Callum didn’t add more logs because he seemed more focused on me.
Even when he didn’t say a word, he showered me with love. It was written in his dark gaze, staring at me the way he did when we first met, like there was still so much to see in my face. His hand was nearly twice the size of mine, but when he ran his fingers through my hair, he was so gentle.
“You’re the love of my life, Lily Lena Rothschild.” His palm cupped my cheek, his thumb brushing over the soft skin. “There’s nothing in this mortal world or the underworld that I wouldn’t do for you.”
My hand moved to his wrist, and I held it gently, feeling the warmth of his skin like it was a fire. “I know.” He’d proven it tome every step of this journey. “I wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for you.”
The corner of his mouth flicked up in a slight smile. “Lily Rothschild would have found a way. She always does.”
“Why do you always use my full name?”
“Because you always use the full name of the ruler that you revere. And I revere you with mind, body, and soul…at least with what soul I have left.” He dipped his head and pressed a kiss to my shoulder before he pulled me into him closer.
“You use the full name of my father.”
He was quiet for a while as he considered what I said. “Because I also revere him, not just as a king, but as a father. He’s raised two remarkable people, and I respect him deeply for that. I admire the way he loves you both fiercely.”
“You think my brother is remarkable?”
“I do.”
“What did you say to him, when you approached him?”
His fingers gently ran through my hair before he cupped my neck, his thumb grazing over my cheek. “I told him how deeply and irrevocably I love you. That there’s no sacrifice I wouldn’t make to serve you.”
“And what did he say to that?”
“Nothing.”
“I noticed that he stopped asking me questions about you.”
“Because I gave him the answer he sought.”
I’d never met a man like Callum in the Southern Isles. A man who was quiet but intentional with his words. A man who was unafraid of his feelings, unafraid to share them with anyone who wanted to know. He made my other lovers look like boys rather than men…except Viper…and he ruined future men for me if this really didn’t work out. Maybe Viper was similar because he was a vampire who was about the same age. Perhaps wisdom was the factor that set them apart from everyone else. “I know my father was upset when he understood I had command of the dead. But I think if I could explain our relationship to him and what you mean to me, he would love you.”
His eyes flicked away for the first time since we’d gotten into bed together. “Your brother accepted my presence in your life because I’m helping you win this war. Doesn’t mean he would like me as your suitor. And I know Talon Rothschild would never accept me as the man in your heart.”
“He would if I told him I loved you.”
“And I don’t blame him,” he said simply. “If the situations were reversed and you were my daughter, I would never allow it.”
“Why?”
“Because you deserve more.”
My eyes flicked back and forth between his. “More than a man who broke his oath and interfered with the living to keep me safe…how many times? More than a man who’s granted me his powers for nothing in return? More than a man who showed me he loved me every single day, far before he actually said it? Callum, you’re more than I ever could have hoped for.”
