Page 96 of Blood from the Marrow
Zuri looked down at the tattoo around her wrist and wondered whether binding also meant sharing parts of themselves. The notes didn’t warn her about that, but she’d known the risk of incomplete information when she’d chosen to bind her soul to theirs.
“We can’t leave our guests waiting,” Elena said with a youthful exuberance Marisol usually showed.
“Let’s get drunk,” Zuri decided in an effort to sound most like herself. “Fucking drunk,” she added for good measure.
Halfway up the path, the patio’s transformation stopped Zuri short. Thousands of tiny floating candles covered the pool. So many lights that would be insignificant on their own, that would drown in the darkness, seemed to rival the moon when gathered together. It was the most magical-looking mundane thing she’d ever seen.
When Zuri’s sandy feet hit the stone deck, the rhythm of the drums vibrated through her skin like a racing heartbeat. With vampires, witches, and Aglion packed around the pool, it took Zuri a moment to figure out where the music was coming from. Unexpectedly, two different types of instruments made complimentary music. Veil witches on tall conga-like drums and a handful of vampires banging on hourglass-shaped drums. Moments later, they were joined by a bunch of Aglion carrying buckets and sticks. Joining together amplified the music so that it pounded in Zuri’s chest like it was playing over a wall of loudspeakers.
They weren’t just having a wedding reception or a party. It was a goddamn declaration. A defiant roar in the face of the crushing silence that had held them captive for weeks. It was hundreds of people deciding at once to scream:if you want me, come and fucking get me.
It was their real strength, Zuri realized like she’d been transported into an afterschool special. Their connection to each other. Their willingness not just to stand together, but embrace each other. Fucking dance together and laugh into the night together. This was how you built an army capable of facing down a monster like Sayah. This was how you gave people something to believe in, something to fight for beyond mere survival. This was how you made them believe the impossible was achievable.
With this power, Zuri thought, fire igniting in her chest, they wouldn’t just hand Sayah her ass. They’d have enough fight left over to hunt down whoever was hunting the Aglion and burn their shit to the ground. Together, they were going to build something over the ashes.
When a line of people started to form, linking arm-in-arm in a simple circle dance that could have belonged to any of the varied cultures present, Marisol was the first to dart out and take a spot between a Canadian vampire and Avani. It only took a few attempts to get several circles going at once. To get feet stomping in rhythm with the drums. Even Bernice, in all her coolness, joined the largest outer ring when an Aglion who looked like he could spin a fucking car on his fingertip reached for her. And then Bernice was calling for Elena and Zuri was left with her unmitigated hope.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Elena ranher tongue along Marisol’s collarbone, savoring the damp heat of her skin. She relished the salt on her lips when she drifted back to her mouth. Outside, the drums and dancing and laughter echoed into what was left of the night. It was an unexpected soundtrack to a moment Elena never dreamed she’d have. One she was never sure she wanted.
But now that she had Marisol writhing beneath her and Zuri’s fingers in her hair, urging her to kiss Marisol more deeply. Now that commitment was a sword in her hand and a shield at her side rather than an albatross around her neck. Now that she knew the depth of love and devotion that could come from loving two souls who’d stayed with her at her worst—now, she could never imagine a life without them.
Marisol broke their kiss to toss her head back. With Marisol’s legs hooked around her thighs, Elena swung her hips. Grinding into Marisol and feeling her slick wet heat against her own body was intoxicating.
Elena loved watching her like this. Chest flushed and glistening with sweat. Kiss-swollen lips parted, eyes shut so tight and brow furrowed. She was devastatingly beautiful and agonizingly hers.
Ours, Zuri seemed to say when she looked up at Elena.Ours,when she held her unfocused gaze and slipped her fingers over Marisol’s jaw.Ours, when she gently turned Marisol’s head toward her and claimed her mouth while Elena watched, desire flickering to life after having already been sated.
Elena wanted to have them like this always. She wanted Zuri and Marisol lying side-by-side in her bed, Elena above them, guarding them with her body. Muscles coiled and ready to guard what was hers. Not just hers, Elena accepted.Theirs.
Herwives. She couldn’t digest the magnitude of the word. Of what it meant. But what they’d shown her was undeniable. She didn’t need to protect them on her own, didn’t need to do anything on her own ever again. They’d protect each other.
Chest swelling with so much love that it bordered on unbearable, Elena kissed Marisol’s neck. She ran her tongue over the streams of dried blood, the only evidence left of Elena’s earlier bite.
Elena kissed her shoulder, the curve of her bicep, the hollow of her elbow, her forearm. She slid down Marisol’s body until her chest was nestled between her thighs, and she kissed the thin band tattooed around Marisol’s wrist.
The flames that engulfed Zuri’s binding ribbon hadn’t felt hot as they burned the brand into their skin. It had been like the bite of cinnamon rather than the scorch of an open flame. Elena kissed the inside of Marisol’s wrist where her pulse beat through the brand to meet her hungry mouth.
When Elena moved on to kiss a meandering line over the top of Marisol’s thigh, Marisol reached for her hand. Intertwining their fingers, Marisol moaned her approval against Zuri’s lips. Deliberately taking her time to absorb every moment of Marisol’s anticipation, Elena kissed her slowly.
Ghosting her lips over Marisol’s hip earned a frustrated little groan Elena would replay in her mind forever. Marisol grippedElena’s fingers tighter, tipping her hips up as if Elena didn’t know what she wanted.
It was Elena’s turn to groan when she glanced up to watch Zuri roll Marisol’s hard nipple between her fingers while they kissed. With the hand that wasn’t holding Marisol’s, Elena reached over to touch Zuri’s leg.
Opening for her in a way that was absolutely destabilizing, Zuri parted her thighs. Soft, warm skin beckoned Elena to slide her palm higher. To indulge in the smooth expanse of Zuri’s inner thigh while she kissed her way down from Marisol’s navel. To smear the blood from the puncture marks that hadn’t quite dried even after Marisol had healed them closed.
At the same time that Elena found Zuri wet and wanting with her fingertips, she brushed her lips over Marisol’s center. They strained toward her touch in unison, both seeking firmer pressure. When Elena denied it, the complaint came in unison too.
Elena grinned, moistening her lips like a cat flashing its claws while her wives watched. Herwives. She hoped the word would never stop setting off a chemical reaction in her body. Hoped it would always give her the closest thing to a racing heart she’d had in her second life.
Teasing and savoring, Elena took her time bringing them close to the edge but not letting them cross. Not until they were gasping at the same time. Until Marisol’s body stiffened just before Zuri clenched around her fingers. Until they were both calling her name in broken gasps that were more pain than pleasure. Until they unraveled at the same time for her. Both for her. Always for her. Always hers.
Elena had kissed her way down Marisol’s body so it was only fair that she’d follow the curves of Zuri’s body on the way up. When she shifted her body to between Zuri’s legs, she couldn’t resist running her tongue over Zuri’s glistening center to collectthe evidence of her labor. Shuddering under the single, long swipe, Zuri signaled she was too sensitive for more. Deciding that their wedding night wasn’t the time for delicious torment, Elena moved on.
She lavished every inch of Zuri’s skin. Her hips, her belly, the dip between her breasts. Elena had known every part of her body so many times, but all she could feel was the excitement of getting to touch her again. Eager to get drunk on the perfume of her skin and the sweet wine of her lips.
Zuri pulled her down to her mouth, moaning when she tasted Marisol on her. Insatiable. They were all insatiable for each other, and all Elena wanted was for it to remain that way forever. And then Marisol was running her blunt fingernails down Elena’s back. A gentle call for her attention.
