Page 45 of Fire & Ice

"Beau," she gasps as I trail kisses down her throat, her collarbone, the valley between her breasts. My name on her lips is a benediction, an invitation, sealing my fate as surely as the marks I leave upon her skin.

I lift my head to meet her gaze, eyes glowing in the shadows. "You know me." A statement, not a question. She arches into my hands as they continue their exploration.

"I don't, but I feel as if I've always known you," she whispers, nails scraping down my back in wordless demand.

"You know me. We are bound, you and I, two halves of the same soul. Let me show you," I whisper against her skin before I sink my fangs into her beautiful throat, marking her once again.

She parts her thighs in invitation, and I am lost, drowning in silken heat and searing pleasure. Our bodies move as one, a dance as old as time and as new as this moment, this joining, this claiming. Release comes swift and hard, shattering our souls to forge them anew—together—as they were always meant to be.

I lift my head from the hollow of her throat, licking the twin pinpricks there. The metallic tang of her blood ignites something primal within me, a hunger that will never be sated.

"Remember me. Come back to me," I whisper against her skin. She shivers, hands gliding up to frame my face. I turn into her touch, pressing a kiss to her palm.

I wake slowly, drifting up through layers of sleep like a diver breaking the surface of a midnight sea. The memory of her lingers—her scent, her taste, the feel of her wrapped around me.

My eyes open to darkness. I am alone.

The ache of loss and longing blooms within my chest, sharp as a knife between the ribs. My fingers curl into the sheets where she should lay, seeking any trace of her warmth. There is nothing.

I rise and move to the window, throwing back the heavy velvet curtains. The glass is cold beneath my hands, a pale imitation of the chill that has settled into my bones. Outside, the sky is darkening, the sun descending below the horizon to herald a new moon.

How I hate the moon right now. Its glow only serves to remind me of all that I have lost, all that I stand to lose if she does not return.

"Remember," I whisper, breath fogging the glass. I press my palm there, as if I might reach through to her. "Remember me. Come back."

I cling to the memory of her voice and the promise whispered there; a spark that can be nurtured into a flame, and this is enough to keep my hope alive.

Chapter 44

Tempest

I wake with a start, my heart pounding. The remnants of a dream fade as I open my eyes, shadows dancing at the edges of my memory.

A flash of ice-blue eyes. A surge of longing. Then nothing.

I roll over and rub the sleep from my eyes, confusion swirling in my mind. What was that? A memory...or something more?

The amulet at my throat thrums with heat, as if awakened from its slumber. I grasp it, the metal warming against my palm, and close my eyes.

Visions swim before me. The face from my dream, so reminiscent of the dreams I'd had before and the prince I danced with at the blood moon ball. Pale and perfect, gazing at me with a mix of longing and regret. The cold touch of his skin against mine. A single searing kiss that ignited my blood.

With a gasp, I release the amulet. It was real. It had to be.

But how could that be when Charlie fills my waking thoughts and stirs such passion in my soul? I can still feel his lips claiming mine.

Yet I cannot escape these glimpses of... Beau... Prince Beauregard. He seems like a forgotten dream refusing to fade into the shadows of the rising sun. It pursues me like whispers in the dark, seducing me with promises of something more, something real.

I bury my face in my hands, torn between yearning and denial. How did I come to be caught between two men, unable to escape the desires that threaten to consume me?

This is madness. I need to get this in under control as soon as possible and choose whether to pursue the dreams or my reality. But how can I choose when I no longer know my own heart? When dreams and reality have become so entwined I can no longer tell them apart?

The amulet pulses against my skin, a steady beat that matches the rhythm of my heart. As if it knows the truth I cannot see. As if it remembers what I have forgotten.

I stare into the waning shadows, longing for answers, for clarity, for escape from the prison of my own desires. But there is no escape. Not today.

Today I shall drown in dreams, caught between ice and flame, waiting for sunset.

The full moon filters through gauzy curtains, rousing me from restless dreams. I blink awake to find Charlie in my room gazing down at me, a slow smile curving his lips.

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