Page 117 of His Darkest Desire

“What is not right?”

“This place,” Vex muttered. “The…ambience.”

“This is the bedchamber you now share with Kinsley,” Shade said.

“Yes, and yet it needs…” Vex waved his hand, searching for the proper words but failing to find them.

Kinsley would be ready soon, but he couldn’t quite determine what was missing. Something small, something easy…something he was overlooking, overthinking.

“This one does not understand.” Flare drifted over the bed and threw their little arms to the sides. “Does not the hunt occur in the woods? Of what matter is the state of this chamber?”

The wisp’s light danced across the surface of the bed. Despite its softness and subtlety, it altered the appearance of the bed completely.

“Just so!” Vex declared. “Your brilliance has solved my dilemma.”

Flare tilted their head. “This one still does not understand.”

Vex willed his magic outward to shape his vision. Shadow enwrapped the glowing crystals, allowing only pinpricks of light to shine through like distant stars in the dark of night. At the same time, an arcane spark ignited in the hearth. With the usual soft blue glow so muted, the flames cast their warm orange radiance across the chamber, deepening the shadows and making them dance and flicker.

Though darkness had never been a hindrance to Vex, he’d always appreciated firelight. It reminded him of his youth, of his clan, of the fires they’d kept in their huts and the way such light could transform a space into something more inviting, more intimate.

Fire could be destructive, ravenous, and deadly, but he refused to see the flames that had erased his clan when he looked upon at the fireplace. If Kinsley, through her struggles and pain, had clung to wonder and positivity, he could remember the good rather than the bad. The comforting rather than the devastating.

This fire was perfect for tonight. A small way to remember his people, to remember the life he’d once had.

But this night was not merely about honoring the past. No, above all, it was about embracing the future.

His eyes fell upon the window over the bed. With the sun having set and the tree’s lush boughs blocking out the sky, the world beyond the glass was black as pitch. The carved tree adorning the window was dark too, with only its more prominent ridges highlighted by the fire.

Vex’s magic wove across the window. A faint, grayish glow illuminated the panes, growing steadily brighter and purer until it was a beam of silver light spilling through.

Moonlight.

The shaft of illumination stretched across the bed, undiluted by the firelight. The carved tree now stood in clear silhouette—Vex’s shelter, his home, strengthened and defined by moonlight.

By his mate.

The wisps made soft, awed sighs like wind blowing through long grass.

“Now this one understands,” whispered Flare.

Vex brushed his fingertips over the bedding, watching the moonlight play across his black skin. Here he would mark his mate. Here he would bridge past and present, opening the path to a future he’d never imagined but wanted more than anything.

“Again, I must thank you three for all you’ve done,” he said, dipping his head solemnly, “but what remains of this night is for myself and my mate.”

The wisps offered bows, their ghostfire bright.

“Of course, magus,” said Echo. “These ones would not dare to intrude.”

“May moonlight smile upon you,” Shade intoned.

“And fortune bless your hunt,” added Flare.

The wisps departed, speaking quietly amongst themselves.

Fire kindled low in Vex’s belly once they were gone. The moment was nigh. His union, his binding, his moonlight…

His heart marked the passing time, pounding so rapidly that it stretched each second into an agonizing eternity. To keep his fingers from twitching, he smoothed a crease in the bedding and tugged it tighter over the mattress.

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