Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
“I’m not…” I gasp, my body twisting beneath his. Fuck, it feels too damned good.
“You are.” His hand drifts down my stomach. “I don’t need to be in your head to know why you’re fighting it. This isn’t the only time, Vi. We have all night. Come for me.”
All night sounds better than any heaven I know of.
I sink my fingers into his hair as he strokes my hypersensitive clit with the precise pressure he knows I like, and I shatter. I fly apart at the seams as the orgasm surges through me in arching pulses. He swallows my moans with a kiss as the waves break again and again, and then he puts me back together with soft strokes of his hands as I come back down.
“So beautiful,” he whispers against my mouth, and only when I fall against the floor, a trembling, happily content mess, does he kiss me like he’s searching for his own soul and finds his own completion with a few final hard thrusts and a low groan.
I hold him tight as he rolls us to the side, his back to the destruction, and he cradles my head on his biceps.
I trace the line of the scar across his brow as my heartbeat settles and commit the contours of his face to memory again while he watches me with a glazed, soft expression. There’s too much of us missing here for this to truly be us, but it’s a version that I want to cling to, where he isn’t plagued by the threat of turning, where he isn’t telling me that I have to learn how to kill him. “We could just stay here,” I whisper.
His brow twitches, and he pushes my hair back from my face. “Here as in this room?”
“Here as in Deverelli.” I run my fingers along his jaw. “I can take Tecarus’s offer…if Tairn and Andarna agree. I’m sure they would if it means you stop all progression until I can find a cure. You and Sgaeyl could stay here while I do the research—”
He slides his thumb over my lips. “She’s in pain.”
I blink.
How could I have missed that? Guilt weighs down my shoulders.
“All the dragons are, I think, not that they’ll admit it, but I don’t think they can survive—or at least thrive the way they do at home—away from magic. I could never cause Sgaeyl pain.” He skims his callused hand down the side of my neck and over my ribs to settle on the slope of my waist. “And I could never let you abandon everyone you love.”
A boulder lodges in the middle of my throat.
Someone knocks.
“Hey…uh…” Ridoc says through the door.
My face flushes, and I cover my mouth with my hand.
“We’re all good,” Xaden calls out with a wicked grin, stroking my hip.
“Yeah, that’s…great,” Ridoc says. “No, I’m not—” His voice muffles.
“Look, we have a problem here,” Cat snaps.
“Shouting it through the door isn’t going to help,” Dain says.
“Get away from there!” Mira lectures, and both Xaden and I scramble to our feet. “Violet, answer the door.”
How many people are crowded into that hallway?
Xaden’s faster to the bathroom than I am, and he throws my towel through the doorway, making sure I catch it before striding out with his own wrapped around his hips.
“You can’t answer the door like that,” I hiss at him, covering myself and bemoaning how long it will take to get my clothes on.
“Neither can you, and I’m sure as fuck not offering the sight of you in a towel up to Aetos after hearing that your father basically planned your wedding to the asshole,” Xaden retorts just as quietly, his hand on the doorknob.
I recognize defeat and step toward the wall, out of sight, as Xaden opens the door.
“To what do we owe the honor of a visit from every single one of you?” he asks. “I thought two of you were flying the southern route to confirm there aren’t any irids hiding out here?”
Silence answers.
I lean left, just enough to see Xaden glance over his shoulder. “Yes, the table is broken. Now, what do you need?”
“You two totally broke it, didn’t you?” Ridoc asks on the edge of laughter. “Like that armoire no one was supposed to notice getting hauled out of her room during first year?”
“The what?” Mira’s voice rises, and I lean against the wall, letting my head fall back in mortification.
“What could be so fucking important that you’re trying to ruin my one evening?” Xaden snaps.
“A messenger came,” Dain says. “King Courtlyn has decided to keep Halden.”
My stomach pitches.
“Too fucking bad for Halden.” Xaden shrugs.
“Xaden!” I lift my brows at him, and his mouth tightens.
“We’re flying out as planned, but Tecarus needs you,” Dain continues. “You’re the only aristocrat they’ll let in.”
“You have to go,” I whisper.
Xaden looks my way, and too many emotions to count cross his beautiful face. Want. Desperation. Pleading. Frustration. Anger. Resignation. “Fuck. Fine.” He slams the door in their faces. “We have to go.”