Chapter Twenty-Eight

C HAPTER T WENTY-EIGHT

Darius freezes beneath me, hearing the words we’d once promised each other. ‘I thought we had decided I would be the one to ask you on the third try?’

I shrug, humour pulling the corners of my mouth into a gentle smile. ‘I changed the rules.’

His smile lights me up aflame. Holding on tight, he flips me over so that I’m underneath him, and I squeal with laughter.

Through the darkness, I manage to see the glow in his eyes and rummage through my pocket, content when I pull out the ring he’d once made and show it to him. ‘Is that a yes?’

He chuckles and nods without hesitation. ‘When would I ever say no to such an offer from you?’ Sliding his hand beneath me, he lifts me from the ground and keeps me tight against his chest. ‘Although we have no one to wed us right now, Goldie.’

‘Then we will do it,’ I say. ‘Just us.’

With a soft smile, he takes a small step back from me, and I already miss his touch.

I chuckle as he clears his throat, fixing the collar of his ripped and bloodied shirt before he whispers my name and looks me in the eye. ‘In the presence of—’ He glances around. ‘No one.’

I laugh louder.

‘I, Darius.’ Leaning closer so that he grins against my lips, he continues, ‘Take my beautiful, stubborn Goldie as my wife. To love and to annoy you all my life.’

I can’t stop smiling as tears fill my eyes.

‘I make a vow to be there for your friends and your family, even if that means sacrificing my own life with it.’

A chill runs over my body as he says ‘sacrifice’, but he doesn’t notice the slip in my smile because I don’t let myself think about it for long. I won’t let this moment be ruined by the thought of never seeing him again.

Darius takes a deep breath that expands his chest as he looks at me like I am his source of determination and salvation. ‘You deserve it all, Nara, and I will do everything to ensure you have it, because the day you don’t smile, I will know I have not done my job right. I dream of your smile, of that laugh that comes out of you when you feel free. I don’t ever want to stop hearing it, and if that day ever comes, I will rip worlds apart just to hear it again.’

Tears kiss my cheeks as they roll down, and the cool touch of the ring he crafted for me presses against my skin as he slides it onto my finger. Even in the grim darkness of the dungeons, it still shines with a silver sheen as I tilt my hand.

With a sniffle, I glance up at Darius. ‘I don’t have a ring,’ I whisper comically.

His chuckle is soft and a whisper in itself. ‘You’re all I need.’

I rest my hand at my side. Excitement floods my system as I stare at him. My thief, my dragon, my king. ‘I, Nara,’ I say. ‘Take you, Darius, as my husband.’

He smiles.

‘To love and respect you and to fight you for eternity if you misbehave.’

We both laugh, and he nods, looking to accept that proposition with no trouble at all.

I wipe a stray tear from my cheek. ‘I never thought—’ My throat thickens with emotion. ‘That I would marry someday, especially not someone who drives me insane half the time.’

He smirks.

‘But I did think I would eventually find an adventure . . . and it just so happens that adventure was you all along.’

Darius can’t take his eyes off me. His gaze lingers on every curve of my mouth as my vowing words settle between us, and it is the most enchanting feeling.

‘I’m helplessly in love with you, Darius,’ I tell him with a crack in my voice. ‘I always will be.’

Everything comes to a standstill as he slowly exhales. He closes the gap between us, dropping his forehead against mine.

‘That’s it,’ he whispers, and my heart leaps. ‘We’re husband and wife now, Goldie.’

I smile like a child, wrapping my arms around his neck and biting my lower lip as I stare up at his face.

His eyes are on my mouth. ‘May I kiss the bride?’ he murmurs against my lips, and my smile stretches even wider.

‘I’ll kick you if you don’t.’

He palms my face in less than a second, pressing his mouth against my lips. His tongue instantly seeks permission, and I let him, opening up and kissing him back with hunger. The taste of desperation grows between us as our fingers clumsily reach for each other’s clothes, ripping them apart.

He sinks to his knees, his unwavering gaze fixed on me as he hooks his thumbs inside my trousers. Their deliberate descent, gliding along my skin, stirs an ache in my core. I tip my head back and release a weighted sigh doused with arousal.

Grabbing my thighs from behind, he keeps a tight hold on me as he drags his bottom lip across my skin, sucking and kissing up my thigh. My legs start to tremble, and I know he can feel it because his grip burns into my flesh as he squeezes.

I gasp, my breaths coming out scattered as I look down at him kneeling before me. ‘Don’t stop,’ I say to him when his head nears that mound where no one but him is allowed to go.

‘I don’t plan to.’ His voice vibrates against my skin, sending a shiver of pleasure through me before he withdraws his hands from my thighs.

I feel him rise, and I frown, looking at him. ‘You just did.’

A chuckle rolls out of him as he picks up his shirt and tears off another piece of his sleeve. ‘Just trust me.’

Annoyingly, as always, I do trust him.

He holds up the dark piece of fabric between his hands and leans towards me.

‘What are you—’ I start to say when the cloth wraps around my eyes, and I’m plunged into darkness.

I breathe heavily, feeling every bit of my senses heighten. I want to yank the blindfold off, but something in me tells me not to move or even make a sound as I stay on the spot, waiting.

Anticipation builds inside my chest, knowing he is walking around me, teasing me with his steps. His featherlight touch slides across my bare shoulders and then traces along my back’s contours as if memorising every curve.

I press my body against his chest and lean into him, rubbing my backside against his front. As if I am tormenting him, his forehead drops against the top of my head with a deep groan.

A sound I’ve come to adore the most.

I roll my hips into him to hear it again, and I feel him swallow. A slow, deliberate sigh escapes my lips, content with how I make him feel. Right then, his palm cups me between my legs and I draw in a sharp gasp, bordering on a yelp, as I lift myself onto my toes. His other hand comes over my abdomen, keeping hold of me as if he doesn’t plan to let go.

‘Darius,’ I whimper his name, biting down on my lower lip as his fingers part my folds.

‘I want you to open your senses,’ he whispers against my neck. ‘Every touch, every sound . . .’

A breathless nod is my only response.

Using his other hand around my midriff, he presses his thumb against the lower part of my abdomen. It seems to intensify the feeling of his fingers rubbing against my crotch as I writhe in his grip.

‘What do you see?’ he asks, the sensuality of his voice sending a thrill through me.

‘No—’ I gasp when he pinches at the right spot. ‘Nothing. I’m blindfolded, remember?’

His chuckle is deep and rougher. ‘Try again.’ Two fingers slide into me and I jump, unable to escape his hold. Each stroke and crook of his finger swirling in the right direction sends me into a frenzy. I’m whimpering, moving against him as I try to focus on what he’s asking of me.

What do you see?

‘I see—’ A vision of Darius appears. He’s at the den, laughing by one of the tables. ‘You.’ Music thrums inside my head as I picture him now spinning us around while we dance. We’re happy; we’re free . ‘I see us.’

With each thought I conjure, Darius’s fingers work in tandem. My knees bend, allowing him to reach a deeper part of me that draws out a guttural moan.

All I see are moments where he and I are together, focusing on a future where we will thrive every day.

Our bodies are slick with sweat, the scent of our arousal pervading the air and overpowering the must from the dungeons.

‘We’re going to get out of this, Goldie,’ he tells me, his fingers thrusting in and out of me at a fast pace. ‘And when we do, I’m not letting you go.’

I shake my head. ‘You better not.’ Pressure builds at the base of my mound and I dig my fingernails into his arm.

‘Do you want to know what I see?’ His lips graze my neck and I nod, my moans vibrating against him. ‘Me and you, every hour, every minute, every second.’ My legs begin to shake, my body tensing. ‘I’m yours, Goldie, forever yours.’

His whisper hurtles me over the edge. I cry out through the pleasure, spasming in Darius’s arms. But it’s not over, as he yanks the blindfold off my eyes and turns me around. I gasp as he lifts my legs around his waist and drops me to the ground with one deep thrust of his cock inside me.

I bite my lip, holding back a sob, having craved this for so many months, since we were last together in Terranos.

Our pace is fast, almost animalistic. We need each other, we yearn for each other.

I cup his face as he pounds in and out of me, my lips parting, letting him moan into my mouth.

‘Harder,’ I breathe.

Our foreheads meet, his rumbling groan buzzes up my spine, and I start to lose it all over again.

My lips skim his ear and I smile. ‘ Deeper .’

‘Goldie,’ he whispers, releasing another moan when I tighten up around him. ‘My Goldie.’

We look each other in the eye, each movement of our bodies intertwining, pushing us into oblivion. ‘My thief.’

Within seconds, the orgasm hits us both at the same time. I shake with immense pleasure, panting and making sounds that I wouldn’t be surprised if the guards can hear them.

Darius strokes my hair, moving strands away from my face as I smile in blissful exhaustion at him. He kisses my forehead, his eyes still burning with such exhilaration that I can imagine him wanting to do it all again and again.

Collapsing beside me, he grabs me by the waist as he effortlessly pulls me to his chest and nestles his head in the crook of my neck.

My heart grows with a mixture of love, defiance and a touch of fear. Fear of the consequences we might face tomorrow, the next day or the one after. But right now, what matters is that Darius and I are married and that despite where we might be, I’m his wife, and he is my husband.

As exhaustion takes over, I unwrap the makeshift bandage across my knuckles, smiling when I see it healing already.

For minutes, we find peace in each other’s comfort, our breathing steady as he moves his fingers up and down the side of my body. As I stare at the walls around me, I sigh. ‘What if we aren’t able to get out of this one?’

He lets out a deep and hard breath as I twist around and peer up at him. He turns his head to the side, his gaze tracing my features. ‘You’ll think of something, Goldie.’ He presses a soft lingering kiss against my lips and whispers, ‘You always do.’