47. Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Before I hatched, there were stories. Beings that no dragon could face. Eaters. Hunters. Death. We thought they were impossible. What can kill a dragon? We were wrong. Only I have fought them and lived. Only I have showed them that they could be killed. Not before they killed my brood. Not before they killed my wife. My only regret is that I cannot destroy them all before I leave this place.

~Sidon the Strong, A History of Magic and Dragons

"Not here," I whisper as Cole starts to pull and paw at my dress while we stand inside his room. "Even with the ring, I won't be able to stop the shadows. Someone will find us."

He snarls, looking far more feral than I've ever seen him. "Come on. I'll fly fast." When he turns to climb the stairs to the top of the Keep, I run to keep up, just as ready as he is to escape the Keep and Draenyth so that I can let go. So that I can feel him. So that we can finally both be completely free together.

As soon as we reach the top, Cole steps behind me and wraps his arms under mine. There's a moment of hesitation, and then he leaps into the air, massive owl wings stretching out on either side of us as he propels us higher into the night sky.

Cole's arms hold me tight against him, and I can feel his hardness pressing against me. It only makes it harder to control myself. His muscles strain, not to hold me up, but to push us upward. Unlike the other times we've flown, he's not soaring. He's climbing, and there's only one reason we'd be going up instead of out. We're not going to the forests. We're going up to Skycrest.

It doesn't take long before the air gets colder and wetter. The wet air clings to us, soaking our very expensive clothing, and I realize what's happening. We're in the clouds. No one will see my shadows or Cole's flames if we go above the clouds. And it's so much closer to Draenyth.

"Almost there," he grunts with another wing flap. "And then I get to see you. All of you."

An instant later, I find myself standing in that shattered landscape of Cole's mind. It's different. Where flames and sharp edges had ringed the obsidian tower before, soft shadows and smooth stone lay. There are still bands of flame and razor edges, but so much of it has been worn away and soothed.

I walk toward that black stone tower, and each step feels right. More right than I can remember anything else.

Whispers on the wind soothe me. The black stone tower looms ever closer as the mix of cool shadows and warm summer breeze pushes me onward. One step at a time, I see that the ground is different here. Not smoothed by my shadows. Not ringed in pain from flames and sharpness. There's a darkness here that feels so much darker than me.

So much more powerful.

And that black stone… feels familiar. There's another scent in the air. Salt and cedar. The Shade.

I reach out to touch the stone, to feel the inky blackness turned solid under my fingers. And it all disappears. Instead of that terrible landscape and beautiful tower, I'm staring into Cole's eyes. Bright orange and glowing in the darkness. All around him, his skin catches fire and then it puffs out of existence.

Just like at the ball. Except that this fire is not cold, and waves of heat roll off. "Take off your ring," he whispers. "There's no need to hide what we are here."

I look around and see that we're not on the mountain. We're in it. Hidden in a cave far above the clouds, the mouth a few yards behind me. "I saw you," I whisper. "What is the tower made of?"

Cole's eyes hold me in their gaze. "The future. The only thing that's kept me from giving up on the world. On everything. But we aren't talking about the future tonight, Maeve. Your rule; not mine."

I smile at him and raise my hand. Small strands of shadows run from my fingertips to the floor of the cave, a spider's nest of darkness pooling at our feet. He takes my hand and slowly slides the silver ring off my finger. In an instant, the floor is covered in that darkness. Like the day we'd gone far from Draenyth to train with shadows, and I'd first found that obsidian tower in his mind.

Cole holds the ring up and puts it on a rock outcropping, somewhere that wouldn't be disturbed. "Safe and sound."

His words are a distant memory when he moves to kiss me. Unlike in the ballroom, the flames that roar around us don't burn white hot. Flashes of brightness flicker in the darkness, and I realize that he's tasting me and testing me. He nearly lost control in that ballroom. Here, he's just as focused as when he's in battle.

Except that those glowing eyes don't want to destroy me. They want to consume me.

His lip curls up, and like so many times while we sparred, flames explode around him, but I don't pull away. Right now, there's no separation between us. The world may be burning, but I'm safe in his hands.

Because right now, we aren't two separate people. The betrothal bond connects us in a way that no human could ever understand. His lips press against mine, but it's so much more than that. He pulls away, and the flames on our skin disappear.

"That's a neat trick," I whisper as I realize that instead of taking off my dress, he simply burned it away. Along with his clothes. "But what if I liked that dress?"

He smiles at me, his gaze roaming over my naked body. "Then I'll have another one made." The words come out as an afterthought as his eyes linger on my bare skin. "Perfect," he whispers. His hand reaches out, and I stare into his eyes, watching him take me in. It starts at my cheek and slowly moves down my throat. His fingers tighten around my neck for just a moment, showing me his strength, and I don't pull away, standing tall for him. I stare into his eyes just like I did the very first night I met him.

I could move. I could do the same thing he's doing to me. I could reach out and explore his body, but I've already done that before. I've felt his skin when I walked the terrible landscape of his soul. I've run my fingers over him.

But no one's ever touched mine like this. When his fingers move to my breast, my nipples harden at his touch. His touch is soft, nothing like the way he normally is. Nothing like the way he's touched me while he's still mostly asleep.

Don't hold back, I whisper through our bond. He tenses at the words, and his hand tightens around my breast. His breathing changes, and the flames that have flickered in and out of existence fade away.

And my shadows come alive. "You're the most beautiful woman I've ever known," he says. His hand releases my breast and slowly moves down my side. I don't know what to say. My body's craved his touch since the very first time he carried me.

Where his flames had sent the world into so much light that I'd been nearly blinded, my shadows surround us, blotting out the rest of the world. And yet, I know exactly where he is and what he looks like. That darkness is a part of me. No different from my hair or nails.

Cole doesn't need to see when he can feel me. His hand moves lower, slipping between my legs, and I can't stop the moan that escapes my lips. "Yes," I whisper. "Yes. Yes. Yes."

An answer to any hesitation he could have. I can't stand it any longer. This distance between us. Shadows flow under and around me and lift me toward him, pressing my breasts against his chest, and I run my hand through his hair, my fingers tightening in it as I press my lips to his again.

This is what I've wanted. This is what drives my shadows from me, and now… now, I understand.

His finger slips inside me, and my head leans back. A desperate moan. I close my eyes, and it somehow all becomes more. The shadows cling to me, holding me and supporting me as Cole's finger slowly slides in and out of me. His lips make a trail of kisses from my lips to my throat.

I don't understand how to handle all the sensations. Like that first day in Draenyth, I feel overwhelmed by it all, and yet, I don't want to hide. I want more. Cole's teeth graze my throat, and another low moan escapes me.

He slowly pulls his fingers out of me. After all these weeks of being desperate for him, I beg, "Please don't stop. Please."

"Trust me," he whispers, and my eyes flash open. His gaze is on me, glowing embers instead of ice-blue eyes, and he kneels in front of me. My shadows hold me in the air and make space as he presses his lips between my legs.

Never have I felt anything like this. I'd thought that I understood desire. I'd been wrong. "You taste," he licks me again, "so delicious." I lay back and the cloud of shadows becomes a bed at the perfect height for Cole to do whatever he wants to do with those magical lips of his.

Nothing in almost three months of a magic-filled life has compared to the way they make me feel.

His hands run up my thighs, leaving goosebumps in their wake, and he pulls me tighter to him, his tongue diving deeper inside me. I wish I had a blanket to ball my fists in because I need something to hold on to. Something to anchor me to the world. I feel like I'm going to explode or fly away or just break. The sensations raging through me are too much.

Then I find his hair. The gorgeous, long, black hair that I've admired. With both hands, I ball my fist in that hair, and I don't let go.

"Yes," I groan as he moves back to a more sensitive place. His fingers dig into my thighs as he keeps me from squeezing my legs together. I look down at him and see those orange embers staring back at me. Watching me writhe in his hands.

Inside me, I can feel a raging inferno building. It threatens to burn me alive, and every lick that Cole's magical tongue makes only drives it higher. Somehow, I still pull his face tighter to me. I still beg for more.

Cole looked at me like he was going to consume me, and that's exactly what he's doing. He is that fire. He is that inferno. I'm not sure that the woman I was before tonight will survive this, and I don't know that I want her to.

"I'm yours," I whisper.

And Cole doesn't respond. His tongue is too busy. My hips know what they want, and they buck, grinding against his tongue. Cole's fingers dig into my thighs, spreading them wide and holding them in place. My body wants to grind. It wants to push him harder against me, but he's too strong.

He has been in control since the moment he kissed me, and that's not changing. The storm inside me rages, begging for something. Something I don't know.

Then he pulls his mouth away from me. I want to kick and scream. To beg and cry. Whatever it takes to make him keep going. "No," I moan. "You can't stop now. You have to keep going."

But he ignores me, those magical lips leaving kisses up my stomach until they latch onto my nipple, feeding that inferno inside me. His teeth press against it, just hard enough that it sends a bit of lightning through me, and I buck my hips.

Until I feel his hardness press against me. My eyes open wide at the sensation. His eyes don't leave my gaze as he sucks harder on my nipple. My body shivers with every touch, but it's frozen, not knowing what to do.

I bite my lip hard enough to taste blood, every inch of me confused and overwhelmed and absolutely desperate for whatever Cole is going to do. But I'm not ready for any of it.

I don't know if I could ever be ready for it, though. Which is why I don't struggle when I feel him press against me. For the first time, terror takes hold. Shadows swirl around me, trying to protect me, and Cole lets go of my breast, moving directly in front of me.

"Do you trust me?" he whispers. My legs are shifting, moving, trying to escape the pressure between my legs. And yet, they're not pushing him away.

I don't want him to go anywhere. I don't want him to stop kissing or sucking or licking. I want all of it. And maybe I want this too, but… "I'm scared," I whisper.

It's the first time I've ever said those words in my entire life. I'm scared. Not of monsters or death or pain or even tying my soul to someone.

He kisses me then. Hard enough that I close my eyes. He's not consuming me now. He's not trying to fan the flames inside me.

Instead, I see the obsidian tower in my mind. A foot away. The scent of cedar and salt swirls around it, but then I touch the stone and realize that it's not stone at all. It's shadows.

My shadows.

I smell something completely different. Rain. Summer rain after it's been dry for so long. "What is that?" I whisper.

Then it's all gone again. "It's you, Maeve. The thought of you is what's kept me from giving in. When I met you… I didn't have very much hope left. You saw how many times I lost control. I… I was breaking. Then I met you and everything changed."

I stare into the flames in his eyes. I feel every bit of the outpouring of his emotions. The trust and… Something else. Something that I can't quite believe.

"I trust you," I whisper, and my body relaxes. He kisses me, and I melt into it. My legs don't push him away as he pushes past my resistance. A twinge of pain slices through me, but it's nothing compared to so many pains in my life.

There's something else, though. Something less tangible. The woman I was before tonight is gone, and someone else is here.

And then Cole kisses me harder, and the thoughts are gone, burned away by the passion in his lips. My hands slide over his body, feeling every inch of him without even a touch of fear.

His lips and hands are everywhere. Biting, grabbing, kissing, licking. Like he can't get enough of me. But something changed with that pain.

Shadows swirl around me, just like when I was afraid. Except that this time, they don't want to protect me. My body shifts, the bed made of darkness growing under us, pushing Cole fully onto me.

All the while, his body slides in and out of me, and the inferno that he lit inside me grows with each thrust. It's desperate to explode, and I cling to him, not sure what will be left of me at the end of this.

I don't care, though. I want to feel everything. Even if there's nothing left when he's done. My eyes don't leave his. My body shakes under him as the pressure inside me becomes too much to hold back.

A deep moan leaves my lips, and my back arches. "That's it," he growls into my ear. "If tonight was my last night, I would be happy now."

I can barely comprehend the words as my body shakes. He's not done, and his body only moves faster, sending little lightning bolts through me. His jaw tightens as he looks down at me, purpose in those glowing eyes, and he pulls me tighter to him. Only for a few seconds, and then I scream as my body explodes with those sensations again.

And his fingers tighten against me hard enough to bruise as he roars out his own release. I don't know how, but something has changed. I stare into Cole's eyes even as my body writhes under him as he slows and finally stops. Something has changed. Just like that night on the river when we tied our souls together.

Not something tangible. Not something truly describable. But something, nonetheless.

"I never expected to do that," I whisper. I spent my life not believing that my world would ever be anything beyond the forest. "I…"

"You're incredible," he says, completely ignoring my words. He's not being rude. Those eyes that seem to peer into my soul couldn't be trying to be rude. That's when I recognize it. I don't want to think about my past. The days before I met him. "There's only tonight," he whispers.

I smile at him. "You're incredible, too," I say, and he leans forward to kiss me. Soft. Kind. A kiss that is not supposed to incite desire, and yet… I still feel that drumbeat quicken. His finger traces a line from my collarbone to my breast.

"Now, if only we'd remembered to bring snacks," he says with a grin. I just shake my head and relax, not at all unhappy with my shadows as a bed.

"Lay down with me," I whisper. "We don't need to be anywhere tonight."

I rub the solid shadows beside me and grin up at him. "You know that when you wake up, you might have to do that again, don't you?"

He chuckles, and flames sputter to life in the air beside him, his desire fading and being replaced by excitement. "I'd be happy to bring you to earth shattering ecstasy twice a day every day forever."

Forever. That's a thing for Immortals. I think I could get used to that. Cole sits back, and I lay down sideways on the shadows, the makeshift bed that's perfectly soft. It's more like a cloud than any bed could ever be. When Cole curls up beside me and puts his arm around me, I don't think I could ever feel safer.

This is what I've wanted. This exact feeling. My body thrums in contentment. Not desire. Not anger. Not joy or pride or excitement or annoyance. Contentment.

Something that I could never have found in Blackgrove. Something I could never have found in the forest.

Only in Cole's arms could I have found it. Only having his arms around me, his naked body pressed against mine. And I smile.

Because tonight is the kind of night that dreams are made of.