Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

R osa rolled over in the warm depths of her new bed, her muscles feeling like jelly from the magic use and battle fatigue. The fight that ensued after the Seelie had left had been almost as equally vicious.

Nimue . Of all the people that could find their way back to Gwaed Lyn! Was it the Autumn Queen's idea of a sick joke? Despite Rosa's misgivings, she had convinced Bleddyn not to kill Nimue outright.

"We don't know why they were hunting her," Rosa had argued. "She's obviously been beaten, and she's come from the Aos Si. We can use her for information."

"We can't trust her," Eldon hissed.

"I'm not asking you to trust her. I'm asking you to separate your heart from your head and use her," Rosa replied. The discussion had ended with Nimue being locked in the cells of the tower.

"Are you still awake?" a voice asked from the doorway. Balthasar was still in his armor, hair wet from the sleet outside.

"Did you only just get back?" she asked, and he gave a tired nod.

Eli had sent him and Saul to scour the grounds and the surrounding farmlands in case any of the Seelie had managed to escape.

"There was no sign of them. I hadn't expected them to get very far, but Eli had to be sure."

Rosa climbed out of bed and gestured him to come closer. "I didn't get a chance to tell you how good looking you are in leather," she said, helping to unbuckle the sides of his breastplate.

"You should've seen me in tights," he said with a wicked grin.

"The mind boggles," Rosa laughed, her mind going to interesting places. She untucked his tight midnight blue undershirt and helped him out of it. She ran her hands over him. "Not a scratch."

"Don't look so surprised," he said and pulled her in tight for a kiss. "You did very well tonight. I can't imagine the name the Seelie will come up for you and your mighty sword."

"I don't know how much was me and how much was Gaeaf Storom to be honest," Rosa admitted.

She didn't want to talk about the battle, the Seelie, or the emotionally damaging presence of Nimue. Balthasar was in front of her in hard lines and leather pants and it was suddenly the most important thing in the world.

Burning hunger seized her, and she pulled him to her for a hard kiss. He lifted her up, and she wrapped her legs around his hips, the leather pants smooth against her. Her magic purred beneath her skin as he laid her down and ran his body up hers.

Rosa shivered as he slid her underwear off, his warm hands moving to grip her ankles. His palms hummed with power. It was calling out to her, begging her for a touch, a taste, to let it wrap around and consume her. It spilled out of his hands in midnight blue light, curling around her calves, over bended knee and thigh.

It stroked her, and her magic rose to meet it, wrapping around the light. She caught Balthasar's dark eyes and shuddered with hunger. He could feel it too, their magic binding together, riding off their emotions and anticipation. His hand moved up her, along her stomach and clasped the warm weight of her breast as his mouth rested between her legs. She convulsed as magic, his magic, burst up and inside of her. Something was more intimate about it than anything she'd ever experienced before, like his soul brushing against her skin.

Rosa cried out, and her magic exploded out of her. It gripped him by the arms and shoulders like extra hands and pulled him up and on top of her. Rosa's mind was a hot blur of power, desire, and emotion that her body couldn't contain everything that she was feeling, that this power could break apart worlds.

Balthasar cupped her cheek in his palm in a moment of infinite softness, his dark eyes filled with a love and want that threatened to drown her. It was the calm before the storm, because as he entered her, Rosa bit her tongue to stop the scream that was ripping her throat apart. Balthasar's pupils flared wide at the scent of blood.

"It's okay, Bal," she said, her voice changing, becoming deeper as their combined magic rode her. "Kiss me. I'm not afraid of what you'll see."

Balthasar let out a sound that was a cross between a sob and a laugh. "My Rosa, you don't know what this means."

"I know," she replied, her hands and magic curled over his chest, around his neck and brought him closer. "I want you to know all of me…so take it."

Balthasar shuddered, her words, her permission reverberating through him, making her gasp underneath him. His hands shook as they stroked her face. "There's no going back from this."

"I don't want to go back," Rosa whispered, bringing him closer. She felt it as he bit his tongue. Some other sense she didn't know existed flared to life, and she whimpered as he moved inside of her. Her legs tightened around him, and she flipped him with her new strength and sat straddled on top of him. His hands gripped her back as he brought her tight and hot against his chest. She grasped his neck and pulled him to her, her mouth locking on his in a haze of blood, magic, and desire.

Rosa was liquid and light, her whole being exploding with memories and the raw masculine flavor of Balthasar's soul. His long life spilled over her, but she gripped him tighter, her body struggling to contain everything she was feeling. Balthasar made a sound, primal and shattered. She could make out her name on his lips, but she was too far gone to respond until there was only the burning of their combined magic, their lives, and the essence of who they were.

When Rosa came back to herself, she was weeping and clutching him. His arms crushed her to him, his face buried in the crook of her neck, his breath coming in shuddering sobs. When they could finally move again, they lay down, each still holding the other with the fear that, if they let go, they would fracture into nothingness.