9. Ayana

Istudied my reflection in the mirror with a turn to one side, then the other. The unfamiliar wraith dress draped my figure in layers of gold that flowed with every shift of my hips.

Gold, at my insistence. Soren initially suggested green to honor my verdant gifts, and backed off as soon as I barked out a horrified no. Ashera's verdants wore green. Light green base colors, dark green embroidery, no choice in the matter.

I never wanted to wear another stitch of green again. But gold? The burning, molten shade of Soren's eyes when he lost control? Yes. Always yes.

As if summoned, my mate materialized in the room behind me. Shadows dripped from his dark clothes and writhed around his wrists. His eyes caught mine in the mirror, and I watched his gaze trace my curves.

"You," he started, striding toward me. His voice rumbled in my ear as his chest brushed against my back, "look..."

My breath caught as his hands smoothed down my arms, his palms hovering just above my skin delicately over the fabric. Goosebumps raced across my flesh despite the warmth of the room. His fingers traced down my hips, then up my sides.

"...beautiful." He gathered my hair over one shoulder and bent to brush a feathery kiss over my exposed neck.

I shivered, and his grin widened, showing the barest hint of a sharp canine. My mate ran his fingers through my hair, eyes locked on mine in the mirror. He began braiding slowly, methodically, his movements confident.

I tried to keep my breathing steady, but every graze of his knuckles against the nape of my neck and the slow, careful pace made me melt. Heat pooled low in my belly, and my heart beat double time.

"I know you would have preferred a private ceremony," I said. A touch too fast. A note too high. We had important duties to attend. "Just the two of us on the Nightfall."

"True," Soren said with a noncommittal hum. He paused his braiding, but those knuckles kept brushing my neck. He knew the effect he had on me. "But our people need this. They need to see their king and queen united. Strong. Symbols of change."

It had been less than a week since we defeated the Triarchy. Seven days. Or was it six? The days had blurred together with meetings and plans, and alarms and skirmishes that seemed to come in unending waves.

The fighting wasn't done, but things had already changed. The verdants of Maidora were free from Ashera's grasp, or would be, as soon as wraith and freed verdant fighters encouraged any venterran holdouts to surrender.

But Matriarch Jaya had escaped in her warship, and many of Matriarch Kyani's forces took their chances fleeing in escape pods. It was only a matter of time until the Triarchy tried for retaliation.

We would meet it. Settlement by settlement, with every collar removed and venterran weapon quieted, our side grew stronger. Our voices shouted louder. We would defeat them.

First, from the Tenebrous.

Then, from the Nightfall. Just as soon as the repairs finished. Soren assured me soon. Vester and Rikke promised me within my lifetime.

Soren's eyes caught mine in the mirror again. He let the heavy plait fall down my back and dropped his knuckles down the column of my neck. A storm of goosebumps erupted on my arms as he teased my mate mark.

I watched his gaze go darker with each brush of his hand. The muscles in his jaw tightened as he swallowed hard. The air charged, heated, and he lowered his mouth to the sensitive mark.

I whimpered. My eyes drifted shut and my head fell to the side to grant him better access. He'd kissed it a hundred times, but I always wanted more. His tongue flicked across the mark and a fresh wave of goosebumps flared over my body.

"It's encouraged for new mates to fuck as often as possible," he said against my neck. His voice was gravel, raw and rough, and it shot straight between my legs. "For safety, of course."

"Safety?" My laugh sounded shaky to my own ears. I could just imagine what it sounded to Soren to earn his answering wicked grin.

"Safety." His fangs grazed my flesh, sending a shiver of anticipation down my spine. "Because if I don't get inside you soon, I might rip the fleet apart."

"You can't. The ceremony starts soon. The council is waiting." I knew the words leaving my lips didn't match my tone. They didn't match the way my thighs rubbed together. They didn't match how badly I wanted him.

He wrapped an arm around my waist and grabbed a handful of fabric. His golden eyes met mine in the mirror as he flexed his fingers and inched the hem even higher.

But his shadows, those damnable, wonderful shadows, were quicker. They skimmed up my thighs and whispered between my legs. I sucked in a breath through my teeth and dropped my head back to his shoulder.

His palm moved from the silk to the sensitive skin on the inside of my thigh. One finger slipped past the edges of the shadows and toyed at my entrance. I jerked, hips bucking towards the delicious contact, and I watched his pupils blow wide.

"My, my, Ayana, how wet you are." His finger slid deep inside, and we moaned in tandem. His eyes fell to half mast, and the corners of his mouth curled upward. "Are you truly suggesting you don't want my cock?"

A second finger joined the first, and my knees nearly buckled. He circled my clit with his thumb and pumped his fingers. In. Out. Each pass hazed my mind, and his smirk grew.

The shadows slipped under the neck of my dress and wound over my nipples, squeezing and teasing.

I writhed, moaning as his fingers pushed me closer and closer to the edge. I rocked my hips into his hand, urging him deeper, desperate for release.

"This isn't fair," I breathed. "You can't just?—"

"Can't I? This is my ship. I can do whatever I please." His words dripped with a sinful promise. "And what pleases me is fucking my beautiful queen."

The shadows moved more frantically, squeezing and teasing my breasts as his fingers crooked inside me. Each pass brought me closer. My heart hammered against my ribs, my blood rushed in my ears, and I teetered on the precipice of pure bliss.

"I can feel you getting close, pet. Just think about what it'll be like when you get my cock inside you again. So hot and so slick and so. Damn. Tight." He punctuated the words by driving his fingers harder and deeper. I moaned and clawed at his thighs behind me, searching for something to ground me.

My body was taut, a spring ready to snap, and every nerve ending felt alive with the heat of Soren's magic and his expert attention. I closed my eyes, drowning in the sensations, lost to the pleasure.

"Watch," Soren demanded. "I want you to watch while you come on my hand. Watch how fucking perfect you are."

I squirmed in his grasp, but he held firm. My only option was to watch. Watch the hunger flare in his eyes. Watch his long fingers work my pussy. Watch how my body bowed and writhed and begged for more.

With a final thrust, I shattered. Pleasure rolled through me in waves, setting every nerve aflame.

We moved, and I wasn't sure if he rushed us across the room or moved us through the shadows, but he had me on the desk with my skirt shoved high and his head between my legs. I cried out as his tongue drove inside me, the sensation almost too much to bear.

I wrapped my hands around his horns and rocked my hips, riding his face as he feasted on me. His low growl vibrated through me, and he licked me with abandon. His tongue lashed my clit before he plunged inside me again.

His shadows moved over my skin, teasing and caressing every inch of me. One even pressed against my lips, begging entry. I parted them and let the shadow slide inside, its smoky taste coating my tongue.

Soren groaned and rolled his eyes upward to meet mine. He worked me ruthlessly, licking and sucking and fucking me with his tongue. I was drowning in pleasure, swept away by the storm that was my mate.

"Fuck, I could eat you forever, Ayana," he murmured, his voice muffled by my cunt. "Your taste, your sounds, the feel of you on my tongue. I want it all."

His hands gripped my hips, holding me in place as he devoured me. The pressure built inside me once more, my impending release just out of reach. His claws bit into my skin, and the bite of pain set me over the edge.

Soren shoved to his feet. Our hands clashed reaching for his pants, our mouths met in a searing kiss, our tongues tangled in a wild dance.

His cock sprang free, and he wasted no time pressing the tip into my soaked pussy. An inch. Two. My eyes rolled back in my head and I clutched his shoulders.

Soren snarled pleasure against my lips. "Take me, pet. Take all of me. Every gods-damned inch."

I arched against him, begging wordlessly for more. His grip on my hips tightened as another inch of thick ridges filled me. I loved this feeling, my body straining to accommodate him. There was a little pain, but so much more pleasure.

"Look at you," Soren purred, his eyes full of raw desire. "Stretched so tight and so fucking eager to take my cock."

My body clenched around him, and he growled deep in his throat. He eased out, then fed me another slow inch. "Who fucks you so well, Ayana? Who fills you like no one else ever could?"

"You," I moaned as he pushed further inside. "You, my king. Only you."

"That's right." He gritted his teeth and bottomed out. The stretch was maddening. His shaft throbbed within me, every ridge pulsing against my inner walls. I clenched around him, unable to resist, and he hissed out a breath.

Then he pulled back and slammed into me again.

"Look at me, my Ayana."

I lifted my head and met his golden stare. His eyes bore into me, impaling me deeper than his cock ever could. "Mine," he growled. "Always mine."

Then he began to move. With every thrust, he claimed me, staking his ownership of my body and my heart. My soul. There was no escaping. No denying. Nowhere else I would ever belong.

I tilted my hips, changing the angle and hitting the sweet spot that turned my vision white. He groaned at my quickening breath and the nails that dug into his shirt. The shadows coiled up my arms, my legs, dancing and licking at my skin.

"Don't stop," I panted. I arched into him, meeting him thrust for thrust, chasing the edge of oblivion. "Please, don't stop."

He answered with a growl. A feral, wild sound that I'd never get enough of. "Come, pet. Come for your king. I need to feel you."

I obeyed. Of course I did.

That sound. Those words. That cock.

He shifted, just barely, but the angle allowed him to slam harder and deeper.

White flashed in front of my eyes, and I came hard on his cock. I couldn't move. Couldn't think.

I could only feel. Feel Soren's fingers digging into my hips. Feel his hard length gliding in and out, faster and faster. Feel his ragged breath on my neck. Feel the ripples of pleasure that washed through my body.

I forced my eyes open in time to see him throw his head back as his hips stuttered. He roared his pleasure as he came, his cock pulsing inside me. He collapsed against me, his breathing ragged as he nuzzled against my neck.

A knock at the door broke the spell. "Majesties, it's time," Rikke called from the corridor. "Council members are already gathering."

I started to say something, but Soren kissed me softly. A lingering touch that sent tingles throughout my whole body.

When he pulled away, he helped me back to my feet and straightened my dress. We stole kisses as we touched each other up, righting and fixing each other's hair and clothes.

He paused before the door and reached into his pocket. Delicate chains and charms tinkled between his fingers. "It's been decades since these have been worn. I think they're long overdue."

The charms matched the ones dangling from his horns—small suns, moons, and stars. Pieces of wraith history and loss. Pieces of his story.

With careful reverence, he settled the intricate net over my hair. The weight of the charms and metal dragged in my hair, but I could get used to it. I'd get used to anything with Soren.

His fingers brushed my cheek as he leaned in for a last kiss.

"Let's get you crowned, my Cor Umbra."