Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

Vale

"Vale!" Cypherion tore into the room with none of the cool collection I'd grown to expect from him.

I looked over his shoulder at Harlen. Get him out tonight , I begged with one last look at my friend. He nodded and left, pulling the door closed so Cypherion and I could have a moment of privacy.

Then, I scanned my warrior. His hair was half pulled back, but the ends looked gnarled, like fingers had clawed through them. Dark circles framed his eyes after waking from whatever drug they'd used on him, and his clothes—the same leathers he'd been in when we went to the temple—were disheveled, not a weapon in sight.

The frantic search of his eyes around my bedchamber froze me to my spot before the mirror. As he peeled back the layers of the life I once led here, stripped down to its bare minimum, an uncomfortable vulnerability settled over me. He was seeing a person I used to be.

Cypherion studied the room for a long, quiet moment, while my heart thundered, and pressure built behind my eyes.

Then, his gaze landed on me. On the only dress that had been in my wardrobe. A silver fabric that shimmered like it was woven with starlight, crystals lining the fitted bodice. I'd had to lace it as best I could on my own. Dainty straps wrapped around my shoulders, and the skirt flowed to the floor, full but deceptively so, with high slits slicing up to my hip.

Cypherion swallowed as his eyes tracked over every inch of my body. "You look…"

"It's the dress Titus left for me."

"Then it's the worst dress I've ever seen." But with the way his eyes dragged over it, burning with desire and heady need, it was clear that was far from the truth.

And despite the nerves crashing through my chest and the tears stinging my eyes, my lips twitched up slightly and a watery laugh bubbled out of me.

At the sound, Cypherion swept across the room, his arms wrapping around me. "Stargirl," he breathed, bending to kiss me.

I wrapped my hands around him, digging my fingers into the curls at the back of his neck. Grounding myself with him.

He pulled back quickly.

"Are you okay?" he asked, cupping my cheek and letting his gaze drop down my body. "Have they done anything to you? Harlen said you spoke…"

I could see in his gaze that he didn't trust Harlen. And I didn't blame him.

"I think he's on our side here," I said. "He was lied to as I was. And I'm fine." I didn't add that while I was okay physically, being back here was like tugging a vital piece of myself away. A piece that had learned to hope and dream and choose.

I thought he knew regardless.

"We're going to get out of here," Cypherion promised. "We just have to go to this dinner first."

"I don't think you should come," I said. "Harlen said he'll help get you out."

Cypherion argued, "I'm not leaving you. I promised I won't let anything happen to you."

"I'm fine."

"Stargirl"—he sighed—"don't lie to me."

I didn't respond.

"We'll go to this dinner. Then, we'll get out of here." His words came out rough and desperate, a bit turned up at the ends, like we both knew there was a very good chance he was wrong. "We'll play nice, be diplomatic. But I can promise you the Revered won't allow us to stay here a moment longer than is necessary to keep peaceful standings with your clan. When my letters stop arriving, Mystiques will be beating down the door to this manor."

He sounded sure about that last part, but with each word, my heart only cracked further. Because he may be a Mystique, a member of Ophelia's council, but when it came down to it, I was a Starsearcher.

Under Titus's jurisdiction.

I swallowed that truth.

"It's going to be okay," I said.

He is going to be okay .

A tear snuck out the corner of my eye. Cypherion caught it, tilting my chin up, his other hand snaking around my waist.

"Tell me what I can do, Vale." He gripped me tighter to him. "Please, whatever it is. Tell me what you need."

"You," I said, hollowly. Clinging to him, I dragged my lips over his jaw. "Remind me what it is to feel beyond these towering walls."

He turned his head slightly, and his lips melted against mine, a slow answer to my desperate question. Then, the need ignited between us.

Cypherion scooped me up and carried me to the bed. Placing me down gently, he hovered over me with his elbows on either side of my head, caging me in a way that somehow made me feel more free, more alive.

As his lips skimmed my jaw, I widened my legs on either side of his hips so I could feel all of his weight against me, his heart beating against mine through our clothes. Locking one leg behind his back, I pulled him closer.

"What do you want, Stargirl?" he breathed as his mouth worked down my neck, erasing my worries. "Anything you want, all of me. It's yours."

My head fell back, heart beating faster with each press of his lips against my skin.

"Please," I begged and rocked my hips against him. "I just need you now. Need you to remind me." Remind me of the world beyond this manor and all we'd fought through to get here.

Cypherion braced a hand beside my head, looking into my eyes. He searched for something I wouldn't let him see.

"Are you sure?" he asked, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear.

I nodded. "Positive." It wasn't a lie, and I was glad he didn't insist I talk about why I wanted this so desperately. What I was preparing for.

Instead, he pulled me to my feet and untied the bindings of my gown, letting it sink around my ankles.

"Horrible dress," Cypherion said as he wrapped his arm around my waist and lifted me back onto the bed.

"Hideous," I muttered against his lips. Frantically, I unbuckled his leathers, and he tore off my undergarments.

We didn't take our time, didn't stop to indulge. He was plunging into me with one quick thrust, and the pleasure of being with him drowned out the fear of what came next.

He dragged his hips back, snapping forward and watching me for even the smallest reaction. Timing his movements to wring the highest amount of ecstasy from me. When a moan slipped up my throat, he held my hips at that angle to continue driving into me with perfect pressure.

"Cypherion," I gasped, reaching for him. He dipped his head to capture my lips with a searing kiss.

"That's right, Stargirl. Just us. No one else fucking matters." As if to seal the point, he thrust punishingly.

Cypherion interlocked his fingers with mine, bringing my hand to his mouth and kissing it. Then, he placed it on the bed beside my head as he pounded into me again and again, every stroke hitting deeper.

I memorized the feel of his hand in mine. The image of him above me. The way sweat glistened across his brow and his abs contracted with each movement.

"I love you," I whispered.

And Cypherion didn't hesitate. "I love you, too, Vale."

He kissed me, one hand still locked with mine, the other holding my hips in place.

And as I tumbled over the edge, and my heart stopped racing afterward, he held me tightly. "You're never going to be at his mercy again so long as I live," he promised. "You may be in this manor, but something is different this time."

"What?" I asked.

"You're not alone." He kissed the tattooed brand on my shoulder. "It's us against the Fates, Stargirl."

And because of the raw conviction in his voice, I didn't tell him that I feared he was wrong.

It was not us against the Fates, but us living in the wake of everything they'd already planned.