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“Accept the mate bond.”
My long lashes fluttered against my cheeks.I shouldn’t have asked.
I had to reveal what I knew. “Ruslan… I have to tell you something.”
His breath shuddered, and his whole body tensed as if he awaited a killing blow.
“Zuriel was there the day the Goddess’s Prophecy was spoken.”
His brow furrowed. “I know that.”
I dragged in a serrated breath before imparting the nuance of the Goddess’s Prophecy. “But did you know that in the original language, the prophecy called for two mates?”
His brows rose, and he slumped back against the chair, hand covering his mouth. “There is a choice…”
“Exactly. And this choice will determine the fate of the world.”
Ruslan gripped my hips and turned me so I straddled him. “I choose to follow the light. Your light.” He kissed my neck tenderly, reverently. “Darkness still reigns inside me, but you – you are my very reason for breathing. You are the star that guides my way in the blackest nights. You are filled with fire and spirit and that is why you are my sprite. We bring out the light and the dark in each other. We balance each other. We are better together.”
My vision blurred under his worshiping words.
“The weight of the world… it’s so much responsibility. What if I make the wrong choice and doom us all?” It was a thought that had haunted me since Zuriel disclosed the true meaning of the prophecy, and now that the reality of seeing Kazimir again was setting in, my anxiety around the choice had increased tenfold.
He crushed me into his chest, his voice thick and cracked. “I know you want a choice, and I will fight my every fear of you leaving me to give you that. But please, please, do not break me.”
A lone tear trailed down my cheek. “You have no idea how much that means to me.”
We sat in silence for a moment, the gentle sway of our embrace soothing us both. Then, I decided that I needed to bare all truths to him, as he had done for me. “There is something else.” I’d already forced Ruslan to endure wave after wave of painful emotions, so I did not pause before confessing another secret I had kept from him. “The tracking spell Rares put on medidn’t work. I used my magic to block it.” I omitted the part about Zuriel helping me do it, wanting to save my cousin from any reproach.
A puff of breath fanned across my neck as he chuckled. “I should have guessed. You are a better actress than I thought, sprite.”
“You aren’t upset?” I clarified, almost not believing it.
His arms flexed around me as he held me so close it was like he tried to combine our bodies into one. “I never should have allowed Rares to try anyway,” he admitted. “Breaking you, controlling you, neither of those are the way to your heart. Letting you be free is.”
Pinpricks filled my eyes, and my heart swelled at his words. I squeezed him tighter, if it was at all possible with my tiny arms. “Thank you,” I croaked.
“Make love to me one last time before we go?” the broken male pleaded, his voice as hoarse and raspy as my own.
My body heated, and I couldn’t deny that I wanted it just as badly as he did. “Take me to bed, Ruslan.”
I wrapped my legs around him, and he carried me to the bedroom. There was no physical pain mixed with our pleasure this time as we hurriedly undressed and fell into each other.
“Ruslan,” I moaned as he slipped inside me, my center already dripping for him. His cock stretched me out in the most delicious way, and the thread that tied us together vibrated, pulling us even closer.
He took his time kissing me, stroking me with languid, unhurried thrusts, as if we had all the time in the world. “Faster, harder,” I pleaded, needing more of him.
“Fuck, sprite, I love you,” he moaned, then quickened his pace, his hands tightening across my back and arching my spine so he could take me deeper.
“I’m so close,” I whimpered, digging my nails into his backand gripping him tightly. My walls fluttered around his thickening cock, seconds from falling over the edge. With one last deep stroke, my orgasm tore through me, and Ruslan followed with his own, whispering my name over and over as he kissed my lips and my neck and clutched me to him like I was the most precious gemstone ever mined in the Iron Realm.
When we finally came down, Ruslan tugged us higher onto the bed and cradled me against him. He continued to kiss me everywhere, showering me with affection until the noises rising from the city below caught my attention and I decided it was time to pretty myself for what was to come. “I need to get ready,” I whispered, stroking Ruslan’s jaw and running my fingers through the soft hairs there. He sighed, but opened his arms and allowed me to roll out of the bed, mimicking me a moment later.
That hint of strangeness still filled the air, but in my gut I knew that when Ruslan and Kazimir were side by side, it would be apparent which male was the right choice. With that in mind, I hurriedly fixed my mussed hair in the bathroom, applying a few dabs of mascara to my long lashes and charcoal around my eyes to accentuate their brightness.
When I emerged, Ruslan held a shimmering black gown with a sly smile on his face. “I picked this out for you to wear today.”
My face was alight as I slipped into the fine fabric. He shimmied the dress over my head, the silk molding perfectly to my every curve. The high neck and long sleeves offset the deep cut into the back, fabric only meeting again just above the lowest part of it, then trailing off into the distance, creating a pool of darkness that spread all around me.
