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“You have given me the greatest gift of all. This feeling… it is indescribable. I imagined what it would be like countless times, but this, this is more than I could have dreamed. You are my angel, my sprite, and now my life.”
Tears pricked my eyes as Ifeltthe truth of his words. “Will your mark be covered by your tattoos?”
“No. I left a special place free just for this moment,” he smirked. The moment he pushed my hips off of him, I ached for his closeness, not wanting to be separated, not yet anyway. I was still relishing this incredible feeling of boundless certainty and contentment.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“How did you know?”
“There are no barriers between us anymore. We are one.”
His eyes glittered as he turned around to show me his back. There, just between his shoulder blades, was the outline of a perfect circle. I touched it with the devotion such a powerful mark deserved, and the one on my back tingled in tune.
The smile over his shoulder was devastating. “Let me see yours.”
We switched positions, and I bared my back to him. His fingers traced the outline, sending another shudder through my body. Then his lips brushed the very center of the circle, the touch sending heat straight to my core. “You are exquisite, my mate,” he purred. “I can’t wait to make you my wife.” He pulled me onto his lap, holding me against his chest like I was the most precious of gemstones. “I love you.”
“And I love you,” I whispered back. We remained locked in that embrace until the air became too cold to bear, and a body-wide shiver from me finally caused Ruslan to stir.
“I need to fuck you again, but this time I want to be clean while doing it.” He scooped me in his arms, leaving the bloodied tools and bodies behind, along with our clothes, and carriedme toward the lift that had been hidden deep in the Agrenak Mountains the entire time I’d been chained in that cave.
I swung my feet in time with his steps, a wide smile plastered on my face as I walked my fingers across my mate’s muscled torso. “I don’t think we’ll stay clean for long, not with the way I want you to take me.”
Ruslan groaned, the sound slipping from low in his chest. “Fuck, sprite, when you say things like that…”
“What?” I teased, my fingers stopping just above his pounding heart. “I didn’t even tell you how my pussy clenched when you killed them for me.”
“Izidora,” he growled, a warning in his tone, and his whole body went tense beneath me.
It made my blood sing in the best way. I wasn’t quite ready to step out of the dark, not when it felt so damngoodto slip into it with Ruslan.
“Take me home,” I said, breathless, and our fresh mating bond hummed with excitement.
Ruslan wasted no time, beginning to chant under his breath, the words foreign yet familiar, and I knew he meant to take us to Roc Palace – the home he built for us, where no other female had set foot. The cart, our clothes, all was forgotten when getting as close as possible to one another was an all-consuming thought. Within moments, we were standing in the center of our suite’s bathroom, the giant shower flowing with natural hot spring water from the mountains beckoning us to wash away the gore and grime.
“How did that not drain all of your magic?” I asked, blinking up at him.
A secretive smirk pulled up the corners of his mouth. “Because I am the most powerful Félvér in all of Északi.”
“You were holding out on me,” I protested with a wry grin.
“You are not the only one with hidden thorns, sprite,” he teased, carrying me toward the waiting shower. Ruslan could scarcely stand to put me down, and the entire time he spun the handles to release the flow of natural thermal water, his intense gaze pinned me in place. The moment steam rolled in our direction, he snatched my waist and directed me under the spray, sending a cascade of giggles from my chest. The world fell away with each brush of skin on skin, with each swipe of tongue against tongue, until we were infinite in that moment.
Nothing and no one would separate us now that we were one.
Now that Ruslan was my mate.
24
Béke Day Six
Iawoke with my mate in my arms.
She had accepted the bond.
I still could not believe it, but there it was, a solidified thread that was so potent I could feel its each and every shift between us as we dozed in our bed at Roc Palace, hidden away from the world. The first hints of light peeked through the heavy black curtains, and an idea formed in my head – one that I could not wait to carry out. Even though we had only gone to bed an hour before, I had to wake Izidora.
“Sprite,” I murmured in her ear, planting a gentle kiss on her still-damp hair.
