Page 63 of May: Bloom & Bane

“Okay,” I breathe.

He guides me to the living room and reaches for the largest blank canvas Therael brought me. He unrolls the heavy cloth across the floor and looks up at me, his mismatched eyes dark with intent.

“Lie down.”

“On the canvas?”

“On the canvas.”

The stretched fabric is cool beneath my back as I sink onto it. Sage crawls between my legs and opens his right palm. A tiny crystalline shape begins to materialize, hovering just above his skin before splitting into a dozen tiny seeds. They float like teardrops of frozen starlight.

Droot lets out another tiny, scandalized squeak and dives headfirst into a pile of pillows, his neon pink glow muffled under the cushions.

Big Bird is doing the kneeling thing again, he chirps. Suntrap is getting spicy. Droot is sleeping now.

“These are sola’vae,” he whispers, his gaze dropping to my mouth. “They are blood-blooms, which means they respond to what I feel—to what I need. And right now—” The gold pollen thickens in the air between us, heavy with his fresh-rain scent. “Right now they’re going to be… a lot.”

I swallow hard. “What do you mean, a lot? A lot of what?”

The corner of his mouth lifts in a crooked smirk. “Trust me?”

I nod.

His fingers find the hem of my dress, gathering the fabric and lifting it slowly until it bunches above my hips. His eyes are molten, lavender and gold swirling like a storm about to break.

“I want to try something, Eden,” he rasps, his gaze trailing the exposed skin of my thighs. “Something my body is telling me I need to do.”

“Yes,” I breathe, before I even know what I’m agreeing to.

His hand trembles as it slides up the inside of my knee. “You know I can grow things,” he whispers, his thumb brushing against the thin cotton of my panties. “Flowers. Vines. Life.”

I gasp as he hooks his finger around the edge of my panties, pulling them aside.

“But there’s something else I can create,” he continues. “Something that only exists between mates.”

He holds his open palm over my hips. The tiny sola’vae hover between us. “I want to plant them inside you, Eden. I want to make them grow. I want to fill you with blooms that only we can create together.”

Every drop of air in the room vanishes at once. My heart thuds hard inside my chest.

“And when they bloom,” he rasps, leaning over me, “you are going to feel so much pleasure.” He dips his head, his lips brushing my ear. “I can control how big they grow. How full you get. I can make it slow⁠—”

His finger traces a wet circle over my entrance.

“—Or I can make it overwhelming.”

“Sage…” I gasp, my hips rising toward his touch.

“Tell me yes,” he pleads against my neck. “Tell me I can fill you with something only a Solvernah can give you.”

“Yes,” I breathe. “Yes.”

The left side of his face briefly turns translucent, revealing the bone beneath.

He draws his finger from between my legs, sliding it slowly between his lips. He pulls it free, holding a single, glowing seed on the tip.

“First…” he whispers, bringing his hand to my mouth. “I need you to swallow one for me. Can you do that?”

“Yes.”