Page 128 of Somnium

Every fiber of his body ached to hear her completely undone again, to feel her unravel against him. Inching his hand up her thigh, he let his palm drift lazily over her stomach to tease her before dipping low to circle his fingers against her swollen clit.

“Oh fuck,” she moaned, sending a shock of desire down his spine to settle right where his body connected with hers. He felt her muscles quiver around him, and the room began to spin when they gripped his cock tight. Elias let out a breath that was anything but steady, but he couldn’t lose control, not yet. Not until he’d given her all she could take.

It was his only drive. To feel everything, share everything, be everything with her. Since the first moment he saw her face. Not at the bar, not in the crowd at the temple, but in the middle of the night, when the world had gone quiet.

Ten years before he ever knew she existed.

And now, with her skin pressed against his, her thighs beginning to shake, he could only think of the one thing he’d spent the last two weeks wishing he’d told her.

Brushing his lips against her ear, he let his breath carry her name like a reverent whisper.

“I love you, Arcadia.”

She let out a quiet gasp, angling her head toward him so her mouth ghosted against his.

“Elias, I⁠—”

Her voice broke when a helpless sound slipped free and cut off her reply. Elias pressed up into her, continuing to circle her clit while her breaths grew more and more ragged until she arched into him with a shuddering cry as he worked her past that final edge.

Pressure built low in his body, climbing higher until it completely dominated him. He moved faster, holding her tight as he raced to join her with each powerful thrust until a rush of pleasure cascaded through him. A brutal roar broke free from his chest at the euphoria that overtook him, and he buried his face in the crook of Cadi’s neck, anchoring himself to her. To them. And then …

Silence.

Elias just held her in the stillness as the waves of his climax began to recede. Cadi’s body shook softly against his as he leaned close and brushed his lips to her shoulder, up her neck, then pressed them hard to her temple before he lowered her down to the mattress.

He moved her carefully, as if she was the most precious thing he’d ever held. Because she was. Pulling out of her, he settled onto his side, and drew his hand in soft circles against her back until she was ready to move again. Even now, he refused to rush her, letting her come back into her body on her own time.

His eyes stayed fixed on her as she turned to face him and reached up to take his face in her hands. She kissed him hard and slow, with a fierceness that made something inside of him crack.

“I love you, too,” she murmured against his lips.

The flutter in his chest stirred with such wild intent it stole his breath, filling him to the point of bursting. This woman who was every piece of him, whose soul was irrevocably tied to his own, who was his entire world … she loved him. It didn’t feel real, but fuck, he was glad it was.

A wide smile stretched across his face, and he leaned in to kiss the corner of her mouth.

“I love you,” he told her again, this time softer, almost a prayer as he drifted to her jaw. “Gods, I love you, Cadi.” His voice shook, the words breaking against his will as they spilled from him.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders to pull him closer and tuck her head beneath his chin. Her breath danced against his chest where he held her, its rhythm turning slow and deep.

Elias ran his hand over her curls, unable to hold back the images that flooded his mind. Visions of a future he’d never dared to believe in until that night, one where they were happy and he could love her without the constant fear of what it might cost. Just a few more days. The gods’ power would be restored, Oneirios’s bindings would be severed, and there would be nothing left to keep him from telling her everything.

They would be free.

39

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

CADI

Cadi watched the gentle rise and fall of Elias’s stomach, the smooth motion threatening to drag her into a deep, blissful sleep. His fingers brushed over her skin, drawing soft lines against her back as she lay there in his arms, both unwilling and unable to move from his embrace. Her limbs felt like they were filled with sand, completely weighed down and useless in the hazy afterglow.

She couldn’t say exactly why, but she felt … different. For the first time in years, she felt a sense of peace without the lingering fear that it would be ripped away at any moment. Maybe it was her decision to reclaim their power, or Elias’s breathless confession against her skin, but a gentle whisper somewhere deep inside her mind told her that she had found something with him that no god could ever destroy.

Cadi tilted her head to look up at him and found him already watching her. His eyes were heavy, like he was fighting off sleep just as hard as she was just for the chance to watch her for one more moment. Something she was more than okay with.

“Don’t you need to get to The Crow?” she asked, her voice soft in the quiet of the room.

Elias shook his head as he lifted a hand to brush a stray curl from her face. “Sera can handle it. I’m right where I need to be.”