Page 115 of Queen of Tempests and Sin

I couldn’t answer—my body shook too hard, my breath shattered in pieces. All I could do was arch into his touch, beg without words as the fire built hotter, higher, unstoppable.

He kissed me again, fierce and hungry, his fingers circling my clit with intricate precision. Every stroke sent shocks of ecstasy ripping through me, fuelled by the venom, every nerve raw and desperate for more.

‘I want you inside me,’ I gasped, barely coherent, clinging to him as if he were the only thing tethering me to this world.

‘You’ll have me,’ he promised, his voice thick with possession and need. ‘All of me. Until you remember—body and soul—that you belong to me, and me alone. And now you’re a goddess, I can fuck you like an animal.’

At those words, a shiver ran through me. My breath caught—half in disbelief, half in nerves, but beneath it all, something darker, hotter, thrilled at his promise. Excitement tangled with fear until my pulse pounded so loud it drowned out thought. I’d been remade, reborn, immortal now—and Si meant to prove exactly what that meant.

Shifting in his arms, I let my hands wander downward, fingertips tracing over the hard planes of his chest until I wrapped them around his thick length. His groan vibrated through me, heating my blood.

I pushed him gently onto his back, kissing along his throat before swinging a leg over his hips. I needed him in me—and I needed him now. My mouth followed the line of his jaw until our lips met, tongues tangling hungrily. Sliding my hands back up, I curled them around his neck and rocked against him, dragging my slick sex along the rigid length of his cock.

He answered with eagerness, gripping my ass and lifting me just enough for his tip to catch against my entrance. With a sudden pull, he brought me down on him.

Delicious fullness made my eyes flutter shut, and a moan tear free as I sat up, arching. He cupped my breasts, thumbs teasing over my nipples while I swirled my hips, rising and falling slowly, savouring every inch. Heat coiled deep in my core, impossible to contain, until I quickened, crashing down onto him harder, faster. His fingers found my clit, circling, massaging, wringing broken sounds from my lips.

Si rolled us over without breaking our connection, pressing me into the mattress as his mouth crashed against mine. His thrusts were relentless, deep, and vicious, each one rattling a low groan from my throat.

‘Mmm… yes. Oh gods, yes.’ The world blurred out of focus; I was desperate, undone. ‘Bite me again,’ I begged, trailing my fingers along his arms.

His hips kept their punishing rhythm as his mouth left mine, blazing a path down my jaw to my neck. Fangs sank into my flesh, exquisite pain-pleasure exploding through me. I arched into him, arms winding tight around his body, craving more, needing everything.

His pace grew savage, hips driving harder, faster, until pleasure battered me from all sides, overwhelming, unbearable.

‘Every god will smell you on me,’ he snarled against my skin, his voice rough velvet. ‘You’ll be hoarse from screaming my name… I’ll carve myself into you, mark you so deep the pantheon will know you’re mine without a word spoken.’

The words broke me wide open; a guttural scream tearing free as the crescendo crashed over me, like a tsunami of bliss flooding every nerve. My body spasmed around his cock, clenching him, milking him, as he groaned my name and spilled inside me.

In the aftermath, he sagged against me, his head resting in the crook of my neck, shaky breaths whispering heat across my skin.

‘I love you,’ he murmured, raw and unguarded. The low timbre of his voice rumbled against my chest as he squeezed me tighter.

‘After all these centuries, fate finally showed mercy. I lived long enough to find you, kardia mou. You are my soulmate.’ His hand rose, tender now, brushing my cheek, his thumb tracing the line of my jaw as though I were the only thing in his world.

I grinned and kissed him again. I’d never been the fairytales-and-happily-ever-afters type, but this man had carved out a place in my heart and refused to leave. Against all odds, I was officially a sap.

* * *

The boardwalk stretched like a silver ribbon over the turquoise shallows, the sea glittering in the late sun. Si’s private island felt like a piece of paradise carved out of the world—but the real wonder waited at the end of the pier.

Two hippocampi reared from the waves, scales flashing like liquid emerald and sapphire. Their bodies shimmered with the sleek power of stallions, but where their flanks should have ended, jewelled tails coiled and slapped the surf, throwing up fans of spray. Fins fanned along their necks, catching the light like translucent wings.

‘Gods,’ I whispered, my mouth falling open. ‘They’re… beautiful.’

Sephy’s hand found mine, her own eyes wide with childlike wonder. ‘I’ve always wanted to ride one. And it’s all thanks to you, Cordelia!’ she confessed with a conspiratorial grin.

Si smirked from behind us, arms crossed, his gaze more on me than his creatures.

The hippocampus nearest me dipped its great head, nostrils flaring as if it recognized me. My heart pounded as I reached out, brushing my fingers over cool, gleaming scales. A strange thrill rippled through me—half awe, half giddy joy.

Sephy laughed as she swung herself onto the back of the sapphire one, her hair catching the wind. She looked radiant, unrestrained, so different from the solemn Queen of the Dead in the Fields of Asphodels.

‘Come on, Cordie!’ she called, already wrapping her hands around the woven kelp reins. ‘Race you!’

I climbed astride the emerald hippocampus, clinging tight as it surged forward. The creature leapt into the waves, tail churning, and a scream of sheer delight tore from my throat. Spray cooled my face, the wind whipped in my hair, and Sephy’s laughter rang beside mine, wild and free, as we skimmed the waves like we’d been born of the sea itself.

‘Faster!’ she shouted, holding fast as the creature burst into speed.