Page 138 of Elysian

I shoved his boots off the edge.

He chuckled, knowing exactly how he irritated me.

“Will you be going South with me? There have been many Hollow attacks.”

“No, the council informed me of attacks in the East, so I will go and do as I must.” My duty as King. One I shared with Volcan who was as close to me as a brother. He had been the reason I had not died after the beating I received for stealing bread so many years ago.

I came out from under the flood of memories as if emerging from water. I gasped, clasping my chest.

Cassiel curled forward, head hanging, and hands dangling on his knees. Tears spilled from his eyes, dripping down his face in rivulets.

What had he seen?

Sensation at my breastbone had shifted—no, it spread down to my belly. A weight dropped. The trembling bloom became a living thing, vines radiating and threading through my veins.

I groaned. Loss at my breastbone. As if it should have been there from the beginning, since the moment I lost Piper. As if our bond blossomed. Cassiel’s chill no longer soothed the absence; it left it empty. Instead of remaining a festering wound, it had scabbed over with his presence there.

Lines from withering faded, snaking back toward his chest.

This was different from the wraithling bond. I could feel his proximity. It was a warmth in my belly and a fullness at my breastbone. I rested my palm on his shoulder. The presence from my breastbone to my belly pulsated, confirming my thoughts.

I slid my hand down his arm.

He jolted and turned his head. His brow furrowed.

“I have seen what I have done to you,” he croaked, face collapsed with grief. He reached for my face, caging me with his eyes. If I received bits of his past, he must have as well. A hot flush burned my cheeks. “I cannot speak in your mind,” he breathed. He made a sound like a wounded animal, grasping over his heart. His eyes seemed much too wide, the whites of them giving him a stricken look.

“Amara,” he whispered. “I am sorry.”

Grief furrowed the lines on his face.

“I know,” I whispered, truly believing him. I pressed my palm to his cheek. He shuddered, leaning into my touch.

“I . . .” he croaked, seizing onto me as if I would disappear. His hands held a certain desperation that turned my stomach.

He captured my face between both hands, mouth flush to mine. I met his kiss, grasping his face with as much force as he took mine. His fangs cut my lip, but he did not stop, soothing the cut with his tongue as he continued his pillage of my mouth. Without removing his mouth from mine, he pushed to his knees. He tore open his shirt whilst I reached for the buttons of his trousers. Reaching for my waist, he pulled me up as he leaned over to keep our lips together. He shoved down his pants. I reached to set my hands on his shoulders as he grasped under my bottom and hoisted me against him. My legs fell apart.

Cassiel’s hips pushed my dress up to my waist. He walked us backward until my back was flush against a stone wall. He pinned me there with his hips and lifted his head to stare into my face.

With a careful, deliberate thrust, he slid inside me. I gasped; the stretch was sudden and intense.

My lips fell open with a cry. His face remained shadowed, but what I could see of him was tensed with ecstasy. He seated himself until his knot shoved inside.

“Cassiel,” I moaned.

He shuddered, stuffing his face into my throat. His lips grazed it, then he struck. My channel fluttered around him. With such ease, he erased every thought in my mind. I turned into a bundle of need, arching and clawing at his bare shoulders.

He drank, spawning urges to life between my legs. He kept still as I writhed. Lifting his head, he licked the spot and kissed up my chin.

“There is nothing in this realm that would rip me from an eternity at your side.”

The whispered words pulled me taut. He struck again, and I cried out, climaxing. I sank my nails into his skin, scoring lines.

Cassiel set a hard, pounding pace. His grip on my hips angled me away, and he thrust, drawing out my release. When I landed, he stared down at me. His fangs reflected moonlight, allowing me to see tenderness soften his face.

He watched me as if I were fascinating.

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN