Page 55

The power thrumming inside me, making me feel almost drunk as my fingers gripped his shirt and tore the fabric from him.

Why did I do that?

My breath caught.

Fire flickered across pale skin and rippling muscle. It crept over the hard planes of his chest and the lean ridges of his stomach as if embers pumped through his very veins.

He took that small lapse in judgement as an invitation, slipping his fingers beneath the thin fabric of my underwear. A soft moan escaped me as he brushed against the most sensitive part of me with a slow, deliberate stroke that stole the breath from my lungs.

My head fell back against the tree as a ragged moan tore from my throat, heat unfurling violently through my body at the devastating touch.

“Let me have you,” he said breathlessly, punctuating each word with a torturous circle of his fingers around my clit. “Please,” he added, voice breaking as if he were in pain. His arousal pulsed into me with every rapid beat of his heart, pooling in my chest. I wanted more. Needed more. I hadn’t needed anyone like this except⁠—

Rythos.

I stilled beneath his touch.

“I don’t want you,” I gasped, the word breaking between our barely parted mouths, pushing half-hardy at his shoulders. The request shattered the second my body arched into him.

What the fuck am I doing?

“You hate that you want me,” he sighed. I tried not to whimper as his fingers dragged through the slick heat between my thighs. “But…” He paused, slowly pushing two fingers inside me. A gasp tore from me as he curled them inside me. “You’re drenched for me, Sunshine. I want to drown in it.”

Every wave of pleasure felt like a betrayal.

I hated that my body craved him. Hated the warmth dripping down my thighs while Rythos was tearing the realms apart to find me.

He groaned, pulling his fingers out of me to tug at his trousers.

My body undoubtedly wanted him. Wanted to feel him. Wanted him to fill every part of me. And I hated myself for it. Hated him for it.

But I could end it.

His lust had fed the empty well in my chest, filling me with power to use against him.

He had said this was a game. That dying was not a true death here.

Venom darkened my gaze as I stared into the burning depths of his eyes, tightening my legs around his waist, driving his fingers deeper into me. A haunting melody unfurled from my lips, soft and deadly, winding through the air like a Siren’s call.

Helion went unnaturally still beneath me, his body locking against the strain of my magic as the song wrapped around him like invisible chains.

Pleasure crashed through me like a storm-torn sea. I threw my head back with a broken moan, my fingers digging into his shoulders hard enough to bruise as release ripped through my body, violent and consuming. It flooded the bond between us in merciless waves, silver magic crackling beneath my skin as the song inside me rose to meet it. For one devastating heartbeat, I felt endless. Wild and monstrous.

Pain tore through my chest as I gasped through the last of my orgasm. My breath cut off in a wet gurgle. I spluttered, water dripping down my chin.

Helion dropped to his knees, face reddening and veins straining in his forehead. He crashed to the forest floor, water spewing from his mouth into the ashes. I landed on his chest, head lolling as pain burnt through my lungs, spluttering and gasping for a breath that would never come.

Gods—I was drowning, like the Dead Sea was strangling my lungs with cold, patient hands. Fire burned through me as my vision darkened, the world fading to nothing. My body screamed in silent protest. I couldn’t breathe—because he couldn’t breathe.

Darkness bled into my vision, swallowing the world piece by piece, until there was nothing left except for the endless pain that dragged me into unconsciousness.

Chapter Sixteen

Demands

Rythos

Clouds rolled low across the horizon, bruised and heavy as they pressed against the furious swell of the Dead Sea. Far below, black water crashed against the base of the cliffs, throwing white spray high into the air while the wind tore at my clothes and carried the sharp taste of salt across my tongue.