Chapter 11

MOONLIGHT

"I am the Prince of War. I am the Prince of Death."

—Fenris Vane

Pressure builds around me, as if I'm squeezing through a small opening, but I don't feel any solid walls. Something clutches to my shoulder, and in the darkness, I see…

Yami!

I nudge his little head with my own, and my baby dragon purrs. In the distance, I hear a growl. Baron! When the stones broke, the Spirits must have been freed. They—

The pressure ends, and I tumble onto ground, onto fresh grass. This new place is bright, but I can't tell where the light comes from. I see no sun, no source for the ever-present glow that surrounds me. The grass I'm sitting on is the color of eggplant, and wild flowers grow in clusters around me in every color imaginable. Yami hops off my shoulder to sniff at the flowers, making little squeaking noises of excitement.

The dread I felt at what I just witnessed is temporarily replaced by the joy I feel at having Yami back. I can feel our magic connecting and coiling around each other.

"Arianna?" I hear Fen's voice before I see him. He appears from behind a large tree, his eyes frantic until he sees me. I stand and he runs over to embrace me. "Are you injured?"

My hand falls to my stomach by reflex, to the baby the size of a pea inside me. "No, I'm fine. We're fine." I still don't know how Fen feels about the baby. I'm not sure he even knew about the child until Lucian brought it up. What if he doesn't want the baby? What if he…

Fen grabs my hands tenderly in his own. Then he falls to his knees and rests his head on my belly. His voice is heavy. "I feared I'd never see you again. That I would never even meet our child. I…" His voice breaks, cracks with sorrow. "I… I love you, Arianna Spero. I love you."

His words break me. More than anything ever could, his words undo all the composure I'd fought so hard to maintain. I didn't even know how much I needed to hear him say that until he did. He stands and caresses my face in his strong hands, presses his lips against my own, filling me with his taste, his scent of pine and earth. We kiss so fiercely it almost hurts. His hands drop down my back and without warning he scoops me into his arms, cradling me close to his chest. I wrap my arms around his back, running my fingers over his coiled muscle. Pulling at his hair.

It's been too long. Too long since I felt his arms around me. Too long since I tasted his mouth. Too long since I could hold him and feel the heat of his body. So much has happened. So much torture and pain and war. But in the end there is still this. Him. Me. Us.

Near us, Yami and Baron dance and play, chasing each other and running wild through the trees.

"Fen, the others," I pause, pulling my mind away from him for just a moment. Trying to remember why we're here. What we need to do, which is harder than I'd like to admit with the Prince of War looking at me with those sultry blue eyes. "We should look for them. We need to—"

"I don't care," he growls, carrying me forward, past thick trees that cover the sky. He spots a cave, and takes us inside, laying me down on the soft earth, leaving Yami and Baron outside to play and frolic together.

I don't know where we are, or even how safe we are, but everything feels… different. More relaxed. Less urgent. I feel the uncoiling of something in my gut, something that hasn't relaxed in… I don't even know how long.

And in this moment, all I care about is Fen. All I want is Fen. All I need is Fen. Nothing else matters. All my questions, all my worries, the weight of all my future choices, all of that fades into the background. I'll think on it later, I promise myself. Right now, I deserve a moment. We both do.

"Hmm, this seems familiar," I say, grinning. "Reminds me of when I had to heal you."

"I would have healed by myself."

"Right… you were pretty out of it. I wonder, do you remember what happened next?" I ask, biting my lip.

He brushes my cheek with his hand. "We kissed."

"And is kissing all we're going to do this time as well?"

He grabs me and pulls me closer against his hard body, his breath on my ear. "I intend to be more thorough this time, believe me. And I warn you, I will not be delicate." He nibbles at my neck, digging teeth into flesh just enough to sting without breaking skin, and I moan in desire.

Then he turns that bite into a kiss, his mouth running my neck, to my shoulder, then my chest and stomach… then my legs, leaving a trail of heat and desire with every brush of his lips.

I lose myself in ecstasy.

My body trembles without my permission, my fingers digging into the earth. My mouth moves without thought, summoning sounds of pleasure. This is beyond anything I have felt. Anything I imagined.

"Perhaps we should stop," he teases, smiling. "After all, you said the others will—

"Just shut up," I whisper, my breath rabid.

He resumes his methods, gliding his fingers over my body in ways I cannot even comprehend, as if he touches all of me at once. My lips. My breasts. My thighs.

I lose myself to him.

And then we become one. Consumed with desire. Hungry for each other. We do things I never thought I would or could, but I trust him completely, and he me, and so we give everything to each other. I do not know how long we spend in the cave, but after, I can barely stand, and I grin like a fool, basking in the afterglow of something more magical than I've ever felt.

"That was… " I'm at a loss for words. I roll onto my side and glide a finger over his chest.