He drank in each inch of my skin as if it were all he needed in life. A flash of something unreadable crossed his features, but he crushed whatever doubt or worry he’d felt.
When he pressed the blunt head of his erection to my entrance and slowly pushed in, he brought his mouth close to mine and whispered, “I love you.”
Tears pricked my eyes. I held him tightly, committing this moment to memory. Even though he’d shown me he loved me, hearing it… it made the bad parts we’d endured somehow more bearable. The last time he’d said those fateful words, I’d immediately forgotten them.
“I love you.” I cupped his face and kissed him chastely, savoring the bliss of the moment as we fully joined. Wrath pulled back, his gaze locked onto mine. For a moment, he didn’t move. His fists were planted on either side of me, hard against the desk, his body just as tense.
He was bracing himself for the curse to exact its revenge once again. To wrench me away, except this time it would be for an eternity.
Devil curse, Sursea.I’d be damned if I would allow her to ruin this moment. I did not give up my magic to see the haunted look in his eyes, the flicker of uncertainty when he finally admitted how he felt and didn’t dull his emotions with a tonic. Nor would I allow any doubts to surface each time he said those three cherished words.
I rocked my hips upward, drawing him to the present, and drawing him deeper inside me. We were here. Together. And nothing would change that. Unless we decided to murder each other, he wasmine. And I was his. For eternity.
“Please say that again.” I ran my hands up and down his arms, soothing, pleading. His wings flared out to either side like weapons, the heat making the air around us shimmer. Wrath, the king of demons, afraid of nothing—except losing me—hesitated. “I’m still here. We’re all right.”
He traced my features with his gaze. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. Demon.” I reached over and stroked a warm feather, marveling at the full body tingles I suddenly felt. I stopped playing with his wings and pulled him in for a long kiss. It took only a moment for him to respond, his mouth moving over mine hungrily. Thank the goddess his mind was finally on more pleasant things. “Now that that’s settled, show me all your new tricks. I want you to take me on every surface and every damn wall in this chamber.”
The last vestiges of stress left him and were quickly replaced by a roguish glint in his eyes. “Let’s try half the surfaces for now, my love. Even with your immortal body, I doubt you can handle the full might of my… power.”
Cocky prince of Hell. I thrusted upward, earning a surprised curse from the demon followed by a groan of pleasure as I repeated the motion. “Try me, demon.”
“Remember, I warned you, wife.”
The demon’s wings glowed a brilliant silver as he brought them around us. The magical heat returned and moved down my body like warmed honey, sliding around where Wrath and I were already joined. The heat pulsed there for a minute, strumming my body until it hummed with need. Then my husband began waging the best sort of war on me—he slowly pulled out and thrusted in, the magical heat tingling so intensely I came before he’d even truly begun.
“Fuck,” I swore. Repeatedly. The only words or coherent thought I was capable of.
Wrath’s low chuckle, combined with his continued deep thrusts, had me writhing up from the desk, my back arched high as my body exploded from the sensation again and again.
“Pace yourself, my love,” he said. “We haven’t even left the desk yet.”
“I hate you,” I cried out, the sound proving I felt the very opposite as it quickly devolved to a moan of pleasure. “I hate you in the darkest of ways.”
“You’ve told me that before.” Wrath tugged my bodice apart and nuzzled against my heart before turning his attention to my heaving breasts. “Let’s see how badly you hate me now.”
My husband unleashed himself and his magic, and soon he didn’t even need his wings to bring us both to soaring heights. We came together, murmuring the words that had been stolen from us, over and over until we flew higher and plummeted over the edge once, twice, then half a dozen times more.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Wrath squeezed everydrop of moisture from the linen cloth, dripping soapy water and bubbles down the front of my body. I leaned against his chest and closed my eyes, enjoying the first pure bit of relaxation we’d ever experienced.
After we’d accomplished making love on top of onlytwosurfaces in his private library, much to the demon’s vast amusement, he magicked us to his bathing chamber for a refreshing soak. His wings were tucked away, but I swore I still felt the phantom heat lingering around us.
Nestled between his powerful legs, my head resting in the crook of his shoulder while he leisurely dragged the linen over my body, I released the remaining tension I’d been carrying for the last few months. There were still matters to be dealt with—what to do with the First Witch, as well as clearing my sister’s name. Proving that Vesta was alive and well and left of her own free will and that my twin had nothing to do with her “murder.” And whatever trouble the Star Witches might still be plotting. I hoped that my show of magic was enough to keep them in the Shifting Isles for a while. And as for the vampires, after Wrath’s brutal display, I believed they’d remain in their region and rethink any notion of war.
But for now, with the curse finally broken, we had a moment to simply breathe, to enjoy each other’s company without anyone interfering or any clocks ticking down our time together. I’d like nothing more than to put off dealing with those final pieces for a month.
Sleep tugged at me, and I gave in to the alluring pull of dreams. It had been a long, exhausting haul. I’d gone from removing the threat of the witches as they invaded Greed’s circle to attending a celebratory ball to the Well of Memory; from there I’d threatened Sursea, visited Claudia to retrieve the dagger, and broken the curse.
Resting never felt so good.
“We should send invitations out within the hour.” Wrath’s deep voice startled me awake. “For the coronation. We’ll want to crown you by nightfall, if possible. With the curse broken, and your magic gone, it is a prime time for someone to attack.”
And just like that, the serenity was gone. I twisted in his arms. “Remind me to not make the mistake of thinking a bath with you willeverbe peaceful. First the Blade of Ruination speech, now this.” I smiled as I shook my head. “It’s a good thing I love you, or I’d wish to hold your head under water for a few seconds.”
He kissed the tip of my nose. “At least you didn’t say a few minutes. That shows progress, my lady.”