Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 242728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1214(@200wpm)___ 971(@250wpm)___ 809(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 242728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1214(@200wpm)___ 971(@250wpm)___ 809(@300wpm)
But the longer the shade-moths flew against his skin, the more my mind sank into their spell. I became hypnotised by their flickering. Enchanted with memories I wasn’t fast enough to grasp.
The words I’d used to speak to the fire—using the Nhil’s native tongue of Firenese—vanished from my head, replaced with the unknown dead language that the stranger and I shared.
Just a word.
Only one.
The one for moth.
A rush of heat flowed through me.
Darro.
A nudge of knowing made me gasp.
Something deeply buried and eternally sleepy woke up, clawing its way through my memories, granting me a tiny pinprick of truth.
Darro.
Tears welled.
Just as I’d known my name was Runa the moment I heard it, I knew his was Darro.
My shoulders rolled in thankfulness.
Tears leaked down my cheeks.
I leaned over him, brushing my fingers ever so softly through his hair. “Darro...wake up.” The shadow moths on his skin suddenly dissolved, soaking back into his skin.
My heart tripped, and I grazed my hand from his hair to his cheek. “Darro. Please. Open your eyes.”
The wolves shot to their feet as the stranger’s spine suddenly arched toward the sky, wrenching his back off the ground leaving his arms to dangle by his sides.
I cried out, scrambling backward.
“Darro!” I screamed, my voice lashing around the river’s shore.
His back snapped higher before collapsing hard against the ground.
He groaned.
He shifted.
His eyes shot wide as his lips parted, and he choked.
His hands flew to his throat as if he couldn’t breathe, his stomach muscles clenching as he jack-knifed up and gagged.
I crawled to his side, rubbing his back.
I was useless as he choked again.
He coughed explosively.
He coughed and coughed, retching as if something was lodged deep in his throat.
I didn’t know how to help.
I could only watch as he convulsed.
With another wrenching cough, he sucked in a wet breath before dropping his forehead to his knees. His ribcage moved with gulping inhales before he shuddered and raised his chin.
I trailed my fingers off his back, resting on my heels as he twisted on the spot and caught my stare.
It was as if a single arrow struck us both through the heart. A cord of awareness that was so strong, so tight, it hurt.
Neither of us moved.
We just stared.
And stared.
My tears kept falling but for entirely different reasons now. I didn’t cry because I feared he’d died at my hands. I cried because he was okay. He was breathing and blinking and alive.
His name that burned my tongue as I whispered, “Darro...”
I wasn’t expecting his reaction.
Wasn’t prepared for the way his eyes snapped closed, and his dark earthen skin flushed with sudden silver. Wings of deep black night poured out of his back, enveloping us in a cloud, deleting the dusk and delivering us straight into midnight.
“You know who I am.”
I nodded, breathless and shaking. “Your shadows covered you in moths, and...I-I knew.”
Shyness blushed my cheeks as he reached for me.
His fierce fingers lashed around my wrist, dragging me into him, onto him. His legs spread out, kicking through the ashes of the dead fire, not caring a cloud of dust thickened his globe of shadows.
He didn’t speak as he pulled me onto his lap.
My legs spread over his hips for balance, and his hands landed on either side of my waist, his thumbs drawing circles on my lower belly, burning me through the deerskin.
His eyes locked onto my mouth. “Say it again.”
I trembled at his intensity.
Looping my arms around his neck, digging my fingers into his nape, I breathed, “Darro. Your name is Darro, and—”
His lips smashed to mine.
The bite of his kiss layered sudden pleasure with sudden pain.
I gasped.
I froze.
But then a swell of overwhelming need tore through me.
The forbiddenness. The forgetfulness...
It all ignited in a heart-thundering blaze.
I moaned.
His self-control snapped.
His fingers shot up my spine and grabbed fistfuls of my white hair.
His tongue stroked the seam of my lips, then plunged inside without warning.
I arched in his hold.
His tongue found mine, aggressive, worshipping, delivering the decadent dark taste of smoke and shadows.
I shivered as he kissed me rough and hard. A kiss full of primal belonging and wicked hello. A guttural noise rose in his chest, tangling my stomach and turning me to liquid in his arms.
He kissed me as if he’d kissed me our entire lives.
He kissed me as if he was terrified I would disappear.
As if he would disappear.
As if we’d wake and find this was all a heart-breaking dream.
His breathing turned heavy as his hips thrust up beneath me, catching me by surprise, brushing his hardness against my heat.
A cord of stiffness ran up my spine, only to be incinerated by the sunshine in my blood.
I let go.
I gave in.
My hands fisted in his hair as his tongue dove deeper, licked harder. His mouth bruised mine and we lost ourselves completely.
Hot and fierce.
Demanding and destructive.