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)
Our fucking switched from physical gratification into spiritual declarations.
I felt her.
Truly, truly felt her and I groaned at the gift that was. At the transcendental joy of finally belonging.
The earth shuddered harder.
Chips of stone fell from the ceiling.
Runa winced and stopped breathing, only to melt and beg for more. Her breaths came quick and shallow. “I love you,” she gasped. “Il lapinzana nu. I always will.”
I thrust into her quicker.
I couldn’t handle the poignant need to explode.
My hand slipped beneath her.
I found her slippery heat.
I rubbed my fingers at the same place where she’d jerked and twitched when my tongue had licked, drowning beneath the wash of her need.
“Darro...oh—” Her hips pressed into my hand while my cock drove into her from behind.
She made love to my fingers while I made love to her body.
And the world quaked louder, the warning from Lokath, the earth element, going unheeded as we chased mania together.
Her body rippled around mine as another flash of agony fed through the heartlink. I wanted to stop. To check she was okay, but I’d gone past all humanness.
I was only one thing.
I was lost.
I turned savage as Runa’s breath hitched again.
Her hair stuck to my sweat-damp chest as I crushed her to the rocking earth.
And when Runa stiffened beneath me and her mouth parted with a silent scream, I let go.
I hurled myself into the sharpest, blackest death.
My cock thickened, milked by the ripples of her own pleasure. A guttural groan tumbled from my mouth as I pressed a kiss to her hair and rode her hard.
Her heart drummed against mine, slipping through her ribs to rattle amongst the wreckage of our release.
But I wasn’t done.
I didn’t think I’d ever be done.
I roared as death flowed through my veins.
It took everything I had not to pour it into her.
Not to kill her where she lay.
The battle amongst my true nature added ferocity to my overwhelming bliss and I released in spine-cracking spurts.
On and on, I filled her, coated her, claimed her.
I lost my sight as I jerked for the final time, gasping in horror as the tiniest shred of demise escaped my control.
It seeped from me.
Sank into her.
And soaked into her strangely beating heart.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
. Runa .
LOKATH CONDEMNED US WITH ITS violent earthquake.
Wolves howled.
Rocks tumbled.
Quelis hissed inside my mind.
But I didn’t listen.
Didn’t stop.
Didn’t care my heart raced toward its final beat.
I didn’t care that Darro had failed at keeping his power from seeping into me.
I felt it—cold and icy, stalking and silent, wrapping its black tendrils around my spirit.
But it didn’t matter.
Nothing else mattered but this.
This freedom.
This raw, incredible freedom that I’d found in Darro’s arms.
Even the shred of death he spilled inside me couldn’t ruin this moment.
He couldn’t kill me...because...
I’m already dead.
Tears rolled down my cheeks as the aftershocks of my release teased and twitched. Lokath continued to shake the world, roaring its displeasure.
“Hush,” I whispered to the earth element. “It’s over now. It’s done.”
A large crack in the cave’s roof replied as Lokath’s misery added to mine.
I didn’t want to die.
I didn’t want to leave Darro or break the heart that he’d given me.
I loved him more than I thought possible.
I’d felt him when he opened his entire self to me, and I’d flung open my spirit in return. I didn’t care that we were forbidden. I didn’t care that he was my opposite.
I was his for the end of time, and he would always carry a piece of me, even when I no longer existed.
Darro’s satisfied groan fell around me as he pressed me firmly onto my belly. He kept me pinned, even though our releases were over. His body twitched in mine, and I relished in the final moments we had together.
I was so grateful.
So honoured that he loved me.
If only he could protect me from this.
If only...
Ice slipped through my veins as Darro thrust gently, placing the softest kiss on my hair.
I wanted to tell him everything.
But...it was too late.
Every part of me was drained.
I’d fought as much as I could.
I’d willed my heart to beat for as long as possible.
But now our pleasure was over, and it no longer wanted to obey.
I couldn’t catch a proper breath, slowly suffocating.
My pulse turned hazy, lazy, exhausted.
I did my best to be brave, but I was afraid.
Absolutely terrified as my failing heart thudded oddly, sickly.
I turned breathless for other reasons as Darro thrust a final time, then flopped sated and wonderfully heavy on my back. His toes rubbed against mine as his lips found my cheek and he breathed utmost devotion into my ear. “There’s no turning back from this, Runa. This transcends everything. You and me...we’ll figure it out together. You’re mine. Do you hear me? Not his. Not theirs. Not the fire’s. Mine. And I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”