Page 100 of A Bond in Flames

He slid my shirt up and off, his cold, trembling hands moving over my breasts. I reached between us and shoved down my underwear, kicking them aside, then quickly undid his pants and took him in my hand. His narrow hips moved between mine as I led him to me, wrapping my legs around his waist.

“My love,” he groaned as he slid inside me, filling me.

We moved together under the shadows and stars of his cloak, and with every glide of my hand down his back, I felt him transform. My beautiful Death. He was perfect to me no matter how he looked. When he stared into my eyes, he saw the soul beneath, and I did as well. But when he thrust into me next, the sharpness of his bones under skin had been replaced by flesh and muscle. He wasn’t cold anymore; he was so incredibly warm.

He moved faster, and I rocked with him, lifting my hips, crying out when he hit me so deep. He moaned my name against my ear, and I clung to him as he claimed me, as we were reunited again, just two more stars in the sky.

I came with a sob, shaking and clinging to him as he groaned, coming with me.

Panting, we lay in each other’s arms.

He rose up, staring down at me, sliding the tip of his finger along my hairline and down the side of my face. “This was destined. You made it so,” he said roughly, and then his hand went to his chest, right over the three stars tattooed there. “I’ve been waiting so long to have you back, my little witch, my Zinnia… and our Marigold.”

He’d carried us on his chest, me and Marigold, a part of him, surrounded by him, and now I knew what the constant ache in mine was. It was them. “Let’s go and get our daughter.”

CHAPTER32

Zinnia

The passover the Night Sea had been rough as hell. Thankfully, things had calmed, and I breathed in the ocean air as Mors gently held my wrist while he carefully worked the glove he’d made me over my hand. I’d slathered the wound with numbing balm and padded it. It was still raw and hurt like hell more often than not, but the balm was helping. I’d work on healing it properly when we got back to the castle. For now, I needed to be ready for whatever waited for us. I needed to be able to hold my knife and use my magic. I had to be ready to fight.

“How does that feel?” he asked.

I wriggled my remaining fingers and thumb, then pulled out my knife, gripping it. “Feels good.”

“Your goal when we hit land is to stay alive at all costs, understand?” he said roughly. “You get yourself killed again, and I’ll be seriously pissed off.”

He said it lightly, but the depth of fear in his eyes told the truth. “I’m not going to die.” I didn’t want to hurt him, but I had to ask, “What will happen to the others, the undead?”

“They rose when you came to Limbo. They felt it, your soul, and were drawn to it. It was part of Nox’s twisted curse. They will finally be at peace now that it’s broken.” He shook his head, pain in his eyes. “I failed them,” he choked out. “They suffered, and I didn’t know how to help them.”

Which was why Alga had screamed “give it back” at me. She’d wanted her soul back, her life back. “None of this is your fault. Nox is responsible for all of it.”

“I was so desperate to have you back that when Somnus found your soul, I couldn’t resist it. I was deep in the cloak, lost in the dark, and three times, I took innocent females from their worlds and brought them to the castle, only thinking of my own pain, desperate to get you and Marigold back… but it was never right, and because of that, none of them were able to draw me from the cloak. So I stayed in darkness. I ignored them, neglected them. I didn’t protect them like I should have. None of those females were strong enough to house such a powerful soul—a soul they never should have been given—and they were driven to madness by it. They ended their own lives.”

“So you stopped looking.”

He nodded. “Somnus found your soul again and again, and I refused to bring them to the castle only to watch them suffer the same.” Pain filled his eyes. “Feeling you so close but not being able to reach you, hurting innocent females over and over again… I couldn’t do it anymore. Then Som found you, and something was… different. For the first time in centuries, I let him take me to you, and as soon as I felt your presence, as soon as I saw you, I knew you were the one, that this time was different. But you vanished completely, and I didn’t know what the fuck to do. Then I sensed some kind of connection to you in your cousin and I thought you had somehow disguised yourself… or fuck, I don’t know, but I was drawn to her soul because of you, desperate for you, and when you finally revealed yourself to me, it was the happiest and most terrifying day of my long existence.” His gaze stayed steady on me. “So I need you to promise me that you won’t leave me again.”

“I promise. You have nothing to worry about. My magic is at full power. I feel strong, strong enough to keep both myself and our daughter alive if it comes to that.”

Those magnetic blue eyes met mine, and there was no missing the concern. “It can’t be easy navigating the female you once were with the one you are now. If this starts to feel like too much, if you’re struggling to cope with all that’s changed or you get scared and feel the urge to run from me—”

I pressed my hand to his chest. “I’m not going anywhere. Yes, I’m Aster, the female you loved, the female who gave birth to our daughter, and everything she was—her thoughts and feelings—they’re mine now. But I’m also Zinnia, a powerful witch, a Thornheart, and Jasmine’s big sister. I don’t know how to explain it other than for the first time in my entire life, and that includes my very first life, I feel whole, as if a missing piece of me has been returned. Like this was how it was always meant to be.” I slid my hand up to the side of his throat. “I’m stronger now in every way. Stronger than I’ve ever been. This life has made me stronger. Before, I was born fully grown. I was naïve, I trusted too easily, and didn’t understand the world I’d been thrust into. Nox could never get in my head now like she did back then, and I will never, ever willingly leave you, understand?”

His fingers delved into my hair, and he pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Okay.”

“Okay,” I said.

He released a rough breath. “As strong as you are, you leave Nox to me. Don’t engage with her. Don’t let her goad you into an attack. She lost. The curse was broken when you came back to me of your own free will. She has to let us get Marigold and leave.” He tucked my hair behind my ear and slid his thumb along my jaw.

“But she won’t,” I said. “That’s what’s supposed to happen when the curse is broken, but it won’t be that easy.”

“No, it won’t. My mother hates to lose. She has nothing left, nothing to amuse herself but hurting others. She lost her humanity a long time ago, and to her, this is a game. Entertainment.” He shook his head. “Until she realizes she’s lost, and then things will get really dangerous.”

I squared my shoulders. “I won’t let her tear us apart again. I won’t let her do it.”

Shadows swirled around him. “Neither will I.”

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