Page 93 of The Musician and the Monster

He found the nook between her neck and shoulder as he kissed a path from her ear and down her upper arm, heavy breaths floating over her skin between each love mark.

“My beauty. My love.” The trail of his hand over her thigh, still locked around him, sent a new tingle through her. “You’re all right? I didn’t hurt you?”

A sweet ache filled the space between her legs, one he still occupied, but she’d never call it pain. “Better than,” Ceridwen promised. “I didn’t know. Had no idea…” A small laugh slipped from her lips. “We should have done this sooner.”

His chest rumbled, reigniting the fire within her. “This is already more than I ever hoped for. When you figured out what I was, I thought all hope of you loving me to be lost.”

At first, she’d thought so too, but she’d never admit that to him. Not now. Certainly not like this. “It’s a good thing I’d already fallen in love with you,” she replied instead. “Light. Dark. I accept it all.”

He groaned as he slid from between her legs to lie at her side. Instantly, she missed him. The closeness. The connection. Ceridwen snuggled against him, lacing a leg over his as she trailed her fingers down his chest.

Sadness seeped into his features as he turned to her, their faces only a breath apart. “Whatever happens to me, I’ll make sure you’re safe. Provided for. Protected.”

“Don’t talk like that,” she chided. “Not tonight.” They’d figure out a plan, a way forward. But that darkness could wait until tomorrow. She didn’t want anything to cloud the beauty of this night.

“If you command it.”

“I do.” She sealed her words with a kiss, deep and full of the lingering desire building anew under her skin. His hand sliding along her side and over her hip only fueled that ache.

“Can we do it again?” she asked, near breathless.

He raised his brows. “Again?”

Heat blazed to her cheeks. She bit her lip, slightly embarrassed at her eagerness.

Deep laughter rumbled from his lips, vibrating against her body where it lay against his own. “Who knew I found such a lusty savior?” His wolfish grin melted her further. “Give me a little bit, but I think I can accommodate my lady’s desires.”

Chapter 42

Drystan

Drystan woke before dawn. Ceridwen lay curled on her side in his bed, chest rising and falling with easy breaths. The oil lamp on the table burned low. It gave just enough light to see Ceridwen’s blond hair strewn across the pillow like a golden cloud.

Watching her was a dream. What they shared the night before, even more so. His chest drew tight as he imagined a future with her, one he’d be determined to have if he were any other man with any other past. How easily she slipped into his life and his heart. How wonderful it would be to wake to the sight of her each morning and cherish her in his bed at night.

He’d give every piece of gold he had to clear the sins of his past and live a simple life together with her. But he wasn’t some normal man, no matter how much he might yearn for it. He knew darkness, tasted it, lived with it. It would grow until it crept across the whole of the country, seeking him out once more. More than that, he couldn’t live with the guilt of being able to do something—to kill the king and stop the darkness from spreading—and choosing not to.

Drystan quietly slipped from bed and donned fresh clothes. At his desk, he wrote two letters, and then he crept down the stairs in search of Jackoby.

The task complete, he briefly returned to the tower. For the still-sleeping Ceridwen, he left two things: fresh clothes and a rose from his favorite plant.

No, that wasn’t entirely true. He left a third there with her in the tower: his heart.

It was the hardest thing he’d ever done, but there was no one more precious to him, no one he longed to keep far from the danger and darkness in the capital more than her.

He packed a few essential belongings and descended the tower stairs again. With a quiet farewell to his friend and butler, Drystan left the manor to catch the morning train.

Chapter 43

Ceridwen

Light spilled into the room through the window and roused Ceridwen from sleep.

A smile pulled at her lips as memories of the night before rushed back, flooding her with happy, glowing feelings that wrapped around her, body and soul. Her muscles had never felt so languid. Even her spirit was lighter. Free.

“Drystan.” She smiled at the taste of his name on her tongue. She rubbed the last bit of sleep from her eyes. His scent tickled her nose from the sheets, only deepening the fire kindling to life again within her.

Any second now, he’d wrap her in his arms, kiss her hair, and wish her a good morning. She could see it in her mind’s eye. She longed for it.

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