Page 144 of Between Fear and Favor

“Ivan’s ax,” I muttered, remembering, and within a breath, my eyes rolled back in my head as he began his motions once more. Sliding a fingertip through my wetness, he teased my entrance before tracing his tongue up my center. Thorough, he pressed his tongue deep before moving upward and swirling over my clit.

“You taste so fucking good, Em,” he said, voice a deep rasp against me. “You better give me another constellation so I can keep tongue-fucking you.”

“Perhaps you’ll be the one to beg, then,” I mumbled, words failing me as he continued tasting and savoring me. I wasn’t sure he could stop if he wanted to. Rain was ravenous, licking and nipping and rubbing. The fingertips he’d used to spread me open farther started moving, rubbing either side of my clit as he paid meticulous detail to every sensitive part of me.

“You’ll let me use this sweet cunt however I want, won’t you, dear heart? I won’t have to beg to part you and taste you and open you up with my cock, will I?” he asked, continuing to do exactly as he pleased, but I wanted more.

“Erepidia,” I named another constellation, struggling to breathe as he slid two fingers inside me. My hips met his slow thrusts, and a moan fell from my lips. “Please, Rain. Put your cock in me,” I begged. “I need it. I need you.”

At that moment, our game ended. It had served its purpose. It had pulled me out of my inner thoughts, and brought me here—with him—on the verge of shattering around his fingers. With haste, Rain moved beside me. Laying on his side, he pulled my thigh up over his hip and slid an arm beneath me, pulling me closer.

And then his trousers were pulled down, just enough to free his cock and his ass, and he swiped the head of his cock through my wetness. Within a breath, he pressed into my core. I groaned as he hooked his arm beneath my leg, grabbing my ass as he thrust into me. With this angle, he wasn’t hitting deep, but each push of his cock rubbed against my clit. I was already at the brink of crashing over him, and with such friction on the most sensitive part of me, I was certain to tip over the edge in no time.

I unbuttoned his shirt, shoving it from his shoulders as he thrust into me. Slow, shallow movements made me gasp and moan and whimper—it was unlike anything I’d ever felt.

“Divine fucking hell,” Rain said, his brows tipping up in the center as his mouth hung open. I reached up, cupping his jaw. His beard had grown long enough to soften, and I decided I wouldn’t let him shave it off any time soon. Pulling his face to mine, I kissed him, breathing him in. We shared breath, both of us unable to speak from the intensity of this pleasure. We panted against one another, sharing sloppy kisses as each slide of his body into mine took our breath away. Both of my hands held his face as he traced his hand down my back, pulling me ever closer.

He was the best thing to ever happen to me. All the heartache, all the guilt, all the grief—it was all worth it for what he’d given me.

Despite his efforts, despite the distraction of his words and his body and his love and admiration, I couldn’t help it as a tear leaked free. I was hopeful—so wildly hopeful—and that scared me most of all.

Because we could have this.

Trapped within the eye of a storm, we only had to make it through to the other side.

We could have this for the rest of our long lives, if only Aonara saw fit to help us. We could restore the font and bring peace. We could grow our family and change Vesta for the better. We could do anything, if only we found favor with a goddess who’d seen fit to bless me before. Though I both feared her and condemned her, I found myself full of optimism. And that made the possibility of failure even more tangible. Just out of reach, the future of the Three Kingdoms was right there, full of abundance and opportunity, if only we could snatch it from the grips of Nereza’s greed and the Supreme’s selfishness.

Rain moved slowly, wrapping his arms around me and holding me tight. He kissed me as he moved, sensing my emotions. His hope and fear meshed with my own across our golden bond, and he wrote his belief in our victory in my flesh. With tender kisses and aching sweetness, Rain did what he could to reassure me. Without words, I could feel him. He believed in us—believed inme.

“Until we are just whispers on the wind and our story is written in the stars,” he murmured.

I gasped as his words made me come undone. My muscles tightened around him and his own movements seized as he spilled into me.

Neither of us had words as we caught our breath. Neither of us could say a thing that hadn’t already been said. And so we lay there, unmoving. Rain summoned divine fire into his palm, throwing it toward the wood we’d gathered before sunset, but we didn’t part.

We both knew exactly what we stood to lose and what we stood to gain. No more words could soothe or encourage, and so we let silence blanket us as we drifted to sleep.

Chapter 65

DEWALT

I jolted awake,screams pulling me from the dark.

Blinking, all I could see was smoke and divine fire. I’d landed on my back, and by the tingling sensation in my left arm, I’d smacked into the anvil on my way down.

“Come on, Jes, please,” the Scythe begged, and I rolled onto my side, looking for any of the women who’d been beside me just moments ago. Though I couldn’t see her, the assassin’s wail turned into a piercing scream as she pleaded for her sister to get up.

Good—one less threat, one less terror amongst us. They’d tried to kill us all.

Whatever reason the gods—old or new—had seen fit to pity us, I didn’t know. I could only sigh in relief. Nor’s dark hair and quiet smile appeared in my mind, lips curved invitingly. Even now, the prospect of losing myself in her was compelling and consuming. But I wouldn’t allow myself that. I would find her, ensure she was safe, and then force myself to let her go. Whatever hateful things I needed to say to her to push her away, I’d do it. My self-control had fractured, and I could no longer be trusted around her.

When I heard Nor’s voice, I knew I needed to get my ass up and out of the crumbling armory—I was delirious from inhaling too much smoke.

“Let me help,” she said, voice low and calming. “Skies, she’s heavy,” she grunted a moment later, and my eyes widened.

“Nor?” I started, before my coughing made speech impossible. Sitting up, I was able to make out two figures dragging a third through the smoke. Of course she was here. Of fucking course she was going to help. And yet, by doing so, she was going to get herself killed.

Bracing myself on the stone the anvil rested upon, I tried to pull myself up, finding my left leg numb. “The fuck?” I grunted, shaking it out and slamming into a support column when I lost my balance. A beam fell above me, white fire swinging in an arc in front of my face, and I fell backward onto my ass. Scrambling away on my hands, I narrowly avoided a coil of rope hitting me in the head, aflame and wild, slipping from the ceiling like a furious serpent. Using my booted foot, I kicked it off my numb leg, wincing in pain as the heat licked through my heel. I didn’t let myself imagine the skin beneath my pants even as the scent of charred flesh wafted toward me. Swallowing down bile, I wiped my hands off on my clothing, preparing to stand once more. I couldn’t figure out what the fuck had happened. Nothing had landed atop me, so I didn’t understand why I couldn’t feel my gods damned leg.

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