Page 110 of Court of Lies and Deceit

With light now twinkling in his eyes, he leans closer and slides his hand over my jaw. “Do you now? What if you get to know the real me and realize that I’m a domineering, territorial bastard who will kill anyone for even looking at you?”

“As opposed to the meek and mellow fop you’ve been up until this point, you mean?”

A dark chuckle rolls from his chest, making his warm breath caress my lips. “Oh you haven’t seen anything yet. Are you sure you can handle the real me, little rebel?”

“Oh I think I can handle you just fine, Shadow of Death.”

With his hand still gripping my jaw, he leans in and steals a possessive kiss from my lips. I moan into his mouth. The sound makes him draw in a shuddering breath. He breaks the kiss but doesn’t pull back. Keeping his eyes closed, he leans his forehead against mine while drawing in another deep breath, as if breathing me in.

“You don’t have to figure out everything straight away about who you are now,” I whisper against his lips, my tone now serious again. “We have the rest of our lives to get to know every part, every quirk, and every corner of each other’s souls.”

He swallows. “What if you don’t like what you find?”

A jolt shoots through me, and it takes all of my willpower to keep it from showing. Because deep down, I’m terrified thathemight not likemewhen he finds out about the hidden rage and the hatred that festers inside my soul. He has nothing to worry about. But I do.

“That’s not possible,” I reply, making sure that he truly hears the certainty and seriousness in my voice. “I love all parts of you.” Before he can say anything, I pull back and lock eyes with him instead. “Can I show you something?”

He blinks, looking a little disoriented by the sudden change for a moment, but then nods. “Of course.”

I summon my magic. Draven doesn’t flinch, doesn’t show so much as a hint of trepidation, when my eyes begin to glow. And that fact sends a pang right through my heart. Goddess above, what did I ever do to deserve this man?

Reaching inside me, I pull at the massive flame of love in my chest. I can’t create or even manipulate feelings of love in other people, because it’s too complicated an emotion. But I can use my own.

While holding Draven’s gaze, mostly to see if he wants me to stop, I do as Jocasta taught me and reach that emotion towards Draven. Two days ago, after my breakthrough with creating emotions, I finally figured out how to share emotions too. I haven’t tried anything like this before, though.

My heart patters nervously as I attach that feeling of love to Draven’s chest.

He gasps.

Eyes wide, he snaps his gaze down to his chest and presses his hand over his heart. Then his gaze darts back up to mine, his expression completely stunned. “This… I can… I can feel…”

“My love for you,” I finish for him with a smile.

He draws in an unsteady breath, his hand still pressed against his chest. Joy and disbelief and the most heartbreaking glimmer of relief shine in his eyes. “Thisis what you feel for me?”

“That’s half of it. When I share an emotion, it cuts the intensity in half so that I feel half of it and you feel the other half.”

But he doesn’t appear to even hear the scientific explanation of it, because his mouth drops open slightly as he just stares at me for a few seconds. Then he presses out, “Half. This is justhalfof it?”

“Yes.”

He draws in one of those unsteady breaths again, almost looking like he’s about to fall off the roof. Raw emotions fill his eyes as he stares at me.

Smiling, I reach up and cup his cheek. “So remember this feeling, if you ever start to doubt again.”

He closes his eyes. I leave the connection between us, so that he can burn the memory into his very soul and never have to doubt just how much I love him. Then once he opens his eyes again, I let the connection fade and my magic disappear back inside me again. That burning flame of love inside me once more doubles in strength as all of the feelings return to me.

His wings flutter as he suddenly moves so that he’s straddling my thighs, his knees on the roof on either side of me. My heart flips as his powerful body, his handsome face, his imposing wings, his entire essence, blocks out the rest of the world until all I see is him. He slides his hands along my cheeks and into my hair, tilting my head back so that I meet his searing gaze.

“Azaroth’s flame, Selena,” he says, sounding breathless. “That was…”

“Very impressive, if I do say so myself,” I joke, a grin on my mouth. “It’s a very complex technique with an even more complex emotion, but I am quite brilliant after all, so.”

He claims my lips, cutting off my teasing words with a possessive kiss. “You’re a fucking goddess,” he breathes against my mouth between furious kisses.

Lightning skitters across my skin and my heart skips a beat. He drops one hand from my hair and instead braces it on the roof behind me. Leaning forward, he moves us down until my back is pressed against the warm stone. My short silk nightgown slides up almost to my hips as I lift my legs up from over the edge and instead brace my feet on the roof.

Still kissing me breathless, Draven slips one hand underneath my neck and the other underneath my back. Then he beats his wings. I gasp against his mouth as he flies us away from the edge and towards the middle of the flat roof instead.

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