Page 79 of Curse of Darkness
Our mouths crash against each other.
It’s a kiss forged of desperation and fury. Raw. Possessive. A blistering firestorm of emotion that makes the one we shared in the Darkness a mere facsimile. His tongue drives inside my mouth, desperate to claim me, and I let him, my body undulating against every hard inch of him. There’s nothing elegant about the way we eat of each other, but maybe that’s exactly what we need right now.
Raking my fingernails over the hardened flesh of his upper arms, I can’t stop a half sob from escaping me.It’s real.He’s real.In my arms. In my bed. In my heart…. But for how long? Can we fight off Malakhai? Defy Kato? Kill the Horned One?
The desperation rising within me threatens to overwhelm. I would give anything to keep him here forever.Anything.
“Vi.” His mouth breaks from mine and there’s a hot-eyed look on his face that tells me he knows exactly what’s going through my mind. He whispers as if through a throat raw from screaming. “Vi, what did you do? Who did you bargain with? What does this cost?”
“I made a deal with Kato,” I tell him everything, still trying to touch him. “Once we kill the Horned One, then we have to return to the Gates of the Underworld. We have to cast Death from inside you.”
Thiago’s eyes flare a vicious emerald. “Vi. I’ve tried to get rid of this thing inside me. It’s impossible.”
“Nothing is impossible. I brought you back, did I not?”
“You brought me back.” He gasps, staring at his hands.
“I had to.” I capture his face between my palms.
“You don’t understand.” The muscle in his jaw flexes as he turns away from me, every inch of him tight with tension. “You have no idea what you’ve just done.”
“Saved you.” I push to my knees again. “I saved you.” A sob catches in my throat. “You spent thirteen years trying to remind me of our love. I couldn’t just… let you die.”
Thiago closes his eyes, tilting his face toward the ceiling. “Vi.” A shudder escapes him as he finally meets my eyes. “When I died, I wasn’t the only soul set free. Those five Darkyn souls trapped within me? They were tethered with my soul, contained by the magic of my wards…. Wards that shattered the second I died.”
“Does that mean they’re… alive again?”
Thiago shakes his head grimly. “Not alive, no. But free. And even the wraiths of their past selves are powerful and dangerous.” His dark lashes fall, obscuring his eyes. “And hungry for revenge.”
Upon him.
“My father will be searching for them in order to consume them if he hasn’t done so already.” Thiago shudders. “But they’re not the only ones he’ll come for.” Resting his hands on his knees, he gives me a look full of hungry intent. “When I was trapped in the Darkness, Death was thwarted its endgame. It couldn’t be whole without me—or the other pieces of its soul.”
And now that’s all changed, because I brought him back.
“Malakhai is the least of our problems,” he growls. “Death is still there. Taunting me. When I was trapped in the Darkness, I was free of the threat of him for the first time in my life. Because he could never reunite with himself.”
“Then we fight him. Together.” My gaze runs over his bare chest. “We fight all of them together. If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that you and I are unstoppable togther. If Death wants to take you, then I’ll rip him apart. If Malakhai comes for you, you’ll take his head.” I capture his face again. “And if Kato takes exception with anything, then I’ll claim the Hallow that throbs beneath his court, and I’ll bring that fucking island down on his head.”
A strange light blazes to life in his eyes. “When did you become so fierce?”
“When you died,” I whisper, caressing his cheek. “Nothing else mattered. You always said I was your light in the Darkness, but you were the seed of hope that made me gleam. Without you, the world was filled with cold and ashes. Or maybe that was my heart. When you died, so did my fears. And my doubts. For the first time in years, I knew what was important. You. And me. That’s all that matters. And if anything tries to take you from me again, then I will destroy them.”
My words seem to ignite the inferno within him. Turning his face, he kisses my palm, his dark lashes fluttering over his eyes. When they flutter open, the searing intense need in those depths burns me. “I need to feel your skin on mine. I need you beneath me, Vi.”
“Do it. Take what you want from me.” He doesn’t know how much I need this too.
“You shouldn’t say such things.” He turns his face away, rubbing his cheek along my jaw and breathing me in. His hand cups my ass, grinding me against him. “I don’t know that I have the restraint to be gentle with you tonight.”
Capturing his face, I lick at his mouth. “When have I ever wanted gentle?”
A shudder runs through him as he palms my breasts, burying his face against my throat. “Last warning, Vi.”
“Fuck me,” I breathe into his hair. “Hard. Remind me what it feels like to be loved.”
Molten eyes lock on mine. “Remind me what it feels like to live.”
I gift him with a dangerous smile. “Done.”
