Page 19 of A Heart of Crimson Flames
“Gods, I missed your tight, wet pussy,” he groaned, fucking me harder until my thighs were shaking.
There was no way I was going to be able to hold on, not in this position. When my sounds tinged with mania, ratcheting higher, Navin released my hands. He unhooked my knees from his shoulders and pulled me up so my ass rested on the edge ofthe table. My legs hugged around his hips as he kissed me. He pulled almost all the way out and slowly slid back in, making me feel every delicious inch as his tongue caressed mine.
He swept his hands down my back, our frenzy turning into something slower and deeper.
“I love you,” I murmured against his lips.
Navin pulled back to meet my eyes. “I love you, Sadie.” He moved in and out in slow, rolling thrusts. “My Wolf, my song.”
He dropped his forehead to mine and just held me there, our foreheads pressed together, our souls intertwining just as much as our bodies.
When he pushed back in again, the feeling was so overwhelming that even the slightest movement was going to topple me over the edge. Navin began to move faster again as if reading my mind. No slowing down now. Each pump of his cock sent me spiraling higher until I was coming undone.
I cried out his name, shattering, as my pussy clenched around him, pushing him over the edge of his own release. He battled my tight channel, getting three more thrusts before his hand circled to the back of my head and he guided me back down to the table, both of us collapsing in a breathless heap.
A blissful calm swept over me. Even with everything on fire all around us, surrounded by monsters, here we were, together at the end of the world.
I knew then I’d do anything to make sure we were never apart again.
Briar
I STAYED BENEATH THE COVERS FOR MOST OF THE DAY, ONLYpulling the blankets down when I scented smoke in the air. I peeked out into the too-bright room as creamy daylight seeped through the frosted windows. The burgeoning flames growing within the freshly lit fireplace made me frown. The little acts of kindness only made fresh pain blossom anew. Better for the sorceress to be wholly heartless than to have heart enough to keep me from freezing to death.
“Are you going to keep yourself trapped in this room?” that rough voice asked before I even spotted her.
The sound of her voice was like a long-lost song etched upon my soul, but it wasn’t mine anymore. That voice didn’t belong to me.
A fresh wave of grief hit me all at once as I sat up and rubbed my swollen eyes. Haunted by a ghost who still lived.
“You look terrible,” Maez said, staring at me coolly from the corner of the room. “You’d think being rescued from a dungeon would have brightened your spirits.”
That was when I had something to live for, I’d wanted to say but refrained. If anything, she probably would’ve enjoyed my suffering.
My Maez would’ve never hurt me, not in body and not in words. With this person standing before me, I had no such assurances. She might have dragged me all the way here just to kill me at one wrong move. Dark magic was senseless. There was nothing I could put past her, no assumptions I could permit myself to make.
“This is just another kind of dungeon,” I muttered, pulling my knees up to my chest.
Maez threw her head back and let out a rough laugh. “Shall we send you back to Evres for a few weeks and see if that changes your mind?” She raised her eyebrows, but her amusement disappeared when she saw the utter fear on my face. Would she do it? She might? “There are no locked doors here, Princess,” she continued. “You can go wherever you please, do however you please. I’m surprised that you haven’t run back to your twin yet. Perhaps you need a bit of food to gather some strength for your journey; then you can rid yourself of thisdungeon.”
In a blink, a tray appeared beside me—a fresh scone still steaming from the oven and little jars of jam and whipped butter beside it. A teacup swirled with sage-green liquid, wafting the telltale scent of peppermint tea, my favorite. I looked between the food and Maez warily and she scoffed.
“It’s not poisoned,” she said with a shrug. “Eat, don’t eat. It doesn’t matter to me.”
“Why do you want me to leave?” I asked, seemingly surprising us both with the question.
“You want to leave,” she said flatly.
“I never said that.” Even if I did, I’d never voiced it.
“You want to stay?Here?” Maez asked incredulously, waving her static magic across her obsidian leathers. “You can’t be serious.”
Did I? Did I want to stay? Did I still carry some hope that maybe Maez’s curse could be broken, that she would find her way back to me? If the roles were reversed, I knew she’d never give up trying to reach me. I think I was questioning all thisbecause I was still reeling from the knowledge of her turning to dark magic, still grieving her like she died even though she stood right in front of me. Ishouldwant to leave. I should be fleeing for the hills. I suspected her of trying to poison me for Moon’s sake!
And yet it still chafed to think she wanted me to go. She was practically ushering me out the door, and while my mind told me to go, my heart urged me to stay.
I held her stare as I grabbed the teacup and took a fortifying sip. Her wicked grin widened as I licked a lingering droplet from my lips.
“What happens now?” I asked.
