I nodded, waiting for him to continue.

His steady heartbeat sped up. “I know I’m not worth your affection. I wasn’t able to protect you when it mattered the most, and I don’t blame you if you despise me. I need you to know that you are the only thing keeping me sane right now. Knowing you’re safe comforts me.

“I don’t want to lose you or the bond between us. I promise not to invade or misuse the connection, if that makes any difference. Please? If I lose this—”

Raising my head from his shoulder, I was just in time to catch sight of his throat bobbing. He was truly worried that I’d have our bond broken. He’d shut me out… shut me out thinking I didn’t want to be connected to him.

“Kar…” Okay, I needed to get myself together.

If I didn’t say anything worthwhile in the next minute I might as well shoot myself in the foot.

I steeled myself. “No. I mean, yes. I mean, I don’t want to break the bond.”

His eyes widened with hope. “You don’t?”

I shook my head, not able to get any more words out. If I couldn’t talk, I just had to convince him in another way.

Raising to my tiptoes, I reached for his lips. But then my ankle acted up, and I lost my footing for a moment until Karmuth steadied me and met me halfway, capturing my mouth in a hungry kiss. I melted against him, audibly sighing.

The connection between us slammed open as Karmuth repeatedly sucked at my lips and I pulled at his shirt, forgetting embarrassment and Sinister right on the other side of the door.

Desire, sorrow, pain, love burst into me leaving me gasping. So much love.

He’d said it before, that he was in love with me, but I hadn’t believed him. The rush of emotions swirling around us confirmed it a thousand times over. His love thwarted my own. So much so that I was ashamed to show him mine, to share it with the same openness he shared his.

“You did protect me,” I panted when we came up for air. “You took my pain. You shouldn’t have…”

He fervently shook his head. “Yes, I should’ve. Forever and always, your pain will be mine to bear and my love for you is yours.”

“Doesn’t seem like a fair exchange,” I protested.

“Having you accept me is worth more than a thousand years of suffering, Isay. I would do anything for you.”

“Then please make me forget the past twenty-four hours. Let’s pretend we never left this room at all.”

A smile played on his lips. “Are you asking me to have sex with you, beautiful?”

I gripped at the fabric of his shirt that I’d managed to pull upwards just enough to reveal his defined six pack.

With every part of me burning, I gasped, “Yes. If you would leave your manners by the door and your clothes on the floor, that would be the best.”

“You do not have to ask me twice. I’m yours.”

Chapter 48

KARMUTH

PERFECT BLISS. ISAY UNDERNEATH ME, MOANING IN PLEASURE, WAS a perfect bliss. Her soft skin against mine, her nipples brushing my chest with every maddening caress that brought us closer together. She tasted like a summer wine, sweet and divine.

It had taken a ridiculously short amount of time to get her naked and on her bed. She’d worn nothing under her robe as if getting me to worship her had been her plan all along.

Here I was, completely under her control even as she was giving herself over to me. And it was perfect.

I’d gotten it right the first time; slow and sensual was the way to go with Isay, and I took my painful time making sure every inch of her body knew the touch of my lips before we took this any farther.

She writhed under me and lit me aflame with need and desire. I drank in her beauty, her golden hair sprawled around the pillow, eyes half-lidded and a rosy blush on her cheeks. That sweet mouth of hers parted with a puff of air escaping as I trailed my fingers across her skin to capture her breast.

Warmth pooled in my heart, pleasant and inviting, and an array of golden-winged butterflies fluttered in my stomach and across my skin.

No, Isay’s skin. I was feeling her within me, attuned to her every response. Her heart was a beautiful beacon of light and heat, sustaining mine with its overflowing rays.

Even with the grey mass of stolen ecos mixed to her soul, every part of her was stunning and purer than what I was worthy of possessing. I wasn’t worthy of her, and yet she was offering me more than I could’ve ever asked for. Unconditional love, no judgement, compassion, forever in her arms knowing I was cared for and not alone. Knowing I was loved.

“Isay, I love you so much,” I whispered against her ear as my fingers found her breast and squeezed. The warmth in her chest grew. “You are my everything.”

“I feel it,” she sighed, then moaned when I circled her nipple with my thumb. “I feel you. You’re gorgeous.”

Her eyes were hooded when she looked at me.

“You’re breathtaking. Intense. Karmuth, you’re so much, and yet I can’t get enough.”

“Beautiful, I haven’t even done more than caress you. You’ll get enough, that’s a promise,” I murmured.

Her cheeks reddened, and I was pleased to have awakened that flush. With my desire for her overruling nearly every other sensation, it went almost unnoticed by me how a surge of heat ignited within her, yearning not unlike my own.

“I can feel you too, beautiful,” I groaned, overcome by the intensity of her passion when I zoomed in on the sensation, “and you are more. No words could ever describe what your soul feels like to me.”

“Why don’t you stop using words then and show me, instead?”

How about I do just that? Running my fingers over her breast one more time, I released it and nudged her legs open to place myself at her entrance. She was delightfully wet.

Rubbing myself against her and soaking my erection in her juices, I moaned. “I’ll never stop trying to find words to express my love for you.”

Her sharp intake and squeak satisfied me. I slid against her folds again, and she whimpered louder. A smile tugged my lips higher, and every last bit of suffering withdrew. I was free from the pain and confusion.

“We’re keeping it quiet, remember?” I grinned outright when she sucked her lip into her mouth in a sexy and adorable gesture all at once. “Actually, never mind him I want to hear your pleasure.”

Isay’s nails dug into my back as I pushed into her. That burn within her intensified as my own blaze roared.

We both panted under the surcharge of sensations. A complete overload. So delicious and overwhelming. My first time with Isay had been incredible. This… this was off the charts.

Rocking inside her, every small movement ignited a new fire, and I relished in the feel of her. When that was no longer enough, I pulled out farther, sent sparks throughout my body.

Muscles tensing, I gave into the carnal need thrumming through me. There was nothing slow about our movements when our pace picked up into a half-crazed pounding. Isay’s hips buckled and raised in the rhythm I called for.

The symphony of her moans was not so quiet anymore. Not quiet at all. I loved her voice crying out my name, declaring it like a prophecy.

Peace. She declared peace to my soul. Karmuth.