Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 151630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 758(@200wpm)___ 607(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 758(@200wpm)___ 607(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
I gasp, understanding what he’s trying to tell me. “Your father and Ostara will take in our magic.”
“It will strengthen them, and there will be nothing their captors can do about it. This magic slips in and out and finds who needs it the most. It will bring the palace grounds back to their former glory.”
More than that. “It will bring hope to the ones who need it.”
“Shy, I don’t want you to do this to save someone else.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m not doing it for the sake of the sithein. I’m doing it because I want you. I know I’ve been reluctant, and it was all about my fear. I’m done with fear. I worried I couldn’t stand on my own because Harry was with me all those years, but I was wrong. He was good to me, but he wasn’t my power. My power has always been inside me. It isn’t a scary thing. It simply is. I am it and it is me, and we have always been.”
“When you talk like that, I’m the one who is scared because I realize we haven’t begun to find the depths of your power. When you talk like that, I know we’re not even sure what you are yet.”
He’s right, and he should have a choice. “Will you find out with me? Or wait and see?”
His stare goes hard, and his hands tighten on me. “I will allow nothing to separate us, Shahidi. I mean it. I will leave you alone if you do not want me sexually. I will keep my distance if your heart does not want mine, but I will protect you always. You will always be my goddess even if I am not your god.”
I was never afraid of him. I was afraid of loving him so much I would be destroyed if I lost him or hurt him.
But he is worth the risk. I go on my toes, my lips so close to his. “Then explore with me. Fight this fight with me. Be the one thing I never have to compromise on. Make me yours in the eyes of your people.”
I am already his where it truly counts. In my heart. But he is a leader and there are rituals.
His mouth finds mine, lips soft at first, and then I feel his will. It’s there in the way his tongue licks along the seam of my lips, how it invades when I welcome it inside, sliding along mine in a silky glide that somehow has a straight track to my pussy.
Heat pools there, anticipation that suddenly knows it will be fulfilled this time.
He steps back, and for a second I stare at him. Marveling in his beauty. Thick black hair that brushes past his broad shoulders. He pulls his tunic over his head, tossing it away, and there is such lust in his eyes. The god inside is not like his father’s. Bris is a separate entity, but Rhys is a fertility deity all on his own, and yet that part of him has been suppressed for so long, there’s a sweet madness around him now.
He holds out a hand and starts up the stairs toward the bed. “Come with me.”
A command and one I’m more than willing to follow. I let him lead me to what is obviously a space meant for pleasure. As we reach the landing, soft candlelight flares to life, and I see what I did not before. What I thought were curtains are hundreds of pixies. Wings of all colors and sizes flutter against the window, moonlight joining the candles to illuminate this space where we will join our lives and magic together.
Life and death. Spring and autumn.
Rhys and Shy.
The window has no glass in it, but like the palace there’s a magical barrier. I can feel a warm breeze, but if Rhys wills it the temple will close itself off. For now it lets in the light from the moon and the stars, the sweet scent of night-blooming flowers caressing my senses.
His face falls suddenly, and a low groan goes through him. “Shy, my pack is back in the palace. Damn it.”
His pack. With all the helpful items he brought along. Condoms. There’s no pulling out with a fertility god. The pill doesn’t work either.
But I asked the vine if it didn’t mind moving on early. I have control of my body. I turn the wheel.
Damn. I am not human. Or rather I am human and something more. “It’s okay, Rhys. I’m not ready for a child. I won’t be for a while.”
Our powers are complementary. They only work on each other when we wish them to. I feel it so keenly that I know it’s true.
“You can stop me.” There’s a slight smile on his lips. Admiration.