“Did you or did you not spend the better part of last night buried between my thighs, Darius Acrux?” I taunted. “Because if you don’t call that fucking then I don’t know what it was.”
Darius straightened and stalked towards me, his gaze dark and promising me I’d pay for that dismissive remark, but I was happy to stand my ground.
“No, Roxanya Vega, I don’t call that fucking,” he replied. “I call that worshipping my goddess. I call it making love to the most beautiful woman in all of Solaria, I call it penance for all the bad things I’ve done to you and the least I can offer in retribution for the harm I caused you. But most of all, I call it loving you with the intensity of the sun and the devotion of the moon because you are my end, baby. The only dream I never dared to have for myself. Yet here you are, within reach at all times. And you’d better believe I can’t resist you now that I have you. I plan on marking every inch of your flesh so thoroughly with the memory of my touch that you’ll never be able to forget it.”
“Why would I ever forget it?” I asked him with a frown and his brow lowered as he continued to hold my gaze.
“We’re at war, Roxy,” he said slowly. “And I can’t believe that the stars would be so kind as to let us all see the other side of it. One way or another, I will take on my father and destroy him to negate the threat he poses to all of us. But that pledge doesn’t come without risk. You have to know that.”
“Well I forbid it,” I replied, moving forward so that I could taste his breath on the air between us and fisting my hand in the sleeveless hoody he’d worn to run in.
“I wish that you could. But either way I intend to live every day to the fullest of its potential and to do all that I can to ensure we win this war.”
“Like training me and your brother until all hours and using magic to stop yourself from sleeping?” I asked, arching a brow at him because if he thought I hadn’t noticed the fact that he’d basically gone on a sleep strike since we’d arrived at The Burrows then he was mistaken.
Darius hesitated then sighed, reaching out to wrap his large hand around my throat and tilting my chin up as he held me there. It was dominating and possessive, but it was somehow tender and loving too, the caress of his rough fingers against my pulse point making my heart skitter and my cocky front slip away as I fell into the intensity of his gaze.
“I just don’t want to have any regrets,” he murmured, drinking me in. “I need you to know how much I love you. I need you to understand that the only place I would ever want to be is right here with you, no matter what happens. And if I do die in this war, taking on my father, then I need you to understand how much I loved you-”
“Stop talking like that or I’m gonna have to smack you,” I warned and he breathed a laugh.
“Of course you would resort to violence to prove how much you don’t like the idea of me getting hurt,” he joked.
“Yeah well, death can’t have you because I already staked my claim.”
“Bullshit,” he replied, his fingers shifting so that he tilted my chin up and lined his mouth up with mine, letting me feel the brush of his words against my lips. “If you’d claimed me then we’d be married already.”
A breath lodged in my throat and a surprised laugh spilled from me. “You’re insane. I’m nineteen.”
“Twenty next week,” he pointed out and I shook my head, but not as forcefully as I should have.
“Why not just go the whole hog and you can knock me up too?” I challenged.
“If you’re offering I wouldn’t complain,” he replied, his hand brushing against my flat and very much unoccupied stomach, his voice so fucking serious that I could only part my lips in shock and stare at him.
“Maybe just the wedding then,” he conceded with a dry laugh as he leaned forward to claim a kiss from my startled lips and I half shook my head and half melted into a puddle for him.
“You’re fucking crazy,” I muttered as he drew back.
“No, Roxy. I just know what I want and it’s you. In any way I can have you and every way you’ll offer. So if I can get you to be my bride then I’ll fucking take it. If you never want to get married, then I’ll take that too. If you didn’t want me this close and all I was left with was the option to watch you and hunger for you from afar the way I had to when we were Star Crossed, then I’d take that as well. It’s you, Roxy. Only you. So here I am and I’m yours. The rest of it is up to you.”