“I-I don’t know why I’m shaking.”
He made a gruff sound, dropping his forehead to mine. “Liessa…”
My heart was beating so fast. Why was I so shaken by his
declaration? I remembered what I’d heard him shout before I lost consciousness.
Part of me must have known from the moment I awakened and realized who I was
that Ash loved me. I wouldn’t be alive if he didn’t. But I had been too afraid
to allow myself to believe that his love saved me. That it wasn’t a desperate
deal made or the Arae intervening. I just never…
“I’d thought…” I whispered hoarsely, squeezing my eyes shut.
“I thought I would die without knowing what your love felt like.”
Ash went rigid against me. “I couldn’t allow that,” he
swore. “I will never allow that.”
My breath caught as I shuddered. His heated oath lingered in
the space between our mouths, I thought maybe I had always known he loved me,
despite the impossibility of it. Because how many times had I questioned what,
other than love, could fuel his actions?
Was it possible that Maia hadn’t removed his kardia? Before I could ask if that was even
possible, his mouth touched mine. The kiss was a fiery, passionate testament,
proof that his words weren’t hollow. I could feel the love in the gentle yet
fierce way his mouth parted mine and tasted his desire in the dance of our
tongues.
Ash broke the kiss, rocking back. I opened my eyes. He knelt
between my legs, his thick, glistening length jutting from his pelvis.
I bit down on my lip, wincing at the brief sting caused
by—gods, my fangs. I had actual fangs. I would need to work on being
more mindful of them. But not now—definitely not now. Because his fists landed
on either side of my hips, and he lowered his head. The first touch of his
breath between my thighs stole mine.
“I will spend the rest of eternity making sure you never
doubt what I feel for you,” he promised, sliding his palms over my thighs. He
parted them as he’d done with my lips moments before—gently and fiercely.
“Starting now.”
I held my breath, toes curling in anticipation. I didn’t
have to wait long. My back bowed as I felt his tongue sliding along the very
center of me.
The entire realm ceased to exist. It was just him, me, and
his sinfully talented tongue. All I could do was give myself over to the heat
spreading throughout my body as he lapped at my wetness, driving me higher and
higher. I writhed and bucked against his mouth with each stroke, every time his
tongue delved into me.
His hands clamped down on my hips, keeping me trapped
against his mouth. His tongue slid lower, parting me. I groaned, lifting my
hips. The pleasure was so intense that it was almost painful, and he wasn’t
slowing down or stopping.
“Ash…please,” I whispered, one leg curling, pressing into
his side.
“I haven’t tasted enough of you.” His tongue flicked the
knot of nerves, drawing a sharp cry from me. “I don’t think I’ll ever get
enough.”
Clutching the blanket beneath me, I started to shake as he
rolled his tongue over that sensitive part of me once more. Then he closed his
mouth over my clit. The pull and sudden scrape of his fangs sent me over the
edge.
“Ash,” I moaned.
His answering growl burned my skin, heightening the arousal.
My head kicked back as I screamed, coming in a blinding, startling rush that I
would’ve sworn to the gods transported me to another realm, because I had no
idea how much—if any—time passed before I heard a rapping at the door.
“Is everything okay in there?” came Nektas’s muffled voice.
Either Ash hadn’t heard him, or he was ignoring the draken, because his answer was to flick his tongue over my
heated flesh again.
My hips jerked, and my toes curled.
“I’m starting to get worried,” Nektas said.
I shuddered as he ran a finger through my wetness. “Ash.”
He drew back just enough for me to see his glossy lips.
“Everything is fine.”
There was barely a chance for me to take a breath before his
head dipped once more. He closed his lips over me as he worked a finger inside,
wringing another gasp from me.
“Are you sure?” Nektas asked. My
head turned toward the door. “I thought I heard screaming.”
“You didn’t.”
I gripped the blanket as Ash slowly moved his finger in and
out.
“I’m pretty sure I did,” the draken insisted.
Ash’s finger eased from me. I started to rise onto my
elbows, but his hand came on my chest, just below my neck.
His eyes pulsed with eather. His
other hand went to my shoulder. “I’m not done with you.”
My breath caught as my gaze locked on his savage stare. I
looked down where his cock remained, thick and heavy.
“What did you say?” Nektas asked.
Ash’s head whipped toward the sound. “I said I may kill you
if you don’t get the fuck away from that door.”
My eyes widened. As I took in how still his chest was as he
drew his hand down the center of mine, I thought maybe he would do
that.
“Rude,” Nektas drawled. “I assume
your uncalled-for threat of violence means that both of you are awake, alive,
and well aware enough of each other that you’re…getting reacquainted?”
Ash’s head dipped, and a low snarl rumbled from him.
“I’m—” I clamped my mouth shut, muffling a moan as Ash drew my
nipple into his mouth. “I’m fine.”
There was a pause. “You don’t sound fine.”
“I swear I am.” I reached down, grasping the back of Ash’s
head as he moved to my other breast. “But I really think you won’t be if you don’t leave.”
There was a gap of silence, and then I heard a chuckle. “I
am relieved to hear you are fine,” he said. “Meyaah Liessa.”
My Queen.
I gave a start, the implication of that—of what had
happened—finally sinking in. What I’d seen. The voices I’d heard. My body
locked up, and my lips parted.
My heart began to pound as Ash lifted his head from my
breast. Somehow, I’d Ascended without the embers of life killing me. And they
weren’t just inside me now. They weren’t even a part of me.
The embers of life were me.
I was the Primal of
Life—the true Primal of Life.
The…the Queen of the Gods.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
I stared up at Ash, my stomach dipping. “I’m…I’m the Queen of the Gods.”
“Yes.” Ash’s hand slid down my side to my thigh.
My chest started dipping as he spread my legs. “And that would make you the…King of the Gods?”
“Only if you deem it fitting to call me such,” he said, his gaze traveling over my body and centering between my thighs. “Otherwise, I am your Consort.”