My entire chest feels like it’s caving in, and I haven’t cried in fucking years. It might be salty tears running down my cheeks, or maybe it’s just rain. “Rosie, stop. I can’t bear it, please.”
But she doesn’t stop. Of course she doesn’t.
“Daytonales, you are my mate.” She snatches my jaw. “Let me fuck you in the blood of the enemies we slayed and prove it.”
I can’t keep her. I can’t own her. But I could give myself this moment. One time with the most perfect woman to ever live. My resolve is weakening, every part of me aching for her. One night with me won’t kill her. She’ll have Fare. She’ll even have Kel.
My death has always been hovering just beyond the horizon. And here it fucking is. Maybe not the death of my body. That’ll carry on. But my soul, my heart—they’re not going to survive losing her.
But I’ve never been one to make the best decisions.
Rosalina stares up at me, eyes flashing like the raging storm.
“Fuck it,” I growl and take her in my arms.
11
Rosalina
Dayton pulls me against him with such force, I’m completely thrown off my feet and into his arms. What was it he had said to me once? That he wanted to crash beneath my waves. Well, now every part of us is colliding.
Rain slides down our faces as we kiss. His tongue parts my lips. I wrap my legs around his waist, and he holds me tight, one hand gliding up my back, the other firmly cupping my ass.
“Fuck, Blossom.” He peppers my jaw with sweet kisses. “You have absolutely no right to be this beautiful, this fierce, and this damn good a kisser.”
A feeling of absolute freedom washes over me, and I burst out laughing. I told Dayton I think he’s my mate.
He sits me on the edge of the bridge’s railing, his hips pressed between my legs. My body thrills at the feeling of his hardness. Blinking through the sheets of rain, I make out his signature cocky grin, golden hair a wet tangle.
“I once tried to escape over this bridge,” I say.
“You’re not going anywhere now,” Dayton growls. He grips my leather breastplate and tears it off in one swift movement.
“I liked that—”
“I’ll get you another one.” Darkness passes over his eyes as he takes in my body, clearly visible beneath the soaking wet fabric. A purely male groan sounds in his throat as he lowers his mouth to my neck and drags his teeth to my collarbone. “I intend to rip this thing to bits.”
“Do it.”
Tearing sounds through the air as my dress becomes little more than tatters, and the Prince of Summer desperately claws for my skin. Drops of water fall off his eyelashes as he blinks back the rain to take me in.
“You are more beautiful than all the goddesses in the Vale,” he breathes and kisses me, pressing our bodies together. My breasts push against the rock-hard planes of his chest. Then he leans me back, hands easily gliding down my slick body.
My breath catches as I realize he’s leaning me over the side of the bridge, nothing between me and the open air but his hand on my back. But I’m not afraid. He won’t let me fall.
He drags me back up, and I gently touch his jaw, the beautiful square shape. He’s so masculine, but at the same time, there’s a sculptured beauty to his features.
“What did you think the first time you saw me in the hot springs?” I ask.
“That you were the most beautiful person I’d ever seen.”
“Be serious.”
Dayton’s hand slips between my legs, and I cry out. He rubs tenderly, and my core clenches. So good. His touch feels so fucking good. “I am being serious.”
“I was just some human.”
“Come on now.” His fingers lightly dance over my molten core. “You were never just some human.”
“Day,” I moan, my hair catching in the wind.
He tucks a curl behind my ear and flashes a crooked smile. “Meanwhile, you thought I was just some staff member easy enough to manipulate.”
“That’s not—” My words are stolen when Dayton dips his head, kissing my breasts. He takes a nipple between his teeth and bites.
The smirk still plays on his lips when he lifts his head. “I get it. You were desperate to save Fare. Your bond must have been calling out to him even then.”
Frustration pushes through my pleasure. This isn’t about Farron right now, and I wish there was a way I could make the stupid Summer Prince see that.
“Dayton.” I drag a hand down his chest, feeling the muscles ripple beneath my fingertips. “You were the first of the princes to kiss me, you know.”