A Crown of Cursed Hearts (Kingdom of Blighted Thorns #3)

48. Vexxion

48

VEXXION

T he moment I’d emerged from the opening to the vast mountain cavern, I remembered.

Loving my fury in a way I could barely describe. Shielding her with my body and my soul.

She was everything to me, a constellation of joy and enchantment. Being with her lit up my darkest moments. When I couldn’t touch her or hear her low laughter, I wallowed in despair. Being with her muted all my doubts and fears of my uncertain future. Every thought of her anchored me to a sea of serenity. She was the melody that sent my heart dancing. Loving her made every moment brighter, more meaningful, more imperfectly perfect. This feeling wasn't just love; it was destiny wrapped in a warmth and grace that only my fury could provide.

I would’ve gone to her immediately, but a swell of people— my people—stood outside in the dim afternoon light .

“Weldsbane, Weldsbane,” they chanted, their fists surging overhead, and their faces lit up with joy. “High Lord of Weldsbane!”

Somehow, they knew what I’d done, and they’d come here to welcome me to the heritage I should’ve claimed only after my mother died of old age. She was stolen too soon, as was my childhood and the life I would’ve known here.

I’d wrenched the core of my court’s power away from the true beast who’d tried to steal it, and I would use it to lay waste to his goals.

I walked among my people, hugging those I vaguely remembered from when I was a child.

After my mother was gone and when I’d finally broken through the king’s grasp long enough to flit to Weldsbane manor, I’d found it and the surrounding countryside empty, as if the spell cast on Lydel had drifted this way and swept up my people along with it.

Now, we gripped forearms and shared promises for a better future. Their joy and happiness were infectious, but I was much too eager to get away.

Finally, they left to return to their homes, leaving me standing in twilight alone.

My mate waited.

Fury. My voice was a stark, empty crater only this one woman could fill.

Where are you, my exquisite love? I purred in her mind. Only seeing you will make me fully come alive. Touching you will make my heart shatter. And hearing you whisper my name will complete me .

Vexxion, she sobbed. It’s truly you.

I’m with you once more. Forever and always. Where are you? Tell me so I can come to you. One flit, and we’ll finally be back together.

My heart roared with love for this woman. I craved everything about her, and only when I was with her would I finally feel whole.

Outside Lydel Manor.

I flitted, landing lightly on the front steps.

When I saw her—my elegant, lovely, flawless, and exquisite Fury running toward me with her arms stretched wide, my eyes scorched with tears.

Flitting to her, I swept her up and spun her around, my heart overflowing. I lowered her until I could capture her mouth. Hold her precious face in my palms. Her arms went around my shoulders, her legs went around my middle, and we tumbled to the ground.

“You’re here,” she said when I lifted my head. Her precious smile sunk through me like the first rays of dawn. The blazing light of hope at the end of a dark tunnel I’d been stumbling through my entire life.

“Always,” I whispered.

She stroked my face and slid her fingers into my hair, holding tight. “Don’t ever leave me again.”

“Never,” I vowed.

Another flit took us to our bedroom inside the manor. I would love this woman until the line drawn between us no longer existed, until no walls rose to keep either of us out, and until we could only breathe each other’s names .

We magicked off our clothing, and when skin touched skin, we both gasped. She looked up at me with the sweetest smile, and I melted all over again for her, just as I had the moment I first met her—the instant I knew I’d finally found my true mate.

I kissed her, cupping her precious face in my hands like she was made of the most fragile glass. She tasted sweet and of sunshine, and I’d never get enough. I could kiss this woman— my woman, my mate, my everything—forever and never emerge again to pull in air.

My fingers delicately roamed down the column of her neck with my lips following, kissing and stroking her with my tongue.

She quivered beneath me, her anticipation matching mine. Not long ago, I thought I’d die, that I’d never be gifted with the chance to see her again, let alone be with her completely.

I would give all I was and more to make sure she was safe and protected, that no one looked at her the wrong way, that no one attacked her. Yet all I could do was fall into this moment in time when I was with her, and she stared at me as if I was the best thing in her world.

I was utterly obsessed with this woman, and I had no interest in ever being any other way. She was divine, and she tasted amazing. I growled as I kissed my way to her breast, and when I sucked her nipple into my mouth, I drank in her gasp.

She bowed her spine, pushing her breast up to my face. I flicked my tongue across her nipple while rolling the other.

Flames licked through me, centering in my cock that ached for this woman alone. My need for her was unquenchable. I’d crave her until my dying day and beyond .

She wove her hands into my hair and held tight before coiling the strands around her fingers.

This was so much more than simple love. She was a beacon of pure bliss, one that had called me from the edge of darkness. When I was with her, I felt invincible, as if there was no magic in the world that could touch me other than hers. Loving her filled every crevice of emptiness inside me and brought forward my best. I tried harder solely because I ached for her smile or a simple stroke of her hand. She completed parts of me I hadn’t even known were missing. She was the unending source of my happiness and my adoration for her soared through each fiber of my being. It brought out a part of me I’d never realized existed.

There was only my fury. My storm. My unending tempest.

Like each time we came together, I surrendered to her completely. As long as she was with me, I didn’t need to eat or even breathe.

Dropping to my knees in front of her, I parted her thighs and crawled between them, bowing down to her beauty and the pure joy she gave me.

I locked my gaze on hers as I stroked my finger through her wetness. She bucked against me. And when I slid my fingers inside her, I let my groan burst free. She gasped and arched her hips toward me, begging for the exquisite release only I could give her.

I had to taste her, feel her come on my tongue.

One flit, and we lay on the bed.

“Mine,” I growled. I sunk down and drove my tongue inside her. “My everything.” Another stab of my tongue. I took the sweet bud of her clit and rolled it. “My mate.”

Her head thrashed on the pillow, and her soft whimpers called me home. “Yes,” she breathed. “You’re mine. My everything. My mate.”

The pattern on my wrist blazed, a nearly blinding pulse that winked out, and hers answered with a flare of its own. I rose up quickly and took her hand in mine, reverently kissing the mark that showed the world that no one and nothing would ever tear us apart.

I left her wrist and returned between her legs, licking and sucking in my determination to drive her wild—no, to drive her wicked .

My feelings blazed through me unfettered. A need to cherish. Protect. And to love her until I no longer existed outside of her.

Vexxion, she sighed in my mind. I missed you so much.

I’m never leaving you again.

Love me.

I do. I was completely humbled by the adoration this woman gave me, and I’d never take it for granted. Always.

Claim me.

I could’ve lost her in a thousand ways already. I’ll thank the fates for each and every moment they give us.

Be with me completely, she pleaded. I want to sink into everything us.

I moved my mouth to her clit, dragging my tongue across it only to return and flicker. Come for me, mate. Show me how you can blaze across the sky of my mind. Burn for me only .

She clung to my hair, her hips jutting up in a frenzy. I can’t stand it.

You will. Give me more. All that’s inside your soul. It’s mine, love, and I’m claiming it for now and for always.

My cock throbbed with need but until my sweet, precious love gave way, I wouldn’t stake the rest of my claim on her body.

As I pumped my fingers inside her, driving deep, I swirled my tongue across her clit, again and again until it throbbed with desire to match my own.

Yes. Vexxion, yes.

She was near the edge. I could feel it within me as if it was my own pleasure cresting.

Come for me, mate. Let me feel you explode.

Vexxion! She yanked on my hair, tugging it this way and that, and I grinned as I continued to flick my tongue across her clit.

Her sweet, saturated passage tightened around my fingers, and she bathed me with her wetness. I couldn’t wait to sink my cock deep inside her, to ride her pleasure while seeking my own.

She was my sanctuary. My home. My symphony of grace and strength that silenced the chaos churning within me. Her laughter was a song for me alone, and her touch a promise of forever.

Looking up into her eyes, I saw her love for me shining there. It touched me in a way nothing else ever would, and I basked in the warmth she so freely gave me. There was no fear and no worry as long as she held my hand. No darkness when she kissed me.

Loving her wasn’t about emotion; it was the essence of who I was as a man. The passion she ignited in me defied logic. She’d taken my twisted soul and my twisted body, and with one touch, made me whole.

Replacing my fingers with my threads, I lifted her hips, angling her body to better reach her.

Show me your love, I crooned in her mind. Come for me so I can see everything.

Coming isn’t love. Her high-pitched bark of laughter rang out.

It is. It embodies everything that makes you my fury. Come for me. The last was a command and an entreaty all at once. Show me.

She shattered on my threads, and the sensation shot through me like liquid fire.

Vexxion!

Another crash, and she gave way completely, jerking her hips up, arching her spine. She rode through her pleasure until I couldn’t draw out any more.

Then she collapsed on the bed in her beauty.