Queen of Stars and Shadows (Dark Fae Guardian #3)

Zyren

Chapter Thirty-Six

Zyren

T he sunset casts golden streaks of light across the courtyard of what once used to be the Court of Nightmares. I gaze across the open space, which just two weeks before had been littered with rubble, bodies, and blood. With the help of the nightmares and the survivors of Selaye, we’d finally gotten everything cleared, and the fallen had been given proper burials.

The palace is still in ruins, of course, but that will take much longer to rebuild.

I return the wave of one of the townsmen and watch as everyone returns to their homes. Most of the damage had been to the palace and those buildings closest to it, so the citizens of Selaye for the most part had not been displaced. A funny feeling moves through me as I watch the glowing lights from the windows of all the houses down the valley. I’ve been a nomad for so long that staying in one place for this long feels strange.

Strange, but right.

As darkness begins to fall, there’s a stir in the air as the nightmares begin to arrive. They prefer nighttime, naturally, so they do their work after the fae go within their houses. Sarielle had not forced any of them to help, her only edict being that they couldn’t prey on people. But of all released from the prison of their magical territory, a couple hundred had stayed near Selaye to help clear the destruction.

A much larger shadow falls over me, and Astherius lands in the courtyard, a large whoosh of air sending up a cloud of dust. Sarielle sits astride her back.

“Are you ready, my love?” she asks.

I nod and make my way over to the nightmare, climbing onto her back behind Sarielle. The creature crouches and springs upward into the air, circling once over the palace before heading over the mountains to the south.

Since the palace is uninhabitable, and will be for quite some time, we’d found an abandoned cabin in the peaks not far from here, a dwelling that used to belong to a traveling merchant. Astherius travels so swiftly that in less than three minutes we’re upon it, and the beast is landing in the small meadow behind the house. We climb off, and Sarielle pats her on the shoulder before the nightmare springs back into the sky and disappears.

I take Sarielle’s hand, and we stride into our home.

It’s a simple wooden structure built into the side of the mountain. It has one bedroom, a sitting area, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a huge, covered deck suspended over the valley. Sarielle and I make dinner together and eat on the deck, watching the twinkling lights of Selaye in the distance.

“It seems years ago I first saw those lights,” she says softly. “I was filled with wonder, but also so scared.”

I reach out and wind my fingers through hers. “We’ve faced so much together.”

Sarielle turns, her golden eyes burning into mine. “I never thought, all those years ago when I first saw you in my dreams, that one day we’d be married.”

An uncomfortable feeling moves through me. Yes, we were married, but it had all been done the wrong way. Forced, in order to bind the spell to save Valaron. Rushed, because Avonia’s armies were chasing us. And then I’d been so grief stricken over my brother that I’d treated Sarielle poorly. Nothing about it was as it should have been.

I turn to Sarielle, and I get down on my knees in front of her. Her eyes widen as she looks at me.

“You deserve a proper wedding. You deserve more than what we had before.”

“What are you saying?” she asks, her brow furrowed.

I take both of her hands in mine, feeling the warm pulse of her blood at the base of her wrists. “I’m asking if you’ll marry me, Sarielle Otreyas. Not because you have to. Not because duty demands it. But because you love me.”

She lets out a small laugh. “Of course I love you. Don’t be ridiculous.”

“And I love you. I would choose you a thousand times. I would marry you a thousand times. You are the only woman I ever loved, and if I ever made you feel for a moment that wasn’t the case, I am deeply sorry.”

“What’s gotten into you?” she laughs. “Did you sneak wine in the kitchen?”

“ You’ve gotten into me. You are a miracle. You are the core of me, my spirit and my soul and my magic. I don’t know how we survived everything we did, but I couldn’t be more grateful, and now that I have you by my side, I’m never going to let you go again.”

I lean forward and press my lips to hers. At first she giggles against me, but then the kiss deepens, and I slide my tongue against hers, and her laugh turns into a small moan. I trap her in her chair, my arms on either side of her, claiming her mouth until she’s breathless. My inner nightmare surges within me, and a pulse of shadows moves between us. I pull back for a moment and look at her, stunned as always by how beautiful she is.

My fingers slide into her hair, and I watch as black bleeds across her golden eyes. It doesn’t take them over, just streaks across them like unfurling flower petals. I can feel her inner monster purr against mine, and I’m instantly even harder than I already was. My fingers tighten at the back of her neck, and I pull her close again as I devour her once more.

With my other hand, I lift her long skirt and slide my hand up her leg. Up, up, until I reach the fleshy apex of her thighs. Sarielle’s breath catches as I tease her, trailing my finger along the inside of her thighs, one and then the other, stopping just short of the entrance to her magic. Then I find the sweet star of her clit and begin to brush one fingertip ever so softly across the top of it. Sarielle writhes beneath me, pushing upward into my touch.

“Zyren…”

Slowly, I dip the tip of one finger into her. I pull it out again, hearing the rush of her breath as I do. In again, the tiniest bit further this time. When I pull my finger back out, she lets out a moan edged with a growl.

When I thrust my finger all the way into her, she cries out and arches up into my hand. I gyrate my finger mercilessly in and out of her, curling it against the ridge of pleasure inside of her, until she’s shivering and pleading and calling my name. Her eyes have gone full black now, her head flung back and her silver hair shining in the moonlight.

Abruptly, my inner nightmare has waited enough. A pulse of shadows moves off of me, burning off Sarielle’s clothes so she’s bare to me. My eyes rove over her glorious skin, every inch of her naked and glowing with pleasure. My shadow wings unfurl behind me, and Sarielle reaches up and burns my clothes as I had done with hers. Our nightmares had learned quite a few new tricks these last weeks.

Keeping my finger inside her, I wrap my other arm around her back and slowly lift her up out of the chair as my wings lift us into the sky. She cries out, the extra pressure from the gravity of our position spinning her over the edge. I drop us back down to the floor and spin her around onto her hands and knees, thrusting inside of her from behind before she’s finished climaxing.

Another cry rips out of her. I thrust in again, then again, feeling my magic spike, my own pleasure building. I hold her hips firmly in my hands, my fingers sinking into her flesh as I enter her over and over. The moon and the stars witness our union, our promise, our magic. It seems, in moments like this, that the world isn’t big enough to hold our love.

Sarielle seems to move from one explosion of pleasure to another within just a few minutes, and I can feel my own building. We pivot again so I’m sitting upright, Sarielle straddling me. My wings wrap around us, and Sarielle’s magic swirls between us, gold and shadow both. Her eyes look like shining obsidian, dots of gold still shining through. She rolls her hips, grinding into me, a moan climbing her throat each time.

She moves faster and faster, and together we approach the edge of that beautiful ending, the glittering death, the dissolving of our bodies and the merging of our souls. I yell as pleasure spikes through me, Sarielle’s wicked hips gyrating again and again until I lose all sense of myself and explode inside her, thrusting upward and crushing her into me as she climaxes alongside me.

We collapse onto the polished wood beams, and I listen to Sarielle’s heartbeat as we return to ourselves. After a couple minutes, she turns to look at me and says breathlessly, “I accept.”

“Accept what?” I ask.

She laughs. “Your marriage proposal.”