The Myths of Ophelia (The Curse of Ophelia #4)

Chapter 52

Chapter Fifty-Two

Ophelia

The inn was silent by the time Tolek and I returned from the market. Angellight still buzzed beneath my skin, warm and indulgent. After the Rites, no patrons lingered downstairs, not a single one loitering in the hallways as we traipsed to the third floor our party had commandeered.

“Come on, Alabath,” Tol whispered, taking my hand to lead me into our room.

I stepped inside as he held the door, his palm warm against mine settling something in my spirit that hadn’t quieted since Vale’s reading.

The rooms in this inn were bedecked in the rich, lavish colors of the Soulguiders. Deep amethysts and sage greens, pops of turquoise and bronze dangling from mystlight chandeliers and framing decor, adorning the headboard and four posts on the bed. Desert marigolds bloomed on the desk, the stark yellows as bright as those I imagined in Firebird’s Field, which only brought my mind back to Vale’s reading?—

The lock clicked shut, and Tol tugged on my hand. Turning, I surveyed him. He leaned against the wood, his head thudding back. With a sigh, he stroked his thumb across my knuckles, tingles erupting up my arm.

He watched that spot where his skin brushed against mine repeatedly for a long, heavy moment, tension crackling in the air around him like he was about to splinter.

“Tol?” I asked, stepping toward him.

“I love watching you wield magic—wield pure power, apeagna .” When his eyes snapped up to mine, they were burning . “But I hate those fucking emblems.”

There wasn’t another word before he hauled me to him, spinning so my back pressed to the door, the smooth wood cool against my spine, and his lips crashed into mine. It wasn’t a fleeting, gentle kiss like the ones we exchanged at any given point in the day, and it wasn’t quite languorous and sensual like when he showered me with adoration each night.

No, this was tongues warring, teeth clashing. It was desperate and awed, furious and terrified. It was the baser instincts dug deep down within us that we suppressed in the face of all the obstacles outside these walls, finally breaking free.

He told me with every sweep of his lips how scared he was when I used Angellight, but also what else it did to him. How it made him want to worship me, how it drove this desperate need because he didn’t know when it might take me from him.

Guilt wound through me as he kissed me harder, but there was no choice when it came to the Angelcurse.

There was no choice .

At that, the anger that fueled me when I shot Angellight into the skies incinerated any remnant of regret that had been blooming. Anger at the Prime Warriors, at the gods, too, if they were truly involved. For toying with our lives, for ravaging this beautiful man before me and planting a war within his own heart.

Biting Tol’s lip, I dug my hands into his hair and hitched a leg around his hip to tug him closer. His thick length rocking against my core rewarded me in the most delicious way.

With a growl, Tolek nimbly slung Angelborn from my back and both of our sword belts from our hips. Then, he grabbed my other thigh, hoisting it around his waist as he kissed me so I was slammed back between him and the door, the wood shuddering.

He wrenched his lips from mine, dragging a path along my jaw, down my neck, and rolled his hips against me. “Every fucking time you use the emblems,” he growled into my skin, “every time you feel like you disappear from this world, I’m ready to throw myself off the edge of the realm to get you back.”

The rough edge to his voice ripped at pieces of my heart. But his hands gripped tighter to my body, like he needed to confirm I was here.

“You tether me. I would wade through the Angellight to find you, Tol,” I panted as his teeth scraped my collarbone. He gripped my ass beneath my skirt, but his fingers weren’t where I wanted him. Where I so desperately needed him.

He quickly untied my leathers, tossing my top aside so my breasts were free. Tol dragged his teeth over my nipple, and I moaned, head falling back. He bit down, running his tongue over the peak to soothe that pain before moving to the other.

“You get further each time you use those things, Alabath,” he said, breath hot against my skin. “That magic gets stronger. Spirits, it’s impressive, and I promise to show you exactly how impressive.” At that gravelly tone, I met his eyes. “But make no mistake—I will slaughter the Angels if they try to take you one of these times.”

“If that ever happened, we would slaughter them together,” I swore, and I kissed him to seal that vow, rolling my hips against his. “Now prove your words, Vincienzo.”

He laughed, a low and tantalizing sound. Drifting his lips along my jaw, he pinned my hips to the wall. But he didn’t move. No, he kept me in the most wanting state.

Tol nipped my ear, voice husky as he whispered, “Do you want me to fuck you against this door, Alabath? To show you how impressed and desperate I am for you?” His hands gripped my backside so tightly, I thought he’d leave permanent marks. His fingers curved around my thighs to tease my center.

“Yes,” I begged. My hips strained to writhe, needing him inside me, but his hold was firm.

“Or do you want it up against the window over there?” My dazed vision flicked to the glass spanning one wall. The curtains were still pulled back, ravaged market stalls and streets stretching into the distance. “Hands on the glass? So anyone passing by can see you’re mine , despite what any Angels may think?”

Spirits, I wanted him everywhere. Every damn spot in this room—in every room. “Everywhere, Tolek.” I pulled my gaze back to his, tugging greedily on his hair until he hissed. “Across every realm, atop every mountain, show the world I’m yours.”

A crooked smirk. “Then hang on.”

Keeping me pressed tightly against the door, he dropped to his knees, my legs slung over his leather-clad shoulders, so broad and firm and supportive. In a breath, he had my skirt hiked up and undergarments torn on the floor. He left my boots on and my dagger strapped to my thigh, fingers tracing the hilt.

Tol’s gaze roved over me as I was bare and breathless before him, and his stare spoke of worship and possession. He dragged a finger through my slick center to circle at the apex of my thighs.

“So fucking ready for me, apeagna ,” he muttered.

I was so sensitive from the wait, I shivered at his touch, unable to hold back a moan. “Do that again,” he commanded, and I couldn’t help but obey as Tolek repeated that teasing motion, adding more pressure. He watched for every gasp and jerk of my hips. With his eyes on me and him on his knees, I felt like the most prominent of Angels.

Without looking away, Tolek pressed a kiss just above where I wanted him, and he laughed when I whined in impatience.

“Is this what you want?” His wicked tongue flicked out in a pattern that had me breathless, my hips jerking. He was so good with that tongue, even better when his fingers joined it, plunging into me with one clear intention: to remind me this was beyond the gods.

His tongue dipped inside of me then licked up my center, circling with pressure that had me swearing to every Angel above. His fingers replaced it and crooked, brushing against my sensitive inner walls.

“Do you like that, Revered ?” he demanded, annunciating the word.

“Yes,” I panted. “I love you on your knees. I love you saying my title.”

“Ride my fingers and show me.” That deep tone, so full of authority and devotion, had my hips swiveling against his hand, angling up so he went even deeper. “Good girl,” he purred.

“Keep going,” I gasped, my head falling back and hands grappling against the wood.

And he did. Tolek listened to my commands, my cries, until constellations were starting to fall before my vision and my entire world ended with the man on his knees before me.

And for every stroke, lick, and bite, Tol muttered a combination of salacious and sweet promises. Things about fighting through the realms for me, vows to always stand at my side. He embedded the memories in my skin, right down to my very bones and cursed spirit.

“Ophelia,” Tolek said as I fluttered around his fingers. I dropped my gaze to his. “Come for me.”

Between his commanding words, his fingers crooked inside of me, the return of his tongue, and that blazing stare looking up expectantly from between my legs, I crashed into oblivion.

The door shook against its frame, but I didn’t give a damn if it splintered and broke. Didn’t give a damn if anyone on the street saw or heard. How could I when this utter state of bliss Tolek instilled in me took over?

Once my climax passed, Tolek set me on my feet, on legs that barely worked. But when he rose, he didn’t kiss me as I thought he would.

No, he strode to the window, tugging the curtains shut and turning back to me. No more witnesses , his searing gaze said. The rest is mine .

Tol undid the buckles of his leathers, discarding the layers in smooth movements as he crossed back to the center of the room, until his perfectly defined muscles and the assortment of scars littering the right side of his body were on full display. The pale, jagged lines caught the light, and the sight twisted through me with an odd combination of desire and vengeance.

With a nod to me, Tol said, “Take off the rest of your clothes, and get on the bed.”

His stare didn’t leave me as he did the same, boots, pants, and undergarments all littered across the room. The only thing left on me was the dagger at my thigh, which Tolek watched with a curious gaze as he prowled toward me.

I perched on the edge of the bed, and he stood between my legs. His hard length jutted up in front of me. I licked my lips as I gripped him at the base, wanting him, but Tol grabbed my chin.

“Not tonight,” he said. “Tonight, I need to be inside of you.”

That raw desperation was back in his voice, and it ignited something within me. Heat pooled in my core.

Wrapping an arm around my waist, he hitched me to the center of the bed and settled between my legs. For a lingering moment, his gaze swept across my face. My heart clenched with the intensity of his stare, like he was committing me to memory in case his worst fears really did come true. It tugged at that anger at the Angels, had me clawing for him.

He kissed me with the same careful commitment, and though the desperation remained between us, something else shifted. Every movement also became reverent and impassioned.

The head of his cock nudged my entrance, and I was already squirming. He ran his length up my center, intentionally teasing my sensitive clit.

“Tolek,” I breathed. “ Please .”

“Always so beautiful when you say my name,” he said, and he sank into me.

Gentle thrusts and rolling of hips. Gasps of pleasure and groans caught between kisses. That’s what we became, my hands curling into those silk sheets, his firm on my skin.

Tol gripped my thigh where my dagger was still sheathed, and with his other hand, he laced our fingers together, a lifeline of our souls.

He was a part of my soul. Always had been.

As he repeatedly sank into me, our bodies and lips and that unspoken communication we shared reminded us both again and again how desperate we were to hang on to one another. How when we were broken down to our most fundamental pieces, when we were nothing more than the essence of a warrior that existed in the universe, it would always be us together.

“I love you, Tolek,” I gasped.

He devoured the breath on my lips. “When this is over”—his forehead fell to mine, and he spoke as if he was convincing himself, too—“no matter what remains, we will.”

And I swore, “In every infinite realm.”

Because that thread that had always been between us, that had tethered our souls together at such a young age, was made of something stronger than the Angels. Stronger than gods and fate and time.

An unending, unyielding, infinite sort of love.

At my promise, Tolek pounded into me. Our breathing increased, the rhythm of our rolling hips picking up speed. Our hands stayed laced beside my head, and when we reached that climax together, we held tight to that grip, unwilling to let go.

As our hearts calmed, Tol pressed his lips to my forehead, and whispered, “I love you infinitely, apeagna . When the Angels scorch to ash and the gods fade to fate, I will be yours across every realm.”

Across every realm, beyond any fate, Tolek Vincienzo was mine. And I’d be damned if I let the Angels ruin us.

We laid there as those promises solidified, cocooned from the world as if nothing beyond these walls mattered. I drew lazy patterns across Tolek’s chest, tracing the scars left on his body, and he teased his fingertips up my spine.

Too soon, Tol rose from the bed, striding naked through the room to pour us glasses of water from the pitcher on the side table. The scar on his powerful thigh from the Engrossian ax when he’d tried to give his life for mine was stark in the night, thicker and less neatly healed than the others decorating his skin.

I pushed off the bed, gathering the five Angel emblems from my pack and setting them on the nightstand. Mystlight flicked along the different arrangements of gems and metal. Only the shard of Angelborn remained around my neck.

The worries Tolek had distracted me from started to push in.

“Will you hand me my nightgown, please?” I asked without turning.

Tolek’s strong hands slipped around my hips, his lips against my ear. “No.”

I laughed, turning in his arms. The heat of his skin against mine and the smile on his face—so easy and with an edge of teasing—chased away the worries. “No?”

“I prefer this.”

He always did. Most nights I didn’t mind; it only gave us fewer barriers for the morning.

I looked back at those emblems, resting so perfectly on the nightstand. I considered telling him what was worrying me, then, but…my gaze flicked to the window. The thin door. Too risky.

“Temperatures are dropping in the desert.”

Tol’s lips skimmed mine. “Body heat, Alabath.”

I rolled my eyes, pushing against his chest to grab my nightgown myself, but Tolek beat me to it, carefully swiping it from the dresser and handing it over. Then, he put on a pair of undershorts.

“Open the curtains?” I asked as I crawled into bed. “I want to sleep with the stars.”

He flashed me another of those dazzling, worry-defeating smiles. “Whatever you wish, Revered.”

Sleep pulled us under quickly—the satiated, insistent kind that only came when Tolek’s arms were around me. But it didn’t keep my mind from perking up at the smallest sound.

At the drift of a breeze through a curtain when the windows should be closed.

At the brush of a seemingly silent hand who’d spent centuries sneaking.

I kept my eyes closed, my breathing even, and stifled the Angellight whirling protectively beneath my skin. Those ears would pick up even the slightest shift in the rhythm of my heart.

But he couldn’t hide his presence, looming over the nightstand.

I waited until his attention was snared with my delicately laid trap. Then, faster than the cats prowling the Starsearcher jungles, I struck.

Tolek jumped from bed, his family dagger immediately soaring toward the intruder. He ducked, but I bore down, driving the stake I’d whittled from the branch of the cypher into the male’s shoulder.

Until his knees cracked to the wood, his grunts of pain loud enough to wake the entire floor. I followed him, pinning his hips. One arm hung uselessly at his side, his magic incapacitated, but he swung up with the other, dragging a nail down my cheek. Blood tickled my skin, but I didn’t flinch.

The door to our room crashed open, our friends pouring in, but I only twisted the stake deeper, where Rina had told me it wouldn’t kill.

I snapped off the tip at a rough angle, ensuring it splintered.

Rounding the bed to glare down at the intruder, Lancaster snarled, “What in the Goddess’s afterlife are you doing here?”

The man beneath me grunted.

“Hello, Brystin,” I purred down at him, flicking away a drop of blood from my cheek. “I was wondering when you’d finally show your face.”