Vanquished Gods (Hallowed Games #2)

Chapter 35

CHAPTER 35

S ion stood by the window, staring out at the sea, not moving. The fire cast warm light over his back, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

I joined him, my chest tight. “Do you think the Order will try to get to Veilcross?”

His gaze flicked to me, and he looked at me with a quiet intensity. “I don’t know how much Epona told them, or if they know it’s there at all. We just have to make sure they don’t get that far. And when it’s done, you can give Leo a kiss on the forehead for the first time.”

Dread flickered through me, and I looked down at my hands. My death magic pulsed beneath my skin. “I’m not quite as confident as you are that I can control my powers.”

“I am confident. You’re in control of it. I can feel when the magic is there and when it isn’t. Test it on me if it will put you at ease.”

I arched an eyebrow. “And how will I know you’re not lying?”

He leaned in closer, his scent enveloping me. “Do you still not trust me?”

The question hung in the air, and I studied his perfect face. My mind glittered with some of those buried memories from the time before, when I’d met him in the forest.

With a shock, I realized I did trust him. “I do.”

His shadows wrapped around me like a caress. My skin ached for him, hypersensitive. “I won’t hide anything from you again.”

I sighed. “Fine. I won’t, either.”

“Including yourself. Hiding behind the gloves, running from your magic, cloaking yourself in isolation…”

My gaze brushed down his bare chest, my breath quickening at the sight of him. With my sharpened vampire senses, his beauty was almost shocking. Breathtaking, lighting a spark inside me.

Tomorrow, we might die. Why waste what might be our last moments?

I reached out, my fingers grazing the sharp line of his jaw. “Anything?” I whispered.

“Just you.”

“Tell me if you feel my magic.” My hand drifted over the solid planes of his chest. His muscles tensed beneath my touch, and I rested my palm over the place where his heart had once beat. Where I’d stabbed him.

For a brief, aching moment, I could almost see him as he had been—a living man, fighting for his life on a battlefield centuries ago. Bleeding out and terrified. I was shocked by how desperately I wanted to go back in time and take care of him.

My thumb brushed over the spot where I’d jammed the stake in, where he’d crowned himself king with a tattoo. I lifted my eyes to his, searching for some unspoken answer.

“No magic, love,” he said in a low, rough tone, a smile tugging at his lips. “But you should keep testing.”

I let my hand drift lower, skimming over the hard ridges of his abs, and his eyes darkened, simmering with dangerous shadows. When my fingers brushed lower still, a growl escaped him—a sound that sent a shiver down my spine.

I took a step closer and reached up, sliding my arms around his neck. The silk of my dress brushed against his bare skin. Everything was heightened as a vampire—sight, smell, hearing—and the way his body felt against mine was enough to make me lose my mind.

Desire swept through my body as the roughness of his palm skimmed over my thighs.

“Anything?”

“Just you,” he whispered again. His eyes had taken on a hungry expression. “Still, only you.”

His eyes burned, and he leaned down, brushing his lips over mine. At the light touch, pleasure slid through my body, making my skin sensitive, my nipples hard against the silk of the dress. I opened my mouth to him, my tongue brushing against his. Stroking his.

He pulled away from the kiss, staring into my eyes. “You have been haunting my thoughts like a ghost since the first time I laid eyes on you.”

“I can’t exactly say the same.” And yet, recently, I’d started to realize that being with him felt like coming home. Once, I’d been terrified of him. Now, he felt like a safe haven. “If we survive tomorrow, we will need to make new memories.”

Sion gripped the hem of my dress in one of his hands. With his other, he reached around for the neckline, brushing his fingertips under the silky fabric. At his touch, pleasure flared over my skin. I felt a desperate need to rip the silk off. He must have read the lust on my face because his breath grew heavier, his eyes darkening to pure black.

In my fevered mind, my thoughts flashed with an image of him fucking me hard against the window, my legs wrapped around his waist.

As slowly as dripping honey, he began to tug down the neckline of my dress. My body ached for him.

I hooked my leg around his, my dress riding all the way up to my waist, and I threaded my fingers into his long hair.

With a languid pace, he eased down one side of my dress, exposing my shoulder, the arch of my neck. He lowered his mouth to my throat, and he ran his tongue over my skin.

He moved to where his mark stood out starkly on my pale skin. He lowered his mouth to the mark, then ran his tongue over it, sparking a wave of wild, liquid heat through my body. My neck arched back, my head resting against the windowpane, as he kissed my throat.

He tugged down the top of my dress a little more, easing down the other side, and the cool castle air kissed my breasts. I felt as if they were growing heavier, aching to be kissed the way he was kissing my throat.

As his tongue continued to lave my neck, he pulled down the top of my dress completely, and my skin prickled in the brisk air, nipples tightening, aching to be caressed. The world dimmed, disappearing around us, and all I could think about was the feel of his mouth, his hands on me.

He reached down, scooping me up into his arms, and carried me, half-naked, to the bed. The air felt charged, sultry, as he pulled my dress all the way off, leaving me in just my underwear. And as his gaze raked over my body, he let out a low growl from deep in his chest that reverberated over my bare skin. The firelight wavered over the finely carved lines of his chest, his abs. I licked my lips.

As I reached for him again, he lowered his mouth to the crook of my throat, leaving searing kisses over my skin until he finally reached my breasts. He closed his mouth over one nipple, tongue swirling, and I let out a quiet moan, tangling my fingers in his hair.

He seemed eager to draw this out into a slow, sensual torment. My hips rolled against him, and he lifted his face to look at me. “Is there something you need from me, Elowen?”

He moved lower on my body, leaving trails of kisses on the way down. I tried to form the words, but his shadowy magic was licking at me, carrying on its ministrations as he waited for me to answer, and I could hardly think straight.

He lowered his mouth, kissing my inner thigh, his tongue moving in slow circles over my skin. My hips bucked as I silently begged for more. I wanted that tongue of his between my thighs, kissing me deeply.

He again lifted his face to me, gold flaring in those dark eyes. “Divine, right? Godlike?”

“No talking,” I whispered.

He reached for my underwear and pulled it off me, stripping me naked, spreading my thighs. His delicious magic stroked over my body, licking at the apex of my thighs, teasing me where I was wet.

He stared at me for a moment, looking awestruck by the sight of me naked and turned on, spread out before him.

I reached out, wild with need, and unbuttoned his trousers so fast, I popped the button off. As I freed him, I stared at the enormous, hard length of him. My thighs moved to clench, but he spread them wider, positioning himself between them. Time seemed to slow for a moment, and achingly slowly—torturously—he started to slide into me, stretching me. Filling me completely. He choked out a low groan as he eased into me, so painfully slowly, until he seemed to lose the grip he held on his restraint. He thrust deeper, fully seating himself, and I wrapped my arms around him as our bodies moved together. His mouth found mine again, kissing me deeply. Savoring me. As he did, I remembered a night together a decade ago, when we’d sipped wine by the river, deep in the forest by the manor. He’d fascinated me, and I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off him. I remember feeling like he’d wanted to look after me, to take me away…

My fingers pressed into his muscled back, and I released my magic into him, feeling it charge our bodies. As his pace quickened, stroking faster, I moaned, my thoughts fracturing. Pleasure swelled deep within me, and I called out his name in a half-broken groan.

As he drove deeper into me, my climax hit me like a storm wave, crashing through me. My body shuddered with waves of pleasure, my thoughts splintering.

His release followed just a breath later, my name a reverent whisper on his lips.

As aftershocks of pleasure rippled through me, he collapsed by my side, pulling me into him. I felt my body glow as his magic caressed me. He wrapped me in his arms so closely that there was no space between us.

“Elowen,” he whispered, “you belong with me, you know. And I belong with you. I will keep you safe.”

I looked into his eyes, where the gold blended back into the darkness like the rising sun. “I’m the Underworld Queen. How about you let me keep you safe?”