Page 93 of Reign of the Talon
It’s the sort of hunger that once consumed the pair of us, before we were so thoroughly broken. When we could hardly keep our hands off the other’s bare skin. The sort of hunger that was an unbridled kind of lust, a roaring, wild thing.
I pull him down further, running my hands through his wavy hair. He groans, hoarsely, before pulling away to scan my face.
“You’re different tonight,” he murmurs. “I can’t place it, but you feel…different.”
My lips tug upward. I do feel different. Exhausted from scouring through the palace and staring into the mirror, but… I also feel lighter, somehow. Moremyself. Rui swallows hard, and I realize he’s staring at my lips, at my smile.
I wonder how long it has been since I smiled like this.
“Months,” he whispers gutturally, sensing my unspoken question through the bond. “Months upon months.” Rui shakes his head in wonder, eyes suddenly sparkling with a hint of their old light-hearted mischief. “Gods, little thief. I never thought I would see you like this again.” He brushes a finger against my mouth. “It looks beautiful on you.”
I find myself opening my mouth, words tumbling onto my tongue, but I swallow them back. I’m not…I’m not ready for that, yet, but I am ready forthis. Leading Rui to my bed, kissing him as if I am starving—because I am. Something has bloomed inside of me, something alive and beautiful and…and perhaps hopeful.
Something so different from the sharp, jagged emotions I have grown used to.
I fumble with Rui’s robes. Ineedthis, need to feel him with me. Need to hold him close, need to feel his skin on mine… But what’s more is that Iwantto.
We’ve been apart for so long. And this, this joining…to me, it’s my promise to him. That I will return. That I will fight alongside him, just as he’s dreamed.
The three truths are warm against my skin. Perhaps they are healing me, somehow, lending me a strength I never thought I would find. Siphoning away the shadows, the grief, the despair. Giving in return this heady feeling of lust, of determination, a sense of self I thought I had forever lost.
I used to adore this—making love with Rui. Here, in this moment, with Rui’s harsh breathing and my excited heartbeat… I feel more myself than I have in so, so, so godsdamned long.
“Are you certain?” Rui gasps as I slide off his robes, revealing his toned chest, the sharp v-line, and… I feel a rush of heat in my core.
We have lain together before, the two of us, exploring each other with our mouths and hands after the night of our wedding, yet there still remains uncharted territory across the slopes and plains of our bodies. I want to reach those hidden places tonight, to feel what his body feels like joined with mine, like two halves of a locket clicking together after so long apart, finding where they’re meant to be. I feel that this is the time for it: it’s in the way I feel likemyselfagain, in the way there has been some respite given to us in this chogajip, where Yego does not lurk. As the snow melts outside, so do I, a warm desire burning low in my stomach.
I’m certain, I reply with a wry look, and Rui—after a moment of delighted surprise—laughs. Laughs not his bitter, despondent laugh…but his one of excitement. Of delight. Of love.
He leans me down atop the mattress and kisses me, long and slow. Tormentingly slow. I moan against his lips, and he smiles, his pure joy sparkling down the red thread as he slips my tunic over my head. I sigh softly as he kisses a breast.
“Little thief,” he murmurs as he toys with the waistband of my pants. “I do love you.”
I love you, too.
Rui grins, a vibrant delight flashing across his face…
…and slips a hand underneath my pants. My breath leaves me in a soft exhale as his fingers glide exactly where I want them, as he strokes, still smiling against my mouth.
“I missed you,” he whispers. “I missed this.”
I close my eyes as he kisses me again, as his fingers—his godsdamn fingers—circle me, slowly, so slowly. My breathing hitches, yet is exhaled in frustration as his touch recedes. Rui smirks as he tugs off my pants completely, baring me to him. He positions himself between my legs and kisses me again, kisses me where I am warm and aching. Every touch of his tongue is deliciously torturous, edging me closer and closer to the fall, only inches away from where I balance on the precipice. He hums happily as I squirm, placing a hand on my navel, and I feel his smug, male satisfaction shoot through our bond.
I fracture and break, bliss wracking my body in waves, and only then does Rui rise. He’s flushed and glowing, feeling what I feel through the red thread of fate joining us. It is visible, the red thread, curling from my chest and into his.
“Lina,” he whispers as his forehead meets mine, as we become one. Despite all we have shared, we have not donethispart before—this final joining, this slow and tender coupling. I gasp silently at the feel of him, and he is so utterly careful as he eases into me, trembling and flushed.
“Can I?” he whispers, so hopeful, so completely in awe that I smile as I nod.
Rui is gentle as his hips roll against mine, as he tenderly kisses the side of my neck, making me shiver. I twine my fingers through his hair and wrap my legs around him, savoring the steady rhythm of him, the heat of his body against mine. The tantalizing sensation of his movements, the warming of my blood, the growing tension within my arching body.
Closer and closer we dance, and we fall together, tension shattering into shards. I arch into him, biting down on a breathy moan as he gasps into my neck, movements slowing. His pleasure is mine, and mine is his, interwoven, tangled together by the red thread of fate. It is heat and flame and the feeling of a drop—it is tumbling from a precipice, falling through the air.
My legs are shaking as we slowly disentangle, and my entire body is still shivering as Rui holds me close to him. His eyes are fluttering closed, and his breathing has become slow, steady. I smile, turning so I can brush his sweaty hair from his face, so I can kiss his forehead.
A silver, bleary eye cracks open. “You destroy me,” he whispers. “You know that, don’t you?” He traces my collarbone with an indolent finger. “You destroy me so utterly.”
I know, I reply before taking his hand in mine and interlacing our fingers.
