Page 156 of The Blade in the Ashes
“You feel so good, bird,” he complimented, sucking my left nipple into his mouth while toying with the right between his thumb and forefinger. “So perfect.”
Releasing a breathless sort of moan, I rolled my hips, beginning to rock against him.
It was bliss. Pure bliss that blocked out any other thought or feeling. The kind of bliss that made me regret ever waiting this long to let him have me again. My body had been made for him and I never wanted to give it to anyone else.
Because, truthfully, no one else would ever fit this perfectly.
Head falling backward, my eyes lolled with pleasure, and Nikolai lifted his head, relaxing against the back of the couch so that he could watch me lose myself in him. His absolute attention was just as arousing as any place his skin touched mine.
“Yeah, that’s it.” His hands slid to my hips, guiding them to move just the way he wanted. “Just like that. You fuck me so good.”
Gods.
He had an absolutely filthy mouth, and I craved every muttered word of encouragement and praise. His voice became the only thing I cared to hear, and each sound from it sent me higher and higher.
“Do I feel good?” he whispered.
“Yes, Nikolai. Gods, yes.”
That dimple bubbled in his cheek as he gave me a positively wicked grin, and his hands pressed in on my skin, tight enough to bruise, as he continued working me against him.
Not that I particularly cared. I would happily wear the markings of his love on my skin.
And then all the sudden, the world tipped out from under me.
Nikolai shifted us, wrapping an arm around me so that he could lay me down on the couch. His lips swallowed any words of protest I might have had, crashing into mine with ferocious insistence. He braced himself with a forearm by my head while his other hand gripped behind my knee, shoving my leg above my head so he could take me even deeper and—
“Oh, gods.” My words came out in a dizzyingpant. “Oh, gods.Oh, gods.”
“Yes, baby.” His teeth grazed against my jawline as he thrust into me over and over, setting a pace I never could have maintained. “I love watching you come for me.”
And so help me, I did.
I exploded in a blast of tingling nerves and ecstasy, moaning so intensely that he chased me into that sweetest of oblivion, thrusting impossibly deep before stilling inside me.
The world came back into focus in slow waves of light and sound, pleasure lingering in my body for several long minutes after my climax. His weight atop me was a welcome anchor to this space in time.
Soon enough, though, in the quiet moments that followed, I felt sticky dampness against my stomach, and my heart lurched. Pushing him away, I gasped at the scarlet blood dripping through his bandages.
“Nikolai!” I snapped, rushing into a seated position so I could get a better look at it. “What happened to being gentle?”
He looked down at the blood with a hum of surprise, as if he hadn’t even realized he had reopened the wound. Then he ran a thumb over my bottom lip with a pleased smile.
“Worth it.” He shrugged.
Chapter Forty-Five
Thea
Silently, I stood before the looking glass and drug the tip of my index finger against the smooth skin of my collarbone, staring at the movement in my reflection. Even after all this time, it was still so strange to see the bare skin. Every so often, I would catch sight of myself and have to double back, narrowing my eyes to search out what was wrong with me only to realize I was still looking for the Mark of Hyrax stamped across my skin.
The second I came into my own divine power, that mark on my skin faded away.
Goddesses didn’t have Descendant's Marks.
It was one way we determined that my theory about Camilla had been correct. When she checked the skin on the back of her left calf, the Mark of Hypatia was gone.
Clay moved to stand behind me, kneading at some of the tension in my shoulders.
