Page 160 of Breaking Storm

Ryneth went still. Then Daven tightened his grip and kissed him, like he wanted to make sure the point landed.

When he pulled back, Ryneth was still looking at him like he hadn’t recovered. “So what did you see when you got there?” he asked, voice rough.

Daven’s lips ticked up at the thought, and he tightened his hold on Ryneth’s throat. “Nothing. Just the storm. But then the thunder hit, and things got weird.”

“What do you mean?”

“First, Vandor found a black mask on the ground. I didn’t think much of it at first. Probably Concordant, from when they landed behind the hospital like we saw. But then he got cagey about it. And then the lightning struck…” Daven took a long sip from his drink, needing the bitter aftertaste of the whiskey as the memory hit with full force.

“Then what?” Ryneth whispered.

“Then she just stood there. At the window.”

“The royal consort?”

“Yeah. Which is… I mean, it’s not possible. She’s been asleep for over a decade. But as the lightning struck, she just stood there. It was creepy.”

“Did she just stand there? Or did she do anything?”

Daven shook his head, shivering when he recalled that moment in the storm. “I honestly can’t explain it, but the moment I saw her, I just knew where to go. There wasn’t time to think. We just… moved.”

Up and up they had gone.

Daven got lost in the memory, only for Ryneth to drag him out of it with four quiet words.

“I saw her too.”

Daven stilled. “You did? How? Were you⁠—”

“On Cyprian’s charcoal drawing. There was a storm on there; the one you were in. And she was there, in the corner. Standing at her window.”

Ryneth leaned closer, pressing into Daven’s grip around his throat, and Daven’s cock hardened even more. Fuck, he didn’t want to have this conversation right now. He was tired, pent-up, and looking for trouble.

But seeing Ryneth lean into him, wanting Daven to choke him gently, was more than just sexy. It was enough to melt his fucking brain.

Yeah, once Daven had him where he wanted him, Ryneth would be making those pretty sounds all night.

“The drawing kept shifting,” his aethera continued. “Like it was trying to show us where to look. Then Moargan ordered everyone up to Breaking Storm. And that’s how I found you.”

“Hmm, you did. You scared me tonight.” Daven’s hand slid from Ryneth’s throat into his hair, fingers curling at the nape. The air in the cabin shifted. “You chose that storm.”

“Did I?” Ryneth huffed a soft laugh. That soft laugh nearly undid him, his breath catching when Daven brushed his lips against his. “You walked straight into it.”

“No, baby.” Daven licked the shape of Ryneth’s mouth, purring when his bonded gasped and parted his lips. “You came for me.”

“That’s because I knew you were lying in the kitchen.” Ryneth’s fingers stayed twisted in Daven’s shirt, but his eyes didn’t. They held on Daven’s mouth like he needed the shape of it there. “The second you walked out, I knew something was wrong.”

Without giving Ryneth space to continue, Daven crushed their mouths together, chasing the taste of rain and the soft sound Ryneth made into his mouth. Ryneth leaned into the heat, his fingers tangling in Daven’s hair as their mouths molded together in an all-consuming kiss.

When he pulled back after what felt like forever, the corner of Ryneth’s mouth lifted. “I guess storms tend to attract my attention.”

Daven smiled and brushed his mouth once against the corner of Ryneth’s. “That’s more like it.”

Moving his hand from Ryneth’s neck to his jaw, he hauled him into his lap, his boots shifting for leverage as he pressed Ryneth back into the leather seat. Ryneth’s hand moved from Daven’s collar to his throat, his nails catching on his skin.

Every breath came fast.

The cabin still felt too small for what was happening between them.