A soft sigh escaped her parted lips, and a sheen of mist fell over her eyes. He felt a sense of panic that he had somehow emotionally wounded her, but her smile grew though it trembled with emotion.
“It’s forbidden,” she choked out.
He shrugged. “It would not be the first forbidden thing I have done, but it will definitely be the worthiest. What we have is the best kind of forbidden and worth fighting for.”
She stared at him for a long moment and shuddered, her eyes misting with unshed tears that tore at his soul. “I wish we didn’t have to go back. That we didn’t have to fight or even face them at all. I would give anything to just return to the sylvan woods and forget about all of this. I just want to be free to love you.”
Ashul’s gaze softened, and he drew her in closer, wrapping his arms around her as he tucked her against his body. He had hoped but he had not quite believed. He had counted on lust and logic being things he could use to win her to him with the hope that she would prefer his company to the loneliness of her life as a necromancer. That a monster like him had somehow won her heart was beyond believing. He swore that he would destroy anything that ever made her cry again.
“You love me?”
She gave him a watery smile. “I do. In all this madness, I saw the real you that you think you keep hidden from everyone else. Yes, you are violent and bloodthirsty, but you are also caring and an unstoppable force once you set your mind on something. I admire that and all that you’ve survived, and yet to somehow come out after all of that, betrayal, and death, and still find something beautiful in this world and a gentleness within you.” She shook her head in wonder, her eyes lighting up as she gazed up at him. “You can still laugh and find joy where I had forgotten how to. You say that I am your joy… well, you are mine too. Even when we are arguing, you make me feel alive instead of merely existing between worlds.”
He dragged in a deep breath, feeling an intense pressure of emotion weighing heavily in his chest. He nodded and stepped back.
“Then let me question the sorceress to satisfy my worries. It will not take long, and then I will return to claim you. Regardless of what we must face, we will have each other, and no human can sever an elven bond.”
She blinked and laughed, grabbing ahold of his arm. “Wait. No. Seriously, Ashul. She only gave me what I asked for.”
He shook his head in confusion. “What could you possibly want with magic like that?”
“Because…” she shifted uncomfortably on her feet and blew out a long breath of air. “Because I wanted you to see the real me too. I thought if maybe you truly saw me—the real me—then you might somehow decide that you wanted me too.”
“I don’t understand,” he murmured.
She gestured to herself with a frustrated snap of her hand. “I didn’t want you to look at me and just see this… this white wyrm,” she whispered, cutting deep into his heart as he heard his words repeated back to him. “I wanted you to see the real me that existed before my final trials changed me.” She blinked rapidly. “I wanted you to see me like I was when I was beautiful. The potion would have done that. It would have temporarily give me a glamour that would have allowed you to seeme.”
“But you are beautiful,” he said softly as he slid his fingers into her hair and dragged his claws through the pale strands. “Whatever prejudices I awoke with—there are no excuses for. I was wrong. You are beautiful and perfect just the way you are. A night-blooming flower in moonlight and utterly precious.”
“I am branded,” she protested, and he brushed his lips over the mark.
“I hate that they inflicted this on you but do not hate the mark itself. It is what brought us together, and is a reminder of your power and the greatness of your heart that weeps with those who have known loss. Everything about you is beautiful. You want me to see the real you? I do see you, and I have no desire to change you in any way.”
She gave him a skeptical look, but he chuckled and captured her lips with his. Though she froze at first beneath his mouth, she pressed against him responsively. Her lips caressed his, her tongue sliding along his own as their kiss turned feverish. It was Ashul who finally broke away, his cock engorged between them. He gave it a wry look and met Robyn’s eyes.
“Are you ready for me to bind you to me and mark my claim?” he rasped.
She laughed softly, an edge of disbelief in her voice. “This is insane, you know?”
“Perhaps,” he agreed happily, his own smile widening. “But do not let that bother you. I do not. Still, I swear to you that we will return to the sylvan forest. We will make it our home for all the long ages of our future that await us once I bind you to me. What power they have will not last and cannot keep that future from us. We will make them release us.”
“They will release us all right. They will call for our death,” she whispered in reply, a thread of iron suddenly entering her voice as if she were finally seeing the possibility of fighting back. “The necromancer guild could call for our termination. They’ve done it before when it comes to necromancers who do not obey their laws. All it takes is one missive from the High Necromancer alerting them to the fact and they will come down upon us.”
He hugged her to him and chuckled. “Then we will bring death to them unlike anything they’ve seen,” he rasped, lovingly brushing his knuckles along the side of her cheek, marveling at the soft flesh there.
Ashul leaned down and brushed his mouth over the bare expanse of skin near her shoulder and breathed her in. “Now allow me to worship you.”
Her sweet sigh of assent stole his breath and heart altogether. What use did he have for air or the blood in his veins when she was his, the source of his life? Seizing her mouth with his once more, he swept her up in his arms, determined to not let her go until she was his. He still wanted to murder the sorceress for agreeing to such a plan, but fortunately for her, his songbird ensnared him, and he could do nothing else but cherish her as the gift that she was.
They would never be able to escape each other after this day, and he wanted it no other way.
ChapterNineteen
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Ashul carried Robyn in his arms as he walked leisurely back through the barn, absorbed in drawing out little moans from his mate with his kiss. There was no need to hurry. That would come soon enough for them when they were forced to face the humans who would oppose them. For now, he had all the time in the world, and he had no desire to rush it.
It was with infinite tenderness that he lay her on their cloaks. She hadn’t bared herself as he had hoped, but it was no matter. He took just as much pleasure in removing her clothing piece by piece. He pressed his lips on the soft skin that gradually became exposed to him, and stroked his tongue over her, savoring her flavor. She was all feminine heat and sweetness, her incredible scent drawing him lower.