He stilled, unwilling to break contact.
“You know I’m quite smitten with you, right?” I closed my eyes, inhaling his natural scent.
“Quite?”
“Okay, utterly. Incredibly. Irreversibly smitten.”
“Mhm.”
He held me tight against his chest, sinking his face in my hair and breathing in deeply. I wrapped my arms around his torso, his heart thudding against mine.
We lost ourselves in talk for the rest of the night—talk about anything other than what lay ahead for us in the next few days. And it was all I wanted. Just us and nothing else. The two of us beneath a starry sky, by a makeshift candlelight dinner on top of a tower overlooking a world that was as beautiful as it was cruel.
At least for one night, nothing else mattered.
Serena
It was past midnight, and I was in the middle of a conversation with Hansa and Anjani in the grand hall, discussing rules of engagement with the front line of incubus soldiers stationed to protect Luceria. The other allies were scattered around, some quietly starting to retreat to their quarters, while others found the food so good that they decided to go for a second dinner—Grezzi’s appetite in particular was quite a sight to behold.
Aida had had a brief conversation with Vita before the alliance meeting, confirming that she was okay and patiently waiting for Bijarki to come. Patrik kept her company, as she’d become determined to help him break Azazel’s control spell. If she succeeded, it meant we could do the same for the other Destroyers and eventually return as many of them as possible to their original state.
Draven had slipped out at some point, and I fought the urge to go after him. I knew he was still struggling with the prospect of taking Asherak’s soul into his own, and it tore him apart on the inside, but I also knew I couldn’t do much to curb his anguish unless he was willing to let me in.
I eventually excused myself, as we had an early start in the morning. Wren had announced that the ship was ready to set sail for Marton, which meant Draven and I needed to get some rest before embarking on that journey.
I got to my room and took a quick, cold shower. I washed my clothes and hung them out to dry in the bathroom, then scoured the dresser for a decent nightgown. I found one, long and frilly around the neck and wrists, then sank into the bed. I tossed and turned for a while, unable to get Draven out of my mind.
My heart ached for him, and I wanted to be near him, to hold him in my arms and tell him that everything was going to be okay, that I wouldn’t let him destroy himself in order to take Azazel down. I sat up, anxious and restless.
Everything was working out, for the time being. We had almost everyone under one roof, Vita in relative safety in Luceria, and Bijarki on his way to get her. Why was I spending the one peaceful night we had on my own? The world could very well end tomorrow, or in a few days. Why was I keeping my distance from Draven just to leave him brooding on his own?
This is as good as it’s going to get for now, I thought to myself.
Then I remembered telling him I loved him earlier. With everything that had been going on since, I hadn’t had the time to even think about that. I’d promised him that our conversation wasn’t over, yet I didn’t know what else to say to him, given that I’d dropped the L bomb on him so viciously. I mean, we both felt it—I’d sensed it in him before, and I’d acknowledged my own feelings already, but I’d never given them the official name of “love”.
But it is love. I love him. I feel it in my bones; I breathe it whenever I look at him or think of him.
He didn’t even get a chance to say something in return. I had cut him off and dived into the alliance meeting.
Maybe I should talk to him.
And say what?
My mind was expertly sabotaging itself with contrary thoughts. I couldn’t stay in that room on my own anymore. The more I sat there, the more arguments I had with myself about whether I should go talk to Draven or not. I took a deep breath and got out of bed.
I figured a walk might do me some good. And if my feet decided to take me to Draven’s room, then so be it.
I opened the door, already stepping forward into the hallway, when I stopped, my eyes wide and my heart suddenly thumping as I found Draven standing in the doorway. I’d surprised him, judging by the look on his face, his eyebrows arched, a solitary flicker of black in his eyes.
“Draven,” I whispered, feeling my body instantly warm up under his steely gaze.
“Sorry, I wasn’t sure you were still awake,” he murmured. “I’ve been building the courage to knock, but it seems you beat me to it.”
He gave me a weak smile, his hands behind his back. There was tension between us, heady and hot and filled with unspoken words.
“Do you want to come in?” I asked, breaking the momentary silence.
“You said the conversation wasn’t over,” he replied, a muscle throbbing in his jaw and his eyes fixed so intensely on me that I felt my face on fire.
Ah, so we’ll have to talk about that after all…
I stepped aside, motioning for him to come in. He advanced through the doorway and stopped in the middle of the room, his back to me. I closed the door and leaned against it. We’d been like this before, with him facing away and me unable to speak. I had to break the vicious cycle. I had to be brave and own what I’d said.
Screw it—you might only have tonight. Just say it.
I opened my mouth to talk about my feelings for him, but the words just didn’t want to come out, nearly choking me. My heart was erratic, and I was close to breaking into a cold sweat. His silence made me so nervous, but I couldn’t figure out why.
“Draven, I—”
“Did you mean it?” He cut right to the chase, as if aware of my sudden struggle to initiate this conversation. He looked to his side, but not at me. His voice was low, and there was an intensity emanating from him that I’d never felt before.
“W-What?”
“When you said you loved me. Did you mean it?”
A few seconds passed. I bit my lower lip and decided to go with it.
“Yes.” I laid it out again. I couldn’t hold it in. It just rolled off my tongue with such ease. “I love you.”
I felt better after I said it. Perhaps that had been the source of my anxiousness. My need to tell him I loved him, perhaps again and again until it got seared into his brain and he let go of the foolish idea of sacrificing himself. Maybe I could stop him from going too far, from going that deep into the darkness, if he knew exactly how I felt about him.
It took him a while to move or say something. I waited, quietly, my muscles tense and my stomach twisting, gazing at his back, his broad frame and narrow hips, his bulging arms and long legs.
“The moment you first said it,” he replied slowly. “I felt this surge through my body. I needed to hear you say it again. I wanted to feel that energy again. And I do. Your words give me unexpected strength, Serena.”
He turned to face me, his emotions raw and pouring out of him like a river eager to drown me. His eyes flickered black, and he breathed heavily as he looked at me.
“I will go to the end of the world and back for you, Serena. And hearing, without doubt, that you love me just fuels me even further. I was close to caving in earlier. I’d found a resolve in my death for the greater good, to save Eritopia. But then you said those words, and it all came crumbling down. I can’t allow my life to end before I get to spend it with you.”
I was speechless. My heart pumped hard, inflated beneath my ribs. I found it hard to breathe, my eyes stinging and ready to let out the tears that had been fighting their way to the surface. I’d never been spoken to like this. I’d never experienced anything like this, and the depth of it all was scary and ecstatic at the same time.
“Draven, I love you.”
It was all I could say, in the end. Nothing else seemed to fit better between us.
“I lo—” I wanted to say it again, but he walked over, closi
ng the space between us in the blink of an eye.
His mouth came crashing down on mine, and he took me in his arms, tightening his grip and forcing the air out of my lungs. He kissed me with such intensity that I felt tender, broiling in his embrace. I parted my lips, and he ravished me, consuming my very being as his tongue caressed mine in hungry, circular motions.
He paused to look at me, his lips red and wet, his eyes dark and searing into me.
“I love you, Serena,” he breathed. “I’ve fallen hard, and I can’t pick myself up from it. I can’t even breathe without you anymore. I’m astonished by the depth to which you’ve taken my very soul…”
I cupped his face with my hands, feeling hot tears streaming down my cheeks. It felt incredible to hear him say that. I’d felt it, but hearing the words spoken out loud—it was something else entirely. My heart expanded as I pulled him in for another kiss.
“Say it again,” he whispered, his lips against mine.
“I love you.” My mouth moved over his.
His hands reached my hips, grasping flesh and fabric as his rampant breath escaped between kisses. I ran my fingers through his hair, reveling in the tactile sensation as he pulled me even closer. I felt him hard against me, and a cool draft brushing against my legs as he slowly lifted my nightgown.
I gasped when his fingers found the bare skin on my thighs.
I stilled, and he looked at me, dark and incandescent with desire. I knew where we were going with this, and I knew this time we wouldn’t be able to stop, which suddenly brought my sentry nature slamming into focus.
“Draven, I’m a sentry,” I said, my voice trembling like my entire body under his touch. “I-If we go through with… with… with what it is we’re doing here, remember I told you that you might become a sentry as well… or maybe some weird hybrid mix.”
He stared at me for a few seconds, breathing heavily. I could see microcosms imploding beneath his lowered eyelids, long black lashes arching upward as if reaching for the sky. My fingers tingled with the urge to touch each of them and memorize the feeling that every atom composing Draven gave me.
“I’m a Druid, Serena,” he replied, his voice husky with desire. “My species is strong and unyielding, and honestly, I don’t really care right now. If I wake up tomorrow with your abilities, I’ll be fine. I’ll be even happier, because I’ll have a little bit more of you in me.”
How could I not love him, when he warped my entire world like that, wrapping it around his fingers and making it all his, perfect and impervious to anything that might stand against us? I let my head fall gently back, so I could get a better look at his sharp features, at his tender lips and his vibrant gaze.
“We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, Serena,” he whispered. “Let’s make tonight ours, at least. Because afterwards, I’ll be fighting tooth and nail to be with you for an eternity and more.”
I traced the contour of his lower lip with my finger, wondering how he’d come to be so intense, so strong, so… Draven.
He kissed me again, this time in a deeper and more intimate fashion, sending fire coursing through my veins. He lifted me off the ground, and I wrapped my arms around his neck as he brought me near the bed.
We stood there, facing each other, our lips fused and hungrily demanding more, as his hands settled on my bare hips for a minute. I pushed myself forward to feel more of his hard body’s heat. He hissed and lifted my nightgown higher, prompting me to raise my arms. With one swift move, the cotton garment was tossed to the floor, and I was bare before him.
He stilled, taking his time to look at me, taking in every inch of bare skin and soul that I had to give him. He didn’t say anything for a while, just watched me carefully, his hands at his sides and his eyes even darker. I didn’t break our stare, but my hands moved of their own accord, unbuttoning his shirt and slowly peeling it off him. He slipped out of his boots and ran his fingers down the side of my face, tracing an invisible line down my neck and igniting an entire sun inside my chest.
“You are perfect, Serena,” he whispered. “You were made for me, and I swear I was made for you…”
My breath hitched as I sat on the bed in front of him. Ropes of muscles stretched methodically across his torso, his strong arms made for holding me. It was all mine, every inch of smooth skin, every curve and sharp edge that made him who he was. I placed my hand on his chest and let it move slowly downward, enjoying the feel of his skin against mine.
Draven bent forward, capturing my mouth in another kiss as he gently pushed me onto my back, covering me with his body. My temperature soared as his frantic heartbeat reverberated through my chest, setting off a chain of events that felt like it would forever shape my existence in this world.
I felt his golden energy washing over me like sunlight, his lips moving down my neck and tasting their way to my shoulder before descending and pulling me deeper into a state of euphoria.
I combed his hair with my fingers and beckoned him to come back and kiss me again. When he returned above me I realized his trousers had vanished and we were naked, skin on skin, sinking into the bed and into oblivion.
“Say it again,” he demanded, his voice raw and his fingers digging into my hips.
“I love you,” I whispered, and nibbled his lower lip.
He groaned as I sent him into a frenzy from which he could no longer come back. I was ready for him. I was ready to give him everything I had, including my soul. I felt my senses expand as he took me, moving gently as we abandoned reality altogether and lost ourselves in each other.
“I love you too, Serena…”
We made love as the world around us disappeared, our souls becoming one along with our bodies. Skin on skin, raw emotion and quivering muscles, unraveling senses and a white light enveloping me as Draven took me away from the physical plane and deeper into ourselves. I reached the peak of the universe, and I cried out to him, saying “I love you” each time he demanded it.
Our bodies were in perfect sync, moving like they’d been designed to fit so closely, so beautifully on one another. Our souls bonded as we soared closer to the sun. I felt it all—his whole life played itself before my eyes, each moment crisp and clear and colorful and full of emotions I’d never felt before. His emotions. His memories. His love for me.
It was all there, burning bright like a giant sun, and I was orbiting it, absorbing his energy and feeding him mine as we held on, as we tightened our grip on one another and experienced sheer bliss, over and over again.
“Say it again,” I told him, tears of happiness running down my cheeks as I reveled in everything he gave me, in everything he was, and in everything he made me feel.
“I love you, Serena.”
The universe contracted then expanded again. I cried out his name as he did mine, and we crashed into each other, melting into the sheets and marveling at how our very beings were able to fuse in such depth and detail.
Our souls felt irreversibly connected.
“Say it again,” I whispered in his ear as we relaxed in our embrace, my senses dazzled and my heart bursting with sunlight.
“I love you.”
Phoenix
I was dreaming. It had taken me what felt like forever to fall asleep, but when I finally drifted away, I found myself back at the mansion. It was nighttime in my subconscious as well, dark and cold. A half-moon shone in the sky, but there were no stars, which I found peculiar.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw the plantation house, its main entrance torn down and signs of destruction inside, visible through the gaping hole that had once held a front door, and the broken windows. The magnolia trees were in full bloom, the petals blowing in the wind.
When I looked ahead again, Viola was standing there, on the edge where the protective shield had once outlined the property. Green fireflies flew above in loose strings, going in and out of the house.
“Viola!” I called out, and she looked at me.
Her reddish pink hair was lifted
by the howling night wind. Her violet eyes were glazed with tears as her gaze found mine. She wore the nightgown she’d had on when she was taken, her arms and feet bare. My heart tied itself in knots, and my whole body shuddered at the sight of her.
I walked over, but I couldn’t get to her. It was happening again.
I ran, but the distance between us never shortened. I groaned with frustration and increased my speed, but still I couldn’t reach her.
“Viola!” I shouted, my voice stretched with anguish.
“Phoenix,” she whispered, and I could hear her loud and clear inside my head.
I kept running, unwilling to give up just yet. This was a dream—I was aware of it. I was determined to take control of it. I had to get to her. I desperately needed to touch her.
“Why is this happening?” I cried out.
“Phoenix,” she sighed. “You’re in danger!”
I stilled, watching her quietly. Despite it being a lucid dream, I had no control over it, not even over my own reactions. I would’ve shouted. I would’ve struggled. I would’ve broken my arms and legs if it could get me closer to her. Instead, I just stood there, pain throbbing in my chest.
“My sisters won’t let me leave,” she said. “But I can still reach out to you in my dreams. Please, listen to me… You’re in danger. I need you to fight. I need you to wake up and take control of the situation.”
What was she saying? I knew where I was. I was in Stonewall, beneath a cloaking spell. I wore ancient Druid concealment magic to keep me out of Azazel’s reach. I was surrounded by allies, their armies waiting quietly in the woods, by the meadow. I was in bed, sleeping.
“I need you to wake up, Phoenix. Wake up! Take control!”
I couldn’t speak anymore. I opened my mouth and moved my lips, but the words never came out. I reached a hand out to her, my soul craving to touch her.
“Wake up, Phoenix! Wake up!”
What’s happening?
“Wake up!”
I opened my eyes with a gasp. I sat up, an alarm buzzing in my brain, and looked around with tense muscles and a heavy heart. Nothing seemed out of place.