by Aja James
“That,” Dalair agreed. “Only then, with his words, did some of the pieces start falling in place. I realized he was Cambyses earlier, but I thought the way I betrayed him was why he was hellbent on making me pay. And maybe some of that drove his actions, but he was helping me all long.”
Sophia stroked his jaw and brought his face to hers, staring deeply into his beloved silver eyes.
“Erebu loved you, Dalair.”
“Erebu?”
“The name he has chosen for himself. Ere for short.”
Dalair closed his eyes, a flash of regret and pain tightening his features.
“He loved you,” he whispered. “He was my brother. You were his wife. And I—"
Sophia chuckled softly, surprising him enough to open his eyes again to stare at her.
“He loved you, you beautiful, wonderful, stubborn, oblivious man.”
Still oblivious, he nodded.
“He was my brother—”
“Not like that,” Sophia inserted smartly, but then added, “well, yes, like that. But also more.”
Dalair frowned, uncomprehending.
With thousands of years of “water under the bridge,” with the luxury of hindsight, and with her heart-to-hearts with Ere under her belt, Sophia could finally smile about their star-crossed, tragic past.
“I was the third person in the love affair,” Sophia said, an expression of self-deprecating chagrin on her face.
“Cam and I tried to love each other as a husband and wife would…”
Dalair dropped his eyes at that, a flicker of pain passing over his face.
She caught his chin and made him look back at her.
“But we were never meant to be,” she said firmly, leaving no room for doubt.
“Not that way. Aside from our wedding night, he never touched me that way again. Honestly, he barely touched me at all even that night.”
Even so, Dalair’s eyes filled with pain. That another man claimed her, however briefly. That it should have been him…
So she hurried on.
“We were best friends. And I think what brought us even closer together was our love for you. All those years you were gone, we talked and thought of you so much it seemed like you were with us every day. I think sometimes Cam was jealous of both of us. You were his brother, he loved you, and I was his wife. Yet neither of us put him first. No one in his whole existence has ever put him first, I think.”
“How can you know all this?” Dalair asked.
“When he was our…guest here. We had a lot of time to reflect and come to terms,” she answered.
“He loved you very much, Dalair. More than me. Which is why he also hated you more than me.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Wait here.”
Sophia left the bed and disappeared out of sight for a few moments. When she came back, she held a stack of letters in both hands.
“Read these. Ere left them for you. Do you want me to be here as you read?”
“Yes,” he answered immediately, pulling her close again, wrapping his arm around her as he picked up one letter and unfolded it.
She cuddled into him and closed her eyes, dozing in the comfort of his embrace.
In their joined minds, she could hear him begin to read:
Dear brother…
Chapter Nineteen
On the private rooftop garden above Ishtar and Tal’s apartment within the Shield, the Mating Ceremony took place.
Though the General and his “Star,” as well as their daughter Inanna and her Mate Gabriel, and Sophia’s favorite little person in the world—Benji—could not be present for Sophia and Dalair’s joining, the Pure Ones felt them in spirit. The comfortably cool breeze that rustled the crisply fragrant leaves and grass carried their blessing.
Ayelet officiated the ceremony as she always did, as the Pure Ones’ Guardian, and as Sophia’s personal guardian and surrogate mother.
Wearing a simple, flowing white dress, her dark hair loose in waves, Ayelet took each of Sophia and Dalair’s hands in both of her own.
Thus, she began the ancient vows:
In Darkness and Light, in Life and Death
Two souls will join to share One Path
With heart and mind, and every breath
You become each other’s present and past
What the future holds only the Goddess can see
Paved by the choices you both shall make
Step by step toward your Destiny
In Bond Eternal that none shall break
Ayelet looked to Dalair to recite his vows next.
He held Sophia’s warm, amber eyes with his own silvery gaze, fusing their consciousness, mingling their breaths and synchronizing their heartbeats.
This was only ceremony, he knew. They’d already Mated in truth, and no one could sever their Bond. But standing here, in front of all their comrades and friends, the family of their heart if not blood, he felt incredibly grateful, humbled and reverent.
Could this truly be happening? Could the son of a Persian slave, the King’s concubine, a no one…could he be standing before the most exquisite woman in the world, a being as beautiful, strong, brave and powerful as one of the Twin Goddesses herself…was Sophia truly his?
She looked into his eyes with tears shimmering in her own. They were tears of happiness, he knew. He could feel her effervescent, infinite joy. It radiated from her very soul. He could see it in her beaming smile and hear it in her galloping heart.
She loved him so.
He felt it in the marrow of his bones, so deeply he wondered how he could have ever thought otherwise.
But that was all in the past. This milestone would harken the start of their future.
Solemnly, he gave his pledge:
“My body, my blood, my life, are yours. My soul will only rest with you. Sophia. Take from me the Nourishment you crave. Let me become your strength, your protection, and fulfill your every need. I offer you all that I am, all that I was, all that I ever shall be.”
Without waiting for Ayelet’s signal, Sophia jumped in breathlessly to offer her own vows, as if she simply couldn’t keep them in any longer.
“I accept you as my Destined, Eternal Mate, Dalair. You have, always and forever, my heart, my body, my soul. I offer you Sustenance to keep you strong. For the rest of eternity, from this day on, I shall have no other. I accept you with everything I am, was, and ever shall be.”
“You may now—” Ayelet began.
But Sophia was already leaping into Dalair’s arms, her eager hands pulling his head down for a passionate, hungry kiss.
They barely heard the chuckles, cheers and clapping from their audience. Didn’t notice when the crowd began to disperse, since they weren’t separating from their kiss any time soon. Didn’t feel the claps on their backs or hear the words of well-wishers.
All they knew was each other.
Somehow, they made it back to their chamber without tearing each other’s clothes off and giving anyone who passed by an eyeful. And then, it was all greedy hands, hungry mouths, fervent kisses and skin on skin.
Before Sophia could get her top off, and before Dalair could kick his trousers off, only the fly and zipper open to expose his throbbing, weeping sex, he lifted her off her feet at the foot of the bed, spread her thighs open and thrust inside with one powerful lunge.
“Uhn,” was all she could utter as she automatically tightened her legs around his hips, pulling him deeper within.
It burned a little, despite her arousal, the slick wetness of her desire for him. He was so thick and hot and hard. He stretched her to capacity and beyond. That brutal thrust gave no quarter, no time for her to adjust even slightly.
But she didn’t care.
She loved being owned by him this way, her savage, passionate warrior. Only she could break his control this way. Break him this way. And she reveled in it. Got drunk on it. That this breathtaking male could want her as desperately as she wanted him.
“More,” he gritted against her neck, his mouth hot upon a fluttering vein.
She knew what he meant. She understood him perfectly through their Bond.
He meant that he wanted her more. Loved her more.
She shook her head in denial. Not possible. She destroyed an entire civilization for the loss of him. She was Darkness without him. Now that she had him, truly had him, she could never, ever, let him go again.
“And I would die a thousand deaths for you,” he rasped into her throat, his strong hands holding her hips steady to receive his mind-numbing, teeth-rattling thrusts.
“Death cannot separate us. I will always find you. Only you.”
Sophia finally whipped the blasted top off her head and arched backwards suddenly, throwing both of them off balance, falling on the bed and taking him down with her.
Though he braced his weight with his arms beside her torso, the downward momentum took him even deeper inside her, making her throw her head back and groan loudly in ecstasy.
He felt so, so good!
It was rough and it was glorious. He took her so hard and deep, pleasure mingled with an edge of pain. Oh, but how she loved it! She couldn’t get enough.
He kicked off his trousers and moved upon her, his buttocks clenching, his powerful torso surging, driving his hips against hers, his pubic bone hitting her nub every, damn, time. The fat head of his cock grinding against her deepest pleasure, triggering explosion after explosion of orgasmic bliss.
Sophia shook from head to toe as she shattered with abandon, keening loudly as she came. She squeezed him relentlessly with her inner muscles, milking him for his seed.
But he wasn’t having it. Not yet.
He gentled his movements like the calm after a mighty storm as his lips moved from her neck to one breast, taking her nipple into his wet, warm mouth and lapping at it with his tongue.
She arched her back and pushed more of herself into his heavenly mouth, wanting him to suckle harder, and so he did. Rhythmically, he pulled on her nipple in time with his thrusts below, making her core flood once more with unquenchable desire.
“Dalair…” she breathed, mindless with pleasure.
He rose up on his knees and lifted her hips to rest the backs of her legs on top of his thighs. He widened his posture to split her open even more and thrust into her at a slightly downward angle, reaching even deeper than before, however impossible it seemed.
He moved to the other breast and gave it the same treatment as she splayed back upon the bed, bonelessly replete, barely able to move, positioned however he wanted, like a mindless doll to receive his pleasure.
He flexed his hips in a steady, agonizingly slow rhythm, making her feel every silky, steely inch of him, as if he was tattooing his Claiming from the inside out.
He was everywhere.
He took everything.
There was no part of her that he didn’t reach, mark and claim as his own.
“Oh Goddess!” she moaned, as another tidal wave of euphoria crashed over her, tossing and turning her in its dizzying, electrifying undertow.
Come with me, my love, she commanded in their linked minds.
Give me all of you.
He lifted her legs onto his shoulders and held her there with the iron band of one arm around her thighs. The closed position of her legs made her squeeze him even tighter, made her throbbing channel even narrower, the long, relentless hardness of him plowing through her feel even thicker, as if he was breaking her open anew with every thrust.
Take it from me, he commanded in return.
Take everything if you can.
Her eyes flared bright at that.
Did he think to taunt her? Dare her?
She grinned a beatific grin. Challenge accepted.
The position he held her in gave her no leverage. He even trapped her wrists with one hand while the other trapped her legs. She was practically hogtied, left vulnerable for her pussy to receive the hot, pounding, twisting drill of his magnificent cock.
So, Sophia used what little she had at her disposal. She joined their minds even more deeply until she could channel what she felt directly into his body, so that he felt it too.
His gasp of surprise and slight faltering of his hips proved that she was successful.
Do you feel the thick steel of you burning into me? She added words to the overwhelming sensations.
How my woman’s core tries to keep you inside whenever you pull back? I never want you to leave, Dalair. I am painfully empty without you. If I could, I would always have you inside me. Filling me. Completing me.
Owning me.
We must have been formed in the beginning as one flesh, one mind, one heart and soul. I want to crawl inside you, have you live inside me.
She clenched her muscles tightly and squeezed him convulsively, making him shudder and groan. Making sweat bead and run in rivulets down the deep curve of his back, the tight line between his buttocks, past his quivering star and heavy scrotum, the sensitive strip of his perineum, to the base of his thick, veiny cock. Mingling with their juices, adding salt to sweetness.
Mmm, she could almost taste it.
Do you feel how wet and hot and hungry I am for you? Starving for your cream. It burns inside, my love. Hurts so good. Need you to flood me with your essence. Need to feel you pulsing and gushing inside me.
Give it to me, baby.
Give me everything.
On a guttural shout, he came, releasing torrent after torrent of hot, milky seed against her womb. His entire body racked with shivers and quakes as he poured his heart and soul into her, as she voraciously gulped him up and absorbed everything he gave her into herself.
In his crisis and enervation he released her limbs, falling more heavily upon her. Before he could completely pin her beneath him, she undulated her torso and pushed him to his back, rolling with him and on top.
“My turn,” she murmured, dropping a quick kiss against his mouth.
Before the last shudders of his climax subsided, she started it all over again by riding him in surging, rolling waves.
Slow, then fast, then slow again. Gentle, grinding, hard and punishing. She gave as good as she got, not letting him catch a breath between.
“Sophia…” he rumbled huskily, his silvery eyes glittering with the emotions he’d always kept hidden as he stared into hers.
Her breath hitched at the unfathomable love she saw there.
It was so vast, so deep, and so staggering, a lesser woman would be frightened by it. To own this male so completely, to have the responsibility of protecting his heart and nourish his soul…this privilege and duty could only be fulfilled by someone who unstintingly, unconditionally gave everything of themselves in return.
Good thing Sophia was more than up for it.
She smiled down at him and lowered her body to his, sealed his mouth with her own. Her tongue plunged inside to devour him, her hips moving faster, her strokes shorter but hotter, even as she answered his unspoken question in her mind.
I choose you, Dalair. I will always choose you.
Come for me again.
I love you I love you I love you…
So he did.
And together, they embarked on a whole new Destiny.
Epilogue
I think I’m dead.
There is no pain…
The last I recall I was tangled up in a bloody mess with the Hydra.
Lilith.
She tore into me with all her claws and teeth (all nine heads worth!) and thorny tail (you know those Medieval battering rams? Imagine one with a sharp, steel point and several jagged thorns growing out of it). I knew I was dead right then and there, when I made her lose her prey.
But come on, like I was going to let her get to Benjamin.
My son.
Never!
Even if she killed me before I succeeded, I’d come right back to haunt her with my ghost. Possess her body or something and drive her crazy. She’d
exorcise her own heads off before I’m done with her.
So take that, she-demon!
Anyway, she had me by the throat, the chest, the back, wings, legs and my metaphorical balls. In other words, I was screwed.
And not in a pleasant way (not that I’ve ever experienced pleasant screwing, but I hear there are those who have).
Down, down, down, into the bowels of the lake she drove us both. Finally, there was nowhere else to go, and she slammed me into the rocky bottom and held me there with eight of her heads and her thorny tail. The ninth head opened wide that ugly maw and unleashed a continuous stream of hellfire upon my broken body.
And then…
Well, it was rather gruesome what she did, so I won’t be going into details lest I spoil your supper.
She might have torn all the flesh from my bones, then crushed those bones one by one. She might have ripped my wings to shreds and carved open my chest and laid open the cavity to expose my beating heart. She sliced open my belly so that all my entrails spilled out.
I’m shocked she didn’t bite off my genitals too—those don’t grow back no matter how we Immortals heal, you know. So I’d have been a blessed eunuch for the rest of my miserable existence (truly, I have absolutely zero need for them, except pissing might pose a slight challenge afterwards). Maybe dragon balls weren’t appealing, who knows.
She left my eyes intact too, though she did rip one of my cheeks out.
She could have killed me many times over when only once would have been enough.
But she didn’t.
She didn’t rip my heart or guts to shreds, or yank them permanently out of my body. She didn’t gnaw my head off either. She didn’t take me apart limb by limb so that I could never be put back together.
Maybe she thought that was too good for the likes of me. Willful Creature who dared rebel against her, preventing her from attaining her ultimate prize.
Instead, she left me at the bottom of the lake like fish bait. Well, more like the leftovers of a piranha attack. Pieces of me hanging onto my skeletal frame by mere strings of muscle and skin. Many more pieces missing entirely.
I’m not sure I remember the agony all that…mindless annihilation must have incurred. Maybe I wisely blocked it all out. After all, I’m no stranger to extreme pain or torture. This massacre definitely ranks up there in terms of violence and destruction, but somehow, it’s not as bad as the time I defended Ninsa as a boy.
