I laugh. He thinks he's going out of here in one piece? My Myst is all around us. The only reason I haven't sent him to hell yet is because I want to hit him some more.
I start to send the dark cloud of magic to him, but Vlari shakes her head.
“Don’t. Let me. I need—”
I nod.
Whatever she needs.
Vlari strolls to the coward backing up against the wall. “There’s nowhere to go,” she whispers. “You’re mine now.”
The man freezes, enthralled, ensorcelled by her bright blue eyes. Her small white arms wrap around his shoulders in a hug that could almost look gentle. Then he starts to scream as she sucks the life out of him, a serene smile crawling on her dry lips.
A few inches of silver hair turn purple, and she lets go, his body falling with a numb thud.
It's over. It's over. She's fine.
She's here.
In front of me.
Awake.
I think. Is she awake, or have we been pulled inside her head again all along? Is this a dream? It could be. I’ve never had nightmares so horrific or dreams so sweet. I can't make sense of anything. I feel faint all of a sudden.
I'm forced to remember I was stabbed like a pin cushion.
I don't think I care.
In fact, I know I don’t.
I step over the corpse to Vlari, taking her chin in my hand. She feels soft and warm and real.
I have questions. I have many things to say. None of them seem important right this second, though. I bring my lips to hers and taste her for the very first time.
Except it doesn't feel like a first kiss at all. It feels natural. As though we've done this every day since the beginning of time. As if kissing her is as simple as breathing. As if it’s the natural order of things.
I can't get enough. I need it more than air and water. I can't let go. So, I don't. I lift her in one arm, and she wraps her legs around my torso, climbing me like a vine. I feel my wounds burn as though someone poured salt on them. She's healing me. Part of me wants to stop her, to tell her to save her energy. But save it for what?
She's here. She's awake.
The implications are terrifying. It means Whitecroft is no longer protected under her shield. It means the army of thousands of humans can fall upon us now. It means we may all die before the night is through.
I care for none of these things. I don’t care there are guards. If this bothers them, they can go.
We tumble to the floor, next to the corpse that doesn't even exist in my universe right now. I wince and she chuckles around my lips. All that matters is her, on me, with me. Wearing far too many clothes.
She thought something along the same line, because she closes her little hands on my lapels and tears my coat apart, exposing my torso. Buttons roll in various corners. Her hands glide on my skin, setting it ablaze. My hips lift to grind against her.
"Ahem."
I think I could literally murder whoever's disturbing us. At least, I might have, if it had been anyone other than Ciera.
The high queen grins from the door, one eyebrow raised.
Under the Stars
Drusk
