Finally. Permission to let myself fall over the edge with her. I chase her into pleasure, rutting into her hard.
It’s her name on my lips as I come.
Vi.
Violet.
My Vi.
Her face in my head, in my heart, as I collapse against her, both of us gasping and breathless. A trembling hand runs up my spine, curling into the flesh at the base of my skull.
“Oh, my gods,” she whispers. “That was….”
“Written in the stars,” I tell her with a rough laugh.
Our eyes meet.
I kiss her. Hard.
This is the start of forever.
She just doesn’t know it yet.
But first, I need to make amends for how I took her tonight. And she will have my apology from my hands and tongue, until she can barely take any more.
Morning light creeps over the clearing, gilding the pair of us. Vi’s shoulders rise and fall as she sleeps in my arms. There’s something about the innocent way her lashes lie closed over her eyes that makes me want to hold her here forever, where I can protect her.
My fingers trail down her flank.
Her lashes flutter, her hip shifting in response to the stroke of my fingers. Not quite asleep, not quite fully awake.
But completely aware of my touch.
“You were a virgin.” I kiss her shoulder, stealing a shiver from her. None of this makes sense. Lammastide is often a night for stolen pleasure, and events such as this occur regularly, but I never expected her to be a maid.
I like it though.
I like it too much.
She has never known another and now she never will. The Darkness within me purrs and stretches with contentment. For once we’re in perfect agreement.
Vi is mine—ours—and nothing is going to tear her from my arms.
“Mmm.” Her lashes flutter open.
“I should have spanked your ass for not warning me.”
Dark eyes the color of midnight come into focus as she turns her head to look at me. There’s a moment where she realizes where she is and who she’s with, and then her eyes go very wide and she stills.
“Good morning.” I can feel her heart hammering in her chest and I can’t help kissing her shoulder so she knows there’s nothing to fear. “You have blue eyes. I didn’t know you had blue eyes.”
They’d been midnight-dark in the vision Maia gave to me, and over the years I guess I’d let memory soften them to the darkest of browns.
The tension slides out of her. Both our masks are long gone. It added a certain kind of spice to the encounter, but I want to know who she is.
“You have green eyes,” she whispers, staring deep into my soul.
I don’t know why, but instinct tells me she’s the watchful sort. The way she looks at me tells me she sees everything. A not entirely comfortable situation, but somehow…. Nobody has ever seen the whole of me.
And I want them to, I realize.
I want her to.
Vi turns her head. “Where’s my dress?”
Oh no. I’ve only just found you. I curl up as she pushes herself upright, tangling my arms around her. “There’s no hurry.”
She glances toward the sky. Dawn. I can almost read her thoughts and so I sweep her hair over one shoulder and brush a kiss against the nape of her neck.
“Stay with me,” I breathe as she shudders.
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.” Slowly, I drag her back down to the heather. Forever, if need be.
Forever, whispers the Darkness and my gut goes tight with tension because I hadn’t realized I’d let it slip through the cracks in my wards. We can fuck her forever.
I shake it away and cage it deep. Maybe it’s the woman in my arms who allows me to do so this easily. It never settles without a fight, but she’s here. She’s mine. She’s—
“Vi,” I whisper, tasting her name. “Violet. You never did ask my name.”
She arches back into me. “I think it’s wisest if I don’t know.”
I freeze as things become abundantly clear.
She gave me her virginity, she was two seconds away from stealing into her dress and fleeing, and now she still doesn’t want my name.
I bite her shoulder. Hard. And she squeals.
“I’m starting to feel a little used, Violet.”
“I wouldn’t have thought that would be a problem.” There’s a little hint of temper there. “You were the one who hunted me down. Is this not what you wanted?”
It’s not what I wanted at all. Caught in my own fucking net. I wanted her so badly I couldn’t keep my hands off her, but all she wants is this.
So be it. There’s more than one way to catch the demi-fey.
“Fine. No names then. Just my cock.”
I slide my fingers up her thigh, back and forth. Teasing. Tempting. Her breath catches.
“Open your legs,” I whisper.
She’s slick and wet as I find her. A breath rushes from her chest as I trace the heart of her pleasure.
“Gods, what do you do to me?” she gasps.
“Have you never touched yourself?”
Stillness. The answer is there as she shudders. Yes. “It’s different,” she whispers. “It’s different with you. More… intense.”
I drive a pair of fingers into her and she arches back into my embrace.
“Touch me,” I demand.
Her groping hand slides between us. Fuck. I can’t help flexing into her grip, burying my face in her nape. I could spend like this.
She nudges back into me, her intentions clear. I want to take up her silent invitation and thrust myself inside her, but I still owe her for that no names business.
Last night, she made swift work of all my intentions. I’m not going to let her do it to me again.
“Do you know what I want?” I nudge her onto her hands and knees, driving my thigh between hers as I curl my fist in her hair.
“What?” she gasps, rocking back against me.
I draw her up onto her knees and nuzzle against
