"Kaelith.…" She Giggled.
"Elyria."
He only said her name but it felt like a confession.
And then he kissed her.
Kaelith's mouth met hers the moment his chamber door shut behind them. There were no words between them, no hesitation, only hunger to satisfy the needs that had been building between them since the moment they met. But now—now it had a name.
Elyria gasped as Kaelith's hand slid beneath the thin silk of her robe. It slipped from her shoulders to her breasts, stripping of the garments. She stood bare before him, flushed and radiant, glowing with passion.
"Look at you," Kaelith murmured, fingers tracing the gold streaked lines that stretched along her ribs and hips. "The fire lives inside you now."
Her breath hitched. "Because of you."
"No," he said, voice low. "Because you survived it. I only guided the flame. You became it."
He kissed her again, slower this time, and she moaned into his mouth as he laid her on the bed. His hands mapped her like a prayer—down from her collarbone, over her breasts, across her stomach, between her thighs. Every touch left her skin tingling, sensitive, starved.
"Kaelith.." Her voice was a whisper, pleading and unsure.
He stilled, hovering over her, eyes darkened like stormed gold. "Say it."
"I want you."
That was all he needed.
His mouth found her throat, her breast, her nipples, he kissed every inch of her as if worshipping her new body. She arched against him, every nerve awake, every part of her wanting to be touched, devoured. His tongue traced the hollow of her hip and she trembled.
He turned her.
When he slid inside her, it was with a groan and a growl. She cried out, grabbing at him, overwhelmed by the intensity. Every thrust was slow and deliberate, each movement a deep, anchoring rhythm that kept her grounded as it threatened to rip her apart from the inside.
He grabbed her hair and he held her gaze.
Not like a prince. Not like a demon.
Like a man who had wanted her for too long, and now finally had her.
Her legs were shaking....
And when she came, she came with a loud moan and her seal flared. behind her waist, Kaelith whispered her name like a spell.
--
Later, she lay coiled up across him, skin hot, her fingers trailing lazy circles along his chest. The silence between them was heavier than before but no longer uncomfortable.
"I keep seeing things," she said softly. "Since the ritual. Visions. Fire that isn't mine, memories I don't recognize."
Kaelith didn't flinch. "The bond accelerates your connection. Our energies are mingling. You're changing, Elyria."
She swallowed. "Into what?"
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Something new, Something not entirely human… or demon. Something powerful."
She exhaled shakily. "You make it sound beautiful."
"It is," he said, then paused. "But it might also be dangerous. There are things in this realm that will see you as a threat now."
"I'm not afraid," she lied.
His hand covering her jaw, tilting her face toward him. "You don't have to be. I'll burn down anyone who dares touch you."
She kissed him again, not to silence him, but to promise him she'd stay.
And outside the chamber, the fire that marked their bond grew brighter than it ever had.