Shattered Souls (Guardians of the Maiden Book 3)

Cassiel let Dyna walk him up the stairs and she headed for his room. He said nothing as she opened it to the darkness inside. She tensed for a brief moment, then she flicked a hand at the hearth, fire sparking to life before he could do it.

She stood still in the room facing away from him. He got a full view of the dress now in the dancing shadows. It sat low on her waist, leaving her back exposed. She looked so beautiful to him, so fragile. He brushed the silky red locks from her shoulders and planted a kiss on her neck.

“Are you still angry?” she asked.

The question cooled the coalescing fire in his body. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his forehead against the back of her head. “Furious.”

Dyna released a sigh. She turned in his arms to face him but he looked away. “Cassiel.”

“I am sorry I spoke to you the way I did. I was taken aback. But can we agree to not speak about it tonight?” He let his hands fall. “I rather not quarrel again.”

“Ignoring it won’t fix us either. We should discuss it.”

Heaving a breath, he stepped back.

She shook her head and turned his cheek. “Don’t do that. Don’t push me away.”

“You did that when you chose death over me.”

The light in Dyna’s eyes dimmed as she lowered her hand. He deserved her disappointment and resentment. Even if it carved something vital from him.

Cassiel turned away. He didn’t know what else to do with himself but escape the twisting in his chest. He stormed through the balcony doors with every intention to throw himself at the sky.

A choked sob escaped Dyna’s lips. “Please.”

He stopped in place and closed his eyes. The wretched sound fractured something inside of him. He clenched his fists so tight his nails cut into his palm. Every part of her pleaded with him and there wasn’t anything he could do but give in. Cassiel whipped around. She had seconds to gasp before he yanked her into his arms, curling his whole body over hers.

If anything happened to you, if you ever died, I fear the thought. I can’t bear it.

I’m right here. She rubbed his back. I will always be right here.

The Essence Healing merely stirred up what had been brewing inside of him since she’d been stolen away. He was so deathly afraid of losing her.

“Feeling you torn from my soul, I cannot go through that again,” he said into her hair. “I know your heart. I have seen it. I know helping others is who you are. I understand that, I do. I’m amazed by you every day. You have given me a happiness I couldn’t ever have imagined, but I cannot withstand that being destroyed.”

“It won’t be.” She pulled back to look at him. “I have been thinking about us a lot, Cassiel. About why two people who couldn’t be more different were given a True Bond, and I think I know why.” Dyna took his hand between them. “Can you make a flame?”

He frowned but he created a bouquet of blue fire in his palm. It lit Dyna’s face. She wove her fingers through it and he felt the sensation curl through his chest. Her green Essence wrapped around it and the flame rose into the air. His breath hitched in surprise. Their flames encompassed each other flawlessly.

“Another.” She whispered.

They repeated the process until the sky was floating with blue orbs of dancing blue and green lights. Distantly, they heard the awe and cheer of their guests outside. It reminded him of the Festival of Lights, when the Hyalus released its leaves into the night with Elyōn’s blessings.

“Your flame never harms me. It molds perfectly with my magic as it did against the trolls. Why? You said it yourself beneath the willow tree.” Dyna’s wet eyes met his. “You were made for me and I for you. My mate. My star. You kept death at bay each time it came. It was your voice that called me back from the Gates time and again.” She brushed the wetness he hadn’t realized gathered on his lashes. “You will forever be there to call me back.”

He soaked in her every feature. A gentle smile rose to her face, tears like dews of moonlight gathered in her emerald eyes. She truly believed in him, that everything would be all right. She wasn’t scared about what fate would bring, and he didn’t know if that was heedless or admirable, but she was right about one thing. Nothing would ever stop him from going through any darkness to save her.

Cassiel lifted a hand to her cheek and brushed his thumb over her soft lips. “How did you become so brave? I may need you to teach me.”

He felt her pulse quicken under her fingers and it excited his own. She shivered and his large black wings wrapped around her, blocking out the cold.

Dyna looked down shyly and shrugged. “I simply…” Drawing her close, he lifted her chin, bringing her face to his. Her voice dropped to a whisper, his lips close enough to brush hers as she spoke. “Decide what I want and…” Her lashes brushed her cheeks as her eyes fell closed, her fingers clinging to his jacket. “…leap.”

Their mouths met in a soft kiss and his fingers brushed her elbows, hands drawing her closer. Her scent clung to him. She smelled of wild honeysuckle and wishes. The bond throbbed in his chest as his entire being craved to claim what was his.

His hands came to rest on her cold neck, his thumbs like a flutter on the edge of her jaw line.

“When I saw you in the woods that day, you saved my life even when I didn’t know it.” He kissed her throat and she leaned her head back, a soft sigh leaving her. “I was barely living before you. You are the air I breathe, lev sheli.”

Dyna rose on her toes, her arms coming around his neck. He pressed his mouth hard into hers, asking—demanding—more. Molten heat dove through him. He picked her up and her legs came around his waist as he carried her back inside, booting the balcony doors shut. As they kissed, he sat on the bed with her on his lap. His hands slid to her hips and lingered there, savoring the softness of her skin. She was the fuel to his fire. The heat of their bodies quickly seeped through their clothing with every kiss.

Her hands slipped under his tunic and he exhaled a groan that needed her so desperately it was the most severe shape of torment. His excitement was beyond his control now and when she rolled her hips against him, he was nearly undone.

Cassiel stopped, his chest rising and falling. He was forcing himself to stop because he had truly meant what he said. Going any further was her choice. Dyna looked at him questioningly, panting to catch her breath.

He stood and planted her back on her feet. “It’s getting late. I should walk you to your room.”

But she didn’t move and neither did he.

Cassiel watched Dyna intently, his gaze drifting over the strips of black silk wrapped around her body. He swallowed thickly, a heat stirring in his blood. She looked beautifully sinful in it, and all he could imagine was taking it off.

Dyna held his heady gaze, something like a challenge burning in her eyes. She took one step away from him, and another, then another until she reached his bedroom door that was still left open an inch, with the key still in the lock.

“What if I said I wanted to stay?” Her soft voice fell over him in the quiet, hesitant, and so full of frail vulnerability.

Cassiel stared at her, slowly processing her words. Not sure if she truly meant what they implied. The bond thrummed wildly.

“Dyna … even I have my limits,” he said thickly. “If you close that door, I will peel that dress off your body and devour all of you.”

He felt the bond jolt with her surprise at his ardent response before it was flooded with the warmth of her. Holding his gaze, Dyna reached for the brass handle. The door creaked as it fully shut behind her, and the sound the lock made when the key turned sped his pulse.

“Good,” she whispered.

Her soft words fell between them like the flutter of feathers. For the span of a breath, Cassiel didn’t move. Every muscle was still, except for the beat of his heart. The first night he held her in his arms had planted a need to know what her bare skin felt like against his, to live in her scent, to taste the most intimate planes of her.

Here, she was calling him.

So he leaped.

Each step across the room was made with purpose as Cassiel moved toward her, driven by an unknown power woven through them both. He took her face in his hands and their lips collided, and he walked her backward until her back was pressed against the door. She stood on her toes, hands coming to his chest as she melted into him. He slid his fingers into her hair and cupped the back of her head, holding her to him. His other arm wrapped tightly around her back. His body buzzed with her touch and he instinctively reacted, pulling her to him. He gripped her waist, her body so delicate in his hands. He pressed closer, wanting to strengthen the fire of need within him. Wisps of her energy entwined with his, the tendrils holding on to his every breath.

He led her backward as he continued to kiss her until the back of his knees bumped into the bed. They both stopped, their breaths hitching. He waited for her decision to continue. It had to be her choice. Always hers.

Dyna’s shaking hands reached for his coat, and he watched her as she unfastened the first button. Then the next. Cassiel didn’t rush her. He let her take her time as he took in the soft curves of her face in the firelight.

The coat slid down his shoulders, dropping to the floor. Cassiel tugged off his black tunic next. Dyna’s chest rose sharply as she observed him, her eyes marking the trail she followed from his pecs, down the ridges of his stomach, lower still to the evidence of his want. He hesitated, not sure or perhaps still waiting for her to change her mind.

“Tell me if you desire to stop,” he said, cupping her cheek.

Dyna leaned into his touch. I only have one desire, and it’s not that.

Her words made the center of him jolt, shooting streaks of fire along his spine.

“Have you taken the…”

Dyna nodded. “I cannot fall pregnant.”

It was good, he thought, they weren’t ready for that yet. But the thought of one day, of the future, it didn’t frighten him anymore. Possibility. It thrummed inside of him like a scatter of currents.

She laid her hand over his chest and he covered it with his.

“Your heart is beating fast,” she said, her face as red as his must be.

Cassiel pulled her to him and traced his lips over her neck. She trembled when his tongue darted out to trace where her pulse fluttered. “So is yours.”

He thought she might not be breathing, or perhaps that was him. His hand drifted to the lace ties going down her spine, hovering. Ever fiber of his being strained with the craving to take her. He wanted to drink her in. He wanted to touch her. He wanted to taste. He wanted to explore every part of her that no other had seen. He wanted to be in…

Cassiel leaned another inch with her breath warm against his lips. Dynalya… The thought carried his full adoration and supplication. That was all. A soft pleading and surrendering call, a begging to kneel before whatever she would give him.

She looked up at him, the green of her eyes gleaming. Ready.

His throat dried and he swallowed.

And Cassiel finally dared to gently take the lace ties of her dress. It fell undone with barely a tug, willingly opening for him. He lowered one dress strap and kissed along her shoulder to her neck. Then he did the same with the other, planting one kiss at a time. The dress slid down inch by torturous inch until her thin chemise was unveiled. Again, he couldn’t move or speak, want seeping through him. Dyna glowed in the dim candlelight and the white fabric barely hid her body. He could see through to the soft arcs, the swell of her breasts, the shadowed area at the apex of her thighs.

Cassiel memorized every detail. Every intimate curve eternally embedding it in his mind.

The sight of it sent a heat through his stomach, sinking low. He followed the rise and fall of her chest with every breath, and she gazed at him with nothing but pure trust in those sweet, green eyes. Her breath caught as he curled his arm around her waist, drawing her flush against his chest, and he took a shaky breath at the feel of her. He kissed along her shoulders, pressing his lips to her collarbone.

Nothing else existed outside of this room, and if he could give up everything for one power, it would be to have time to stop. And to live forever in this moment.

I’m consumed by you, he confessed. As if she didn’t already know.

Her hands traveled up his back, firing tingles across it, and his blood rushed at the sensations. She leaned back as he continued kissing along the path of her neck to her other collarbone, attending to every shallow dip. His hand slid up her thigh, and she softly gasped at the first caress of his fingers. Her hands trailed higher on his spine accompanied by the light scrape of her nails, triggering every nerve there. When she reached the shoulder blades it shot shivers through his wings and every part of him roiled.

Cassiel took her hand and pressed a kiss to the inside of her wrist, then pulled her onto his lap as he sat on the bed. She straddled him, applying a startling warmth over the very center of him. He let out a soft groan as he dropped his forehead against hers, very aware of the thin fabric between them.

Dyna caressed his left wing, and his whole body trembles. She caressed the right, tracing the arch. He moaned, his body bending over hers as he panted her name. The sensation jolting through his wings sank down to the depths of him. The curve of her chest pressed against his, the smooth skin so silky, it drove him mad.

“You would give me everything?” he asked. “All of you? Because after this, you will become a part of me completely, and I will never be able to let you go.”

Dyna looked up at him with tears welling in her eyes. He touched her quivering lips. The bond hummed with a boundless joy to be right here with him.

“Take it. Every part,” she whispered. “I’m yours.”

Yours.

He nearly buckled then. To hear such a thing, he never thought he would.

Cassiel kissed away the delicate tears from her cheeks, following the line of her jaw. “I was yours when I caught you from the sky. I have loved you since I held you in my arms that night in Corron and I love you more than the day before last. Every part of me has always belonged to you before I ever knew it,” he said against her mouth. “Now and always.”