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Back when she’d allied with the Pravus Ar—varunted and yelled when they struck Thronos was eerily silent One
Technically he was a deh Vrekeners veheht now, he looked seriously de him like this, she realized that in their confrontations over the last few centuries, Thronos had been pulling his punches
He ht not have wanted to kill his mate, but he could’ve taken out Lanthe’s protector, her sister Sabine Yet he hadn’t Earlier, Thronos could’ve killed Carroithout a thought Instead, he’d spared her life Why?
As the bodies accurew queasy A quake sent her stuainst the rock wall The force shuffled thecorpses The sheer nu
When his next strike felled yet another line of them, no more advanced around the corner They sounded as if they lay in wait outside the tunnel
Thronos turned to her, broad chest heaving, his grave face covered in grit and sweat His collar-length hair was daly ad, she’d focused on his scars, his weaknesses She’d underestirated one word: “Come”
One of Lanthe’s favoriteno other choice, she crossed to hi around her waist, the other coiling around her neck
Unbidden, memories of her childhood arose, when his expressions had been open, his words kind to her When he’d nicknaa teasing grin, the next his cheeks would heat with a blush
“Hold on to me, Melanthe”
She could only nod and co sprint She knehat he planned To evade the ghouls just outside the ht
He’d taken her into the sky before—when she’d been a girl who’d trusted him utterly Years later, she’d witnessed a Vrekener fly Sabine to a great height, just for the pleasure of dropping her to a cobblestone street below
Sabine’s head had cracked open like an egg, but somehow Lanthe’s sorcery had wrenched her froht to rumor, he suffered inconceivable pain whenever he flew, his twisted wings not working right on the best of days; surely they were exhausted fro scores of foes The left one still bled fro her ar into his skin, Lanthe squeezed her eyes shut—which only increased her awareness of hi of his surprisingly large muscles
His breaths in her ear as he clutched her close, like a coveted treasure
She had no warning before he shoved his legs doooping his great wings Her stomach dropped when they shot into the sky
As raindrops hit her uncovered skin like bullets, she peeked down; ghouls leapt for theh The ground grew s to vomit
THREE
Free of the tunnel!
Thronos sucked in breaths of fresh air as he ascended At last, they’d e ocean breezes
Struggling to ignore the agony flying always brought hie
On the other side of the island, he had thethat distant coast wouldn’t be easy, not with so ed Volar demons ould attack in the air as a pack Sorceri could wield their powers froround Even in this rain, fire derenades that seared flesh away like acid The round reinforcements—or air strikes
Now Thronos would have to elude any threat, yet already his wings screarated on each other like cogs with no notches, thewhenever possible, but saay around it; the ground was a free-for-all
All across the landscape, Vertas allies lay beheaded or wounded Cerunnos slithered after fey; vaood de them all out
Just as they had the ht But not tonight No side his allies, he wouldn’t jeopardize his catch
It struck hirip, inhaling sharply froainst him He hadn’t held her since they’d been innocent children Despite his excruciating pain, his thoughts were anything but innocent
Most of her curvaceous figure was on display in her shaauntlets, she wore only a ured of h the tunnel, it’d ridden up to reveal a shockingly s and the flawless curves of her ass
Now the ainst hi lust
This was the body he should have been enjoying for the last five hundred years The body that should have given hi
“Take me down!” she suddenly screeched
“You want down? I should open my arms—let you feel what it’s like to plummet!” As I learned froainst hi in deeper, tiny hooks in his flesh More pain to put with the rest of it “Is that your plan? To torture me before you kill me?”
Kill her? “If I wanted you dead, you would be so”
She lifted her head from his chest Her rain-da A histhe truth “But torture’s still on the table?”
“Perhaps”
When he sensed an air current and abruptly dipped to catch it, she cried, “Take round, or I’ll voet free But to act as if she would be sick? She used to love it when he took her into the air, would laugh with delight He’d floith her often, back when he’d been addicted to the sound of her laughter
“I can’t take this height, Thronos! I swear to gold”