by Sadie Moss
An inferno ignites in my belly, and although a flicker of nerves ripples through me, it’s drowned out by arousal.
“Yes. I know I can,” I tell him, and there’s nothing false about my confidence as I speak. “Because I’m yours.”
His nostrils flare, and then he’s shoving his pants down, kissing me fiercely as he presses me up against the wall. I feel him fisting his cock, guiding it into position as he holds me up. And then the broad tip settles inside my entrance, and he surges inside me.
My toes curl as my legs wrap around him, my ankles hooking together as I squeeze him with every part of my body.
It should hurt.
I was a virgin in life, and except for a dream that I’ll remember for the rest of my existence, I’ve never been with a man like this.
But since the day I woke up in the afterworld, nothing has been as I’ve expected, and this proves no different. Maybe it’s because my true body is still resting in a grave outside my village. Maybe there was something more real than I thought in that vivid dream I had about my three messengers.
Whatever the reason, instead of pain, I feel nothing but pleasure as Echo fills me completely, his hips meeting mine as my body takes all of him. I clench my walls around him, imagining the velvety skin of his cock, so perfectly smooth.
“Farse, you feel good,” he groans, and I nod incoherently, finding his mouth with mine again as I shift my hips against him.
I need him to move. I need to feel him move inside me.
He draws out and pushes back in, holding me steady while he does, and farse, it feels even better than I thought it would. There’s a sense of loss as he draws away from me, but it’s more than made up for by the rush of fullness, the feeling of completion as he sinks back inside.
It’s night and day, summer and winter, greeting and goodbye. It’s the perfect balance of everything, and as he begins to move faster, his thrusts becoming a little harder and less controlled, I feel tears sting the backs of my eyes.
I don’t let them fall, because I don’t want Echo to think he’s hurting me. I don’t want him to imagine that this moment feels anything but perfect for me.
But it’s so much.
It feels deeper and purer than our soul connection somehow, a bond forging between us that has nothing to do with magic or gods or the weave. A bond that exists only because of us.
There’s no reason for us to be quiet. Echo’s walls block out the sounds of the city around us, and they must block out our sounds too. But we make only hushed noises anyway, low grunts and breathless gasps filling the small space between us as he drives into me over and over.
When deep, warm pleasure begins to build inside my core, spreading through my body on a wave, I drop my head to his shoulder and clamp my teeth around the skin of his neck, muffling my ragged cry against his flesh.
He curses under his breath, and as I squeeze tight around him, I feel his cock thicken and swell, pulsing inside my channel as he comes too.
I’m breathing hard and fast, and it’s only as I start to come down from the high that I realize how hard I’m clinging to Echo, as if I was literally trying to force our bodies to become one. As if I could fuse us together as his cum flooded my womb.
As if we’ve always been meant to be this way.
Two halves of a whole.
17
My body feels weightless, as if I’m floating above the surface of the earth but held tight within the circle of Echo’s arms at the same time.
The afterglow of sex with this man is a luminous place to be, where I’m no longer worrying about running from Kaius or his hounds, no longer terrified of the dangers that face all of us. All I know in this moment is the hard planes of his body still pressed against mine, and the way our breaths intermingle in the silence.
He kisses my temple, then his lips trail small, light pecks down my cheekbones until our lips meet again. This kiss is more tender than before, almost tentative, as if he thinks I might push him away.
I don’t, of course. I could stay here forever, wrapped in his arms while the too bright, too happy city goes on about its day outside the walls of our protective barrier. I could kiss his lips until mine go numb and still want to kiss him more. As long as we’re in this place together, nothing else can reach me. The only thing missing from this beautiful moment are my other two messengers.
But it’s just a dream that we could stay here, forever outside responsibility and duty. Even though my entire world has just shifted beneath Echo’s hands, the rest of the world—Kaius included—needs our attention.
The beautiful, dark-haired messenger finally pulls out of me, setting me gently back on my feet and keeping a grip on me until he’s sure my legs are steady. He tucks himself away and pulls his pants back up from where they sit low on his hips. Then he brushes my hair back with both hands, a smile dancing at the corner of his lips.
“You look thoroughly ravished.”
I laugh, leaning my head back against the wall. “As do you.”
He also seems different to me now. Not like he’s less powerful or any less of who he was before. Goodness knows that’s not true—he’s still one of Kaius’s messengers, a near demi-god capable of wielding weapons with deadly accuracy and manipulating the very fabric of the universe. He is preternatural alpha strength incarnate.
But he also looks more… human. Somehow more on a level playing field with me.
Or maybe it’s just that I’ve become less human in the time since my death, elevating me closer to his status.
Regardless of how we reached this point, our differences feel like they’ve faded entirely. Echo feels like my equal. My lover. And the way he looks at me in this moment makes my heart flutter.
“How do you feel?” he asks, his warm hand trailing down the side of my neck.
I smile lazily, tugging my lower lip between my teeth. “Tingly.”
Echo laughs. “Good. That means I did something right.” Then his expression grows more serious. “But I meant, how are your emotions? Do you feel stronger?”
“I think so. You’re very good at distraction,” I tell him, a breathy note in my voice as I press away from the wall and kiss him one more time.
Now that he’s drawn me from the cocoon of my romantic thoughts, I stop to truly study the emotions inside me, and I realize I do feel calmer. Some of that calm is surely a residual high from the sparks that flooded my body at the height of my pleasure. But my wild panic and anger was fading long before our initial kiss, so maybe being comforted by a man I care about was enough to help me come down from my hysteria.
“I’m sorry I lost my senses.” My gaze drops, a flush rising to my cheeks. “That’s never happened before. I’m usually not that weak.”
“You aren’t weak, little soul,” Echo counters. “Not in the least. You suffered a shock when you saw how comfortable these people are. You’ve been through more hardship and heartache than any one person should have to live with. If all you suffer from this experience is a momentary breakdown of nerves, then you’re proving yourself strong-minded, not weak.”
I process his stern compliment, letting his approval settle over me like a cloak. The man certainly knows how to make me feel like I’m not a madwoman—and make me feel wanted and seen in a way I never quite have before.
I like it. Perhaps more than is safe for my heart, but I’m done worrying about that for now.
Echo dips his head a little as he studies my face. “Do you feel ready to return to the outside world?”
“Never.” A slow burn spreads through my body as I lean into him, my arms snaking behind his back, my fingertips brushing the hair at the nape of his neck. I love touching him like this, and the warmth that seeps from his body is better than any sun in the universe. “We should stay right here.”
“I think that sounds like an excellent idea,” Echo teases. “But Callum and Paris may have an objection to that. I told them I’d bring you right back.”
His mention of
the other two messengers is enough to make me anxious to get moving too, although I hate to leave this quiet little haven. Reluctantly, I release his waist, gratified when he steals one more kiss before he backs away from me.
My legs are wobbly as I take a few tentative steps away from the wall. Echo helps me clean up and put myself back together, fixing the bodice and skirt of my dress until it’s less obvious that I just had sex against an alley wall. As he steps back to check his handiwork, I ask, “Where are Callum and Paris?”
“They went to sort out accommodations for us.”
“Accommodations? We’re staying here? In the human realm? Not in the afterworld?”
“It’s safer this way.” He shrugs, buckling his sword back onto his belt. “Farther removed from Kaius than if we were in the gods’ realm.”
Stepping forward to smooth out his tousled hair, I say, “I suppose that makes sense. But how will we be able to request a meeting with Sierian from this plane of existence?”
Echo grins. “Magic.”
I raise my eyebrow, hoping for a little more clarification than that, but he just waggles his eyebrows at me as he hands me back my satchel. As I secure it over my shoulder, he puts a hand at my lower back and steers me toward the head of the alley. Now that real life has burst the little bubble we created, I can tell he’s anxious to rejoin the others, and in truth, I am too.
We’re stronger together. A powerful force.
At the mouth of the alley, Echo waves his hand in the air, dismantling the barrier faster than it took him to build in the first place. The bustle and noise of the city return in an overwhelming assault of the senses, so different from the subdued atmosphere of my village. I brace myself for another wave of emotion, or for the panic to return, but it doesn’t come.
Anger still simmers inside me, but Echo’s words and his touch have shifted something in my heart. Strengthened me somehow.
The roguish messenger turns and holds out his hand with an understanding smile. “I’ll walk with you this time.”
I step up beside him and let our fingers intertwine, then we leave the alley.
This time, walking through the cheerful crowds doesn’t make me fall apart. Maybe because Echo is with me, a sort of buffer between the world and my frazzled nerves, but most likely because I force myself to compartmentalize what I’m seeing versus what I lived.
The citizens of Aeheamel aren’t at fault because their goddess treats them with respect and care. If anything, it should be a testament to their own strength, kindness, and fortitude—they’ve proven wholeheartedly to Sierian that they deserve only the best, and she’s given it to them in spades. That’s something to be admired.
I got myself well and thoroughly lost when I began my mad dash through the streets in the midst of my panic. Echo takes us through several intersections, while I studiously avoid the curious looks of passersby. None of the sights around us look familiar, whether because we’re taking a different route or because I was just that out of my mind the first time I passed this way, I don’t know.
Finally, I notice the buildings thinning around us, and we take a final right turn onto a large thoroughfare that leaves the city on a backdrop of snowcapped mountains.
“Wait—we’re leaving? I thought you said we were staying in the city,” I say as I realize we’re heading out the way we came in.
“We’ll stay in the human realm, but not in Aeheamel,” Echo says, squeezing my fingers. “We thought it best if we don’t stay in the city. For your sake.”
Embarrassed, I look away from his glittering eyes and stare down at my feet. “I didn’t mean to make things more difficult.”
“You didn’t,” he assures me. “I personally think we’ll be safer in a more remote location and away from prying eyes. The fewer people who know we’re outsiders the better when Kaius’s hounds come to call.”
My heart stutters, then picks up a faster pace. “You think they’ll come?”
Echo nods, jaw set in a grim line. “Kaius won’t give up so easily.”
“So he’s a hypocrite then,” I snap, the anger inside me bursting out like drops of hot oil splattering from a pan. “He punishes you for interfering in another god’s realm, yet he’ll turn around and interfere in Sierian’s domain to find us.”
Our hands are still clasped, and Echo lifts my knuckles to his lips, kissing them gently. “Yes. I’m beginning to see just how terrible he is.”
There’s a heaviness in his voice, and I squeeze his hand harder in response. As difficult as it’s been for me to process what I’ve seen in this realm, I’m sure that Echo and his brothers are experiencing their own inner turmoil. They served Kaius for hundreds of years and probably never doubted their loyalty to him for most of that time—now that they’re realizing what a monster he truly is, it changes everything.
Just out of view of the city, Echo and I drop hands and reach for the weave, though I immediately miss the warmth of his touch. Three leaps takes us across the lush, green valley and back to the mountain range we crossed earlier in the day, where we stopped to fill up our canteens with the crisp spring water. Echo leads me through one more leap up the side of the mountain, and we step out onto a small cliff with a flat top. Beyond the modest-sized plateau, a slow ascent is carved into the mountain toward the distant white-topped peak. There’s a chill on the wind here, but it’s not overly frigid.
A small cabin sits in the middle of the flat plain, smoke curling cheerily from a chimney overhead. Paris and Callum appear in the doorway and descend to join us—likely alerted to our arrival by the feel of magic in the air. They’re both wearing clean clothes and worried looks.
Paris catches me around the waist with one arm, swinging me gracefully into his embrace. “Are you all right, little soul?”
My face is pressed to his neck, and I breathe deeply—he smells of fresh soap, and his blond hair is still wet at the tips. He and Callum must have bathed while they waited on us. “I’m sorry. And yes, I’m all right.”
“Good.”
He holds me away from him a little to get a better view of me. My fresh dress took a beating in our fight with the hound, but I know it’s not that part of my appearance he’s concerned with. It’s my face, my eyes, the way I carry myself. He’s checking to make sure I really am all right.
Apparently satisfied with what he sees, he rubs his hands up and down my arms, the gesture comforting.
“We left soap and fresh clothes by the spring for you. Bathe and rest a bit. You look flushed.” His bright blue eyes shift to take in Echo, who still stands behind me, and I get the sudden feeling he’s guessed what happened between me and his brother in the alley.
Whatever flush Paris saw in my cheeks triples as heat floods my body. It’s part embarrassment and part arousal, washed over by a strong dose of confusion. That I’m able to feel such strong feelings for three men at once still shocks me sometimes—and even more shocking is that no jealousy at all seems to exist between them.
When Paris releases me, Callum takes my arm, though with much less roughness than his usual manhandling. “Come. I’ll walk you.”
I glance at Echo, who gives me a small wave of his fingers, his dark eyes shining like deep pools. He turns to talk to Paris as I let Callum lead me away from them.
I’ve never spent much time at the top of a mountain, since the “mountains” of my hometown are so old they’ve become more like low, stubby hills than these young, craggy peaks. It’s like a whole new world up here, with constant wind whipping my hair around my face, few trees and even less grass, and a vast, rocky ground that almost reminds me of the Unclaimed Expanse. Though I imagine this mountain is less dangerous than that awful place.
After we’ve left the clearing behind and are descending a small hill that juts over sparkling water below, Callum speaks. “I was concerned when you ran off. Back in Aeheamel.”
“I’m so sorry,” I rush to say. “I didn’t mean to call attention to us. I know my behavior was foolish.�
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The big man glances at me, his thick, dark brows furrowing. “I’m not concerned about that, Sage. I felt your heartache through our connection. You were in pain, and I worried for you.”
Surprised by the admission, I trip over my own feet and nearly pitch down the side of the steep hill. Callum is quick to steady me so we can continue our descent, though he doesn’t remark on my clumsiness. He’s gone a little quiet, withdrawing into himself as if he didn’t mean to reveal that he was worried over me.
After what happened between me and Echo, I feel bolder. More sure of myself. Part of me wants to press Callum, to find out what else he would say if he weren’t keeping words locked up so tightly behind his lips. But so much has already changed between us in a short span of time, and given how stoic and closed-off the warrior is, I don’t want to risk him shutting me out again.
We’ll move in small steps, he and I.
With that thought filling my head, I let it go without digging further and focus on my climb.
In truth, his silence surprises me for another reason. I fully expected Callum to admonish me for my behavior. No matter how deeply I hurt, the way I reacted could have endangered us all either by exposing magic to the humans or calling unwanted attention to us via other messengers. Yet he doesn’t seem to care about any of that. His bright green gaze holds only concern for my well-being, and the realization stuns me to my core. This is the Callum that exists beyond his cold and distant facade.
The man, not the warrior.
I wish he would bring this side out more often.
When we reach the spring, the tension inside me loosens even more. The water is crystal clear and makes music as it runs over rocks of beautiful earthen colors—rust, beige, onyx, deep blue. The little riverbed has carved a narrow trail down the mountain, carrying melting snow from the peak through this rocky area.