Dark Harmony by Laura Thalassa

Chapter 21

Des trails kisses along my inner thigh, moving inward until—until—

I fist my sheets and bite back a cry, my skin immediately flaring to life as he nips one of my outer lips, then the other. I feel him smile against me, and that’s almost worse. I have no defense against devilish Des.

He runs his tongue up my slit, and Jesus Christ and all the saints, this is dirty.

The Bargainer nips my clit, and now I do cry out.

So very, very dirty.

“Gods, I could eat this pussy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” he says, right before he sucks on my clit.

I gasp out something unintelligible. If I wasn’t so turned on, I’d be embarrassed.

Behind me, my wings begin to form, which is really unfortunate, considering they’re going to be squashed beneath me.

Before I have a chance to force them back, Des’s hand slides up my spine, his palm warm pressure against my skin.

With a burst of his magic, my wings are gone, neatly taking care of that problem.

He keeps sucking on my clit, and I’m beginning to buck against him, fighting to get away.

Too much sensation. Too, too much.

“Ah, ah, ah,” he says, his breath fanning against me. “You’re going to need to stay in place, cherub.”

Desmond’s magic rolls against me, and—

“You—are a terrible—person,” I gasp out, the words broken. I’m quickly losing the last of my composure.

“I am,” he agrees.

He licks and sucks and rolls my clit between his teeth, the bastard only moving away when I’m close to coming. I’m pinned in place by his hands and his magic, and no amount of arching or twisting can get me out of his line of fire. So I’m left to ride his cruel ministrations.

And they’re really, really cruel. I’m caught in an endless cycle of build-up and let down, my body winding tighter and tighter.

“Damn you, let me come,” I say, glamour filling my voice.

But the order I give isn’t phrased correctly, and rather than forcing the Bargainer’s hand, I’ve allowed him to slip through mine.

Des pulls away, releasing my legs as he sits back on his haunches. He runs his tongue over his lower lip, looking like the Seven Deadly Sins wrapped into one, and oh my God, why isn’t he finishing this?

“That’s not how this works, love,” he says, looking at me like a man bewitched.

After a moment, Des leans back in, but just when I think he’s going to take up where he left off, he lifts me from the bed. Instinctively, I wrap my arms and legs around him, feeling his cock straining against his pants.

“Sweet thing, the night’s just beginning.” With that, he takes my lips in a carnal kiss.

I taste myself on his tongue, and that makes my core ache all over again.

I lock my ankles together behind him, my fingers mussing his hair. My body is lit on fire, my flesh raw from the way Des worked me.

Des carries me across the room, until my back thuds against the wall. He breaks off the kiss, leaning his forehead against mine as he breathes heavily.

“I don’t intend for this to be some easy claiming.”

Claiming. He keeps using that word, and not for the first time, I sense his fae side trying to consume all that it can.

As he holds me, his clothes slide from his skin, pooling beneath us. His hips pull away from mine and, keeping me flush against the wall, he thrusts into me. I gasp at the sensation, my core clutching his cock like a vise.

Yes. I bask in the exquisite pressure and fullness, and his overwhelming body straining against mine.

I slide my palms over his wide shoulders, feeling the steel bands of muscle beneath. Des’s presence is intimidating enough when he enters a room, but now, when he’s driving into me, it’s all-encompassing.

His hands slide to the backs of my thighs, angling my pelvis so that each stroke of his cock slides deeper than before.

He leans his forehead against mine as he hammers me against the wall. “This is every wish, cherub, every dream of mine, actualized. I would give up all my secrets—I’d give up my very throne itself—if it meant being with you.”

I want to say something eloquent, but all that comes out of my mouth is a breathy moan.

So smooth.

“And I like it when my mate moans in my arms,” Des says. “Hmmm, maybe I should make you moan again …”

The first tendrils of the Bargainer’s magic lick against my skin “Don’t,” I say, glamour filling my voice.

Des grins at me, looking thrilled at my response.

Our bodies make slick sounds as he pounds in and out of me, and all too soon sensation is building up until I’m coiled tight. Release is right there—all I have to do is let go …

Des slides out of me, and I nearly cry out.

A woman could be driven mad by this!

The Bargainer drops to his knees, hooking my legs over his shoulders. His mouth is inches from my core, but his head is tilted up to take me in. I thought that maybe this was part of his game—to withhold my orgasm as long as possible—but one look in his eyes banishes that thought completely.

He’s gazing up at me like I’m something akin to his religion, something he might pray to, and right now I feel like a dark queen, my throne made of this man’s flesh.

“Marry me,” he says.

Time slows, and my breathing stops.

Marry me.

A second ago I was mad with lust, and now … now …

“It’s not enough to be mated to you,” he says, “I want it all, if only you’ll have me.”

My hands begin to tremble where they grip him. I can barely hear my thoughts over the pounding of my heart.

“Marry me, and I will cherish you forever, cherub.”

Marry me.

We’re already bound by unbreakable forces. The supernatural world sees us as soulmates, as does the Otherworld.

Marriage is for humans.

Suddenly, I feel all of sixteen again, and Des is asking me to prom. Prom, marriage—all of it is for that part of me that has always been a desperate outsider, a loner. That painful part of me that wants to be normal.

This is Des giving me normal.

“Godsdamnit,” Des whispers, “please say something, Callie.”

I shake my head, beginning to smile.

Only, Des misinterprets my action.

His eyes are dying, dying …

I cup his cheeks, just as I did earlier.

“Yes,” I say, my voice hoarse with emotion. I begin to nod, and once I start, I can’t seem to stop. I smile, and it feels like that smile is touching every inch of my face—every inch of this room. A happy laugh slips out.

I’m going to marry Des!

Life flushes through his face, brightening his features, and I’m sure the world has no use for suns with a smile as bright as his. It spreads across his whole face, his eyes crinkling from the action.

“You’re going to marry me?”

I nod again, and I’m smiling so hard my face is beginning to hurt.

“You’re going to marry me,” he says again, processing it. “You’re going to be my wife.” He lets out his own disbelieving laugh.

All at once, he stands, and my legs slip off his shoulders. He catches me halfway down his torso, and then he spins us, pressing me close.

Right now it feels like the two of us are in our own little universe. He’s my moon, my sun, my stars, my sky, and all that space in between them.

Des lays me down on the bed, moving up my body languidly. He takes my mouth, kissing it like he’s breathing life into me.

My hands rake up his back, brushing against his wings. His wings! I didn’t notice them before, but they must’ve emerged when I said yes. Mine are still locked away from his earlier magic.

This time, when Des enters me, it’s not nearly as carnal as it was minutes before. His wings splay out, shrouding the two of us as he fills me. He pulls out, the action an agony.

“Years I have waited for this,” he says, “anticipated it. My wife.”

He thrusts back into me. Again and again, he moves out and in like the tide, each deep, rolling stroke a brand, as though he wants to make it known to everyone and everything that we are real, we are together, we are one.

This time, when Des relentlessly pushes me towards my orgasm, there’s nothing there to stop it.

“Des,” I breathe, and then I’m moaning, arching, coming.

I climax in his arms, staring into those light eyes of his as I feel myself come apart.

The Bargainer pounds into me, stretching out my orgasm until he pauses, his breathing stilling for an instant. Then I can feel him thickening. He groans against me.

“Callie—” he bites out. That’s all he manages to say before he gives himself over to sensation, pistoning in and out of me as he rides out his own orgasm.

Eventually, his strokes gentle. Even once he’s finished orgasming, he stays in me, brushing my hair back as he stares down at me. “Cherub … there’s something I’m forgetting …”

He snaps his fingers, and from the ether a ring appears between his thumb and forefinger. “I believe this is yours.”

The Bargainer’s wings are still out, and beyond them, the once bright room is now dark with the Night King’s magic.

Des slips off of me so that he can take my hand. Pressing a kiss to my ring finger, he begins to slide the piece of jewelry on.

The stone set into the band glows faintly; it’s no diamond. I’m not one to care about rings, but this one has me mesmerized.

“What is it?” I ask, staring at the glowing stone.

“I made a deal with the stars …”

A deal—of course he did. I smile a little.

“It’s captured starlight,” he explains, squeezing my hand. “I figured the Queen of the Night should carry a piece of her kingdom with her.”

Going to cry all over again.

“You already had the ring picked out …” It’s such a ridiculous statement. Obviously he picked out the ring some time ago; it’s not like he interrupted sex to make a deal with the stars on the spot.

Des grins, and the sight of it just slays me. “Cherub, it would frighten you how long I’ve carried that ring around.”

Yeah, I’m sure frightened is not the word I’d use.

“I’m going to marry you.” I get a little zing of excitement just saying the words.

“I’m going to marry the shit out of you,” he agrees.

As I stare at him, I think about that old vow, the one that got me into trouble. “From flame to ashes, dawn to dusk, for the rest of our lives, be mine always, Desmond Flynn.”

He kisses my lips. “Until darkness dies.”