Page 75 of Sunsplitter

“Oysen yzri!” she cried out in daeyari. Then another “Fuck!” in seasonspeak. Then, in some lust-muddied mixture of the two, “You fucking splendid creature,keep going.”

The rest was incoherent, a shout as the climax took her. Antal kept moving, dragging out her pleasure. Fi pushed. Savored. Devoured every spasm.

Until exhaustion overcame. Her hair fell in a damp tangle as she hunched over Antal, panting and slicked with sweat. Her fingers, still locked around the belt restraining his wrists.

He yanked against her grip, a growl rumbling his chest.

Despite her fatigue, Fi held fast. Beneath her, Antal’s breath came desperately shallow. He looked to her with eyes bright as flame, arms straining. As if he wanted her so badly, it hurt.

Fi rocked her hips, sending a shudder through him.

“Come on, my good daeyari,” she panted. “Come for me.”

“What… do you think… I’m trying to…”

His words cut off with gritted teeth. All of him strained against his bindings, so hard that Fi nearly lost her grip. His thrusts came fiercer.

He came with a lurch and a full-chested snarl. The arch of his hips lifted Fi with him. He threw back his head until his antlers speared the cushions, baring himself fully to her. Holding nothing back.

In that moment, he was utterlyhers. Nothing in all the Shattered Planes would ever take him from her.

Antal fell slack beneath her, head slumped against his arm as he panted. With both of them spent, the world trickled back in slow detail: the glimmer of Thomaskweld beyond the window, notes of a piano from the gramophone, the cushions slick beneath Fi’s splayed shins.

She settled a soft hand on Antal’s chest. His tail slipped off her, falling in a loose coil against the pillows. She inspected the damage from his antlers, a couple punctures, nothing devastating.

Gently, she unclasped the belt. She smoothed her hands over his freed wrists, soft fingers helping bring his arms down to rest against his stomach. Fi leaned in to tap her nose to his cheek.

“I love you,” she whispered, followed by a nip to his chin.

“And I love you, devious beast.” He licked her, long and rough across her collarbone.

With victory in hand, Fi softened, letting him have her. Antal wrapped his arms around her waist and rolled them onto their sides, his tail coiling possessively around her ankle. She nestled her head against his chest. He’d told her that daeyari didn’t need their hearts, but his still beat, so soft she could scarcely hear it. Reassuring all the same.

“If you join the aedari hunt,” Antal murmured, “my father will be displeased.”

“Fuck him.” Fi traced a finger over his chest. “Bastard let me walk out of his study alive. Why? You’re sure this deal of his didn’t include some secret clause about my head on a stake?”

Antal hummed in unease. “He said I could keep you. That killing an aedari would make up for it. But…”

“No, that’sgood, Antal. Avroz let me go. He made a deal. You say he wants you on that council, and he seems to want itbad. We can use that.”

To get rid of the aedari. To get the Dusk Council’s blessing, rather than condemnation.

Antal made a dissatisfied sound and hugged her tighter.

“So we’re hunting this aedari?” Fi pressed. “Together?”

“I can’t refuse a favor,” he grumbled. “Especially not for you. My wolf?”

Fi considered. “Too mangy.”

“Panther?”

“Better. But not quite.”

“Hmm.” Antal nuzzled his nose into her hair. “I’ll keep thinking on it.”

Fi let him hold her, let his ice and ozone scent ease her toward sleep. He loved her. He would let her come with him.