Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
“I know you wouldn’t.” He runs his hands up and down my arms, meeting my eyes in the mirror. “But I love you for reveling in it.”
“There are other things, too,” I admit to him. “I’ve learned that I can hold more love inside of me than I would ever have dreamed possible. As I love you with all of my heart, so do I share that heart with Kathras. It doesn’t make sense; how can I give all of me to you, and all of me to him?”
“It’s possible,” Luthian says gently. “I’ve learned that about myself, too.”
I face him slowly. “You still love Parphia.”
“I will always love her, fool that she was. And I love her as fiercely as I love you.” He kisses my forehead.
“You weren’t banished because of your love for her,” I say softly. “You were banished because you hid me.”
“I have spent the past five hundred years protecting you.” He searches my gaze. “Why would I let harm befall you now?”
I nod. I know he’s right. It’s time now.
He turns me to face the mirror once more. “Make your wish, Cenere.”
I take one last, long look at my mortal body. “I wish to end Parphia’s enchantment upon me.”
For a moment, there is nothing. I feel no difference in my body or the air around me. There is no sense of magic at work, the way I felt it when my mother would raise the flowers or change the leaves. I stare at myself, will myself to change, suddenly panicked that it hasn’t worked.
And then, a shimmer in the air. a rain of diamond dust, suspended around me. Magic glides like silk over my flesh, teasing my nipples to hard peaks, stroking shivers down my spine. My forehead tingles, and two slender antennae sprout there, tangled in my hair, which has grown wilder, thicker, my curls askew and tumbling like whirling rivulets of molten copper spiraling over my shoulders. The flesh on my back puckers and rises; behind me, two huge, bat-like wings take pale shape, pink-white and the same pearlescent sheen with which my skin now glows. My eyes go milky, the irises and pupils vanishing, though my sight becomes sharper. The glittering air surrounds my wings and settles there, studding me with blinding flashes of crystal.
The rest of me, though, stays the same. My soft belly, my round hips, the generous flesh on my thighs all remain. My freckles are gone, sadly. Perhaps I’ll draw them on with cosmetics and start a trend at court.
The thought makes me laugh, and my laugh has changed; it’s the sound of tinkling chimes on a breeze. I clap my hand over my mouth, unable to stop the hysterical tide rising.
Luthian’s eyes rake over my body. He reaches out to touch my wings, and the moment he skims them, they flutter protectively.
“They’re sensitive,” I say through my laughter. “Is it because they’re new?”
He shakes his head and smiles. “No. They’ll always feel that way. Wait until you fly with them.”
I try out my new muscles, flexing my wings to feel their motion. My feet lift off the ground. “I thought it would take time to get used to them.”
“No. You’ve always been a faery, Cenere. It was merely suppressed.” He strokes my glowing skin, gazing up at me in wonder. “She was right. It would have been impossible to hide you.”
I drift back down to stand before him, a sudden thought occurring. “Being human was what made me so irresistible to everyone here at court. Will you be disappointed to lose the human pussy you love so much?”
He laughs and kisses me, sweeping me into his arms, and my wings fold in tight. He was right, I think. They do move out of the way.
“I’m sure I’ll get over it,” he whispers, rubbing his nose against mine. “Though, it might require practice.”
And so, we do practice, again and again, all night.
But it doesn’t take us nearly that long to perfect it.
Chapter Forty-Four
“Luthian of Mithrax!”
I startle awake, clutching the sheet to my chest, and see Cassan at the foot of my bed, staring down at Luthian and I entwined.
Lost in wonder over my new body and the intoxication of Luthian’s love, I managed to forget perhaps the most important detail in my life: I am supposed to be crowned queen today. Now, my mate towers over me and my lover, taken without his permission. I sit up, ready to throw myself across Luthian’s body to shield him from Cassan’s royal anger.
But there is nothing of Arcus’s jealousy in Cassan’s expression. He seems overjoyed at his discovery.
“Luthian! You’ve come to fuck me and my queen!” Cassan jumps onto the bed, launching himself between us. “This is a much better gift than that silly bush.”
“Your Majesty,” Luthian begins.
“You’re not going to start calling me that, too, are you?” Cassan groans. “There’s already too much talking and not enough fucking. You’re ruining my coronation present.”