This time, when my feet hit the ground under the cell window, they were strong and steady. No fever stole my logic, no hallucinations played mind games. It was just me and the sliver of moonlight peeking over the tree-lined horizon.
Horses snorted a moment before Rayhan rounded the corner, mounted on Foresti. Rayhan’s red hair bounced around his head with each step, and his trim beard emphasized his bold jaw. He sat proudly in the saddle, a half-grin plastered on his face. He resembled a savage king more than a rogue vampire attempting a jailbreak. A nondescript brown mare trailed behind.
“What are you doing?” I asked when Rayhan approached.
“It’s time to go home, girl. Kadence will make our lives miserable if you stay here.”
“He’ll make your life miserable if you take me home.” A knot caught in my throat. “He might kill you if he finds out.”
Rayhan shrugged. “He won’t find out.”
He glanced at the window where the single bar was missing. When he turned back to me, a smile was painted across his face.
“Don’t worry about me. Come on.”
I ground my feet into the grass. “What about your mother? We both know she didn’t murder your father.”
Rayhan rolled his eyes. “Hell, if he’d died from a sword through the heart, Mom might have done it. I’m going to work to set her free, but your safety is my priority. She’ll get a trial before her execution, so I’ll have a few weeks to set it straight.”
“Execution?” The word weighed in my mouth.
“That’s the punishment for murder, and Kadence is a swift judge,” Rayhan said. “But she’d be pissed if I let you rot in a cell mourning your father when I could prevent his death. Speaking of that, Mom said you’d need this.”
Rayhan opened the leather saddlebag, swaying near his feet. The spelled skull from the catacombs smiled, empty and hollow, from the depths of the pouch. I pressed my lips. Unless I was willing to kill Rayhan or Penelope, it was useless to me.
“You need to get home to save your dad. One more time, woman, come on.”
I clambered up the saddle, and the scent of hay and mud wafted around me. Rayhan tugged his horse forward, and my mare trotted behind.
“We’re going to have to ride at a hard pace for a while. I want to put distance between us and the castle before morning.”
I hadn’t ridden horses much, and the thought of desperately clinging to a galloping beast made my skin itch. But a layer of excitement settled beneath the nerves. I was going home. I could picture Penelope’s face pinched with joy, her tiny arms around my waist. My father would laugh and smile and exhaust himself stammering to give me a hug. The house would smell like firewood and fresh herbs and flicker with the gentle glow of candlelight. Worry also lingered. My father had been taking half-doses of his medication. He would be weak.
We rode over the manicured lawn of the castle grounds as the moon painted a dim path of the trail in front of us. As we skirted the edge of the property, waiting for a break in the trees to run the horses, a shimmering shadow caught my eye.
My phantom, dark and twisting, watched as we passed. Its ghostly head swiveled to keep us in sight. The promise of chaos stretched in its gaze, and dread shot through my chest.
I turned back, clutching the reins as Rayhan urged us into a fast gallop. The castle’s glowing torches faded into the depths of night.
* * *
“Are you sure it’s safe to stop and sleep?” I dug my sharpened stick into the hot coals of the fire. The flames simmered against the moist wood, hissing its displeasure at my offering. “Maybe we should ride straight through.”
Rayhan cupped water into his hands from the small spring bubbling beside our campsite. He splashed the clear liquid on his face and shook his head. Crystal droplets scattered across me.
“Hey, stop that.” I couldn’t halt my smile.
Rayhan flicked his fingers, splashing more water on me. “You let me do the worrying.” He dried his palms on his dark breeches and flopped onto a pile of blankets and pelts, which were more nest than bed. “We’ve ridden for almost two days. The horses need a break, and so do you.”
I bit my lip, but he wasn’t wrong. We’d ridden through the night and the entire next day, only stopping to relieve ourselves and let the animals drink. Painful knots wound up my legs, and my feet cramped when I pointed them. A strange vibration pricked at my toes and fingertips, even though we weren’t riding anymore.
We’d made good time, Rayhan assured me, but we were miles away from my family’s cottage. Kadence knew we were missing by now, and Rayhan wasn’t any closer to clearing his mother’s name.
“Why don’t you rest a bit? I’ll stay up and keep watch.”
“You need sleep too,” I said.
Rayhan waved. “Not as much as you. Besides, I’m used to pulling all-night shifts. Can’t trust other soldiers to be as motivated to protect my life as I am.”
I settled into a second wad of blankets beside the fire. Bright and vivid coals danced a molten rainbow just for me. Rayhan fished through his bag and urged out a small canvas and a handful of brushes. He propped up the canvas with one hand, and his brush scratched across the tight fabric with the other. The sound lulled me into a hypnotic state as the first tendrils of sleep pulled at my mind.
The phantom appeared, hovering beyond the stream, staring at me with blank eyes. Adrenaline jerked me upright, and a soft blanket fell from my shoulders. My heart sped up, a metronome in my ears.
“You okay?” Rayhan’s brush paused.
The ghostly imprint didn’t move. It watched and waited.
“Yeah.” A hard brick blocked my throat, but I forced it aside. The panic faded, leaving me on edge and vulnerable. I craved Rayhan’s touch. “What are you painting?”
“You’re supposed to be asleep,” his gravel voice said, but eagerness bled through his words. He was happy I was awake.
“Lemme see.”
I clamored out of my bed and kneeled onto the furs beside him. Rayhan scooted over and drew an arm around me until I nestled into his side.
“Here.” He held up the canvas, and the soft, fiery glow livened the paint.
The painting was partially finished. It bore the silhouette of a woman against a window with a rainbow sunset through the glass. The pigment pressed into thick strokes, each one a slightly different color. The subject faced away from the observer, clutching a hand in a grip of dark drapes. The sun shimmered and glowed, more colorful and livelier than she, but only half as intriguing.
“Who is she?” I resisted the urge to touch the wet paint.
“I don’t know.” Rayhan eyed the canvas critically. “She’s been appearing in my drawings, but I can’t quite capture her. It’s like she’s a ghost.”
His words unsettled me. I tilted my head and angled the image toward the fire. There was something familiar about the woman. Her grip on the drapes was firm but desperate. There was a stiffness to her stance as she studied the landscape. I could almost picture her face, although I had never seen it. She was ethereal, eerie.
I didn’t look at the phantom hovering across the river, even as its presence drew chills down my spine.
Rayhan tightened his arm around my shoulders. The heat between us chased the chill. The press of his body from my shoulder to my knees warded away the unease. The gossamer of need bubbled in my core, urged by his proximity and the ticking sands of time. Once I was home, Rayhan would return to the castle. This could be our last night together, for a very long time.
“I’ll help you find her,” I whispered. I crawled between Rayhan’s legs and settled against his chest. His heart beat in my ear, and a soft breath rustled my hair. I wanted to freeze time, to stay here forever.
I slipped the paintbrush from his fingers and set it on a flat rock near the blankets. The canvas went beside it. I pulled Rayhan’s arms around me, running them across my breasts. My nipples hardened, and I held back a groan just from the simple contact.
“What are you doing? This isn’t painting.” Rayhan’s hardness against my stomach as I climbed higher countered his complaint.
“Sometimes painting is about capturing what you feel,” I whispered.
A chuckle shook us as he remembered the words from our time in the meadow. I cupped his face and studied the bent bow of his lips. I drew in the scent of sea salt and evergreen. Rayhan remained motionless beneath me, watching every movement with half-closed eyes.
I pressed my mouth to his, and tingles streaked to the center of my body. He tasted fresh and new and like everything I’d ever craved. The warmth in my core revived, and clawing flames sprouted from the coals.
He pulled from the kiss and groaned, hot breath through my hair. I twisted in his arms, and his blue eyes raged with a stormy sea. Forgotten were our parents’ murders, the wrongs that family and war had done to us. It was only me and Rayhan and the wild heat between us.
He plucked the buttons on the back of my dress as I pulled his tunic open. The expanse of his chest, solid lines of muscle running toward his hips, called to me. My fingers itched to trace every crease until I knew his body better than my own.
The garment peeled from my shoulders, exposing my bare skin to the summer air. Rayhan’s hands replaced the fabric, exploring me as I explored him.
I stroked his jaw where the soft flesh met the hard line at his beard, and a fist wound tight in my gut. This could be the last night we spent together. Panic swelled as an icy spring, and my breath cut short.
“What if…” I couldn’t force the words out.
“What?” Rayhan kissed the side of my neck and trailed to my breasts. He pinched at my nipples until my mind spun and my spine arched toward him for more.
“What?” he repeated.
Thoughts escaped the waves of pleasure. I snatched his hand, forcing him to stop stealing my focus.
“What if Kadence doesn’t let you visit?” The creeping fear returned. “What if I never see you again?”
Rayhan turned red. He grabbed the sides of my face and locked me in place. I searched his gaze, suddenly serious and cold.
“Nothing will ever keep me from you.” His voice was rough, husky, and sharp. “Kadence will have to turn from the witches and rage war against me if he plans to keep us apart. I will paint our wedding aisle with the bodies of his soldiers.”
There was no room for argument in his words, and I bit my tongue. Rayhan believed what he said, but he underestimated Kadence’s hatred of my people. I’d seen the longing for death and revenge on the king’s face. Rayhan may very well find himself against an army to ever see me again.
I needed to make tonight count. I needed to feel him as a part of me.
His fingers traced the edge of my neck and slipped into my hair. He slipped them through the long strands, letting the tendrils fall against my skin. Each brush was a new wave across our private ocean, one that would soon roll over us both.
I pulled his hands away and drew the dress over my head. A silver glint in Rayhan’s eyes froze me in place. He ran his fingers over his mouth, and his hungry gaze took in my naked body. His look burned my skin, down my neck, across my breasts, and lower and lower. He painted a line of desire through me, a wildfire only he could extinguish.
“Come here,” he demanded. One strong hand circled my waist and pulled me on top of him. He ground against me, only the tightened fabric of his breeches between us, and a moan slipped from my lips. He wrapped his mouth around mine, catching the sounds.
“I want you,” I groaned into him. He moved away.
“Say it again.”
“I want all of you.” I nipped his bottom lip, and he grabbed the back of my head. He rolled us over, and we traded places so that he was above me. His remaining clothes disappeared, and the full length of him rubbed against me.
Lightning flashed through Rayhan’s eyes, and thunder rocked us. One hand balanced his weight and the other explored my body, sending trails of desire across my skin. He took a nipple in his mouth and teased it with his tongue. I arched into him, the pleasure making me beg for more. Rayhan complied, playing with his mouth until the pressure at my core reached a fever pitch.
I raised my hips until he pressed inside, and I moaned as he filled me. The tightness of my core clenched around him, and his hands teased at my breasts. I clutched his back and rocked against him. His ocean eyes turned molten silver, and he hovered over me with a new hunger.
Unbeckoned, memories of Zhao’s lips against my neck and his fangs in my flesh brought the pleasure to a halt. My heartbeat filled my ears, and I pushed both palms against Rayhan’s chest.
“Wait, wait.”
He paused, but the tilt of his head had turned predatory. The vampire was here.
“I don’t want you to bite me,” I said.
“It’s a bit late for that, girl.”
“Don’t, please. I can’t take that pain again.”
Rayhan’s gaze softened, the sea storm finding a temporary respite. He stroked a strand of hair from my face.
“It won’t be like that, Natalie,” he said softly. “I’d never hurt you.”
The memory wound around me, smothering the joyful moment. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to dim the flashbacks.
“Hey.” Rayhan brushed my eyelids, and I forced them open. “Don’t you think you can trust me by now?”
I recognized the irony in his words. It was impossible for us to be more intimate, and he had to ask me to trust him again.
“Look, I’m all in.” His voice was deep, husky. “If I take you home and you want nothing to do with me, that’s fine, but there won’t be another woman. I’ve waited my whole life for you, I just didn’t know it. Every battle I’ve fought, every victory, pales compared to what I feel right now. I would never hurt you, Natalie. Let me prove it.”
I bit my lip and wound my fingers through the tight locks of his hair.
“You’re it for me too,” I said. “I’m not who I used to be.”
Tears trailed down my neck. Grief for the life I’d lost, the love I’d found, and the fragility of it all. I tilted my head back, and Rayhan leaned toward me.
I expected the sharp cut of fangs, but he pressed a soft kiss against my flesh. He rocked his hips, rekindling the spark that had faded. Waves of pleasure spun through me, spreading the smell of sea salt and spice around us, until the forest and the fur and the fangs receded and it was only Rayhan and I.
His lips parted against my neck, and a sharp pain cut into my skin. It disappeared in an instant, drawn away by Rayhan deep inside me and some twisting sensation that could only be magic.
Rayhan groaned and rocked harder and faster. I ground against him and arched my head, trying to give him more space. He took me greedily, demanding more and more, and I gave him everything I had. The arching sea swelled between us, threatening to capsize us into the waves. The joy and love grew and grew, until I wasn’t sure I could take any more. The pleasure crested, then my body released in a hard orgasm.
I clenched against Rayhan, and his back tightened under my fingertips. I pressed them harder, grounding myself with his flesh. He drew away from my neck. Warm gasps of his breath flooded against my cheek. He collapsed and rolled to the empty spot on the bed beside me.
Our ragged breathing broke the still night.
One arm slipped beneath my head, and Rayhan turned my tired, content body against him. He pulled up the edge of a soft blanket and tucked it around my naked backside. His hair brushed me, and I soaked in every feeling.
“Maybe we’ll both sleep.” His tilted voice exposed how close he was to doing just that. “Let the horses keep watch.”
Laughter slipped through my throat. It wasn’t long before the vampire’s body turned soft beside me and his arm grew heavy with slumber.
I wanted to stay here forever. I wanted to ignore the slipping avalanche as time pressed closer against me, threatening to suffocate everyone I loved. I hadn’t lied to Rayhan. I had never spoken truer words before. There was no one else for me. He would be the only one, even if I never saw him again.