Before I Let Go (Skyland #1)(39)

“That’s it.” His voice reassured me, and I gasped as I felt his magic slowly snake over my hand.

It pushed down, encouraging me, and my hand trembled beneath it.

“Take it.” His voice was gruff with a mixture of his own pleasure and pain. “Take your fucking pleasure, princess.”

I choked on a breath as my hand moved harder, and it was only another moment before I could feel it crashing into me. Pleasure, hard and unrelenting, slammed through me, and I didn't stand a chance of holding any part of it back. I screamed out Evren's name, as his magic moved from my hand and ran over my body.

It crept its way over every inch of me, caressing and feeling and leaving chill bumps in its wake.

“You are mine, Adara.”

My gaze hit his as his hand moved roughly against himself.

“No one will ever have you again but me. I could feel you in here. Your want for me was palpable, as was your uncertainty. But every bit of it belongs to me.”

His power tightened against me, and it shuddered against my body. Another rush of pleasure shot through me as I watched him come so hard he had to use my bedpost to hold himself up.

We stared at each other for a long moment as both of us tried to catch our breaths, and the reality of what we had just done sank in. The reality of his words.

He tucked himself back in his trousers after cleaning himself up, and he stared straight ahead to where my legs were clamped together.

“Good night, princess.” He spoke softly and his gaze held firm against me. His hands fisted in my bedding as his lips parted, but I couldn't make myself form the words to ask him to stay. To beg him to never leave me again.

I had just shown him so much of myself, so much weakness in my want, and I hated how desperately I wanted to give him all of me.

He turned his back to me and walked to the door but hesitated with his hand on the handle.

Before I could think better of it, I told him the only truth I was willing to give. “I could feel you too, you know? The night you left. I knew deep in my gut that something wasn't right.”

“That's because you're my mate, Adara. Every part of you is made for me, and it drives me crazy.”

“But you still left.”

He turned until his gaze could meet my own, and I could feel his magic coiling inside of him.

“Don't make me choose between you and my kingdom, princess. Because I will choose you. Consequences be damned, I will choose you.”

I gasped down a breath as my magic sparked to life, and Evren looked to me once more before he opened the door and disappeared into the hall.





CHAPTER 14





“I get that you’re upset for whatever reason but take a breath.” Thalia wiped the sweat from her brow as I shook out my hands. “Your emotions are hindering you.”

I wasn't upset. I was confused, and hell, maybe I was angry. I didn't know what to feel.

Evren being back was supposed to fix things, not confuse me more, but all I could think about were the words he had said before he left my room. The words that threw me more than anything else ever could.

He had felt different somehow, the conviction in his words left no room for misunderstanding, but I didn’t know if I was ready for the heavy consequences of his choices. He said he would choose me, but would he be making that choice to keep his kingdom safe or because of his feelings for me?

“We need to train.” I wiped my sweating hands down my trousers and lined myself back up.

Thalia was trying to teach me how to control myself when not only using my magic but in hand-to-hand combat as well, and it was much harder than I thought it would be.

“Okay, but you don’t need to run yourself into the ground to not think about him.” She looked toward the doorway, and her mouth tightened in a hard line.

I balled my hands into fists before shaking them out, and I tried to let her words roll off me.

“Don't hold back this time,” I told her just before she lunged at me and let a flare of her magic come barreling at my chest.

I lifted my left hand, blocking her magic with my own, but her fist connected with my shoulder before I could stop it.

“Shit,” I cursed as I almost lost my balance. My shoulder was already aching from the hit, but it didn't matter. I wasn't ready to stop. “Again.”

Thalia nodded once before lining herself back up, and I tried to watch her eyes to see the directions her thoughts were going. But I was wrong. She lunged to the left, her leg kicking out toward me, and I shifted my weight, bracing for her attack, and I completely missed the way her magic slammed into my right side. I hit the ground with a loud grunt and clenched my teeth at the bite of pain in my hip.

“Stop overthinking.” Thalia pushed her hair out of her face. “You’re not trusting yourself, Adara. You need to take a moment and catch your breath.”

I crawled to my knees before pushing back to my stance, and I tried to control the anger that was coursing through me. “I don’t need a break.”

“Then I do.”

I looked up at Thalia because it was the first time she'd ever told me she needed a break. Her eyes were pleading, and she rubbed her hand across her brow.

“I'll take over.” I snapped my head in the direction of Evren's voice and watched as he strolled into the courtyard. He was dressed in his usual black attire, and there was no trace of the man who had been attacked. He looked every bit his normal self.