Reign the Earth (The Elementae #1)(112)

He brushed kisses on my temple. “You said your power comes from your heart, didn’t you?” he whispered.

I nodded.

“You can’t control your heart. You can only trust it.” He took one hand, and brought it to his lips, kissing my knuckles. “Like I trust you with mine.”

He looked at me, slowly, for a long time. His eyes traced over every part of my face, and a slow smile came over his mouth. “I love you, Shalia d’Dragyn. Your heart is my heart.” He took the hand he was holding and put it on his chest, like I could feel his heart there. He drew a long breath under my hand. “And I know right now, the only thing you can think of is surviving, and grieving, and being free of my brother. But when that happens, I will be there. I will keep you and your baby safe for the rest of your days.”

My fingers eased on his chest, straightening and smoothing over his shirt, and I wondered if it were that easy, to take something and hold it. “I don’t want that.”

He looked like I had struck him, and my fingers wandered, finding the pulse at the base of his neck. This seemed more tangible, a brighter piece of his heart for me to hold.

“I went from being a sister and a daughter to a wife, a guarded queen. I have little idea what my life will be like if I’m free from Calix, but I don’t want to be something you protect. I won’t teach my daughter that her only choice is to be sheltered by the men around her. I want to stand beside you,” I told him, running my fingers lightly over his chest. “I want to learn to fight with you. I won’t accept you as a protector,” I whispered. His eyes were wet, shining and bright green because of it. “But I will accept you as something else. Something far greater. Because with whatever scraps of my heart are left, I love you too, Galen.”

My breath shuddered as it came out, but I leaned up, staring at his green eyes. I pressed forward, grazing his upper lip, opening my mouth to kiss his bottom lip.

Then he moved, and his mouth opened to meet mine. His tongue stroked into my mouth, and I raised my arms, twining them around his neck, our bodies sliding together. His hands ran down my sides, making my skin feel hot and alive everywhere he touched.

With relief so sharp it felt like pain, the threads strained against my fingertips, and I stepped back from his arms, holding up my hands.

“Your power?” he asked.

I gazed at him, his hair spiky and dark and slightly disheveled, his chest rising and falling hard. I nodded, and stepped back into his arms, pressing my mouth to the cords in his neck. His pulse hammered under my lips.

“Shalia,” he said, catching my shoulders. “I shouldn’t do this. I can’t do this. You just lost your family, you almost lost your child—”

“You’re not doing anything,” I told him. “We’re doing something. And after all the pain of the past few weeks, I want to know what this is really supposed to feel like. What it is to be touched by someone who moves the heaven and stars for you. Please give that to me, Galen.”

His thumb touched my lip, and his eyes followed, like he couldn’t look away. “It won’t fix anything. It won’t change anything he did.”

“No,” I told him. “It won’t be about him at all.” I kissed the pad of his thumb on my lip. “It will be different, with you, won’t it?” I asked him, my voice quiet and small.

“I’ve never been so damn scared to touch a woman in my life,” he whispered, his fingertips on my shoulder, barely grazing my skin. “So I’m fairly sure it’s different for me.”

My shoulders drew up. “I meant … with you, when you touch me, I feel things that I’ve never felt.”

His fingers brushed my hair back, letting it slide over the skin of my shoulders, and following it with his fingertips. “I like the sound of that,” he whispered.

His touch made me dizzy, but my thoughts sobered me. “Every time with him, it was awful,” I breathed.

He swallowed, meeting my gaze, touching my face. “My sweet,” he whispered. “It will be different. The only thing I want you to feel with me is pleasure. My love,” he said, kissing my cheek. His lips moved to the corner of my mouth. “My lovely dragon.” He pulled back a little.

Tentatively, I moved forward until our lips met again, and his hands fell, going to my waist and back, pulling me tight against him. His mouth left mine a moment later, kissing my chin, my jaw, my throat. His hands pulled up to slide under the coat and slip the garment off me. I shivered against him, and he kept kissing me.

I had never had a desire to touch Calix, but now my hands were restless and busy, trying to touch as much of Galen as I could. I pushed off his jacket and ran my hands over his shirt, feeling the firm knots of muscle as they moved and twisted and leaped up to meet my fingers. I loved how he couldn’t seem to catch his breath, and I felt his heart beating hard under his skin, everywhere I touched.

He loosened the cords keeping my dress together beneath my breasts and around my waist, and as he pulled the knot, his fingers brushed my stomach and he stilled. He kissed his way down my covered body as he knelt in front of me, parting the cloth to show my stomach to him. His hands covered my child as he kissed me.

“You can feel her,” he breathed, covering the spot where my skin had turned from soft to firm. He pressed a chaste, earnest kiss there, and stood up, looking at me. “You’re a miracle, Shalia. And this child—it doesn’t matter to me who her father is. I will love her like my own every day of my life. You know that, don’t you?”