Chapter 93
Eden
Azriel and I don’t finish the mating ritual directly.
We take a tour through the court.
The Dream Court is blooming.
The halls that once felt haunted are thriving. Vines sprawl like lazy thoughts around the castle, but the vines also grow inside. The scent of rain drifts in through the windows. The shadows are no longer here.
Only peace.
Azriel walks by my side.
I trail my fingers along the edge of a stone wall, marveling at how different it all feels now. This place was a prison with dark walls and no love. Now it feels like… a dream. The dream it was always meant to be.
“You changed it,” Azriel says quietly.
“We did.”
He doesn’t correct me, but we both know it wasn’t him, but the other version of him that helped me.
I step onto a garden terrace. Wildflowers spill over the edges. The wind tousles my hair. Below, fae people are celebrating. There’s laughter coming from further away. Music.
“I still can’t believe it,” I whisper. “I thought I’d wake up and find myself back in the corrupted castle, or dead. That killing Mara was a dream.”
“It happened. You’re here. Alive. You saved this court, Eden.”
“And lost my fox in the process.”
Azriel doesn’t laugh at me even though I’m pouting. He watches me with those violet intelligent eyes.
“You saved everyone,” he says again, like that’s all that matters.
I look down at my hands. They tremble slightly. They feel… small.
“I don’t like being human,” I admit softly. Then I hug myself even though it isn’t cold. “I know that I saved everyone, but feeling powerless? I was weak as
an Omega. When my fox awakened, I finally felt in control. I could fight. Run. Be something more. Now I feel like I’ve stepped backward.”
Azriel touches my shoulder. “You’re not weak. You were never weak.”
I meet his eyes, whispering. “But I feel like it.”
I stare at the laughing fae below, feeling like a ghost in their world. I saved them, but I’m no longer a supernatural like them. My body is slower without my fox. My senses duller. What am I now? Just a girl who remembers being more.
“I’m just Eden,” I whisper.
Azriel is quiet for a moment. Then says, “I already told you that you don’t have to stay human.”
I grimace. “What if it doesn’t work?“”
He snorts. “What? The magic turning you into fae? Because that’s nonsense. It will change you.”
1/4
Chapter 93
How can you be so sure??
“Because I’m the strongest fan alive and if I mark you, then believe me, nature will make you match my strength
I furrow my eyebrows. And you will be okay with that? Me becoming just as strong as you, the King of the Dream Court?”
Azriel steps closer, brushing my cheek. “I can’t think of anything I would want more. Sharing my power? It will make the world less dill, ik is very borde being as powerful as lam.”
My heart thuds. “You’re very kind for wanting to share the power.”
He chuckles. “Or very lonely.”
“Don’t ruin it.”
There’s more laughter from my pretty fae mate and then he tilts up my chin. But he doesn’t kiss me.
“If we do this, Eden… it has to be the old–fashioned way.”
I swallow. “Sex?”
“Ritual sex. Magical, soul–binding, life–altering sex. With teeth.”
I stare at him.
He grins.
“Take me to bed, Azriel,” I whisper. “I’m ready to be yours.”
He doesn’t hesitate.
His arms slide around me, sweeping me off my feet. I wrap my arms around his neck, laughing breathlessly as he carries me back through the halls.
But we don’t go to the bedroom.
Instead, Azriel veers toward the back of the palace. Toward the gardens.
Is this where he wants to have sex? Among the flowers?
I actually don’t mind it. Bedrooms are rather boring compared to the magical flowers of the land. Azriel brings me into the sunlight. There’s a private patch of wildflowers underneath his feet.
His wings stretch wide behind him, catching the golden light. I
- t. I gasp a little. They’re massive. Gorgeous. Each feather catches the sun like polished
obsidian rimmed in twilight.
“I love when you take them out,” I murmur.
“They like to be out,” he says, setting me down.
“And I like them out.”
I step behind him and reach out, brushing my fingers lightly over one wing. His entire body jerks, and he stumbles forward with a low growl. Now he is no longer standing, but sitting in the grass.
“Eden,” he warns, his voice rough.
I smirk. “What? Are they sensitive or something?”
He glares at me over his shoulder. His ears are turning pink. “That’s not funny… You already know they are.”
2/4
Chapter of
“Are they always?
only when it is you touching them. So plasse don’t overés a ”
“Or what?”
“Or I might..” His face turns even more red, and his lips form a pout.
I giggle in an evil voice. “Aww, grumpy, are we?”
Azriel doesn’t answer. I touch his wings again and he yelps.
I love it.
I had forgotten how much fun this is. My mighty, powerful mate reduced to a mess with just a flick of my fingers.
I continue massaging his large wings, watching them twitch involuntarily. His jaw clenches. His wings try to fold inward protectively.
He could so easily get rid of me.
But he doesn’t.
Azriel lets me have this power over him, not because he’s weak, but because he trusts me. Azriel, the strongest high–fae alive, melts at my touch. And for once, I’m the one holding the fire.
“I already knew they were sensitive,” I murmur. “But I didn’t realize they’d make you blush.”
He is breathing hard. “It is only because it you touching them.”
“Which is why I will continue touching them.”
He groans.
“You’re evil.”
“And you like it.”
He turns slowly, pinning me with a look that promises consequences. But behind the heat in his eyes, there’s something else. Something tender.
Want. Craving. Affection.
I kneel before him and he watches me do it, his whole body moving with his hard, shallow breaths.
I place a hand on his chest. “Spread your legs and let me suck you.”
A breeze carries the scent of dream–lilies and dusk roses. Somewhere, a bird trills a low, sleepy tune. The world outside is soft and golden. But here, in this hidden patch of wildflowers, everything is about to burn.
He hesitates.
“I’m serious,” I say. “Unless you want to take me to the bedroom first?”
“No,” he says hoarsely. “Here is perfect.”
