Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 121534 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 608(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121534 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 608(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
“Neat trick,” I whisper.
I might die in his arms, right here, in this moment.
“Do it again.”
His mouth tilts into something dangerously close to a smile. When he speaks, his voice carries that low resonance I’ve felt before but never this strong—it vibrates through me, each word landing like a drumbeat in my chest, a cadence that lures me closer even when I know I should run the other way. “I can do more. Much more.”
He holds out his hand and flicks his wrist. Snow starts dumping from the sky around us. The flakes are huge. It feels like a fairy tale. I let out a disbelieving laugh.
All thoughts of Mjölnir disappear for one brief moment. It’s only Aric and his ice, and I want to exist here, with him in this place, just like this.
“So…you wanna build a snowman?” I ask.
For the first time since I’ve known him, he laughs. Really laughs. It rumbles through him, deep and raw, and the sound steals my breath more than the ice ever could. “At least you didn’t sing it.”
Then the sound of branches cracking echoes from behind us.
Are we being followed again?
Even out here? What about the rune wards?
With a sweep of Aric’s arm, walls of ice surge up around us, carving a cave from nothing. He pulls me inside, chest heaving, frost clinging to his skin.
We watch and wait as two deer slowly make their way to the frozen lake, looking for water. Aric swears under his breath, eyes glowing. They’re white—it’s his Giant form truly pushing through. Oh Gods.
“I think they’re gone,” he mutters, listening. His voice vibrates through the ice itself, the cadence so deep and steady it nearly lulls me into forgetting we’re hiding.
I tilt my head up at him, light bouncing off the crystalline walls. “Your eyes.”
Our breaths mingle, the air steaming between us. The white in his eyes softens, and he doesn’t look like a monster. He’s gorgeous, like lightning trapped under ice. I lift my hand, press it against his, and his grip tightens like he can’t let go.
“This is the part where I warn you,” he says, voice vibrating straight into my bones. “I don’t think I can control much beyond this as we unlock more runes. From here on out…”
I shrug, my voice steadier than my heartbeat. “Try not to get in the way, and I won’t get killed.”
His forehead lowers to mine, heat and cold colliding between us. “Runes are powerful, Rey. They’re the only thing keeping the monster asleep. Who knows what I’ll become the second they stop suppressing me.”
I swallow hard, the truth burning in my throat. “Sometimes I think…I was meant more for the likes of a monster than a man.”
His lips part, and I catch the glint in his eyes, something feral wanting to break free. My pulse jumps, but I don’t move.
A storm builds behind those eyes.
I lift my face like I want to be trapped in them.
And then I surrender, crashing my mouth to his.
Chapter Fifty-One
Aric
Frost still hangs in the air when I pull back just enough to see her. Her lips are swollen, her breath ragged, and her eyes—Gods, her eyes—hold me like chains I’ll never escape.
And so I give up pretending.
I smash my lips to hers, harder this time. My teeth scrape against her tongue, sharp enough to remind us both what I am. She shudders, and it’s all the invitation I need.
My mouth is cold, but somehow, impossibly warm at the same time. Ice spins from me, tiny crystals that catch in her hair, swirling like a snowstorm conjured only for us. They cling to her lashes, her lips, glittering as if even winter itself wants to touch her.
She presses me against the ice wall, her body fierce and unyielding. The frost bites into my back, but I don’t care. Nothing exists except the heat of her lips, the burn of her hands pulling me closer.
“I’m not sorry,” I rasp against her mouth.
Her whisper brushes my skin. “For what?”
“For kissing you.”
She laughs, soft and shaky. “Pretty sure I kissed you first.”
Her arms slip around my neck, and I know it’s a mistake the moment it happens. A fatal one.
Because I can’t stop.
My lips part, desperate, and I clamor for more of her, my entire being vibrating with a need I’ve never known. Her taste. Her scent. The warmth of her breath against the storm inside me.
Bad idea. Bad idea.
Just a few more minutes. Just a few more stolen kisses. I shouldn’t. But the excuses come easy. Anything to keep going.
Each kiss unravels me further as I trail them along her cheek, her throat, lower. Each one steals another thread of control until I know the truth—I’ll never forget this. It will haunt me until my last breath.
The taste of her. The weight of her. The impossible dream of this beautiful woman in my arms, our bodies pressed dangerously, deliciously close, and the aching, treacherous thought of a world where she might actually be mine. No past. No uncertain future.