Valkhara
I was still knotted.
Still panting, sweating, and filled so deep with Daxos's cum I could feel it sloshing when I shifted slightly.
And this smug war god?
Still buried inside me like he planned to live there.
His thumb dragged over my lip as he stared at me, possessive and reverent and way too proud of himself.
"They're going to be impossible when we go back," I mumbled.
He smirked. "They already are."
"I should probably get up."
"You're not going anywhere until I say so."
"I'm still technically the queen."
He leaned in. "You're mine first."
And gods help me—I liked that too much.
Then the bond pulsed.
And again.
And again.
"Let us back in before we set something on fire."
Azric.
"You've had her for HOURS. We're on edge. She's glowing like she ascended and you're muting us like a selfish bastard."
Sevrin.
Daxos groaned. "Do you want to let them in?"
I groaned too. "I guess."
He lifted a hand and muttered a phrase under his breath, and the bond—our bond—snapped open like a slammed door.
"Oh thank the gods," Azric moaned, and I felt it—his arousal, his frustration, his pouty rage.
"Is she still full of you? I bet she is. I can feel it dripping down her thighs—"
"SHUT. UP," Daxos snapped.
"Can we come get you now or are you still suctioned in there like a fucking goddamn root system?" Sevrin deadpanned.
I burst out laughing. Daxos looked personally offended.
"Come get us," he growled through the bond. "And shut the fuck up."
We made it back to the royal suite an hour later.I was walking funny.
Daxos was smug.I was wrecked.Azric looked like he wanted to lick my thighs clean just to prove a point.Sevrin's jaw was clenched like he'd rather punch a wall.
And Nyra?
Sitting on the armrest of the couch with a cup of tea and a dagger across her lap.
"Well well well," she drawled. "Look who finally emerged from the dungeon of dick."
"Don't start," I warned.
She raised her hands. "I'm just impressed the leyline didn't collapse with how loud y'all were bonding down there."
Sevrin stormed in behind us, eyes locked on Daxos. "Do you always fuck like you're trying to tear the veil between realms?"
Azric leaned against the doorframe, eyeing me. "You okay, flameheart?"
"I'm sore in places I didn't know I could be sore," I admitted.
Daxos grabbed my waist and pulled me into his lap on the nearest chair. "She's fine. Glowing. Bred. Claimed."
Nyra gagged. "Can we not say 'bred' in front of my tea?"
"I didn't know you'd be here," I said, laughing.
She pointed at Azric. "One of your boyfriends wouldn't stop pacing. The other one tried to stab a guard. I had to hex them just to keep the suite intact."
"She's lying," Sevrin muttered.
"I'm not," Nyra snapped. "You were unhinged."
The room was hot. Loud. Buzzing with too much energy and the scent of everyone's leftover jealousy.I was about to tell them to shut up when Daxos's entire demeanor shifted.
The room went still.
"I need you all to listen," he said, voice low.
Even Sevrin froze.
Daxos stood. The glow from his skin was fainter now—faded to embers—but his presence still filled the entire room like war drums in the distance.
"I was locked away for a reason," he said.
"Because they feared what you'd do," I said softly.
"No," he replied. "Because they feared you."
Silence.
Azric's smile dropped.
Sevrin went statue-still.
Nyra's brows knit.
"The Emberborn line," Daxos continued, "was never meant to compete in the Trials."
I blinked. "Then why was I—"
"Because they lost control of the prophecy," he said. "You weren't supposed to survive."
Every hair on my body stood up.
"They erased every descendant. Burned towns. Slaughtered entire bloodlines. And when I refused to help? They chained me underground like a weapon gone rogue."
Sevrin's jaw flexed. "You were one of theirs."
"I was their blade," Daxos said. "Until I saw what they did to her line."
He looked at me. Straight into my soul.
"You were a child when they came. You lived. And the moment your wolf whispered your name through the leyline, I knew it was you."
My throat closed.
"You waited," I whispered.
"I died waiting," he said. "Over and over again in that cell. But I never let go."
Azric dropped into the nearest chair, head in his hands.
Sevrin let out a hissed breath. "They manipulated everything. The Trials. The pairings. The creatures. All of it."
"And they're not done," Daxos said. "Now that the bond is complete, they'll make their move."
"What kind of move?" I asked.
He looked at me, gaze hard.
"They'll either kill you…"
Silence.
"Or they'll chain you up like they did me. And weaponize you the way they tried to weaponize me."
I stood.
The power rippled beneath my skin like lightning under my ribs.
"They can try."
Daxos's mouth curled.
"That's what I hoped you'd say."