Moonlight draped the chamber in silver, casting shifting shadows on their bare skin as if the stars themselves watched in reverence. Seraphine lay beneath him, her fingers tangled in Valen’s dark hair, her breath trembling against his lips.
“I want to feel everything,” she whispered. “Don’t hold back. I want the bond… I want you.”
Valen’s jaw tensed, his golden eyes devouring her. “Then you’ll have me. All of me. But once this is done, there is no turning back.”
“I know.” Her hand cupped his cheek. “I don’t want to turn back.”
He kissed her again—slow and consuming. Not rushed. Not wild. But reverent, as though her mouth was the altar and he a dying god desperate for salvation.
He entered her in one fluid motion, their bodies aligning like two constellations drawn across time. The bre
