Swiftly, I pulled her into my lap, catching her quick gasp, but I couldn’t stomach the defeat I heard in her voice. I rolled until we were lying on the blanket, with her stretched out underneath me, her hair a wild, wind-swept halo around her head.

“Oh,” she breathed, her eyes reflecting the falling stars above us as she looked at me.

I leaned down. She arched up, but I didn’t capture her lips in the kiss I so desperately wanted to give her. Instead, my gentle words brushed her ear as I said, “You are beautiful…Klara Dirak’zar.”

She sucked in a sharp breath, as I felt a sense of rightness take root within me, spreading through bone and vein. It was the first time I’d ever called her that. It was the first time I’d ever claimed her for my own line. Our line. The name our children would one day bear.

“Klara Dirak’zar of Rath Serok and Rath Drokka, queen of the Sarrothian. I hope you know how much of a rarity you are,” I finished, pulling back so I could meet her eyes. She looked struck. Surprised. “And you were wrong on the wildlands outside Dothik that night. You do have a great name, and it will be remembered long after you’re gone. And when you claim your Elthika, you will claim their name as well. You will be a fearsome thing.”

“Thank you,” she whispered. Her expression was serene. Her hands came to press into my chest, curling her fingers into the scales, and I wished it was off of me. I wished I could feel the naked press of her skin against my own. It had been too long already. “Kakkira vor.”

“I don’t see you as a tool for me to use, Klara,” I said again, risking this calm, pleasant moment to bring this thread of conversation back to the forefront. But I needed her to understand how I felt.

“Sarkin—”

“Let me say this so you never have to doubt again,” I said, brushing my fingers over her scar on the side of her face. “You were marked for me. I believe in no god or goddess in this life except in my Elthika. She marked you for me. And I answered her call.”

I felt her breathing quicken against my chest.

“We may never understand the Elthika. Not fully. They live on a different plane of existence from us. They draw their energy from heartstones, their power is like the sun to them. They are magical beings, gods and goddesses in their own right,” I said. “And Zaridan led me to you. As a rider, you learn much from your bonded Elthika and they learn from you, more than you thought possible.”

“What did she teach you?” Klara asked.

My lips quirked. “Patience and discipline. I was reckless once.”

“I can’t imagine that,” she confessed.

I brushed my thumb over her cheekbone. “My purpose in saying this is that you were a gift to me, aralye. Not a weapon to use against your people. I will spend our lives learning from you, just as I have from Zaridan. My only request is that you continue to have some patience with me.”

Her gaze warmed. She had that same struck expression, like she was seeing me for the first time.

Perhaps she was. For this was the first time I’d ever truly felt open with her.

“Of course,” she whispered. “Of course, Sarkin.”

“And I meant what I said earlier. You can ask me whatever you want, and I’ll answer you.”

She smiled. Leaning forward, she pressed a kiss to my lips, a chaste thing, but it made me restless for more.

“Let’s just enjoy tonight,” she said, her eyes trailing past me to look at the falling-star storm overhead. “Let’s just enjoy each other. We have a lifetime to talk. And we have meat pies to eat.”

I chuckled, though I’d be lying if I said a part of me wasn’t relieved. Tonight was a first step in the right direction for us. As long as she understood I would take that journey with her, that was all that mattered.

“Sarkin.”

“Hmm?” I asked.

“Kiss me,” she whispered. “Hanniva.”

My nostrils flared at that word like she had me trained. Before there was the possibility of her changing her mind, I captured her lips. I’d meant to kiss her gently, but whenever she said please in her language, it drove all reasonable thought out of my brain.

Her shuddered sigh drifted over my tongue, and I groaned.

“I love when you do that, aralye,” I rasped, biting at her bottom lip. “When you breathe into me like that.”

Her hands dove into my hair, our movements becoming hurried and possessive. The fire being stoked, those embers burning low. The sizzle of falling stars overhead and the distant sound of Elthika songs joined our soft moans and the rustle of our clothes. She tugged off the riding tights hidden underneath her dress as I nibbled my mark above her collarbone.

I rolled us so Klara was on top, her bare legs straddling my hips. Pushing the material of her dress up to her hips, I watched as she unclasped the catches on my pants, pulling my hardened cock free.

“Let me feel you, wife,” I growled, hissing, my back bowing when I felt her drag the head of my cock against her slick, hot entrance.

She rolled her hips down in one swift movement, and we both cried out. And as the stars fell around us, as the starlight grass glowed with the stroking fingers of an unseen wind, I watched my wife move above me. I watched the sublime pleasure cross her beautiful expression and listened to the music we made.

A song all our own.

And I thought, How easy it would be to love her.

Only, this time, I kept that thought to myself.

In the aftermath, long after it went quiet in the meadow, long after we’d nearly finished the meat pies in the basket, we were lying next to one another. Klara’s hands were exploring me, tracing unseen things, her cheek pressed to my shoulder. I’d wrapped us up in the blanket to cover our naked flesh, shielding us from the worst of the chill. The rustle of grass around us felt calming. If I wasn’t careful, it could lull me to sleep.

But we needed to get back soon. I was loath to leave this place though. There was peace here. And that peace felt like Klara in my arms, happy and sated.

We were connected here. I didn’t want anything to ruin that.

Klara’s fingers traced down my back, and I suppressed a pleasurable shiver. I felt them pause over the textured flesh toward the base of my spine, flesh that had never quite smoothed with time. It was where my tail had once been. For a moment, I thought perhaps she’d find it too strange, that she would pull away from me, shuddering.

Instead, her touch lingered. Why had I never realized how sensitive I could be there? I felt my cock begin to throb, a low growl reverberating up my throat as she stroked and explored the old wound. I couldn’t help but capture her lips in a soft kiss. Her hot exhale floated across my tongue, making me crazed.

“You said I could ask you anything?” she asked against my lips.

The edges of my lips curled up in a lazy smile. I pulled away, knowing what the question would be. “Yes, aralye.”

“Did it hurt?”

“Not so much in the moment. After…yes. Like hell. It’s a phantom ache that takes years to shake. Sometimes I still feel it. Especially in the cold.”

“Do you miss it?”

“No,” I admitted, looking down at her in my arms. “All riders know how dangerous it can be. I was glad to be rid of it.”

“That’s what Sammenth said, that she would be relieved once hers was cut off,” Klara said.

“I always knew mine would be gone one day,” I told her. “I always knew I would be a rider. So, mentally, it was an easy transition. For others…it can surprise them, how traumatic it can feel. But it’s our duty to adapt to the Elthika. Not the other way around.”

She nodded against me, the fingernail of her thumb scraping over the scar, making me suck in a sharp breath.