An exhale stuttered over his quivering lips as the leaves on the willow trembled and wept toward us. “My goal to gain your heart remains unchanged, Ada.”

When his lips brushed along my cheek, my mouth turned toward them. “Kiss me. Don’t you dare turn away.”

His hand slipped from throat to chin, holding it in his ungiving grip as he slanted his mouth over mine. Our lips collided into a ferocious kiss, letting our breaths mingle and our moans meld.

Ash and snow flooded my senses. My tongue curled into the familiar taste of my husband’s mouth. My palm reached into the soft strands of his raven hair I had tousled a thousand times.

Breathless, Enosh pulled back, staring down at me from wide eyes. “The scent of ash might be burnt into my skin, but you are forever branded into my heart. Precious and forever treasured, this I vow. I love you. I want nothing more than for you to love me back. That, and…” his hand slipped over my collarbone, down between my breasts, and settled against my belly, “this child.”

Confused, I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”

“You once asked me how far I would go to see you returned.” The lap of his tongue at the nape of my neck sent an unexpected quiver into my thighs. “Little one, I will set the world ablaze and stand smiling at the center of its flames.” His other finger drew lazy circles around the side of my neck, numbing my mind with its warm caress. “I will kill, burn, and cut everyone who dared to bring heartache to my wife. I will do all this and worse to avenge what mortals did to you and me. And I will not stop until the lands are safe once more, and Eilam gifts you the breath of life, giving our child the mother it needs to grow.”

His threats against the world faded under the rapid flutter in my core, as though I sensed the robins’ wingbeats between my ribs. They swirled up a surge of deep longing until my breath fled, leaving enough room in my chest to fill with an overpowering wash of hope.

Was it truly possible…?

Dropping my hands to my belly, I placed them atop Enosh’s. “My baby.”

“Yes, Ada. Our baby.” Pressed against my back like this, his heat seeped into my muscles as his fingers stroked along my bodice, letting it part and expose my breasts to the air. “What a wonderful mother you will be, growing it beneath the beautiful cadence of your kind heart.”

I wasn’t sure if I cared much about the kindness it held, as long as it would beat in my chest once more—a lullaby for my son or daughter. “Your brother was very eager to take my life. He won’t give it back so easily, will he?”

His hand slid beneath my hair, gathering it up before he lifted it to rest over my shoulder while he kissed the other. “Not without some… pressure.”

Which was probably where the burning and cutting came in. “Pressure?”

“Your life comes at the cost of others and has to be paid swiftly and with no mercy,” he murmured between kisses behind my ear, letting my body grow heavy and slack. “There must be bloodshed, Ada… not only to restore your life and save our child, but to reestablish my divine rule across all lands.”

That… made sense. So why did it ache my belly? My mind trailed to the lands beyond the Soltren Gate, empty and abandoned.

With or without my life, Enosh would kill those responsible for his torture and my death, anyway—something I’d known for a while and couldn’t possibly hold against him. He needed to destroy the temples, the priests who worshipped there, and the soldiers who protected them.

That, or we would never have peace.

That, or I would not have my baby.

I gave a curt nod. “I understand.”

“Good girl,” he breathed into a kiss against my temple, letting my chest bloom at this praise he’d denied me for weeks. “You are so good, Ada. So honest and true, beautiful and kind. Annoyingly stubborn, driving me insane with her hardheadedness. I promised you a child, did I not?”

“You did.”

“And am I true to my promises?”

“Yes.”

“As I shall be true to this one.” His finger slid beneath the fur, drawing circles around my nipple. “You will have this child, Ada, and I shall hold the both of you in my arms very soon.”

Oh, all my body tingled.

I looked back at his handsome face, his gray eyes full of longing, a mirror of the hope I carried in my chest. Enosh was so easy to hate, but in moments like this, he was even easier to love.

Maybe I did?

A love born as a flutter in one’s chest, lying dormant in the cold clasp of death, only to sprout in this flood of truth, guilt, and hope between us. So all-consuming it left cuts and bruises and, once unleashed, would whirl into a storm that left nothing behind but justice.

I closed my eyes and tilted my head, allowing him to suckle the sensitive skin along my neck. Warm hands brushed over my shoulders, fingertips stroked the dips above my collarbone. Then, with one languid move, Enosh brushed my dress down, letting the pelt pool by my feet.

“Turn around for me,” he whispered as his fingers tugged my waist. “Spread your legs. Do not make me repeat myself, for I shall not allow you to leave me wanting again.”

When I did, I found him kneeling between blades of pale grass. His lips trailed along the vines of scars on my belly, kissing away the pain, the sorrow, the grief.

“Once your belly grows big with my child, I shall place a hundred kisses on it each day anew.” His hand slipped between my legs, caressing my lower lips, massaging as he kissed along my hip. “Would you like that?”

I dug my fingers into his raven strands, loving their softness, yet how they refused to part easily. “A thousand.”

“Two thousand kisses.” With one quick move, he unbalanced me, only to catch me in his arms and lower me onto the soft carpet of silken grass. “Things will be different between us from here forward. Allow me to love you like only a god can. The rest will fall into place.”

My back arched when he slanted his mouth over my cunt. He dragged the flat of his tongue over my entrance, suckled my folds into his mouth, letting his guttural noises vibrate against my clit.

Something tingled my arms.

And my legs, feet, waist.

Everything.

I lifted my head, watching how Enosh made a meal of my cunt as the silken grass stretched and moved. It caressed my entire body, like thousands of worshipping feather strokes, leaving not an inch of my skin ignored.

My mind descended into utter bliss, overwhelmed by this flood of sensation. Mercy god, the sky spun as I gave into the heat between my legs, the throbbing in my veins, and the ache in my belly only the King of Flesh and Bone could sate.

“I love you,” Enosh said between suckles on my lower lips. “Missed you so terribly.”

A shudder raked over my skin, hardening my nipples, sending sparks of heat into my belly. I spread my legs wide, inviting his wicked mouth to bring me back to life as I writhed and moaned.

“I missed you, too.”

Had missed his attention, his total devotion, the way he touched me like no other ever had. How could one not love such a man who was so devout to me and our child?

His mouth stunned my mind as his tongue lured my clit from its little hood, sucking, circling, pinching it gently beneath the clasp of his lips. When his fingers entered me, thrusting knuckles into my center, they tossed me into the throes of scalding pleasure. Dipping and curling, torrential waves of heat flared around my cunt, pushing me into a harrowing release that robbed me of my voice.

I all but whimpered through it, drowning beneath the liquid wash of heat coursing through my veins. My hips bucked against his chuckle, my senses so heightened, each lazy lap of his tongue that followed scorched me down to the satisfied hum in my chest.

Enosh kissed his way over the curls between my legs, along every single rib, then positioned his hips between my thighs as his clothes faded into dust. “I daresay you are warm now.”