Chapter 98

Chapter 98
Sera POV

Darkness wrapped around us like a cocoon, the only light came from the dying fire in Jade's chambers. He dismissed the servants hours ago, barred the door, and now we existed in a pocket of space that felt separate from the world outside. Here we forgot all about the prophecies, challenges and the weight of tomorrow.

His hands found me in the dark, sliding up my arms with a reverence that made my breath catch. There was something different about his touch tonight. It was full of desperation and hunger that went beyond desire into something that felt like claiming and saying goodbye all tangled together.

"Sera." My name was a prayer on his lips as he backed me toward the bed, his body was a wall of heat against my skin. "Tell me you want this. Tell me you're mine."

"I want this," I whispered, my hands fisting in his shirt. "I am yours."

The words were barely out before his mouth crashed against mine, swallowing whatever else I might have said. This wasn't the careful, controlled Jade who always held something back. This was raw need, that was desperately unleashed and it ignited something equally fierce inside me.

My fingers found the ties of his shirt, fumbling in my haste. He helped me, yanking the fabric over his head and tossing it aside before reaching for the laces of my dress. The cool air hit my skin as the fabric fell away, but I barely felt it. I was too focused on the heat of his palms as they mapped my body like he was memorizing every curve, every dip of my skin and every place that made me gasp.

"I need you to remember this," he growled against my neck, his teeth grazing the mark that pulsed at my throat. "I need you to remember how good we are together, how right this feels."

"Jade—" I whispered his name as I moaned when his mouth found my breast, his tongue circling until I arched into him, desperate for more.

He lowered me onto the bed with a gentleness that contradicted the urgency in every line of his body. For a moment, he just looked at me. His eyes dark and intense, and I saw fear there alongside the desire. Fear that this might be the last time, that tomorrow would tear us apart in ways neither of us could prevent.

"Don't think about tomorrow," I said, reaching up to pull him down to me. "Right now, there's just us."

Something shifted in his expression. Gratitude, or maybe relief. Then his mouth was on mine again, his hands sliding down my sides, leaving trails of fire in their wake. The mark at my throat flared with heat, and I felt the goddess's power stir restlessly, but for once I didn't fight it. Let it burn. Let it remind me that I was alive, that I could feel this, that whatever came next couldn't take this moment from us.

His fingers found the apex of my thighs, and I cried out, my hips lifting to meet his touch. He worked me with steady strides, building the pleasure until I was trembling, until every nerve ending sang with pleasure.

"Please," I gasped, my nails digging into his shoulders. "Jade, please…"

"I know, love. I've got you." He positioned himself at my pussy, his eyes finding mine in the firelight. "I'll always have you."

Then he pushed it inside, and the world narrowed to just this. The stretch and burn of my pussy and the perfect fullness of him claiming me completely. We moved together with a rhythm that felt ancient, inevitable, like our bodies had been designed for exactly this. Each thrust sent pleasure spiraling through me, mixing with the fire in my veins until I couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.

His pace grew more urgent, more desperate, and I met him stroke for stroke, my body rising to take him deeper. The bond between us crackled and sparked like a living thing that wound tighter with every movement, every gasp, every whispered word.

"Mine," he growled, his teeth finding my shoulder. "Say it. Say you're mine."

"Yours," I breathed, even as some distant part of me whispered that I was lying, that I belonged to the goddess, to the prophecy, to a fate I couldn't escape. "I’m always yours."

He swore, his rhythm breaking, and I felt his dick swell inside me. The pressure kept building until I shattered, pleasure crashing over me in waves that left me gasping and shaking. He cummed seconds later, with my name like a broken prayer on his lips as he spilled his cum inside me.

For long moments, we laid tangled together, our breathing harsh in the quiet room. His weight pressed me into the mattress, grounding me. Then I realized that I was trembling. Not from cold or from fear, but from the enormity of what we just did, what it meant.

He rolled to the side, pulling me with him so my head rested on his chest. His heart thundered under my ear, gradually slowing to something steadier. His fingers traced idle patterns on my back, and I felt the bond between us humming, satisfied and content.

"I swear on your body that I'll return to you," he murmured into my hair. "Tomorrow, after I've ended Lucien, I'll come back to you. We'll figure out the rest. The prophecy, the goddess, all of it. We will figure it out together."

I wanted to believe him. Gods, I wanted to believe that love and determination could overcome destiny, that we could rewrite the ending Elara had planned for us.

But the fire in my veins pulsed with a knowing that chilled me to my core.

"The goddess won't let this end the way you want," I whispered, the truth slipping out before I could stop it.

Jade stiffened, his arms tightening around me. "Then we'll make her."

I closed my eyes, pressing closer to his warmth, and tried to ignore the voice in my head that sounded like Elara, cold and certain and utterly merciless.

Tomorrow, the will prophecy claim its due.
Tomorrow, you will discover what you truly are.
Tomorrow, everything burns.

I held Jade tighter and pretended I couldn't hear it.