"In his gaze, I didn't find answers, I found myself belonging, a gravity, a truth that no magic could mimic and no power could defy."
I sat cross-legged on the floor of my chambers, bare feet pressed to the cool, glassy stone. The light filtering through the pearl-laced window panes danced across the marbled floor like the shimmer of moonlight on restless tides. I let my hands rest on my knees, palms turned upward, and exhaled slowly.
My breath slowed, heart quieted, and then I reached deeper, past the veils of the present moment, down through layers of memory, instinct, and bloodline. First came the whisper of the Fae magic, always patient, waiting at the edge of my skin like a lover too polite to press closer. Then I invited the ancient witch's fire that simmered in my veins, the part I had buried for so long, it had teeth when it stirred.
It was volatile, old, and unkindand the two magics twined as I coaxed them together. A thread of silver and a current of shadow. One wild, one bound in nature. Fae and witch. The power in me. My limbs began to hum with it. The pressure in my palms grew, like the air before a storm. Power curled around my spine. I could feel it climbing, cracking through me like roots breaking stone. My skin prickled, lips parting as I tried to hold the thread steady.
But then, a sudden bolt rose in my power. A pulse of heat unfurled in my gut fast, ravenous, and primal.
"What—?" I whispered, my voice hoarse.
It wasn't just magic, but a wave of raw, carnal energy slammed through me, knocking my breath sideways. My body jerked as if gripped by invisible hands. My pulse thundered. Power slipped from my control as my head lolled back, spine arching involuntarily. My legs folded beneath me, weak.
"Gods—" I gasped, slamming a palm to the floor to steady myself.
The heat licked up my neck, curled under my ribs, and flooded my senses. It wasn't mine. It wasn't anything I'd summoned. It felt as if someone had poured molten starlight straight into my bloodstream.
And the hunger and desire rose. It wasn't even tethered to a single thought or image, it was raw, senseless need. I staggered to my feet, one hand braced on the edge of the nearby table. My knees buckled, and I cursed.
"What the hell is this?" I growled.
The air around me shimmered, unsteady now. My meditation had cracked, the veil splintered. My breath came in ragged waves, and my fingers trembled. Whatever that pulse of lust and power was, it hadn't faded. It surged through my blood like it had tasted freedom and now refused to return to its cage. My breath was uneven, my fingers twitching with a need I didn't understand and couldn't suppress. I flung the door open and stumbled into the corridor, robes half-loose, heartbeat thundering in my ears.
I didn't know where I was going; all I wanted was to move. The air in the Pearl Castle gardens was always cooler, the scent of salt and sea breeze clinging to the vines that trailed the archways. It should've calmed me, but then I found Morkai in the garden. Standing by the obsidian fountain, half-drenched in moonlight and mist. He looked like something carved from ancient myth, from shipwrecked dreams and sea-gods dark and unreadable, his arms crossed over that cursed, regal chest of his.
And the moment I saw him, the fucking wave doubled.
I gasped, buckling forward.
"Shit—" I breathed, my legs nearly giving out and his head lifted and our eyes locked.
That was all it took, and the world snapped. Whatever tether of control I had left disintegrated. The breath I'd been holding burst free in a shaky moan, and before I could second-guess myself, my feet moved fast, wild, unthinking across the stone path. I crashed into him, and his arms were around his neck.
His body pressed to his like I belonged there, and he caught me, and his arms wrapped around me in one clean, brutal motion, grounding and consuming all at once. The scent of him hit me, salt and deep ocean, dark and warm, and my entire spine lit up. His power curled around mine in an invisible thread, and my breath hitched.
His lips were next to my ear. "Caelan…" he rasped, voice low, strained. "What the hell is this?"
"I don't know," I whispered, trembling. "But it started when I was meditating… and when I reached for the power, something something rose. And then I felt you. Like the pull was coming from you."
Morkai's grip tightened and he didn't speak right away. But I felt it again that shared tether. Like a current of magic twisting between us, electric and ancient. I barely caught my breath before Morkai lifted me into his arms, his strength both steadying and overwhelming. I felt my heart race, pounding in time with the thrumming energy that radiated from him.
Without warning, he moved faster than I could track, slipping through the walls of the Pearl Castle like they were made of water. The glass parted at his touch, magic shimmering and bending as if obeying an unseen tide. I clung to him as we flowed through corridors glowing with ancient runes and liquid light, the castle's heartbeat echoing in every step. Finally, the walls opened, revealing a room unlike any I'd seen. Salt hung thick in the air, mixed with a deep hum, as if the ocean itself whispered beneath the stones.
"This… this is your sanctum," I breathed, eyes wide as I took in the space.
Morkai nodded, his voice low and certain. "This is where the depths meet the soul of the Pearl Castle. It's where I come when the surface world grows too heavy."
I rested my head lightly on his shoulder, feeling the pulse of the sea resonate inside me. The ancient stirrings I'd sensed earlier felt stronger here, more alive.
The second wave hit me like a tidal surge, hotter and more demanding than before. I couldn't help myself, I pressed my body closer to Morkai's, rubbing against him with a desperate need I couldn't contain. A low, guttural moan escaped my lips before I could stop it, raw and trembling.
Morkai staggered back, eyes darkening with something fierce and wild. A growl rumbled deep in his throat, his voice dropping to a rough whisper that sent shivers down my spine.
"This... this is the bewitching magic of a Fae," he said, voice thick with both warning and something like awe. "The seductive magic that lives deep in a Fae." I held on tighter, not ready to let go of the intoxication of his presence and the power between us, both terrifying and irresistible.
Morkai didn't speak. He just moved fluid, deliberate, like the tide pulled by a force only he understood. He crossed the room in a few strides and laid me down on the bed like I was made of something fragile, though everything in me was screaming hunger. My legs instinctively wrapped around his waist, locking him in place, and then I pulled him down.
Our lips crashed. There was nothing gentle in it. It was all teeth and breath and the taste of something ancient crackling between us. A kiss that was passionate, needed, demanding. He growled into my mouth low, primal nd I felt it echo in my chest, down my spine, curling heat between my ribs. Our powers tangled and His abyssal magic collided with the storm of mine, threads of Fae seduction laced with something older… something wild I'd never dared unleash before.
And by the magic, I was lost in it, in him. The haze of lust rose thick as mist around us, and the magic followed, wrapping us both in a cocoon of want that blurred the world.
Morkai didn't speak. He just moved fluid, deliberate, like the tide pulled by a force only he understood. He crossed the room in a few strides and laid me down on the bed like I was made of something fragile, though everything in me was screaming hunger. My legs instinctively wrapped around his waist, locking him in place, and then I pulled him down.
Our lips crashed. There was nothing gentle in it, it was all teeth and breath and the taste of something ancient crackling between us. A kiss that was passionate, needed, and demanding. He growled into my mouth, and I felt it echo in my chest, down my spine, curling heat between my ribs. Our powers tangled and magic collided with the storm of mine, threads of Fae seduction laced with something older… something wild I'd never dared unleash before. The haze of lust rose thick as mist around us, and the magic followed, wrapping us both in a cocoon of want that blurred the world.
Our breaths were uneven, shared in the hush of a room still echoing with magic and longing.
Morkai hovered just above me, his weight braced on his arms, shadows dancing across his face in soft, silvery streaks from the glass walls around us. But it was his eyes that held me. Held me like no tether ever had, dark, haunted, and full. Not just with desire. With something deeper. Something that stole the breath from my lungs.
Our eyes stayed locked, and in that quiet, something shifted, something permanent. Like we had just stepped past a threshold neither of us knew we'd crossed. His hand came up slowly. Almost reverently. Fingers brushed my temple and moved to the leather tie in my hair, and with one small tug, he let it fall. The strands spilled out like liquid silver and night, pooling over the bed, across my shoulders and chest. His breath hitched, and I watched the exact moment his composure faltered.
"Gods," he breathed. Rough. Real. "You're…" His hand slipped into my hair, curling into it gently, and then he leaned down just enough for his lips to hover near my ear. "I am head over fucking heels… and completely bewitched by you."
My heart stuttered from the terrifying, breathtaking truth that I wanted him to be.
I wanted him to be mine, and my chest tightened, and my hand found his jaw, thumb brushing the curve of his mouth. "And you…" I whispered, voice catching, "You undo me, Morkai."
His lips curved into the barest smile, shy, like he wasn't used to feeling wanted. Not for who he was beneath the power or the throne, and even beneath the abyss. But in that moment, wrapped in the wreckage of our restraint and the quiet magic we hadn't meant to make, and I think we both realized that we would never be alone ever again.
" I need you." The words were out of my mouth before I could stop myself, and they came out between a moan and a plea.