The Rising (The Rising #4) - Kristen Ashley Page 0,129
Heloise who spoke.
“A new Airen. A new era.”
With that, her heart grew light.
These words had a double meaning.
One of them was that, they would try.
That was all that could be asked.
Serena nodded once, sharply.
She then ordered, “To your posts.”
Instantly, they broke off.
Serena looked to Chu, and before she could speak, he did.
“They will lay down their arms.”
She opened her mouth.
“My love,” he said quietly, “they will lay down their arms.”
She didn’t care about that.
She knew that.
She cared about what might come before that.
“You are my love too,” she stated.
“Pardon?”
“You are my love too. I am in love with you, Chu.”
He smiled. “I know.”
She frowned. “I know you know, but it needed the saying.”
“Yes,” he whispered. “It did.”
He then shifted his horse so it was right alongside hers, grasped her about the neck with his hand, and pulled her to him for a wet, thorough kiss.
Chu released her mouth, but not her neck, when he declared a gruff, “And I love you.”
Only then did he let her go, pull his reins to the right and ride off to head his squadron of Nadirii.
She watched him until she could see him no more through the trees.
She then turned to the warriors that sat atop their horses amongst the forest.
Her gaze moved through them.
“Fortitude, sisters,” she whispered. “For if the goddess is with us, we will not lose a one of us today.”
And then she shifted her mount to face the direction of the grazing plain.
Queen Silence
Antechamber, Guest Bedchamber, Sky Citadel, Sky Bay
AIREN
As was Mars’s wont, he had already given me mine, so I held on tight with limbs and other parts of me as I enjoyed the velvet violence of his thrusts as he sought his.
“You’re…a gods-damned…minx,” he grunted, his fingers digging into the curves of my behind where he held me aloft against the wall.
I grinned.
“I should be atop Hephaestus,” he growled.
“Then hurry,” I whispered, pulled his head down and kissed him.
My bottom slammed repeatedly into stone, and my throat welcomed his groan, as he gave me his seed.
He pulled his mouth from mine, his torso back, but kept his neck bent so he could watch himself glide in and out of me through his aftermath.
Mars finally sunk deep and I sighed in contentment at the feel.
And his eyes came to mine.
“Brazen,” he muttered on a false complaint.
“You may thank me later,” I told him.
His mouth twitched before he pulled me off his shaft and set me on the ground.
My husband made certain I was steady before he moved away, tucked himself in and began to do up his pants.
He looked so handsome in his leathers and mantle, his sword scabbarded at his back.
Which was why, upon seeing him, I had instigated what had just happened.
Then again, he always looked handsome.
He was almost to the door when I called, “Should I wait for you to have breakfast?”
His eyes came to mine.
“Yes.”
I smiled brightly at him.
His face softened.
And then he was gone.
Prince Cassius
Outside Highgate, Sky Bay
AIREN
Mars moved into position next to Elena.
When he was there, Cassius leaned forward and said, “Good of you to show up.”
“My queen was in a mood,” Mars muttered.
“So was his,” Elena stated, jerking her head toward Cass. “So we got started early.”
“We did as well,” Mars retorted. “She just wanted seconds.”
Elena burst out laughing.
He could hear True at his other side groaning about such words uttered regarding his cousin.
But Aramus was on the other side of Mars, and he was chuckling.
Cassius clenched his teeth.
He then looked down to the plain which was covered in snow.
And lines of battle-ready AG soldiers.
He turned his gaze right, looking beyond True, to where the entirety of the road up to Highgate was lined with Airenzian, Nadirii, Firenz and Dellish soldiers.
His eyes went up, and there he saw two of Frey’s dragons.
One was seated on an outcropping halfway up the cliffs, tail stirring, tongue lolling. The other lay regal across a back balcony of the Citadel, its neck arced tall, wings at rest high at its back, clawed front arms crossed at its breast, tail curled about its flank, red eyes aimed at the plain.
The silhouette of Frey stood on the railing next to it.
Cassius’s head turned left.
Beyond Ellie, Mars, to Aramus, Tor, Lahn…
Apollo.
As if sensing his attention, Apollo leaned well forward.
“I would not lose another woman or man,” Cassius called.
Apollo said not a word.
He wheeled his horse and rode back through the Highgate.
Watching him go, Cassius raised his gaze to the cliffs beyond the gate that had, for centuries, been the