Chapter 96 – Bound by Fate, Marked by Devotion
Leonhardt moved with a slowness that was agonizing. Deliberate. Relentless. Unyielding.
His lips traced a path down the curve of Aetheria's throat, lingering against the pulse that raced beneath her skin. She shivered beneath his touch, but her hands gripped him just as tightly, unwilling to let go—not even for a second.
Her breath hitched when his fingers brushed over her bare shoulder, his warmth seeping into her skin like a fire that refused to burn out. He had always been intense, but this—this was different.
This was possession.
Leonhardt kissed her again, deeper, slower, pulling her further into the storm that had always existed between them. A storm that neither time nor death could ever silence.
Aetheria trembled, but it was not from weakness. It was from the sheer force of emotion that he dragged from her, the way he unraveled her, exposed every hidden part of her without mercy.
"Leonhardt," she whispered, his name a plea, a demand, a command that only he could obey.
His fiery red eyes, flecked with gold, met hers—and she drowned in them.
"You still think I need to prove it?" His voice was rough, teasing, but beneath it was something darker. Something undeniable.
Aetheria smirked, her fingers running through his ashen-black hair. "You always have more to prove."
Leonhardt growled.
Before she could say another word, he had lifted her, cradling her against his chest as if she weighed nothing. As if she were something precious.
Aetheria felt something tighten in her chest.
He had always held her this way. Even when they had been enemies—on opposing sides of a war that had shaken the heavens—he had never once wavered in how he touched her.
With reverence.
With devotion.
With the absolute certainty that she was his.
"You're insatiable," she murmured, brushing her lips against his ear.
Leonhardt chuckled, the sound dark and low. "And you love it."
Aetheria didn't deny it.
Instead, she curled her arms around his neck, pressing her lips just below his jawline. "If you keep touching me like this, I might forgive you for making me wait so long."
Leonhardt's expression darkened. "I will spend eternity making up for every second we were apart."
Aetheria's heart stilled.
This man…
She had known it before, but here, in his arms, with his warmth burning into her skin—she knew it with absolute certainty.
There was nothing in this world or any other that could take him from her again.
"Good," she whispered, pulling him closer. "Then don't waste any more time."
Leonhardt obeyed.