Whispers of Shadow and Skin

Therrin's POV

The cabin was quiet save for the rhythmic sound of our breathing. Morning light filtered through the cracks in the old wooden walls, but my vision wasn't bathed in gold—it was shadowed. I could see the edges of Ciaran's form beside me, clear and sharp, though the rest of the room remained smudged and soft, like a dream painted in charcoal. I should have been terrified. Instead, I was mesmerized.

I watched him sleep for a moment, his lashes dark against pale skin, the faint crease between his brows smoothing only when I touched his face. My fingers ran along his cheekbone, down to his collarbone, where the sheet had slipped. His skin was cool, but not cold. Not like I'd expected from someone who commanded darkness. He stirred beneath my touch.

"Are you watching me again, mo ghrá?" he murmured, voice still thick with sleep.

I smiled, not answering, and brushed a strand of hair from his forehead. "You always know."

"I feel you. Even when I sleep." His eyes opened, gleaming silver in the dusky light. "Come. There's somewhere I want to take you."

Ciaran's POV

I didn't tell her where we were going, only took her hand in mine and led her through the dense forest behind the cabin. The shadows shifted around us like silent guardians. I could feel them latching onto her too—welcoming her, even without her full command.

She said nothing, her steps light, her trust in me unspoken but loud. Her hair was wild and tangled from sleep and passion, and I found myself twirling strands of it around my fingers, like I had done the night before. Possessively. Reverently.

"It's not far," I promised, tightening my hold on her hand. "This place… it's ours. Always has been."

We broke into a hidden clearing wrapped in weeping willows and thick vines. A pool of water shimmered darkly beneath an ancient obsidian arch, carved by time and shadow. She stepped forward and gasped.

"I've seen this," she whispered. "In dreams…"

"You were never dreaming," I said, pulling her into me. "Not really."

Therrin's POV

Ciaran stood behind me, his hands skimming down my arms. There was a strange pull here—an aching in my chest that both hurt and soothed. I felt like I'd left something behind here long ago.

He slid the straps of my dress down my shoulders slowly, reverently, his mouth brushing the skin he revealed. "This is a sacred place, Therrin," he whispered. "It remembers us."

I turned to face him. "Show me."

He didn't hesitate. The shadows rose at his back like wings, and with a flick of his fingers, the memories began.

Not visions exactly—more like feelings pouring into me. Echoes. My laughter in this very clearing. My moans wrapped in his name. His voice promising to love me through war and death and rebirth. The passion we shared here—feral, sacred, uncontainable.

My breath caught as Ciaran kissed me again, this time slower. Hungrier. His lips trailed down my neck, lingering, branding.

Ciaran's POV

Her body melted into mine as I guided her to the mossy stones beside the pool. I lay her down carefully, shadows curling around us protectively. The curse still lingered—she couldn't see the world, not like this. But she could see me. Feel me. And that was enough. More than enough.

Her skin flushed beneath my hands as I whispered words of ancient power. The shadows responded, teasing along her inner thighs, brushing the peaks of her breasts, swirling against her pulse.

She shuddered beneath the sensation, gasping, arching.

"I can feel everything," she breathed.

"You always could," I murmured, leaning down to kiss the hollow of her throat.

The shadows obeyed my commands—wrapping around her wrists lightly, teasing without constraint, bringing heat and electricity to every place I could not touch at once. She was fire and silk beneath me, her body responding to every breath, every sigh.

"You were mine once," I said, trailing kisses along her jaw. "You are mine again."

She answered not with words, but by pulling me down to her, hands tangled in my hair, lips seeking mine with desperation.

Therrin's POV

There was no fear. No hesitation. Just surrender and something deeper than love—like our very souls were tangled in the night sky, woven through the stars above us.

His hands were rough and tender, dragging pleasure from me in waves. When the shadows lifted me, pressing me against his chest while his mouth roamed over my body, I cried out, and he swallowed the sound like a man starving.

My body knew him. My soul ached for him. It had always been this way.

And when it was over, when the last cries faded into the soft hush of the woods, he held me—forehead pressed to mine, lips brushing my temple.

"You don't have to remember it all yet," he whispered. "But this? This is ours. No war. No gods. Just us."

Ciaran's POV

She fell asleep tangled in my arms, peaceful and soft and still pulsing with the power I'd helped her unlock. The shadows wrapped around her like a blanket, responding to her even in sleep. She didn't know it yet, but they were beginning to obey her more than me. It thrilled me.

And terrified me.

I kissed her brow once before slipping from her hold, standing naked in the moonlight. I summoned my cloak with a thought and disappeared into the trees, needing distance. Needing air.

I didn't go far.

From the edge of the clearing, I looked back once, watching her sleep. My Therrin. My beloved.

"You're close," I murmured into the wind. "I can feel you watching. So say what you came to say."

But no one answered.

The shadows only shifted, silent and waiting.