Touched by the Flame || Azriel Shadowsinger

Chapter 51

Her heart fluttered when Azriel took her bottom lip between his teeth.

"Something funny?" He mumbled against her lips.

Tamping down her laughter, Soraya shook her head. Azriel's hands gripped her thighs, lifting her a little higher in his arms. Her legs wrapped around his waist. Tangled in the fabric of her dress.

"I'm just happy," she smiled, kissing him harder. Her hands slinked up his shoulders until cupping his face in them.

Stardust smeared beneath her fingertips, only making her smile broaden. It was smudged all across his face by now. Muddying his cheeks and painting his lips. She was sure she looked just the same.

Soraya hardly realized he was moving, but heard the soft click of a door shutting behind them. Her head lifted for a brief moment, eyes flitting open to wander the room while she caught her breath.

It was a reasonable space, but smaller than most she had grown accustomed to in the splendor of the Night Court. Everything was clean and tidy. Minimal, if she had to pick a word. 

The open studio space was dim, with dark floors and closed curtains of black and grey. The bedsheets were black, the rug in the entryway black. The only splash of color being the midnight blue accents sprinkled about. Dark and sleek and elegant. It was so perfectly Azriel.

"This is your apartment?" She asked, peeking over his shoulder to look all around. Curious of the things Azriel surrounded himself with.

The shadowsinger hummed an affirmative, leaning in for another kiss, "you're the first to see it."

Soraya smiled to herself when her back met the plush, perfectly made bed. Azriel descended overtop of her, arms caging her in as his lips pressed for hers once more. She lifted her chin to accommodate.

"You know you're allowed to enjoy a living space, right?" She laughed softly to herself, her eyes closing as he kissed her.

Azriel pulled away enough to look at her. Soraya's heart skipped at the image of him hovering over her, his face flushed and sparkling with stardust. He looked every bit as perfectly devastating as she once thought the fae to be.

"What more could I need than a beautiful woman in my bed?" A grin touched his face.

She rolled her eyes and lifted her hands to his perfect face once more, smoothing her fingertips across his cheek. Azriel's head tilted toward her touch. Soraya couldn't suppress the smile that came to her again. She sat up into him, kissing the shadowsinger deeply.

"Mm," she hummed, "maybe a candle?"

Azriel shared with her that wonderful laugh of his, shifting forward for their bodies to touch more fully. He pulled back, making her breath catch when he began to trail his lips across her neck.

"A candle then, just for you," he chuckled softly against her heating skin.

Soraya dragged a hand through his hair, leaving little trails of glitter from her fingers. She smiled, leaning closer. A breath stuttered out of her when fingers trailed up the line of buttons along her spine.

"I like this dress," Azriel's tone went low and deep enough to sprout a seed of excitement in her gut. 

He kissed the corner of her jaw, and his fingers tickled up the scars on her leg, up the slit of her dress to her bare hip.

His voice dropped to a near whisper, "I think I would like it better on the floor."

Heat spilled through Soraya, making her shiver as she grinned. Butterflies stirred to life in her stomach, and her heart kicked up its pace to match her breathing.