“And thirds,” he whispered in her ear as he picked her up in his arms and carried her to their bed.

She giggled but tried not to be too hard on herself about it as she watched her dark-elf assassin kiss her flushed skin. He climbed up her body as she lay pressed into the mattress. His arms were on either side of her head holding him just above her so he could look down into her face.

“My beautiful, Cassie,” he whispered and then kissed her slowly, deeply. “Thank you for loving me,” he said against her lips.

She smiled up at him as he pulled back. “It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it.”

He chuckled and she gasped at the sensation it created. His eyes darkened and he pressed himself closer. “Let me show you how much I love you.”

Cassie heard his words and she thought she might have nodded but she couldn’t be certain because at that point Trik started doing things that she was sure couldn’t possibly be legal in all fifty states and every worry and fear she had was suddenly gone. There was only Trik, his hands, his mouth, and his deep voice filling their bedroom as he whispered words of devotion while he made love to her.

“Those candles will never burn out will they?” Cassie asked as she lay draped across Trik’s stomach. She propped her chin up so she could look at the floating candles and found herself enthralled by the dancing flames. She was worn out and well-loved but couldn’t sleep. She knew that Trik was having no trouble sleeping because he kept dozing off, and she kept waking him up with silly questions.

“They’re magic candles, Love,” he murmured as his hands stroked her hair and down her bare back.

“It’s your magic that’s making them float and burn?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have to focus to keep them floating?”

He chuckled. “Obviously not, because a short time ago, as you know, floating candles were the farthest thing from my mind.”

Cassie grinned like the love sick fool she was as she thought of what had transpired only a short time ago, as he put it.

“So you’re happy?” she asked nervously.

“No, Cassie, there is no word in the human language that can describe what I am.”

She turned to look at his face and saw that his eyes were open and he was looking at her. Her skin flushed and she reached for the sheets to cover herself but Trik snatched them away.

“Hey!” she huffed. “I’m cold.”

“Liar.”

Her eyes narrowed on him. “I feel exposed.”

“You are exposed,” he paused and a smirk rose on his sinfully sexy mouth as he perused her curves. “And I like you that way.”

She rolled her eyes and flopped down on him, earning a grunt that made her smile smugly.

“Vixen,” he muttered.

“Trik.”

“Yes, Love.”

“Thank you.”

He reached for her face and gently turned her to face him. She knew what he would see, a girl so deeply in love that she was scared it couldn’t be real.

“For what?” he asked slowly.

“For tonight, for loving me, for wanting me.” Cassie met his stare and she hoped that he was feeling what she felt because she didn’t know if she could truly put it into words either.

“It is my honor and privilege, Cassandra.”

“Are you alright?” Cush asked Elora as she wiped the blood from her dagger onto her pant’s leg. She slid the blade down into her boot and then straightened up to look at him. She wanted to yell and scream and tell him what an idiot he had been to go alone, but she knew that it wouldn’t change anything.

So instead she simply said, “I’m fine.”

He watched her for several seconds, and when she didn’t elaborate further, he gave her a single nod and then turned back towards the charred SUV.

“Is the book still here?” Lisa asked Cush.

Cush nodded again. “Tarron knew I had come back for a reason; he was suspicious.”

“Does he know about the book?” Elora asked.

Cush reached into the vehicle and pulled the book out from under the seat. He looked back over to Elora and shook his head. “No, he doesn’t know about it, at least not from me. I didn’t tell him it was here.”

“Cush, we have to get that book back to Trik,” Rin told him. “It is old and powerful and if it fell into the wrong hands,” he let his words trail off; the outcome of such a suggestion being obvious.

“I agree,” Cush said as he motioned everyone to move in closer. “This is what we’re going to do. Rin you will take the book and travel through the portal. You will have to hide it on your person somehow. I will take Elora and her family back home and keep an eye on them until I hear back from you. Tony,” he looked at the human male and frowned, “well, you’re a grown man so do whatever you feel you need to.”

“I’m going with Rin,” Tony told him matter-of-fact. He held up his hand when Rin started to object. “Look, I’m going to have to ask for sanctuary from Trik. He knows that my family has worked for the dark elves and I am basically defecting, walking away from them. Lorsan will want me dead and frankly, I don’t really feel like dying right now.”

“Don’t people realize it’s an inconvenience to us to kill us when we still have crap to do?” Elora asked dryly.

Tony gave her a playful grin which earned him a glare from Cush.