He froze, would've pulled out except that her legs remained locked around him. "Lily?"

"It's because I haven't done this before," she gasped. "I just...need a minute."

She felt so luscious that Micah wasn't sure he had the willpower to give her that minute, but then he remembered her cry of pain and knew he did. He wouldn't hurt Lily. Even when he was very angry with her, he wouldn't hurt her. Maybe he'd growl at her a little, but she seemed not to mind that very much.

The thoughts were good ones, but they didn't help in keeping his mind off the fact that he was half-buried inside her, his entire body poised on the brink of the most delicious sensations he'd ever felt.

Sweat broke out along his spine.

She spoke against his lips. "Now, Micah."

Not asking her if she was sure, he pushed deeper. She made another sound, but this one didn't have any hurt in it. Kissing her, stroking his hand down to grip her bottom, he sank in to the hilt. "Lily." It was a groan.

Liliana's response was softer but no less passionate, her thighs clenching around him. "Don't stop."

He moved out of her slow, pushed in as slow. It felt even better. So he did it again. Hot and tight and wet around him, her body soft where he gripped her, she was perfect. He found he was moving faster, thrusting into her in hard pulses, but she was with him, murmuring at him to hurry, kissing his jaw, his face, her nails digging into his sweat-slick shoulders. A last hard thrust and he spilled inside her with a low, deep sound of pleasure, able to feel her muscles spasming as she bucked, gasped and went liquid around him.

Later, after they'd both managed to find enough strength to bathe, she snuggled up next to him and called him "darling." Micah decided he liked it. He'd allow her to call him darling, but only when they were alone. The Guardian of the Abyss couldn't be called darling, after all.

It was his last thought before slumber crept over him in a stealthy wave.

They left the Black Castle at first light.

Liliana finished organizing the food and other supplies, while Micah armed himself with knives and a long, lethally sharp sword that he carried in a sheath down his back - because once they left this realm, he would no longer be able to call on the power of the Abyss. He and Liliana would have to rely on the magic that resided within their bodies until they reached Elden - but to use too much of it would leave them weak and vulnerable.

"You will watch over the castle," he said to Bard. "The kitchari keep their eyes on the perimeter, and the anubi the skies. But the Arachdem shouldn't return." He'd sensed them leaving the realm when he woke with Liliana so warm and soft beside him.

Bard's soulful eyes were dark. "Be safe."

Nodding, Micah looked over at where Liliana - dressed in another one of those footmen's uniforms Jissa kept digging up - was saying goodbye to the brownie who owned Bard's heart. Jissa was distressed but not crying. The women hugged, tight and fierce, and then Liliana was by his side. "It's time," she said, glancing at the watch she carried for him on a chain around her neck, the one with a unicorn prince on its face.

The hands were almost to midnight.

Leaving without further goodbyes - though he did catch Liliana waving surreptitiously to a tiny twitching nose that appeared in the doorway - Micah walked them out to the stone garden and gathered her up in his arms.

As Micah rose into the air on wings of leathery brown, Liliana distracted herself by attempting to work out how they were going to get to the castle once they reached Elden. The lake was impassable - her father's specially bred fish didn't hunger only for flesh, they would also devour any boat or raft not enspelled with the Blood Sorcerer's personal protections.

As for the walkway, the guards with the arms and tail of a giant scorpion and the teeth of a screaming banshee might once have been small, relatively harmless creatures, but no longer. Their lurching size meant she and Micah might possibly be able to move fast enough to avoid the whipping sting of their tails - but the risk would be a terrible one, not only because of the deadly nature of the creatures' poison, but also because they would be out in the open on the causeway, easy prey for any guards on the castle battlements.

A scorching wave, on the fine border between bearable and painful.

Glancing down, she glimpsed bubbling lava pools belching heat. Dark red and angry, the pools were rumored to be so hot that should a man fall into one, he'd be so much liquid between one breath and the next. Something moved below the viscous surface of one and when it pulled itself to the ledge with four-clawed hands, she saw it was a giant salamander, its brimstone eyes watching their progress with a greed that said should they come too near, it would reach out with its fiery tongue and drag them down to its lair for a slow and torturous devouring.

Micah's arms tightened. "Don't be frightened, Lily. Nothing can touch us here."

Not taking her eyes off the salamander, she said, "My father burned me with a salamander once. I'm so afraid of them." She'd never before shared her fear with anyone, never before had anyone whom she'd trusted not to use that fear to torment her.

Micah's wings made batlike flapping sounds as he flew faster over the lava pools. "I will kill your father, and then you won't be afraid anymore."

The order - and it was that - made her want to laugh, even as fear lingered in her veins. Then they were leaving the bubbling pools behind to traverse a barren stretch of desert, the sand appearing to glitter with shards of precious gems. "Micah," she said some time later, frowning at what she saw, "your wings."

"I know." Descending on hot gusts of air, he landed on the brilliant desert sands flecked with red and blue and aquamarine.

She put down the small supply pack she'd been holding and asked him to spread his wings, checking the places where the leathery material had gone translucent. A fine webbing continued to hold muscle and tendon together, but it was fragile, easily damaged. "It must be because you're carrying me," she said, frowning. "The strain - "

"No." Dropping his sword to the sands, he angled his head into the blistering desert winds. "There is a subtle poison in the air. It's been weakened by entry to this realm and won't harm our bodies, but my wings, it appears, are vulnerable."

"Me," she whispered, knowing the poison spell was anchored to her blood. "This poison attacks us because of me."

Chapter 23

"Stop thinking about him, Lily." Micah scowled at his wings. "Focus on how we will thwart the poison, because without my wings to carry us to the Great Divide, we won't make it in time."

Shaking off the cold inside her, she touched one of the translucent patches. "Does it hurt?"

"Yes."

Her head jerked up, hand dropping. "Micah."

"It's all right." Reaching back, he poked a hole through the damaged patch. "It's no use. They're disintegrating."

As Liliana watched, the edges of his wings began to curl inward. Horror roiled into her stomach. "You mustn't take the wings back into your body."

"I don't know where they come from, but yes, if they do return to my body, then the poison may succeed in attacking me from the inside. I shouldn't die while in this realm, but your father's magic is twisted." Reaching into his boot, he pulled out a large hunting knife. "You must cut them off, Lily. I can't reach."

Her stomach threatened to revolt at the idea of it, but she didn't hesitate, because if she knew her father, the poison would cause Micah excruciating pain before it killed him. Taking the blade, she shut out everything else, and then, for the first time in her life, took a knife to a living being by choice.

The material of his wings was tough, and she nearly sobbed in grateful joy when the first cut didn't bleed. But she knew it was hurting Micah, though he didn't make a single sound. "Almost there," she whispered, throat raw. "Just a little longer, darling."

The second curled-up wing fell to the glimmering sand so hot it was starting to sear the bottom of her boots. "There." Checking the two thin ridges of tissue that remained on his back, she couldn't see any sign of the poison, but biting down on her lower lip, she used a smidgen of blood magic to make certain. "You can retract those pieces."

He collapsed to his knees even as the stubs of his wings disappeared into his flesh, black armor closing over the slits. Dropping the knife, she knelt before him, uncaring of the sands burning through her tights. "I'm sorry, Micah. I'm so sorry." Wrapping her arms around him, she kissed and petted and stroked until he stopped shivering and stood, taking her with him.

"Without my wings," he said, once more the Lord of the Black Castle, "we'll need another way to reach the border between realms."

Now that she could think again, she became aware of the blazing heat once more. "I could use my blood," she said, beads of sweat trickling down her spine, the valley between her breasts.

Micah shook his head. "No, we need to conserve as much of our strength as possible. Your father is a powerful adversary."

"Is there another way to use the magic of the Abyss to get us to the border?" Putting her hand up to shade her eyes, she looked around, saw nothing but endless sand in every direction, shimmering and rolling with waves of incandescent heat.

"Yes." Micah gave her a solemn look. "I can call one of the giant salamanders to carry us the rest of the way."

Bile rose up in her throat. "It'll burn us alive." The creature's very skin was fire.

"I will protect us," he said with a gentle caress on her cheek. "You must trust me, Lily."

The child inside of her, the one who had smelled her flesh sear to the sound of her father's cruel laughter, scrabbled in panic, but she nodded. "Do it."

He was already covered by the black armor, but now it swallowed him until only his face remained exposed. Throwing up his arms, he roared to the heavens. A responding roar sounded an instant later. All too soon, the sands began to ripple in a strange wind. When she looked up, it was to meet the hungry gaze of a salamander as it flew on wings of fire to land beside Micah.