Liam’s lashes feathered across his cheek as he pulled back, looked up. “I want you,” he whispered. “I want whatever you’ll share with me. Your words. Your breath—”

Daniel slid his legs wider until their hips were flush and stifled a groan. Liam’s body was burning, it was so sturdy beneath him, and it did horrible, wonderful things to him.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” Daniel confessed. But he wanted Liam to absolve him. He wanted his forgiveness.

“Whatever you like,” Liam breathed.

Daniel’s fingertips skimmed Liam’s chest, the buttons of his shirt. Their mouths drew them together again as Daniel worked the buttons open, kissing and gasping for air, kissing and pausing to look into Liam’s eyes, a question at each step. And each time, Liam nodded, biting at his swollen lower lip and stoking that fire fiercer in Daniel’s gut.

Daniel kissed the pale skin of Liam’s chest, his muscles, the fine golden hairs. God, he was beautiful, lean and powerful where Daniel, in less dire times, had been gentle and soft. He’d been embarrassed by his body then and by the feral thing he’d become, but as Liam stripped Daniel’s shirt away, the sly grin on his face eased Daniel’s fears.

“Just gorgeous,” Liam murmured, then melted back as Daniel mouthed at his neck. Liam’s back arched and he bucked forward with a groan as Daniel’s hands teased lower, tugged and tugged until finally he worked Liam’s belt free.

“Show me,” Daniel gasped. “Show me everything.”

“You’re sure?” Liam’s voice had twisted with yearning, but he held himself very still. Waiting.

“Yes.” Daniel cupped Liam’s face in his hands, thumbs grazing those strong cheekbones. “Completely.”

Liam seized him by his hips and rocked forward, and—oh.

And slowly, fumbling, hands linked to steady each other, they found their way. They moved together, and Daniel quickly realized he’d had nothing to fear at all. Everything felt—right. Like he’d been wearing his shoes on the wrong feet until this moment, like before Liam, he’d never really known how to breathe. He’d fretted for nothing. It was the most natural thing in the world to love Liam Doyle, and the sensations Liam teased out of him, the things he whispered—

Daniel wanted more of this. He wanted it to never end.

Just for one night, he dared to believe in an after. Murmuring, kissing, caressing—Liam let him believe.

The fires would rage tomorrow. The dark depths of Wewelsburg Castle could wait. For tonight, at least, Daniel no longer felt the blade pressing into his back. He forgot, just for a moment, the sword dangling over his head. The world ablaze around them. He felt bliss, he felt this boy he was in love with beneath him, and the rest of the world fell away.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

SIMONE