‘I sent them out to play. Tonight is about me and you.’ Hetakes my hand, kissing the inside of my wrist. I remember being bitten there, by another vampire, my body heating at the memory of what we were doing.
‘Yess,’ he murmurs, his mouth descending on mine once more, ‘that’s it, my Raven. Let me feel you.’ He deepens the kiss until I see stars, my heart pounding as he presses against me. I put my hand on his smooth chest.
‘Please.’ It’s a breathed word, but there are footsteps, the guards by the door coming closer. Joaquin steps back, linking his arm with mine.
‘Your parents, I believe, are in the main sitting room.’ He sighs. ‘I will do this, for you. If you promise to let me take you out tomorrow night?’
‘All right.’ I can do that. Iwantto do that.
And I’ll figure out what to do about Michael later.
ChapterThirty-One
BLOOD MAGIC
‘Tell me what you hear. What you see.’
It’s just after sunset. I’m near the fence that borders our estate, where it brushes against the edge of the Great Forest. Joaquin is with me, his hand on my waist.
‘When you said you were going to take me out tonight, this wasn’t what I thought you meant.’ My legs are cold, my short dress and boots not really suited for wandering the grounds at night. I don’t really care, though.
‘Shh.’ His grip on my waist tightens. ‘Use all your senses.’
I sigh, doing as he asks. I’m not sure what the point is, other than to show him how bad humans are at this. At first, all I’m aware of is my own breath, the pressure of his hand. Then my vision adjusts and I can see further. The forest, at first a dark mass, now becomes shapes in the darkness. Tree trunks and small things that move. The crackle of twigs, the hoot of an owl. The crashing path of a deer through the undergrowth. I hear the faint sound of rushing water, a whispered thread of noise. Darkness, that can’t be the waterfall Kyle took me to, can it? My breath catches. Holy shit.
‘That’s it. Sink into it.’
‘This is amazing. I never knew?—’
‘—that you could do this? You are vampire, Emelia, just as I am, despite your human form. Your very blood sings with our magic. Do not fight who you are.’ His lips brush my ear. I tingle all over. ‘We are the reason humans seek light in the darkness. I see you wanting to be that light for them. But there’s darkness in you, too.’
‘I’m not vampire.’ But even as I say the words, I wonder. Yes, I have a human body, human frailties, but my blood, as everyone likes to remind me, is vampire blood.
‘No?’ He turns me to face him. ‘Humans cannot see what you just saw. Nor do they taste each other’s blood.’
‘I don’t drink blood.’
‘You’ve never had blood pass your lips?’
‘Not human blood.’
‘Maybe you should try it sometime.’
In any other circumstance, this would be abhorrent. But something about being in the dark with him, listening to the forest, brings a wildness to the surface. I wonder what it would be like to be truly vampire, to feed on something living.
Darkness surges in me, the part that only he seems to reach. The crackle of power between us, Raven to Jaguar, that I felt when we first met. It’s intoxicating. I’ll never have to worry about him betraying me for power, because he has his own. I’ll be his consort as much as he’ll be mine, equals on our thrones.
He smiles, flash of white fangs, then bites his finger and extends it to me. A single drop of blood, dark red, sits on the tip. ‘You are vampire beneath your skin. So drink.’
As I gaze at him, wondering, it’s as though the rising wildness possesses me and I grab his hand, bringing his finger to my lips, sucking it. He groans, his eyes closing. He tastes like violets, and something more heated. Then I’m in his arms, his mouth on mine, my back against the cold metal railings.
‘Oh yes, my darling,’ he murmurs against my mouth. His hands roam over me and I arch into him, wanting more. ‘Now let me taste you.’
I tense, wondering what he means to do. His hand slips under my skirt, between my legs, pulling my underwear aside. I gasp, my head going back as he explores me, pleasure pounding through my veins.
‘Raven one, Raven two.’ The call from a nearby patrol, guarding the fence, brings me back to reality.
Shit. I push at Joaquin. ‘We can’t do this. The guards…’
