“Right now I want you,” I confess. “Kiss me,” I demand.
“Yes, my lady.” He obliges without a second thought.
The kiss is slow. He brushes his lips against mine lightly once, twice. Then, presses them firmly. He kisses me for me and I kiss him for him. I kiss him because I want him. Because I am falling in love with him, too.
Ruvan pulls away and my eyes flutter open.
“I want you to touch me,” I admit.
“How?”
“Like our first night, and in ways I don’t entirely yet know,” I admit. I grab onto him so he doesn’t pull away, so he knows I’m serious in this need. “I want to explore you. I want you toshowme new things, better than what you already have.”
Ruvan licks his lips. “What do you think I could show you?”
“How men and women fit together.” A flush rises to my cheeks. I struggle to keep it at bay. I want him to take me seriously. To know that even though I might be a maiden, I’m not ashamed of this need.
His lips brush over mine a third time in the faintest of kisses. I shake my head.
“I shall oblige you, my bloodsworn. But not here.” He spins me, lifts me.
We move through the night. His silent steps are wide and sure. This is like a dream. The sky open above me, a million stars illuminating the ghostly path stretched across a frigid abyss. We’re back in the castle, through the chapel. I hear the faint voices of Callos and Quinn below, but if they hear us, they don’t call up.
Inside his chambers, past the settee I doubt I’ll be sleeping on again, and into his room. The night’s chill has beat us here through the broken glass of his window. It nips at me as my armor falls away, sharpening my senses and heightening my awareness of what I’m doing. But I don’t put a stop to his hands as they move over me. I allow him to help me out of my armor. I unbutton his coat.
We’re still fully clothed. I’ve seen him in just a shirt and trousers before. He’s seen me in the same. But this moment feels different. Perhaps because I’m already peeling away the rest with my mind. I know we will be bare before each other soon enough and that has me shivering.
“Are you cold?” He wraps his arms around my shoulders. My hands are pinned between us, splayed on his chest.
I can feel his heart racing. Perhaps that’s what prompts me to admit, “A little nervous, I think.”
“If it’s too much, we can stop. Anytime. You say the word.”
I think of when he first drank from me, warning me he might not be able to stop. It brings a smile to my lips now. From the beginning we existed with crossing the boundaries the world placed on us, but honoring our own.
“It’s not too much.”
“You’re sure?”
“Since when are vampir lords so gentle?”
“It’s in the process of blood lore—we should only take what is freely given.” He picks me up once more for the sole purpose of laying me on the bed. I’m immediately reminded of the first time he was atop me. Heat swells between my thighs, tingling and unbearable. I need him to touch me again and he wastes no time. Ruvan spares no inch of my body with his kisses. My clothes are patched with wet spots from his affections.
His hands are on the hem of my shirt, slowly lifting. “Let me see you.”
I nod and he peels away my clothes from my flesh, dotted with chilled bumps. He devours me not with his fangs, but with his stare. It’s as though I am a feast in famine and he possesses a hunger I have never seen before.
Bravery possesses me. I am not going to be the only one exposed. I sit, tugging his shirt over his head. I see the constellation of scars and marks he dutifully pointed out to me before, painting a picture across his flesh of his life until now. The moment we’re bare together, he pulls me to him. Our skin is flush up the length of our chests. He bites at my shoulder and I let out a gasp, my nails digging into his back.
Ruvan pulls away quickly. I can see the faintest streak of red on his lips. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Ruvan…” I cup his cheek, my thumb parting his lips, running down his fangs to the point. “It’s all right.”
“You know I am not my forefathers?”
“I do.” I meet his eyes. “You’ve never lied to me. I know you don’t want to hurt me.” I shift. My hips grind against his and a moan escapes me. He holds me tighter. “Just like I know how good you can make me feel.”
He chuckles, lids heavy, eyes almost sinister but in the most delightful way. “You still have no idea how good I can make you feel…but I have every intention of showing you.”
