I think about what Ventos said in the smithy—about how all of this, good and bad, all rested on Ruvan shoulders. For the first time, I genuinely try to listen to Ruvan and what he’s saying. I try to believe every word. Not just because he can’t lie to me, but because…because I know deep within me that he is telling the truth because hewants to.
From the beginning, he pulled his punches. Even when I was striking to kill, he held back. He refrained. Yes, he needed—needs—me…but he could’ve gagged me and carried me down to this door. He could’ve tortured me into submission. He’s answered my questions. He’s been…kind.
I begin to allow the image of the monster I’ve seen him as to melt away. “You need blood to survive.”
“If I rest long enough I will recover,” he insists.
“You stubborn man.” I laugh bitterly. I never thought I would be trying to convince a vampire to drink my blood. I never thought that I would be someone to offer it. But the truth is—“I need you.”
His eyes widen slightly and he promptly breaks eye contact. As if, by taking his gaze away from me, he can ignore me.
“Ruvan, I don’t want to die here. I don’t want you to die. We have to carry on and see this through to the end. Your covenant is waiting for you. My family is waiting for me. And the fate of both of our people is holding its breath for what we do here.”
He slowly brings his eyes back to mine, searching. I can feel him reaching out with his magic. Conscious or not, I don’t know. But I don’t fight it. I don’t push him away.
I hate that I’m here. Yet, this place, this moment, this man—not a monster—it feels like the beginning of something consequential and inescapable. He straightens away from the footboard of the bed, shifting forward. I remain where I am, willingly trapped.
“I shouldn’t.”
“Why not? My blood is freely given.” I study his face; the softened edges are becoming harder. He’s becoming one of those monsters again.
“You feel as though you don’t have a choice.”
“Nowyou recognize that truth.” I give him a bitter smirk. Guilt softens his expression slightly but I don’t twist the proverbial knife. Instead I shake my head. “It’s different. This time I genuinely want to. I want you to get better, Ruvan, and I will give my blood for it.”
“I still can’t.” Yet, even as he says that, he’s consuming me with his eyes. I wonder what it will feel like when he uses his mouth to consume me and a wriggling excitement worms down my spine. I’m darkly curious about what will happen if he keeps looking at me that way. I want to find out where this new path I’m choosing will lead.
“Why are you hesitating?”
“Because I already know how you taste.” He lifts a hand, slowly running his fingertips up my arm, my shoulder, my neck.
“Is it bad?” I fight a blush and know I’m losing. I’ve never been touched like this before by a man. I’ve never even really been this close to a man beforeat all…and I like it. My mind might have wandered to the more sensual places in the past. But I never saw myself as something to be desired beyond my status as the forge maiden.
But he doesn’t know I’m the forge maiden. Ruvan doesn’t know or care about the extra rations the forge maiden and her family will get in times of hardship, the prestige in the community, or the respect within the hunters. He doesn’t see me as a conquest.
I’m just Floriane, the woman whose name he’s only just learned. Who tried to kill him. And yet he still looks at me as if I am the place where the world begins and ends. He still touches me as if my skin is sacred.
“Not at all.” He inhales slowly through his nose, as if overtaken by the memory. “You are…magnificent. You taste like fire and woodsmoke, like the rare, red orchid that blooms from old blood.”
I swallow thickly. “Then what’s the problem?” My voice quivers slightly. His intensity has my heart pounding. Even if he just desires my blood and the magic within it…I want him to keep looking at me, touching me.
“I fear that once I taste you again, I won’t be able to stop.”
“You will stop when I say.” I level my eyes with his, matching his intensity with my own.
He leans closer still, overwhelming all of me. “Are you presuming to order me? The fearsome vampir lord?”
“Yes,” I say with pride, lacking all hesitation.
He chuckles darkly, the sound rumbling through me and landing right in my groin, so hot that I have to shift to try and alleviate the tension. Does he know what he’s doing to me? I hope so…because I don’t want him to stop. In this moment, I want more. I want to cast it all aside and just be Floriane—not the forge maiden, not the hidden hunter. The woman.
“As you command,” he murmurs.
The forge maiden commanding the vampire lord. No one back home will ever believe it. Not that they would ever find out… This will be my secret.
His attention is on my throat. His fingers curl around the back of my neck. With his other hand, he traces the mark on the hollow between my collarbones. The soft caresses send shivers down my spine as sparks fly between his finger and the design. “Are you ready?”
“Will it hurt?” Excitement and nerves render my words barely audible.
