“There was dirt. A grave or somewhere cold. A—”
“I’m a romantic at heart.” He shrugs and sits, his dark wings tucked closely against his back. “I turned you in the tomb of my ancestors. You’re mine now.”
Those words grate against my ears. My black heart murmurs the truth over and over. Solano is my mate. I am bound to him, and my love for him isn’t something that can be changed, not even with Eraldon’s midnight venom in my veins. “I’m Solano’s mate.”
His head turns so quickly I have to stifle a shriek, and then he’s on top of me, yanking me down in the bed and pinning me in place.
I try to just breathe, to calm the panic that threatens with each aggression from Eraldon.
“You belong to me. My mark covers his. My blood runs in your veins. Everything you are is mine.” His fangs are long, lethal, and his dark eyes burn into me. “The sun king is of no concern until it’s time for me to claim his head.” He snaps his teeth like a wild animal.
A silent scream sounds in my soul, every part of me crying for Solano, for my mother, for the Ancestors to save me from the monster who stole me away.
His gaze flicks to my lips, and he shifts his hips so I feel every hard inch of him. “I know he’s sampled you already. I could smell him on you.” He wrinkles his nose. “But I will give you so much more.”
I’m too terrified to move, to cry, to beg.
“I could take it all from you.” He seems to consider the thought. “But I prefer you give yourself willingly. Well, at least a bit more willing than you are at the moment.” He sneers. “After all, I was raised a gentlefae in the court of my father.” Leaning down, he runs his fangs along my throat. “You owe me, Emma.”
“I don’t owe you anything.” My voice trembles, but I put steel into it. “You’ve made me a monster.”
“I’ve made you immortal.” He meets my eyes again. “Given you what Solano never could. At first, I didn’t know why he chose you. You’re a changeling. A speck of dust. But there’s so much more, isn’t there?” He puts his full weight on me, his cold body like stone. “You’re so warm. Whatever strange lineage runs in your blood makes you more. Like a siren. You call to me. Solano must’ve heard it, too. But he’s lost you. Now you’re mine.”
Anger rises in me, so high that it overtakes my fear. “I don’t belong to you.”
“Oh?” He presses so hard on my wrists that I sink lower into the bed, his movement displacing the covers and revealing my breasts. He glances down and licks his lips. “I could take you right now. Fuck thoughts of Solano right out of you.”
My own fangs lengthen, and rage like I’ve never known heats inside me, almost making my blood bubble. With a hard shove, I push Eraldon off me and jump from the bed. He doesn’t land with a thump like I expect. Instead, he laughs and is on top of me again before I can make it to the bedroom door.
Face down, I try to push up, but he settles on me again, pinning my awkward wings painfully against my back.
His lips brush my ear as he wrenches one arm behind me, then the other. “You’re strong, day queen. But not stronger than me.” He smiles against me, sending a chill down my spine. “Royal blood makes me fiercer, faster. Your inferior changeling blood slows you down.”
I scream as he shoves my arms higher, twisting my shoulders with the force.
“Love the sound of that. Now, I’m no expert of course, but I think you need a bit more conditioning.”
“Get off me.” I struggle but get nowhere.
“A lesson in obedience.” He smiles against my ear. “Something to remind you. I’ll have to drain you, nightling.” He sighs as if it’s a chore. “And then we’ll begin again. More of my blood for you. And the next time you wake, you’ll know whom you belong to.”
When his fangs rip into my throat, a scream tears from me. I cry for Solano, for my mate. His name bursts forth in a peal of terror and rage that fires up from my soul.
It only emboldens Eraldon further, and he grips my waist with one clawed hand to hold me still as his fangs sink even deeper. I writhe and fight until my mind grows sluggish, my cries subside, and my eyes close once again.
6
Solano
“—could’ve stripped the skin from your bones by now if I were so inclined.” A harsh cackle wakes me from my dark dreams.
“I knew I should never have come to this cursed realm. I hate it here.” The obsidian witch sits to my right, three blades at her throat, not that they’d do much good against her. Obsidian witches are nigh unkillable. Whereas taking a fae’s head will end his immortal life, an obsidian witch has already lived at least one lifetime and been reborn through the evil of the Spires.
Her stone skin cracks as she smacks her lips and eyes Brock. “I like a man who enjoys a good, stout stick up his ass.” She grins. “You’re certainly the fae I speak of. Just look at you. Rules drip off you like swamp water.”
Brock steps toward her.
Bladin holds up a hand. “I hate to be the voice of reason … ever. But Solano doesn’t need a fray right now.”
