“Lenka, I think Vander should?—”
“That’s your problem, wolven,” Lenka snaps. “Too much thinking.” She turns back to me. “When the War of Dragons broke out, King Onivern was able to defeat the vile DaySilver Clan and bring peace back to the DragonLands. But he made a mistake when he allowed the conspirators to keep their heads attached to their bodies. He should’ve killed every single traitorous dragon. He didn’t, and his mercy led to his, his queen’s, and their eldest son’s death.Andit led to the curse.”
“How—”
“That’s enough.” Vander’s voice is cold, slicing through the air like a blade.
“I don’t see why we should be keeping secrets when?—”
Brin stands quickly. “Lenka, if you’d like to accompany me to the kitchen, I’d be very interested in seeing how you prepare these vegetable dishes for our friend Larellin.” He’s already around the table and pulling back Lenka’s chair.
It doesn’t take someone with immortal eyesight to see why. Vander stands in the door, steam rising from his shoulders as the snow along him melts. His pupils are slit, fury in his gaze.
“Fine.” Lenka smacks Brin’s hand away from her. “I’ll go, but that doesn’t mean you can shut me up, Sire. Some things are best put out in the open.” She waggles a flaming finger at him, then allows Brin to half escort, half shove her into the kitchen.
Vander stalks toward me, his eyes flickering from slit to round and then back again. “None of this concerns you.” He pulls mychair out and leans over me, his hands on the chair’s arms, caging me in. “It’s not?—”
“Was it your family?” I ask softly.
His nostrils flare.
“You once told me you’d lost your parents and a brother.” I should be terrified of him, of the way he looms over me. The spikes along his shoulders have returned—I haven’t seen them since the first night he brought me here. But in his changing eyes I see something other than anger, other than violence. I see pain. It mirrors my own in ways I can’t explain. “Was it them?”
He studies my face. I study his right back. The golden skin, the full lips, the almost too sharp nose. His eyebrows slant at an angle that almost make him appear cruel, but I’ve seen him when he’s amused, when he’s smiling at me or laughing with his brothers. He’s fierce but not vicious. Not to me, anyway.
“Yes.” He hisses the word, his eyes going fully dragon.
I reach up, my hand shaking slightly, and press my palm to his cheek. Warm. Always so warm. “I’m sorry.”
He leans into my touch, his eyelids fluttering closed.
We stay that way for several moments, time stretching out and meaning nothing as we simply exist with each other. I’ve never felt this closeness with anyone. Never felt the need to touch. But his pain is a thorn in his side, one that has somehow managed to prick me too.
“It was long ago.” When he opens his eyes again, the pupils are back to normal. “We need not speak of it.” He leans closer, his mouth only a whisper from mine.
I freeze, unsure of what this is. I’m his guest, his prisoner, a mortal stolen against her will. But he doesn’t treat me like any of those things. He treats me like … like treasure.
When he kisses me, the uncertainty fades. He isn’t gentle, isn’t anything except raw and wild. His tongue slides between my lips, forcing me to open for him. Then he delves deeper, his hands going to my waist. Before I know it, he’s lifted me to him, clutching me tightly as he continues his searing kiss. I twine my arms around his neck, my body craving his warmth, cravinghim. I know what I’m doing is crazy. Iknowit, but I can’t stop. When he touches me like this, when his tongue slides against mine, when his smoky sweet scent envelops me—every single rational thought evaporates. I want him. There’s nothing for it, no way to stop it.
He slides a hand down to my breast, cupping it gently as he ravages my mouth. It’s wanton and foolish. Anyone could walk in. Anyone could see. Heat blooms along my skin at the thought, at the thrill of it. Gods, what would they think of me in Raingreen? My banishment would be immediate, and I’d be lucky if that’s all they did to me.
“Vander,” I gasp when he relinquishes my mouth and kisses to my throat. His thumb strokes my hard nipple, my skin rife with goosebumps as my lower belly goes molten. “We can’t.”
He meets my gaze, his eyes so green that I wonder where he ends and the dragon begins.
“This isn’t right.” It’s weak, as weak and breathy as my voice, but I feel compelled to say it.
He smirks, his gaze flicking to my mouth. “It’s right, Larellin. You’ll see just how right it is once I’m inside you, filling you with my come while you beg for more.”
“Vander!” I stiffen, the sheer audacity of him snapping me out of my lust-filled stupor.
“You’ve never known the touch of a male, have you?” He smiles, wickedness in the glint of his eyes. “Youwillknow me, pet. Every inch of me. You will feel me for days after I’ve mated you. You will taste and swallow, suck and lick. And I will devour you whenever I wish, feasting on your body and sating your every desire. Isn’t that what you want?” Back and forth, his thumb grazes my hard nipple.
I swallow hard, my heart pounding, my entire body going up in flames from his filthy mouth.
“I know you want it.” He inhales deeply. “I can taste your honey even now, your cunt weeping for me, begging for what only I can give you. Hard. Deep.” He drags his nose up my throat, and I feel his tongue, now forked, tickling along the shell of my ear. “Your screams will ring through this keep, pet. My name on your delicate lips. My cock in your hot cunt.”
My insides are molten, my body attuned to every single syllable, every movement of his maddening thumb. He’s turned me into a lustful harlot, my body reacting to him in private ways, in ways that he shouldn’t be so aware of.
