He laughs, causing my attention to snap back to him. Was he reading my mind?
“I told you to stay out of my head.” Cheeks flushing, I stare furiously at my feet.
“I do,” he says. “I have always respected your wishes, mi na. Always will.”
Mi na. My queen.
Aster bites his lip. It’s such a small gesture, yet it creates a burning desire that consumes my entire being. I stare up at him.
He appears amused. “But without a mind shield, it is as hard to ignore as someone yelling it to my face. I’m sorry.”
Void! Could this be any more embarrassing?
His hands flex. “To answer your question, I want to touch you. Fuck, I want to consume you.” He lets out a low groan. “And it doesn’t exactly help that under my cloak, you are entirely naked and covered in your blood.” His face moves closer, his perfect lips so close they’re nearly touching mine. Lips I have kissed endless nights in my dreams. “I’ve craved the taste of your blood for one thousand years, Laïna. The taste ofyou. And a thousand years is a very. Long. Time.” He closes his eyes, inhaling a deep breath. “And to get to smell it again. Smellyouagain. It is all I can donotto touch you.”
All my blood rushes to that sweet spot between my legs, and his nostrils flare as he smells my arousal. If my body was on fire before, it’s an inferno now.
Leaning in close, he whispers in my ear, his breath sending shivers down my spine, “There is nothing I desire more than to dig my teeth into your neck and drink from you while I slide into you, over and over. I want to hear your pleas, your moans, your screams as I mark you, scent you, make sure there is not a living being in this entire universe that doesn’t know that you are mine.Mine.”
He pushes himself away from the wall, away from me. I should be blushing, yet I’m not. Because although I don’t know him at all, he feels all too familiar at the same time.
When he turns, the love in his eyes is almost too much for me to bear. How can I ever reciprocate that?
He flinches, then pulls his gaze away. “You won’t have to,” he says, staring at a distant point above my head. “I may be bound to you for the rest of my sorry eternal existence, but you are reborn. You get to choose.” He lifts his left arm, pointing to an intricate glyph on his forearm. “This is a mating glyph,” he says. “They are unique to each mated couple.”
I lift my own arms up in front of me, only now noticing the golden glyphs decorating them, and there’s a blank space on my forearm where his is. I also notice how smooth my golden skin is. Free of the scars of my past.
“I’m a moonborn,” I say in astonishment, although I probably should have anticipated that. If he were to take my powers, I would first need to have powers to take. And from the number of glyphs covering my caramel skin, I’m a powerful one too. I smile. Seniia and Vilder will be in good company.
I turn back toward him. “What do you mean, I can choose?”
“Reans, and especially the C’elen, live for a lengthy time. That means that sometimes someone will lose a mate, only for that mate to be reborn, say, a hundred years later. For the one who’s still alive, the bond will be the same, but for the one reborn, the vows will have to be renewed by choice.” He pauses, his gaze locked with mine. It never wavers, although the profound sorrow in his eyes tells me how much it costs him to say the next words. “And that choice is entirely up to you.”
Do I want this? I don’t know. I wanthim, but lust is entirely different from love.
Staring at his full lips, the million different times he’s kissed me in my dreams play through my mind. What would it be like to kiss him for real? For him to reach for me and bring his lips to mine? Because gods do I want him to.
The thought has barely passed through my mind before he grabs ahold of me. Lifts me up.
“Fuck it,” he growls, his mouth crashing to mine in a desperate, breathless claim.“Tell me to stop.”The thought pushes into my mind.
I don’t. Instead, I wrap my legs around him and bury my fingers in his midnight-blue waves.Gods,who have you become, Laïna?
A deep moan reverberates from his chest as our tongues meet, his hands getting tangled in my hair, pulling gently. Pressing my body to his, there’s no mistaking his want for me.
The taste of him, his proximity, causes a desperate need for more.More.A hungry sigh escapes my lips as I graze my fangs down his neck, my body acting of its own accord, the sweet scent of his blood more than I can handle. And underneath it, the smell of him. Ofhome. I bite. Rich blood fills my mouth, and a low moan vibrates through my body. The need for him is almost painful in its intensity.
I come up gasping. I’m no longer ravenously hungry, but gods do I crave him. When he pulls back, pure instinct makes me growl and reach for him.
More. I want more.
Aster puts me down gently. “I... We... We cannot,” he pants. At least I’m not the only one struggling to control myself. “I should have thought of...” He takes a step back. “All females need to feed on their bleed. I should have brought you to Seniia... It too easily gets out of hand. And not here. Not like this.”
“Seniia?” I say, breaths coming out in short, shallow gasps. “Why not Vilder?”
“Fuck no.” His growl should make me scared, but instead, it makes my toes curl.
My need for him makes it hard to string together a coherent thought. All I want is his hands on me again, but he stands firm. I breathe deep to regain my composure. My thoughts feel thick and sluggish, like wading through honey. I blink, trying to clear the haze from my mind.
