He gulped.
She moved nearer, feeling as drawn to him as ever. “Take it. If we don’t start moving, we will both be dead.”
Lalo’s honey-colored eyes met hers. There was hunger there. Yet he made no move.
“Do not make me force you,” she said.
He licked his cracked lips. “What if I lose control?”
“I can handle myself.”
They held each other’s stares as she brought her palm toward his mouth. His incisors grew. He sighed as if holding his fangs back had been a discomfort.
“What’s it like?” she asked. “What do you feel?”
“Disgust. I am a creature who drains a person’s soul for nourishment.”
She opened and shut her palm, soaking her fingers in her own blood. What would he see within the fabric of her essence? What memories might he find within? Surprisingly, Carolina wasn’t worried. Lalo might scoff at her or tease her, but he wouldn’t judge her mistakes. She pressed her finger to his lips, watched as his saliva and her life force intertwined. “But what does itreallyfeel like?”
Lalo’s lashes fluttered. “Like the heavens have exploded and the stars are raining down upon me.”
She snorted. “A poet even in agony.”
Shakily, he took hold of her wrist. “Are you sure?”
Carolina nodded. There were still hours in the day, but the night would come soon enough. They had to get to Vidal before anything else got to them.
“Do it.”
Lalo didn’t hesitate this time. He brought his mouth down upon her flesh. His tongue swept over her cut, and the stinging sensation dissolved away. His other hand clenched into a fist on his lap. Her eyes widened as the blisters on his skin began to shrink away almost instantaneously.
“It’s working,” she said.
A groan of pleasure purred from Lalo’s throat. The sound made her own body thrum. She wanted to hear that sound come from him again. And again. And again.
If you are ever lost, simply search into my heart and there you will be.
—Pío Parra, “Lamentations of the Heart”
CHAPTER 41
Lalo
There was no proper wayto explain how Lalo felt at that moment. He was on fire and plunging through a pool of ice simultaneously.
She tasted like life itself. Like the earth after the rain. Like summer mornings when the temperature was just right. She tasted like autumn and laughter. Like honey on the tongue.
Flashes of Carolina’s life flitted through whatever magic he was trapped in. He saw Carolina and Nena giggling in a field of poppies. Saw her arguing with her papá over him not letting her saddle up like her brothers. Dancing with Luz Elena in her room and forcing the woman to move and laugh.
Lalo gripped her tighter, groaning in pure pleasure as he drank more of her.
Faintly, he thought he heard Carolina gasp.
But then other memories lured him into a brilliant haze.
Their first meeting in the dark. She had him pinned and saw his face. She thought him handsome. Strikingly so. He saw them in the empty grave, embracing. Them kissing in the coach. He could feel the desire thrumming through her. Could feel the yearning.
Gods, he wanted her so desperately.
