Yue visibly swallows. Her stomach grumbles—and rather loudly at that—answering on her behalf. “I’m sorry,” she says, shaking her head slightly. “Don’t mind me.”
“But I do,” I say. “I mind you a great deal.” I tilt my head to the side, exposing my neck to her. “If you’re hungry—”
“Don’t—”
“It’s willingly given,” I interject.
Her face turns bright-red, her brows pulling together into a frown. “You’ve gone mad. Do you know how easily I could kill you?”
“You won’t.” I peer deeply into her eyes, not searching so much as letting her in. “I trust you.”
“A grave mistake.”
“Yue,” I say firmly but not unkindly.
Her gaze flits down to my pulse point, her breathing shallow and tight. “I don’t want to hurt you,” she confesses. Admittedly something I never thought I’d hear a demon say. “And itwillhurt, Sonam. If you insist that I eat, you can give me your palm again.”
“We both know that wasn’t enough for you. You can have your fill this way.”
“Has anyone ever told you that talking to you is like talking to a wall?”
“I could say the same to you.”
“Are you always this stubborn?”
“A trait we share, it seems.”
With a sigh, Yue rolls toward me, delicately pressing a hand against my far shoulder for stability. She leans in slowly. Unsure. The warmth of her breath tickles the thin skin of my neck, sending goosebumps trailing down my arms.
I never could have imagined myself in this position. To not only be this close to a demon, but to allow her to feed of my own accord. And yet, as Yue presses her lips to the crook of my neck, I don’t panic. I don’t even reach for one of my weapons in case she loses control.
Her teeth dig into my flesh, sending shards of glass shooting up my spine to barrage the inside of my skull. As a fox, she might have ripped the side of my throat away with her fangs, but this is little more than a puncture. The pain fades quickly into numbness. It’s strange, in a way, knowing what I know. A demon’s prey rarely lasts long, and yet I feel perfectly fine. Could it be that Yue’s being gentle for my sake?
When she throws a leg over, straddling my hips, I know I’ve spoken too soon. She presses her full weight against me, pinning me on my back. Yue drinks greedily. Her teeth sink in deeper, hersearing tongue swiping against my neck. Every gulp she takes comes with a pleasured, breathy moan. And although the sound ignites a firestorm within my veins, I dare not name the sensation.
Yue pulls away with a gasp, her mouth coming away crimson. She runs her tongue over her lips, careful to lick up every last drop. Her cheeks are flushed and her pupils blown wide. Yue looks every bit as wild as she is bewitching as she brings a hand up to apply steady pressure to staunch the bleeding, the pad of her thumb grazing along the line of my jaw.
Gods, she is a sight.
“Better?” I ask.
She nods. “Much.”
I can’t help but stare at her mouth. There’s a strange heat growing in my core. It’s terrible. And I crave it all the more.
“Will you tell me a tale?” she asks, her long lashes fluttering closed. Yue continues to lie atop me, resting her head against my chest.
“Which one?” I bring a hand up to find a lock of her hair, absentmindedly twisting it around my finger.
“Whatever comes to mind.”
“A tragedy, then,” I murmur, “of Houyi and Chang’e. Houyi shot down nine of the ten stars to keep the world from burning. He was awarded an elixir of immortality by the gods for his heroic deeds. Little did they know he didn’t do it for anyone’s sake other than his beloved. It was for this reason that fate decided to take a twisted turn, sending someone to steal what he loved most. Believing the elixir to be under threat, Chang’e drank every last drop rather than see it fall into the wrong hands. The magic within flew her away to the moon—and in that one moment, what Houyi loved most was stolen from him forever.
“He spent the rest of his life searching for a way to bring her back. He sought council with the land’s wisest shamans andpleaded with the gods—but all to no avail. Houyi spent the rest of his years looking longingly up at the moon, setting out cakes and sweets Chang’e once enjoyed on Earth in offering. On the night he finally passed, it is said that the moon shone twice as bright and full so that he could look up one last time and know his moon goddess was watching over him.”
“Yet another love story,” she says, once I’ve concluded.
“As I said, every story is a love story.”
