I bit at his neck harder, squeezing the flesh between my teeth, hearing his responding feral growl. His cock was like steel. I could feel the head of it against the bottom of my thighs.
The only way I could describe Kythel’s feeding was ferocious.
He wasfeasting.
His grip on my hips would likely bruise. Every deep pull of my blood made my teeth clamp down harder, which only seemed to spur him on. Even though he’d made me come on his fingers in the tub upstairs, I felt another orgasm begin to crest, my clit pulsing helplessly with every dragging lap, with every new infusion of his venom.
My body felt hot, so hot I wondered how he didn’t drop me in fear of me scalding him. My blood was rushing in my ears, drowning everything else out. If he’d been talking to me, whispering delicious, dirty things against my neck as he fed, I wouldn’t have heard him. The buzzing in my veins was a thunderous symphony. It was all I could hear.
When I came for the second time that night, I bit hard enough to draw his blood. I felt the vibration of his shocked, deep groan, a steady ripple against my neck. His blood was surprisingly sweet, unlike the coppery tang I’d expected.
The taste of him lingered on my tongue long after my orgasm faded. It took me a moment to realize his fangs had withdrawn from me, that he was breathing hard, his shoulders vibrating with every deep inhale he took.
“Kythel?” I whispered, leaning back so I could look into his eyes. I took his face between my palms, but he was lowering me down onto the floor, holding me steady until he was certain I wouldn’t fall. My hands fell away. “What’s wrong? Should I not have…”
“You know why we can’t do this,sasiral.”
Frustration and hurt pricked at me.
“No, actually I don’t,” I retorted. But if he didn’t want to have sex, I would accept that. I wouldn’t push anymore. He’d made his wishes clear. “Why do you call me that? Fallen star?”
His gaze fastened on me. I was acutely aware that I was naked, and so I clasped my arms around me.
“That’s whatsasiralmeans, doesn’t it? I asked a vendor at the market.”
Kythel didn’t answer me, and it made my shadowed doubts creep in again, peeking around corners I had tucked them safely in, trying to forget them.
Fallen star?
I was still trembling from my orgasm with the taste of his blood on my tongue. It made me bold. It made me demanding.
“Is it because you think I’m lacking in some way? Do you pity me? Because I had a different life before I came to Krynn, filled with travel and experiencing new places and meeting interesting people, and now I have nothing?”
“No,” he rasped. His eyes were gentle, however. “No, that must be what you think about yourself, Millie. That thought never crossed my mind once.”
I couldn’t help but flinch.
Kythel straightened his bulging vest, shifting it so it sat more comfortably, though the seams had to be cutting into his flesh after his feeding.
“I’ll be waiting outside once you dress,” he said next, not waiting for me to respond, stalking to the front door of the cottage.
I watched him leave, heard the gentle thud as the door shut behind him, leaving me standing next to the blazing fire.
His words gave me pause.Wasthat how I saw myself? Had I read into the name all wrong?
“Kythel,” I called out, knowing he’d hear me.
“Get dressed, Millie,” came his growl through the door. My hurt softened when I heard the irritation in his voice. It only took me a moment to realize…he didn’t like what I’d said. About myself.
I waited, my heartbeat slowly beginning to tick up when I heard him pacing along the last remaining stones of the pathway leading to the front door. Growing more and more restless.
I still hadn’t moved, my eyes pinned to the door, when he came barreling back through it.
“I call yousasiral,” he started, stalking toward me, glaring, “because I think your resilience is admirable. Do not make the mistake of thinking it means otherwise.”
An ember slowly began to burn within me, casting warmth into every vein like a spell until it felt like I was lit up from the inside out.
“You do?” I asked softly.
