He went through the doors of my room, and I hesitantly followed after him, setting my notebook down on the small table near my bed. The room was more extravagant than I was used to. Not overly decorated, but the detail of the architecture alone, from the arched window panes and the stone-carved reliefs in the walls. The furnishings were very fine and obviously expensive, though slightly dark for my own personal tastes. I didn’t like dark places. Wrezaan’s orphanage had been mostly dark wood walls and gray stone.
Kaldur turned into me, and my breath hitched when he backed me into the wall, my shoulder bumping into a framed map of the Kaalium, though it looked like it was centuries old.
His eyes burned down into mine, and I saw his desire there.Oh.
Immediately, I felt my body respond, as if he was slowly training me. Or perhaps I just wanted him that much. Had fantasized about being with him in my foolish, silly daydreams…and now that I had him, I was eager and selfish.
His head dipped, and I felt his lips run along the side of my exposed neck. The blanket fell from my shoulders, pooling at our feet on the floor, as I tilted for him. The gentle brush of his lips made shivers run up my spine, and I clutched at his forearms when they came around my waist.
“Did you take yourbaanye?” he asked.
“Y-yes,” I breathed. “Last night.”
He hummed—pleased, I thought.
“I need you again,” he murmured. “You don’t know how difficult it was not to taste you last night.”
My breath came out in small gasps when he kissed my neck, his lips lingering over the faded markings where he’d fed yesterday morning, before Velle had caught us.
“But we must behave,dallia,” he said harshly. “This is a feeding only. Nothing more. We can’t forget ourselves. Yes?”
“Yes,” I whispered, but truthfully, I would’ve said anything hewanted. With his hands on me, with his lips on me and the sweet promise of his bite…I would’ve done anything he asked.
It was a powerful, unsettling realization.
He sighed, and I felt the hot exhale of his breath. “Good.”
His bite pierced into me.
And I was in ecstasy, though I fought it with everything inside me.
Just as I’d promised.
CHAPTER 16
KALDUR
Two nights later, I was readying for House Azola’s dinner, mentally barricading myself and preparing for the barrage of questions about the rumors of impending war. I’d spoken with my brothers earlier during our weekly meeting, and we’d all agreed to try to curb the whisperings for now, at least until we finalized a war bond with the Kaazor in the North.
It would only lead to panic. From the noble Houses, the news would spread throughout the entirety of the Kaalium. If there was one thing I’d learned from Erina, it was that keepers found out everything eventually and they would talk.
I was already on edge, and I knewexactlywho would help ease it. But in an attempt tonotmake it obvious I’d found my blood mate by showing up to the dinner of nobles in too-tight clothing, I’d decided against taking a later feeding from her today. I hadn’t seen Erina since this morning, since she’d trembled against me in the hallway, fighting valiantly against her building desire as I’d taken my fill. I could still feel the prick of her nails as they’d dug into my shoulders.
I’d never been so satisfied on blood and so sexually frustrated in my life. Merely thinking about her made my cock harden. Itwas becoming more and more apparent that we couldn’t fight this forever on willpower alone. Sooner or later, we might both go mad.
There’s no reason to resist,that devious little voice in my mind whispered.She is yours already.
But in doing so, it would cement the bond. Forever shackled to her. Forever reliant on her blood. That was a commitment I didn’twantto make right now.
“Vaan,” I cursed under my breath, buttoning the last silver clasp on my molded vest. It looked like armor tonight, plated in silver embellishments. I thought it fitting, considering I felt like I was going into a hungry den of nobles.
If all of Vyaan knew that Erina was mykyrana, she would be expected to be at my side tonight. The fact that she would not be was an insult to her…so it was better she didn’t know about it. Still, the news that I’d taken a permanent blood giver would undoubtedly be a topic of conversation. I was hosting a dinner at the keep in another week. Erina would need to be in attendance, as was her right. It would even be expected, especially after tonight. I had no doubt that Lydrasa had already spread the news and by now knew who she was.
I headed toward my balcony door, keen to leave, to get this dinner over with so I could return, when a knock halted me. Light and a little hesitant. I knew who it was, and my fucking fangs nearly elongated right there and then.
Blowing out a sharp breath, I went to the door. Erina was there, dressed in plain light brown trousers and a soft white shirt that billowed out around her arms but nipped her in at the torso. Her hair was up in a pile on her head, a pencil tucked behind her ear, her cheeks flushed, her eyes bloodshot.
The surge of longing that went through me was alarming.
