Humans were particularly sensitive toloresmoke. In most of my kind, unless you took a tonic calledtassato counter the effects, the smoke was an aphrodisiac, eliciting a physical response.
For Kylorr,lorewas calming.
Kaldur turned to me with his brow raised, as if questioning why I still lingered. He took a sip of his liquor, watching me over the rim.
“Do you not need to feed?” I asked. “It’s been days.”
He smiled, opening a smooth, hidden drawer at the front of the sideboard console. “You take your position as blood giver very seriously, Erina. You must wonder how I ever survived without you all these years.”
I couldn’t help but bite the inside of my cheek. He was still in his strange mood, even after three days. I’d thought…maybe it had just been a bad moment for him. I’d thought that maybe he’d even started to enjoy my company, tolikeme. Every time I’d caught him looking at me with a molten gaze, it had made me shiver. Every secretive little smirk had made my heart soar because they’d been forme. Mine alone.
Watching as he pulled out a slim, silver pipe from the velvet-lined drawer and a metal tin, I asked, “Does that mean you took a blood giver in Salaire?”
He’d said he wouldn’t. While it hadn’t quite been a promise, it had been implied, hadn’t it?
Kaldur released a long, sharp breath. My heart thudded, waiting to be fissured with jealousy.
But then he admitted, “No, I did not.”
I heard the honesty in those words. It was almost like he’dwantedto lie to me but then couldn’t.
Relief made my shoulders sag. Elation rose in my breast, and I approached him, eyeing the stretch of his shoulders. He must’ve been tired, but there was a restlessness about him. He was fidgeting with the pipe, unclasping the tin, and stuffingloreinto it. Though…I swore his fingers were unsteady. Thelorewas crumbling beneath his touch.
He needed to relax…so then why did he not relax with me?
I touched his bare forearm, feeling the warmth and tantalizing heat of him. I was no seductress, but I thought Icouldbe considering how much I desired him.
“Let me,” I said quietly. I’d served at one party before, one in which I’d takentassa, and I remembered how to do it.
Kaldur allowed me to pluck the pipe from his hands, and I packed it with the dried leaves carefully. He sipped his liquor, blowing out a sharp breath, the tension pouring off him in waves.
Thelorewill help calm him, and then maybe we can talk,I told myself.
But was I really planning to stay while he smoked?
In the end, I decided it didn’t matter. Whether it was withloresmoke or through his inevitable feeding, he always sparked desire in me. I’d come apart in his arms, his fangs deep in my neck, too many times, even the times when I’d tried not to.
When I handed him the pipe and flicked on the igniter, making the leaf burn inside, he stared down at me, realizing thatthatwas my answer.
“Very well,dallia,” he said, taking the pipe and bringing the end to his lips. “Your choice.”
“It is,” I agreed, meeting his eyes.
The blue end of the igniter flared even brighter when Kaldur inhaled, his cheeks hollowing. A moment later, he exhaled the smoke, thick and spiced, like the tea from the village.
It curled into my nostrils and down my throat, making me gasp.
The effects didn’t take long, and I figured they were even quicker to come on because Kaldur’s intense gaze never left me. As if he was fascinated by my reaction, as if he wanted to see every little change in me.
Desire began to bloom. Deep in my belly, the heat winding and spiraling tight. Then it loosened and stretched itself, spreading, spreading, especially when Kaldur exhaled another draw of smoke. I’d never felt the effects personally, having always takentassa, but I wondered how much more intense it would get. I’d heard stories…
The rain was loud against the glass windows, pelting down mercilessly, but my heartbeat soon drowned it out. I felt overly flushed and warm and yet my nipples tightened to hardened peaks. He was so close that his chest brushed my arm whenever he breathed, and I…I wanted him to touch me everywhere.
I placed my hand on the sideboard, feeling the smooth, cool wood beneath my palm. Kaldur took another sip of his drink, and then he handed it to me, brushing past me to sit in the plush and padded armchair by the fire. Kylorr chairs always had straight vertical backs, thin along the spine, to allow for their wings to rest comfortably behind them. I watched as Kaldur’s wings relaxed, one arm rested along the leather, as he looked into the fire. His drink was as much of an invitation as any, I figured.
The tumbler was cool in my hand, and I pressed it to one cheek. This felt different tonight. It felt…certain. There was a strange energy about Kaldur, one both resigned, restless, and accepting. There was a pinching intensity to him, like he was a blade’s edge away from snapping. And in me…well, I still wanted what I’d wanted in the courtyard three days ago.
To feel close to him when he felt so incredibly distant already.
