He was right. I needed to trust myself. I closed my eyes and regained my composure, renewing my efforts to connect with the demon. As soon as I did, one word came into my mind:Sacrifices. He wanted sacrifices to reestablish the bloodline.
“You were close, weren’t you?” I said. “What would Gorrath want as a sacrifice?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Blood. Always blood.”
My head swam. Of course it was.Everything came back to blood with us. Bloodlines. Blood oaths. Blood drinking. But it wasn’t just blood that Gorrath wanted. He’d wanted desire. I picked up the horn, my mouth suddenly dry and my throat burning with the answer. By Diana, this was going to be awkward.
“Then I think you need to bite me,” I said, forcing the words out before I could overthink them. He went very still. “While…” I gathered myself. “While…”
I couldn’t force the rest out. I waited for him to follow the logic to its natural conclusion, but he wasn’t getting there fast enough. The horn began vibrating, and his focus narrowed on it.
“While I usethis. On myself.”
The color in his face drained. “You’re sure?”
I nodded shakily.
I thought he would forbid it and rip the horn from my hand. Maybe even throw it into the woods. His throat worked up and down, and he blew out a long breath. “Alright,” he said. “If you’re sure.”
I couldn’t believe the trust he was offering me. He’d fully committed to this. To me. To helping me become strong. “Give me your waterskin.”
He unclasped it from his belt, and I rinsed the horn, cleaning the black liquid from it, then did the same with my hands. Bastien offered me his discarded cravat to finish the job. Once it was clean, we stared at each other for a long moment.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
I shoved the hair that was stuck to my face back. “Yes. I’m ready.”
Very deliberately, he parted my knees and positioned himself between them. My skirt rode up to my thighs. “Go on. I’m watching.”
Now it was on me to finish the ritual and do what needed to be done. With my eyes locked on his, I slid the horn underneath my skirt. The cold wind bit deeper than Bastien ever had as I moved it to the place that had been begging for relief. The first brush of the horn against myskin sent a jolt through my body—a gasp escaped me, back arching involuntarily.
“Does that feel good?” Bastien asked.
I felt slightly ashamed that something that belonged to Gorrath could do this to me, but I didn’t lie. “Yes.”
Bastien groaned in satisfaction. “Show me how good.”
Red light spilled out from beneath my skirts as the horn switched on, vibrating harder than it had before. I gasped in shock before fully giving in to the feeling.
Bastien’s hand traced up the front of my dress until it closed around my throat. He applied enough pressure to steal my breath, then released me.
Combined with the vibrations and the way he was looking at me, I was on the brink faster than I could’ve imagined. I tipped my head back, arching into the exhilaration, when a shift in the air made my skin crawl. The phantom press of a body materialized behind me—arms, not quite solid, wrapping around my middle. A hot, shuddering breath brushed my neck, making my entire body tense, straddling the line between terror and submission.
“Good girl,”the demon praised. He was inside my head. And somehow, whispering in my ear.
Magick pulsed through me in powerful waves that mirrored the vibrations of the horn, growing stronger and stronger until I thought I might actually rip in half. Fire crackled under my skin. Burning hot.Hotter.
“I think he’s here,” I said around a gasp. “Gorrath.”
Bastien looked up, and I didn’t know what he saw behind me. It might’ve been a ghost. “Do you want to stop?”
“Do you?” I asked.
Neither one of us answered.
An invisible hand peeled my fingers off the horn, taking control of it. Sliding it over me. Teasing me. “Bastien,” I gasped, too far gone to stop it. Too close to fight it. Too turned on by the thought of my husband watching it allunfold. If he didn’t want this, he needed to say something.
I leaned back, surrendering my weight into that invisible chest, a shiver running the length of my spine. The magick inside me surged and writhed, threatening to spill over. My hands fell away, trembling. Bastien hiked up my skirt, his breath ragged, eyes wide as he watched the horn work. “Claire, if you want this to stop, just say the word.”
