Without hesitating, I whirled around and struck.
Plunging the blade right into the side of the Mad Siren Prince.
Drustan grunted from the impact, his gold eyes widening in shock.
My eyes were also wide with shock, realizing what I had done.
I just stabbed someone.
Oh my god.
His hand was lifted as if he was about to tap me on the shoulder, but instead, he tightened his hand into a fist as he breathed through the pain.
He and I stood there, frozen in the moment. Paralyzed with the knowledge that I currently had a hand on a knife that was buried in his side, to the hilt. My jaw dropped, my lips parted in horror as I watched his nostrils flare with pain. He squeezed his eyes closed, clenching his jaw, as if attempting to compose himself.
We were so close I could smell him again, and the seduction of his scent made my head spin. But I couldn’t enjoy it, because again, I juststabbedhim.
The longest seconds of my life passed before he released a pained sound in his chest and took a step toward me. I released my hold on the knife and backed away. The silk of the drapes brushed against my skin right when he slapped a palm on the wall, bracing himself. His forearm almost brushed against my shoulder.
Drustan’s eyes opened, and they were darker.
No, that wasn’t quite right.
His pupils had expanded. A lot. Color touched his cheeks as he huffed out short, pained breaths through his nose. The muscles in his cheeks popped as he continued to work his jaw behind the firm press of his lips. My heart was racing out of my chest, both from proximity to this handsome creature and from only being able to think one single thought.
I just stabbed him.
His other arm moved, drawing my attention to his grip on the knife I had left in his side.
While holding eye contact with me, mere inches away from my face, the siren prince slowly started to pull the knife out. His eyes winced, but that was the only thing indicating that what he was doing did, in fact, cause him pain.
I couldn’t look away from him, not even when he lifted the knife, releasing me from his gaze to study the way his own blood coated the blade.
I had just stabbed him, and in response, he had simply pulled the knife back out.
His tunic was stained with some blood, but he wasn’t bleeding nearly as much as someone who had just been stabbed in the kidney should. Audrey had mentioned a couple of days ago that Hyvenmerian’s healed a lot quicker in this realm, but I had no idea stabbing a man would bethisuneventful. That he could act this nonchalantly about it.
It didn’t subdue him like it would a human man.
He hummed low in his chest as he turned the blade this way and that between us, and that’s when a familiar burn of arousal filled my lower stomach.
The temperature in this hallway was too warm. A bead of sweat dripped between my shoulder blades, pooling in my lower back. His scent, mixed with the low timbre of his hum, and his exposed torso that allowed me to count how many abs he had,disarmed me. Every moment that passed between us, the more my muscles started to relax.
It’s not real, I reminded myself.What did sirens have? Sin…sinndra. He could weaponize my emotions, and I just happened to be horny right now.
Locking his eyes on mine again, Drustan adjusted his grip on the knife to angle the tip of the blade toward me. My breathing staggered, and heat bloomed from my chest to my vagina as he gently started to drag the blade across my collarbones. Not enough to break the skin, but enough to make a flurry of goosebumps erupt. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up straight, recognizing the danger I was in. But instead of fear, all I felt was wetness start to gather between my thighs.
He made one pass across my collarbones, keeping his other hand braced against the wall near my head, as he towered over me in the secluded hallway. I was pinned between his arm and the decorative vase I was admiring earlier.
Nowhere to escape to.
And yet, when he parted his lips, I wondered what they would taste like against mine.
“Is this how humans show their interest?”
With his words, he started to gently drag the knife in the opposite direction against my collar bones, and another hot flush coated my entire body. All the way down to my toes. I clenched my thighs together, suddenly craving friction as I struggled to understand his words.
“Huh?” I asked, gripping my skirts in my hands, desperate to hold on to something.
