I couldn’t stop staring at his lips.I knew I had to stop, had to look at his eyes instead, but I knew how they felt now.
‘No,’ I lied again.I finally tore my gaze from his lips and met his eyes.That was a mistake.If I was hypnotised by his lips, then his eyes were a glamour, stripping me of all self-control.It was the venom, I told myself.This was a side effect of the venom.No matter that this breathlessness, this weightlessness, this desire, had all existed within me before the bite.
So I told myself it wasn’t really me.
And I kissed him.
It was only a small kiss.I felt him still, felt his breath stop.Tasted my blood on his lips.But when I tried to pull away his hand was at my jaw, holding me in place.Then his lips were on mine again, consuming me with an entirely new kind of thirst.
I was gasping for air by the time Raleigh broke the kiss.He plucked my wandering hands from his chest and kissed them softly, once.‘We can’t,’ he whispered.
‘We can.’I cupped his face in both hands so he could see the sincerity of my expression.In turn Raleigh brushed a thumb overthe wound at my throat.The lingering venom tingled and the feeling rippled to my core.
‘Would you say the same if I hadn’t drunk from you?’
‘This didn’t start because you bit me.’I leant in again.Our lips barely brushed before he pulled away.
‘Then you can wait another night.’
Letting him go was the hardest thing I had ever done.I knew he was right.But through my delirium, all I could see was the rejection.I’d seen the sort of woman who captured his heart.What was I next to someone like the Queen but a comely peasant girl in borrowed finery?
‘I understand,’ I said.
‘No.’His words were rough.‘You don’t.’He took my hand and my breath hitched when I realised where he was guiding it.Hard flesh pressed into my palm.This part of him, at least, was very much alive.‘This is what you do to me.’His fangs had grown again.‘Believe me, I want nothing more than to pin you down and ravish you until sunrise.But I’m blood drunk, and you’re intoxicated.’
He dropped my hand.I let it fall reluctantly, his words finally reaching me.With a final kiss on my neck, just above my wound, Raleigh peeled himself off me and found a bandage in his trunk.When he finished tying it, he lay back down by my side.
I wanted to be mad at him.The desire throbbing through my senses left me inflamed, and with no outlet the discomfort was unbearable.But of course he was right.
I rolled over, pressing my face into Raleigh’s chest.I was too embarrassed to look at him, but still couldn’t bear to be away from him.I didn’t know what he would do, if he would lie there stricken, arms stiffly at his side, or if he would find a new creative method to push me away.So my heart threatened to spill out of my chestwhen his arms snaked around me, his chin gently pressing against the top of my head.
There was no one to pretend for anymore.This was real.
My wound ached, my body aflame with unspent desire.A monster had dined on my blood tonight, and a whole army of them were on their way to hunt me down.
But there was nowhere in the world I could have been happier.
Twenty-Eight
IAWOKE WITH A STARTbarely an hour later when Raleigh pressed his hand over my mouth.Still half-asleep, I struggled against him, his palm swallowing my protests until my waking mind overtook instinct.Raleigh was trying to calm me, though he was plainly terrified himself.
‘Shh.’He slowly removed his hand from my lips.‘They’re here.You need to hide.’
‘Weneed to—’
‘Don’t argue.They might already be in earshot.’He looked uneasily to the window.‘You’re in no condition to fight.’
‘So we run.’
Raleigh shook his head.‘I could run.You wouldn’t make it past the gate.’
‘So go.It’s better for one of us to live than for all of us to die.’
He ran the back of his fingers along my cheek.‘I would rather die knowing I’d done everything in my power to protect you than live with your blood on my hands.’
I reached for his hand, intertwining my fingers with his.‘As would I.’
‘Clara …’ He closed his eyes, pain seeping across his features.‘Please don’t make this harder than it already is.’
