“But you would do it to something else?” I suggested.
“Oh no, I am just saving it for someonespecial,” he said, a mocking edge to his tone, pulling up his trousers and buttoning them again.
I sighed and rested my head on his shoulder, looking at the fire dying in the fireplace.
The tips of his fingers trailed up and down my back as we sat there.
There it was again, that warm feeling. It was not natural to feel this for the person capable of killing you. The danger might have been the thing that made it feel so much more intense. It was possibly due to some strange chemistry, but I had never met a man so interesting. It only made sense that he was not even human—I was not easily satisfied or entertainedlike this.
“So how old are you?”
“I thought women, of all people, would know never to ask that.” Silas laughed, trailing his fingers through my hair as I basked in the warm water between his legs, my back resting against his chest.
“I don’t think the rules apply to those who are hundreds of years old, or that’s at least what I gathered when you started to talk about the black plague.” I looked over my shoulder at him, blowing a handful of soap suds in his face.
He rolled his eyes and gathered my hair in his hands, beginning to plait it slowly.
“You know how to braid?”
“Of course I do. I have sisters.”
My eyes widened. “There’s more of you?”
“They are nothing like me, but I remember some from when I was young who taught me, and then I also taught one of the younger ones.”
“That’s... quite sweet actually.” I smirked. “I can’t imagine you as an older brother.”
“I’m the eldest of my father’s spawn.”
“Are you still close with them?”
“Just one. The others have spread themselves worldwide, not heard of in some time.”
“Will I get to meet her?”
“Why do you talk to your father’s grave? I thought you didn’t believe in the supernatural.” He changed the subject.
“I thought you to be impossible, but here you are,” I replied,rubbing the skin over my collarbone mindlessly. “You said earlier that you were born, correct?”
“Yes,” he said slowly, curious about where I was going with my question.
“The spines,” I started. “Do they play a role? You didn’t explain the reproduction process.”
“I didn’t think I had to.” He grinned, placing the braid over my shoulder and wrapping his arms around my waist. “The spines are meant to hold you in place,” he said against the crook of my neck.
“Hypothetically, if we did?—”
“No. Vipera cannot breed with humans.”
“Oh,” I mumbled, leaning my back against him as I watched his hands.
“But,” he began, “if you turned, that would be different. Only because you are a Host.”
“I see.” I trailed my fingers along his forearms.
Silas let me absorb the new information and began to smooth his hands over my back, massaging my tense muscles. He made his way down to my lower back and pressed.
I yelped when he pressed on my lower back, and I whipped my head back at him. “What the hell?” I growled.
