Once it was over, all I felt was regret.
Regret that I might have pushed her into something too fast, too soon.
That she might not be able to trust me after.
That I let my control slip and endangered her, moving her closer to the snare of whatever Siegrid is planning.
That I now know the sweet, tangy taste of her slick heat, and I know I can’t ever have it again.
To protect Meryn, I need to stay far the fuck away.
Her ass bounces back against my dick again just then, as if to mock my resolve. Desire rips through me, and I knock my head back, suppressing a groan.
Is this why people like horses so much?
“What did you say?” Cratos pipes in from back at the outpost. His feral curiosity floods me.“Are we eating the horses?”
“There is no ‘we’ in eating horses, and please leave them alone,” I grind out.“A Siphon arm is enough forbidden meat for one day. Stop fantasizing about snacks, and keep your eyes on Saela.”
Cratos grumbles as he cuts off our connection.
We make our way out of the fields. The dirt road turns to gravel and then paving stones as we enter the village.
The town is nestled on the slope of a green hill, with narrow cobblestone roads winding throughout. Smoke lazily drifts out of chimneys. Houses are sturdy and well maintained. Everything here is bizarrely fucking idyllic.
There are overflowing garden plots between the houses. Even in the Bonded City, you didn’t see stuff like this; our climate is too inhospitable for it. Here, it seems the citizens just grow whatever they want.
The contrast between this place and the towns in Nocturna is startling.
The people we see on the streets look different from commoners in Sturmfrost, and it takes me a minute to realize the difference: They look well fed.
I thought Astreona was supposed to be the shithole, not the other way around.
Still, my teeth remain on edge, muscles tensed and ready for movement.
Meryn looks around her, noticing much the same. “Davide,” she calls out quietly, and he reins in his horse until he’s beside us.
I want to punch the self-satisfied smirk off his face. It’s clear he sees the effect this well-kept town is having on us.
The man turns, eyebrows raised. “Yes?”
“Who lives in this town? Siphons or humans?”
He shakes his head. “Like everywhere in Astreona, the population is mixed. But this particular town is predominantly human.”
Meryn stiffens in my arms, and shock rumbles through me. We heard from her father that humans and Siphons live together in Astreona—a total mindfuck after forever believing that they’d all been wiped out here.
But the population is mixed? They live among each other? They’re less segregated than Nocturna.
Or…
My mouth twists in distaste. Or the Siphons just like to keep their meals close, like well-kept cattle. Until it’s time for slaughter.
The same thoughts are clearly running through Meryn’s head. “So the humans here are at the Siphons’ mercy?”
The people we see walking around the streets seem remarkably calm, given that their predators live among them. A man who looks human and a woman with obvious Siphon beauty cross the street ahead of us. The Siphon bows her head to listen to something the human is saying.
Almost as if they were… friends.
