My legs feel weak, and I sink onto the edge of the nearest armchair, trying to process this revelation.
Aurora purposefully stepped between Jake and me during our fight.
She saw me take that rake to him. By putting herself in his way, she ensured I’d never have to fend him off again, since she knew the king would kill him.
I should be horrified.
But I’m not. Because I might have just found myself a powerful human ally in this twisted, dangerous place. Someone I can trust when I’m not in Aerix’s quarters.
“That’s why Aurora was watching me,” I realize. “She wanted to see if I’d figure it out.”
“And you did.” He lowers himself slightly and reaches down, tilting my chin up to meet his gaze. “It was enjoyable to watch you piece it together yourself.”
With that, his hand finds my waist, and he’s pulling me up out of the chair as he stands. His wings curl forward, surrounding us both—not to trap me, but to shield me from the world.
To keep me safe.
“Would you have done it?” I ask, breathless from how close he is. “Would you have killed for me?”
“Without hesitation. Because you’re mine. And I protect what’s mine.” He pulls back and studies me, searching my face for answers. “Does that frighten you?”
I should say yes. That would be the human answer—therightanswer.
“No,” I say instead, and the word feels like freedom. “It’s the opposite. Iwantit.”
Something flashes in his eyes—recognition, maybe. Or triumph.
“Say that again,” he demands, and he glances at the curve of my neck, his eyes dilating in the way they always do before he feeds.
“I want to know that you’ll destroy anyone who tries to hurt me,” I repeat, speaking so steadily that there’s no way he can question me. “That you’ll kill them for so much as touching me.”
His midnight gaze slides down my body, lingering on my parted lips.
“You should be scared,” he murmurs, but there’s a note of hungry amusement in his tone, as if he’s daring me to take it back.
“I’m not. Because I trust you,” I tell him, and when I push up on my toes to close the distance between us, I’m hit with the fact that despite everything, it’s not a lie.
I actually trust that Prince Aerix Nightborne of the Night Court will do anything in his power to keep me safe.
And so, I lean further into him. He tastes like winter air, and the kiss deepens so suddenly that it knocks the breath from my lungs.
Everything about him is overwhelming. His cool lips, the chill rolling off his body, and the commanding push of his tongue against mine. And as my body arches into him, there’s no denying it for a second longer—I want more.
He must sense it, because he retracts his wings quickly enough for him to pull his shirt off.
I trace the sharp lines of muscle on the perfect planes of his chest, a spark of triumph flaring in me when he groans, his eyes sliding half-shut as he gives in to my touch.
It isn’t long until his hands find the hem of my dress, and he pulls it over my head in one fluid motion, leaving me almost bare before him in my thin white chemise.
“Are you sure you want this?” he asks as a few snowflakes fall around us, dissolving in the heat of my skin when they drift too close. “Because once I decide to take something—to fully take it—I don’t turn back.”
I meet his gaze and let him see the simmering hunger in my eyes—one that likely mirrors his own. “I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life,” I tell him, my voice steady despite the wildfire racing through my veins. “I’m yours, Aerix. I think I’ve been yours since you pulled me from that water.”
That’s apparently all the encouragement he needs. Because he crushes his mouth to mine again, lifts me up, and brings me with him as he sits down on the armchair, situating my legs around his waist as he alternates between sweet presses of his lips against my neck and sharper grazes of his fangs.
But he doesn’t break the skin.
He’s teasing me—tempting me.
