Page 181 of Blood of the Fairest

By the time dawn approaches, the moonlight slipping slowly away, I am wretched with dread.

I can't go back into the mirror.

I can't.

Not when Verena is finally fast asleep now, lying beside me in the bed. Her red hair is mussed from a long night of my constant attentions.

She is stunning and flushed from sex. I've fucked her on all fours, in my lap, from behind—I could not stop moaning when she sat atop me, riding my cock as her beautiful breasts bounced for my enjoyment.

I exhausted her.

She needs her sleep. I know that, but I can barely breathe when I see the glow of the morning begin to light up the window of this guest room.

Just one more kiss. I'll go mad if I don't savor her lips at least once more.

"Verena?" I whisper, reaching out to brush the dark red hair from her face.

But my hand passes through her.

My stomach drops as everything around me begins to turn grey, darkening steadily.

Despite the horrible squeezing of my heart, I move swiftly to press my lips against the little spot over Verena's lips, one more time.

Though she doesn't feel it or hear me, I whisper, "I more than just crave you, Fairest. I love you."

All at once, I am plunged into darkness filled with countless windows of light that reveal the physical world. The silence is disorienting, but familiar. It is where I have roamed as long as I can remember.

Yet it has never felt quite this empty before.

44

Verena

“Blood…abides…crimson…return…”

When I open my eyes, the chanting of the broken mirror of truth disappears along with the rest of my nightmares.

Immediately, I know Eris isn't in this bed with me.

He would be touching me if he was.

I can tell my poor, gorgeous confidante has been touch-starved for a long time—but dear god, I enjoyed trying to help that insatiable man catch up. On my back, riding him, on all fours, bent over the edge of the bed with his sexy, rough moans against my back…

All those delicious cuddles and tender kisses in between.

I don't think I've ever been railed and romanced so thoroughly.

As Pound Town's most recent visitor, I'm not surprised that my body is deliciously sore as I roll over and sigh at the empty place he used to be.

I sit up, realizing by the light trying to peek through the drawn curtains that it's already well into the evening.

"How do you feel, Fairest?"

Eris is in the mirror again, watching me from where he stands leaned up against the border of the glass. Fighting a yawn and the familiar burning thirst torturing my stomach, I wrap one of the blankets around me and walk to the mirror.

"I feel like you could give the Energizer Bunny a run for his money."

Even as the only one who gets it, the joke falls flat for me.