Page 166 of Black Sea

And Nauriel knew it well. I could see it in her eyes when she realized my broadsword was inexorably closing in on her throat.

“Look at me,” I ordered, in a firm tone.

The tone she couldn’t disobey.

Nauriel was so stupid that she tried anyway, shutting her eyes briefly before regaining her resolve and resuming to push my weapon back with renewed strength. So, I pressed her even harder against the railing, trying to ignore the groan that escaped her and her thigh rubbing against my cock and mine against her pussy.

“ Look at me,” I ground out.

“ You look at me,” she replied, pinning me with a stare that unsettled me.

A stare that reached the soul I didn’t think I had.

And I was the one who obeyed her, damn it.

I looked at her like perhaps I had never done before, without hiding any sneaky intent or scheme. And I saw myself smiling at her sincerely on that damned beach, teasing her like a silly little boy, talking with her around the bonfire, watching her sleep peacefully under the stars, foolishly proposing that we stay on that island.

I saw myself reflected in her eyes.

And gradually, I felt the fire in the veins across my face and in my irises fading away.

Nauriel slowly withdrew her hand from her blade, prompting me to realize I had stopped exerting pressure. Then she let the glass disappear from her fingers before stroking my cheek with a gentleness that devastated me.

“It’s not too late,” she whispered in a broken voice, steeped in anger and utter despair at the same time. “It will never be too late.”

A disgusting warmth radiated from my heart, and I felt the elf’s love seep into every cell of my body with its hideous light. My breathing grew rapid as I clenched my jaw until I heard the alarming creak of my molars, fighting the overwhelming urge to lower my broadsword and fully surrender to my mate.

To kneel at her feet.

No, no, no!

The evil I embodied rose with a sound so shrill and deafening that it nearly blew my brain out. Its fangs pierced every vein, every nerve, every muscle, reminding me of what I was made of: darkness and hatred and violence and death.

Reminding me of my purpose. My destiny.

My body stiffened. My breathing barely became perceptible. My soul fell back into the oblivion it had always been banished to.

“Are you sure?” I asked Nauriel with a devious look.

The next moment, I swiftly drew the dagger from the sheath on her side with my free hand and drove it into her belly.

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A pain I’d never felt before. A pain so sudden and excruciating that it stole my breath. A sob escaped from my parted lips. My fingertips gradually slipped away from his cheek. I sensed blood rising in my throat and leaking from the corners of my mouth. His sword turned into black smoke; mine clanged to the ground with a metallic thud.

Very slowly, I looked down.

The ornate hilt of my dagger stuck out from my stomach, just beneath the edge of my armor. His hand still gripped it.

The hand I had taken to save him.

The hand I had clung to for survival.

The hand that had made me feel safe.

The hand that had made me discover an unspeakable pleasure.

The hand I had kissed.