Page 49 of Nocte
“Will you take me there?” I ask him.
“Will I take you?” he echoes, his voice mocking and cold. But his touch is fire, licking a path down my hips, beneath my legs, inching inside me again. “I’ll take you,” he grates out, but he doesn’t mean what I want. He’s solely focused on his greedy desire; the game he finds in turning my body into a puppet on a string. “I’ll take you to a place you’ve never been, little fae. I’ll make you scream. Make you pay. For this, I will make you pay.”
For what? He doesn’t say. He doesn’t deem me worthy enough to explain. And Day, he can have his secrets. He is special, my dearest, a fae.
But him?
The vamryre can’t deny me everything. My hand disobeys the protocol I’ve always followed. It finds his wrist and grips it tight—flesh over marble. A string wrapped around stone.
He could easily shrug me off, but he stills. Groaning in frustration, he stills.
“What?”
“Tell me that you’ll help me.” Oh no. I’m saying strange things. Nonsense. Incoherent nonsense.
In any case, he understands me. His eyes flash as he draws back. He bares his fangs. Brings them dangerously close to my mouth. Nips—barely soft enough to avoid breaking skin and drawing blood. Then he hisses a sigh.
“What do you want?”
“The other realm,” I say.
He snarls and hisses. Without permission, he strokes my back, sending shockwaves down my spine.
“I can make you feel better than the fucking mortal realm,” he snarls into my throat.
I know he can. That’s the terrifying part of this exchange. My bargain with a blood devil. He offers a world beyond my wildest dreams. Things someone like me should never ever feel.
But if I lost my one hope, I’d lose me.
“Please.”
He growls and staggers back, hands clenching and unclenching. Eyes fiery holes in a perfect skull. “Damn you. You aren’t worth it!”
“I know,” I say, taking a step toward him. He is my only chance. My only chance. I can’t let him escape. I need a promise. I need a plea.
Vamryres are deceitful creatures, but him…
I know he’ll keep any promise he agrees to. I know it.
“Just tell me about it,” I plead, taking another step. “Please! How to get there. What it’s like. I’ll settle for that much, I will. Just tell me?—”
“No.” He lunges for me. Slams me back. Takes my hands in both of his and pins them up, holding me flat. I can’t move. Can’t breathe. Then he claims my mouth so hard I see stars. His tongue rakes over mine as if in punishment for the words he’ll say next. He can’t help himself.
Honesty is my virtue, butheembodies it.
“Fuck you,” he grates, panting against my open, wet mouth. “There is a way. Only the elders know it. A secret path. No approval required. In and out. It’s how they sneak in when the folly strikes them. It’s howtheybreak the rules.”
His eyes blaze. It’s like he’s drunk, the way the workers get on ceremony days. Too intoxicated to care for what leaves his mouth.
To me, each word is gold. Precious.
“More,” I beg him, but my body does something I don’t tell it to: arch into him, press my chest to the hard expanse of his. My nipples are sharp enough to graze him through the material of my robe. I don’t care. With a ragged sigh, I tilt my head and offer up all I have to give. I need more. He’ll give me it all.
For a price.
“How can I get there?”
“Not alone,” he hisses. Harsh and cold hands slip beneath my skull, angling it away from him. Then back until those eyes are all I can see, and his touch is all I can feel. Care about. Need.