Page 53 of Empire of Dark
Six donuts, the chocolate glaze on each one so shiny, I could almost see my reflection in them. Perfect donuts except for the one bite taken out of each one of them.
At that, I’d smiled to myself. Probably more than I should have.
In all honesty, I’d gotten over my constant suspicions that my food or drink would be drugged. If Damen was going to go to that extreme, he would have done it weeks ago.
But to see the bites taken out of the donuts sent a weird thrill down into the pit of my stomach, and then lower to the juncture of my thighs.
The ass was right.
I wasn’t about to just forget what he was able to do to my body. The highs of those orgasms had been like nothing I’d ever felt—much less imagined.
And he’d only been touching me through my clothes.
The man had every right to his ego on the matter of a woman’s pleasure.
Which made currently staring at his smug face at the dinner table all the more galling.
The table had been laid out spectacularly—beef, lentils, chicken, nuts, artichokes, gruyere, asparagus, salmon—anything with high protein levels had been cooked, perfectly seasoned and was on the table to help me get my strength back up after the last days of my muscles being ravaged by the pain, Damen had said.
A kindness I wasn’t sure how to take. He’d been demanding these many weeks, sure of the eventuality that I would cave to him.
But this lavish meal and the donuts this morning—the kindness behind his smugness, was unexpected.
He hadn’t needed to help me yesterday. Yet he did. With no gain of his own.
He hadn’t bartered. Hadn’t demanded. Hadn’t taken advantage.
He’d just helped.
And that was the cruelest kindness of all.
I hated him. Except I didn’t hate him. Couldn’t hate him.
I might even actually like him.
He’d kept the conversation tonight benign, keeping away from the politics of the world and their leaders which always dragged us into arguments that went around and around with neither of us backing off our beliefs.
And he hadn’t said a word about how much nicer a dress would look instead of my usual tank and yoga pants.
“How is your body today?” He cut into and took a bite of chicken Kiev and then placed the bulk of the meat on my plate. It’d become so normal, him taking a bite out of everything I ate, that I hardly noticed it anymore.
For once, I didn’t need to lie about how I was feeling. Lie about how I was always trying to keep that awful manic energy inside my body at bay. Lie about how my muscles were always tensed and ready for battle to keep the pain from taking over.
My body actually felt light. My head clearer than I ever remembered it. I was always trying to achieve this particular balance of energy, but I was never quite successful at.
Adept, yes. Getting by, yes.
But my body feeling good? From head to toes? That never happened.
I cut into the chicken. “Whatever you did to my body last night, I need you to teach me how to do it, or I’m afraid I’ll never leave this castle for fear of being away from the magic in your tongue and hands.” I glanced up at him. “Do you know of anyone else that can do what you did for me? For I just might suddenly be in the business of kidnapping if there is another.”
A joke that fell flat, for his shoulders instantly stiffened, his look shifting off of me and onto the wine in front of him. Uncomfortable. Apparently praise or genuine gratitude coming his way made him uneasy.
“I am just sorry I didn’t find you earlier. I should have found you earlier.” His gaze lifted to me. “How long would it have gone on if I hadn’t found you?”
My shoulders lifted. “The short ones last a week, if I am lucky. The longest episode I ever had was close to three weeks, though I may have lost a number of days in the middle of that one.”
He winced, then his stare set hard on me. He was trying to read me, but I was pretty sure he’d lost his ability to poke intomy brain, much like Triaten couldn’t poke around my thoughts like he would like to. Otherwise, Damen would know exactly what it felt like under my skull during an episode. He’d already know all these answers.