Desire in His Blood

She was a mess.

Her hair was wild, trying to escape her ever-present bun, sticking to the dampness of her forehead and the back of her neck. It was much too warm for her to be wearing that long-sleeved monstrosity, even if I liked the wide neckline, showing off my plethora of bites from the last few days.

I jerked my chin up, gesturing for her to rise from her knees. Her hands were filthy and she had scrapes across the backs of her fingers from the starwood vines.

“Now?” she asked, nibbling on her bottom lip. She looked back to the section of the banister she and my sister had been working on tearing out. “But we’re almost done, and—”

“Gemma,” I growled.

She huffed, making my lips twitch, though I hid it with a scowl.

“Very well. You’re awfully bossy, you know that?” she asked, her tone positively prim, as she rose, wiping her hands on a nearby cloth before throwing it to the ground. “Who’s Kythel?”

Won’t let that go, I thought.

“My brother,” I grunted.

My twin, was what I left unspoken.

Fire and ice, our mother used to called us. Me? I could burn anyone with my scorn. Kythel? He’d speared them straight through the heart with the ice in his gaze.

Sometimes, we could be either. Or we could be both.

“One of your many brothers,” Gemma murmured, eyeing me as I approached. “Which territory does he oversee?”

Was she trying to distract me?

I wouldn’t allow it.

“Erzos,” I rumbled, twining my arms around her.

“Oh. You—you want to feed here?” she asked, her gaze flitting behind me. Nervous.

I felt my lips curl. Leaning down, I bit at her neck but didn’t break the flesh with my fangs. Only gentle nips meant to warn.

“Why not here? Afraid all the keep will hear your moans as you come?” I questioned, my voice deepening and roughening with every word.

Fuck, I wanted that. Hearing her come…it no longer filled me with a sense of restless shame. Knowing I was giving pleasure to the daughter of an enemy. Instead, it made me feel victorious. Like I’d slaughtered my way across a battlefield and come out the other side.

Her breath whistled through her nostrils. “All the windows face this way, and the keepers will see—”

My arms tightened around her waist and then I leapt up, whipping my wings down to propel us forward.

Her muted scream was muffled in my vest. I’d been training earlier this morning, and as such, her hands scrambled over my gauntlets, trying to grip the smooth metal.

Was she worried I’d let her fall?

That I would fly her up miles above the keep and just…let go?

I would do it to her father, I realized. In a heartbeat.

Then her scream stopped. I hadn’t meant to fly us far. Just to the private alcove of the courtyard below, away from the prying eyes of the keep, where we wouldn’t be disturbed for a handful of moments.

Yet I found myself journeying over the Silver Sea until we were skimming just above the water, clear and calm that afternoon. Perfect.

Gemma had had her legs wrapped around mine in her initial panic, but when she realized that I had a strong grip on her—holding her waist and back in the vice of my arms—I saw her tilt her head back hesitantly.

I picked up speed, wondering what she would do as the wind whipped around us. I tilted our angle so that we were parallel to the water and so that her back was to it. Like I could lay her down among the reflections and small waves, a bed of our own making.

In the wind, whatever tie that had gripped her hair in that damn bun came loose, disappearing into the sea below. Her hair tumbled down, a black waterfall of tangled silk, and she gasped when the ends skimmed across the surface of the sea, her eyes flying to mine. A bloom of her scent reached me now that her hair was no longer bound. She smelled like the soap the keepers purchased from the village. Made from the leaves in the northern forests, clean and fresh, and it mingled with her own tantalizing scent that had venom dripping from my fangs.

We were getting farther and farther from the keep.

I saw the exact moment that wonderment sprang to life in Gemma’s eyes.

It hit me square in the chest, making my hands tighten on her.

She looked up at me with parted lips that slowly curved into a smile. Suddenly, a reverberating bolt of energy jolted through my whole body, ringing through my blood, quickening my heart, and steeling my cock.

Her head lolled back, pushing her breasts up, baring her neck, which was covered in my bites. She wanted to watch the Silver Sea passing underneath us, but she didn’t realize what an erotic image she presented, stretched out with delight on her lips as her breasts rose and fell in excitement. A graceful arm reached out, and I watched with bated breath as she skimmed her fingertips across the water, sending sparks of the salty sea rising in their wake.

Gemma laughed, low and husky before it was carried away by the wind.

She was burned into my memory. Just like this. I didn’t think I would ever forget this.

How could I have ever thought her plain?

My cock gave a warning throb. The bulge at the base of my cock fluttered and tightened, a rhythmic pulsing that made me gnash my teeth together.

Abruptly, I changed directions, making Gemma gasp. Hurtling back to the keep, I flew faster and faster, pumping my wings until all I heard was a rushing in my ears and all I could see was Gemma’s delighted grin, her white dull teeth flashing in the afternoon sunlight, which spread over her skin and made her glow golden.

“Vaan,” I cursed under my breath, feeling like I was on the verge of coming in my damn pants with no physical stimulation at all. I would come as I drank from her, I knew. It hadn’t happened before, but it would this afternoon.

Gemma gasped when I landed on the courtyard terrace, the impact no doubt jarring and sudden. In the next moment, I dragged her into the small space where we’d be hidden from view of the keep, tucked away among the tangled starwood vines and the stone wall of the staircase at our backs.

Gemma was gripping my vest, bunching the stiff material in her hands. Her hair was a wild, windswept mess, lovely and chaotic. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright, and she was still smiling, those plump, soft lips curling.

And suddenly, I needed to taste them almost as much as I needed to feed from her.

Pi

“Azur,” she gasped, her smile finally dying, replaced by a spark of awareness at our closeness and the roughness of my grip on her hips.

My cock pulsed with my name.

This is madness, I thought.

When our lips met, it felt like a violent thing.

Her lips were perfectly soft. Tender. She gasped into my mouth, and I groaned, digging my claws into the flesh of her hips, dragging her closer. I devoured her until she was clinging to me, until I was stroking my tongue across hers, finding her impossibly soft there too. Slick and needy.

My fangs pricked her bottom lip, and I growled, tasting the bloom of her blood. Just a small tease. A small taste.

This is madness, I thought again.

I couldn’t stop.

Chapter 21

Gemma

A swirl of golden pleasure was tightening and tightening in my belly. Tightening into a single solid thread that threatened to snap at any moment.

One glorious moment, we’d been flying. I’d felt free. I’d felt other. Like I’d been this entirely new being, whose world had just opened up to endless possibilities. I’d felt powerful.

Now I had my back against a wall and a Kylorr between my thighs, wedging himself against my body like he was trying to come into my skin.