Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121339 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121339 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Easy, little dove. The familiar voice was like a gentle lick in her mind.
At once, her whole body relaxed. The nervous breath gushed out of her.
The black haze peeled away from that handsome face and regal, stoic bearing. He was refined brutality.
Tarian drew up beside her, his hand reaching out for the top of the slab. He pulled, straightening her until her feet hit the ground. Then he stepped in front of her, and the black haze filled the cell around them, once only obscuring him from view and now obscuring them both. No gold shimmered within. The dawn-light colors were totally absent, his magic cloaked in midnight.
His brilliant green eyes shone brightly, even in the gloom. The gold within had bled away to jet black, increasing the size of his pupils. None of his Celestial magic was present, giving way to pure unseelie magic.
In response to her observations, he said, I am forced to use their obsidian magic and dance with the corrosion forever tugging at me. It tries to steal all sense of goodness and toss me up to the court to relish in their torment. My thoughts are dark when in this court. Carnal. You are an allure I can barely withstand. That I wish to twist and corrupt, to fuck and ruin. I have never wanted anything so badly in my life.
His eyes roamed her face, and part of her wondered why she wasn’t terrified of this change in him. Of this new creature that visited her in the dungeon and was pushing ever closer in his want.
But the other part knew why—she’d always been terrified of him…and not. Afraid of his kind but not really of him. This creature before her seemed dark and depraved, volatile and wicked, but she had the same depravity lurking within her. It was what Zorn had always seen, it matching his. She realized that with Tarian, she was comfortable dancing in the flames. Let him show her his worst, and she’d laugh as she matched his stride.
His smile was slow, and his breath fell across her lips, so close his heat chased away all the gaps between them. A punch of magic made her eyes water, the smell acidic, not like when he’d used it before. Her damp and dirty clothing from a moment ago was gone, replaced by a servant’s attire, fresh and clean and dull black. She breathed out gratefully. Things had gotten pretty gross, but as far as she could tell, her body was just as clean as her clothes. She didn’t understand this magic, but she was grateful for it.
His hands curled around the chains securing her. He lifted, raising her hands up above her head before using a thick black band of magic to secure them there.
“You look good enough to eat,” he said, his fingers drifting down her arms. I remember your taste, sweet and tangy.
She closed her eyes as he leaned closer, not sure if anyone could hear them. Not sure how much she should give in.
Yes, they can hear us, he murmured, his lips drawing near her cheek. And they are listening hard to glean any scrap of information they can to take back to the king and his minions. They do so love to damn me for my follies.
He pulled back, his gaze washing across her face. Gold now fought the black in his eyes, turning and twisting around the pupil and flaring into the iris. Two magics at war. Two sides of him equally so.
And desiring a human to this magnitude, he went on, is an enormous folly, one they must not uncover lest you become a target long before you’ve earned it.
“If you touch me, I’ll kill you,” she said in as hard a voice as she could muster.
His laugh was rich and dark. “Hmm. That sounds like consent…with strings. I imagine you’ll wait until after you orgasm, yes? But remember, little human—you are mine. My toy. To do with as I please. To break at my leisure.”
His lips tracked across the side of her neck, and her eyes fluttered. She yanked at the manacles, shaking the chains as though trying to get free to push him away.
“Tell me, my treasure,” he said. “Do you feel vulnerable? Or do you succumb to my allure like the fragile-minded human you are and feel only lust?”
His hand ran over her breast, his thumb swiping across the peak. She moaned despite herself—despite the game she was supposed to be playing in this twisted, fucked-up scenario. Then again, maybe that was perfect. Let them think she was lost to this fae’s touch. That he controlled her mind. And maybe he did. Maybe he always had.
“That’s right,” he whispered, his lips grazing hers. “Give in to your tormenter. Soak in your depravity like a good little human.”