Page 68 of Fallen Stars

“And the pill?”

Merissa reached beneath her brassier, producing a small, glittering lilac tablet. She lifted her tongue, placing it underneath with a long, manicured nail.

“Last chance, Mer. I really don’t expect you to do this.”

Merissa’s green eyes flashed with determination. “I’m sure I’ve kissed worse men than the King of Stars.”

Elara snorted. “Physically impossible.” She paused. “If he tries to hurt you, if he draws one drop of blood, it’s over. I will kill him, okay? You just say the word.”

Merissa’s eyes softened. “Let’s get Enzo back.”

And with that, Elara weaved her illusions to her and tailed Merissa’s swishing figure into the room.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Elara looked through the seamof reality she had woven into smoke. The room was filled with it, a dancing shadow on top of another, breathy moans filling the air. One of them was male, murmuring something in that low lilting voice that haunted her nightmares.

Elara gulped, her mouth dry. There was no turning back now. She was trapped in a room with Ariete. Her eyes watered against the drug coating the air, a deep part of her longing to suck it down greedily and succumb to the hypnom she had grown so fond of as she moved out of Merissa’s way.

“Ariete,” Eli called through the smoke. “I have a present for you.”

There was a lazy chuckle and a flicker of red starlight with it as she heard another soft moan. “Eli,” the voice replied. “You always arrive at the perfect time.”

The sensuous beat of music wrapped around Elara as she skirted the walls, trying to make her way through the cloying smoke.

“An Aphrodean to sate your appetite.”

The smoke finally parted, the scene before her making Elara’s eyes widen.

Ariete was reclined on a deep red velvet chair, exhaling crimson smoke, his almond eyes near closed. Draped over him was a near-naked pale brunette, blood running from her neck as she moaned and rode against the shirtless Star.

Gods, were they—?

No. Ariete’s trousers, surprisingly, were very much still on as he drew his tongue up the woman’s neck, licking every drop of blood there. He sighed, falling back against the chair, head lolling with ecstasy.

“You’ve got to come and taste this blood, Eli,” he murmured, taking another drag from the pipe by him. “She’s so fucking sweet. Unlike this hedosy.” He pulled a face as he exhaled the red smoke. “They need to change out their batch here. It tastes like shit.”

“Well, it still looks like it’s working,” Eli chuckled, hands in his pockets as he leant against the doorframe. “You’re high as shit.”

Ariete sighed, laughing as he closed his eyes, pushing the adoring, bleeding devotee off him. “That I am.”

Elara smirked against the wall. Blending hypnom with the hedosy could likely kill a mortal, the drug of ecstasy and the one of sleep too powerful to combine. But to a Star, an immortal, Ariete would likely be riding the high for a whole day.

The devotee stumbled away, lost in her own ecstasy, Ariete’s charm probably coursing through her veins.

“You sure you don’t want a taste?” Ariete asked, licking his lips as his eyes followed her.

“I’ve told you countless times that we don’t really share the same hobbies.”

“More for me,” he sighed.

Elara crept around so she was behind the Star, still against the wall, her eyes on Eli.

“Well, if you want to smoke your sorrows away, I fully condone it. Just make sure you have a beautiful redhead in your lap while you do.”

And with that, he pushed Merissa forward, who swayed her hips until she was before Ariete. The Star didn’t move from where he was reclining but flicked his red eyes lazily over her. She knelt before him.

“My king,” Merissa purred, her glamour maintained, a completely different woman before him.

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