Page 72 of Midnight Queen

For the first time in days, the thick tension that’s been sitting between us is absent, but Lorcan ruins the moment by grimacing at Quincey.

“Darling, I’m not quite sure how to tell you this,” he starts. “So, I’m just going to come right out and say it. There’s a molar in your hair.”

“And once Rory had all the names, she sent them to me,” I explain as I wring the last of the water from my hair. It took twothoroughshampoos for me to finally feel like my hair was clean. I don’t think the visual of Silas removing a tooth from my hair is one I will soon forget. Or ever forget. Pretty sure it’s been seared into my brain. “Lorcan’s been gathering them all week for me, since I’m pretty sure that’s where my area of expertise ends and his begins. He actually had a lot of fun doing it, which let’s be real, is not a huge shocker.”

Silas stands with a black towel around his waist and his arms crossed in front of him while he listens to me explain how I pulled everything off tonight. He doesn’t interject or ask questions, he just allows me to talk. His face is doing that thing where it’s completely blank, but you know there’s about six hundred thoughts flying through his head.

“I thought I had everything planned, but I don’t think anyone could have predicted the finishing touches Bria put on the night.” My fingers grip the towel that’s around me tighter as I shiver. I worked in a trauma room. Gore doesn’t usually faze me, but having it splatter on me with chunks—yes, I said chunks—getting stuck in my hair is a whole different ball game that I wasn’t prepared for.

He moves to stand behind me and we both look at each other through the reflection of the mirror that hangs over the vanity. His fingers brush my clean hair off my shoulder and he leans down to kiss me there. “I wish you felt like you could have told me your plan, Quincey,” he says lowly against my skin. “I would have helped you.”

“That’s the thing, I didn’t want your help,” I admit to him. “This was something that I needed to do alone. If you were part of it, they wouldn’t have taken me seriously because they would have been looking at you. I needed them to look at me andreallysee me for who I am.”

“They saw you,” Silas confirms. “And I see you, Quincey. I see how fucking strong and resilient you are. There are very few people that can go through what you have and make it through with their empathy intact.” His eyes lift from my shoulder to look back at my reflection. “I would have killed every single one of those fuckers that participated in the auction, but you let them live.”

“You once told me that you will rule with fear but you prefer to rule with respect. Had I just killed them, the others might have feared me, but they wouldn’t have respected me. They wouldn’t have seen me as someone smart enough to play the long game.” As a human among vampires, it will already be borderline impossible to gain their respect. “And it’s averylong game, Silas.”

It makes my heart physically hurt to think that I’m only going to be part of his world for a limited time. One day, I will physically age past him, and then what will we do?Hi, this is my lover, Silas. What? No, I’m not his grandmother…Yikes, that is a nightmare.

“You’re very smart and you don’t let your emotions get the best of you. You see reason in things that I sometimes miss.” His fingertips trail down my arms soothingly. “Like Gideon.” He surprises me by saying.

This time, instead of looking at him through the mirror, I turn my head up at him. “What about Gideon?”

Silas turns me completely around so my lower back hits the marble of the vanity. “You were right that keeping him held captive isn’t doing any good. It’s not helping you or me feel better. And Ira would be disappointed in me.”

Silas Laurent is admitting he was wrong, someone grab a pen and mark the fucking date.

“I can’t allow him to live, but I don’t intend to keep him in that box any longer. I will do what needs to be done.”

Feeling incredibly proud of him, I cup his face with my hands and pull him down to me. “Thank you,” I whisper before kissing him.

As it always does, our kiss starts off gentle—sweet even—but at the first brush of his tongue against mine, it switches on a dime, and everything becomes heated.

His fingers dig into my hips and before I can process what he’s doing, he’s lifted me off the ground and placed me on the vanity.

When I touch his skin, it’s warmer than usual from his shower, but it feels as perfect as it always has under my fingertips.

He untucks the towel I have wrapped around my breasts, leaving me completely bare to him.

There is no slow steady buildup with this one. Our kiss becomes messy, even painful at times when our teeth collide. We suck, we bite, we ravage each other until my skin becomes too hot and my heart beats too hard against my rib cage.

I tear away the black towel from his waist and take his thick length in my hand. He growls his pleasure into my mouth, encouraging me further.

Abruptly, he breaks the kiss and replaces his lips with two of his fingers. “Suck,” he orders darkly without any further instruction, but I don’t really need it. Or want it.

My tongue flicks teasingly along his fingertips, as if they were the head of his cock, before I languidly bring them into my mouth. My tongue swirls around the digits, thoroughly coating them in my saliva.

When he’s satisfied, he removes them from my mouth with apop.

My eyes close and my head falls back as he slowly sinks them into my pussy. They stretch me and tease me in preparation for what I really need from him.

“I’m ready,” I pant. “I want you inside of me.”

Silas’s free hand grips my chin, and he pulls me forward so he can kiss me again. “I want six more years,” he confuses me by saying against my mouth.

“W-what?” I choke out as his thumb begins to massage my throbbing clit.

“I want to spend six more years with you as a human. Give me those years, and I will do it.”

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