Page 123 of The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King

My face must have grown solemn, because Raihn’s did, too. “You liked it.”

“I didn’t think—”

“Half vampires are rare. All of them have different traits. It makes sense that blood would taste good to you.” His thumb stroked my cheek again—an easy motion, like he was doing it without thinking. “It doesn’t have to mean anything. It’s just how your body reacts. Doesn’t mean you support it, or that you have to drink it.”

“You tasted… different.”

A pained smirk flitted across his mouth.

“Mm. That can happen.”

I didn’t even know what question to ask, or if I could find the right words—if I even wanted to hear it confirmed aloud.

You did taste… different,Raihn had told me.I thought it was because of how I feel about you.

As if he saw me putting those pieces together, he murmured, “It doesn’t have to mean anything. Just your body.”

Fucking figured that my body had to react to Raihn, of all people. Just had to make this situation even more complicated than it already was.

He removed his hand from my back and examined his thumb, still bloody.

“But if you wanted to experiment,” he said, “we could do that in better ways than this.”

He lifted his chin a little, as if to present his throat.

I scoffed. “You’d offer me your throat? That’s stupid of you.”

“Maybe. But you do have a fucking exquisite mouth, and an even better tongue.”

Goddess. Now he was definitely teasing me.

“Oh, fuck you,” I muttered.

“And there she is,” he chuckled.

I let out a breath, trying to shake away the lingering sensation of Raihn’s taste and his overwhelming proximity. I felt like his scent now covered me, like condensation clinging to glass.

I stood up, grateful to put some space between us.

“You said there was something we needed to talk about,” I said. “Why are we here?”

His face twisted into a scowl. “Ugh. You want to talk work.”

* * *

I saton the little dining table across the room while Raihn talked. He leaned casually against the bedframe—somehow the thing supported his weight—and managed to look completely nonplussed by our entire interaction, which I couldn’t tell if I found admirable or annoying.

“So,” he said. “The wedding.”

“So you’re going to tell me what that’s actually about?”

He gave me a half smile. “That obvious, huh?”

I shrugged. “Call it intuition.”

“We have problems, as you know. The Bloodborn.”

“No matter my commands, they haven’t been letting up on their viciousness,” he said. “Some areas have been totally devastated by their actions.”

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