Page 150 of A Tongue so Sweet and Deadly

Even as he shuffled food into his mouth, his other hand rested on her leg, stroked her back, and played with her hair, and wide-eyed stares were thrown their way when he lifted her hand to kiss it.

Her skin buzzed, and the air around them crackled with electricity and unspoken wishes whenever Loche’s eyes found hers. Struggling to focus on anything other than his playful fingers whispering over every bit of bare skin he could find, Lessia mostly listened as Loche caught up with his friends, leaning into his chest when he snaked an arm around her waist.

After making sure everyone had gotten at least a second serving, Geyia slipped into the spot on the wooden bench beside her, and Lessia eyed the woman curiously.

“Ask away.” Geyia grinned at her.

“Is this your real form?” Lessia tried to soften her voice, but something stirred within her upon not knowing if the warm older woman she saw was only a facade.

Geyia clasped her hands over the table. “It is. It’s exhausting for us to keep a shifted form. We can only do it for so long.”

Nodding, Lessia tried for a smile. “I must apologize for how I reacted earlier.”

Loche’s hand traced small circles on her back.

When she peeked at him, he was deep in conversationwith two young men, but he shot her a small smile, and a thrill ran through her at the tenderness of it.

The shifter grinned as she glanced at Loche. “Don’t be. You accepted me much quicker than others have.”

“Still… I’m sorry. I… I know how it is.” Lessia’s eyes dipped as a twinge of guilt joined the warmth in her chest.

She knew exactly what it was like to be judged based on what you were.

Geyia placed a wrinkled hand on her shoulder. “I know. I can see it in you. But you haven’t let it fill you with hate.” She sighed. “Many of my kind have, and I’ve met a few half-Fae who have as well.”

Lessia smiled at her again. An easier smile, as there was no contempt in the shifter’s blue eyes.

When they’d eaten everything on the large plates and Lessia had said no twice to more food, wine was served, and a few of the humans took out drums and other instruments.

While Lessia didn’t usually drink, when Steiner pushed a goblet of wine into her hands, she took it and sipped as music filled the arched cave. Loche clinked his goblet against hers, and she wasn’t sure whether the wine immediately went to her head or if it was his presence that made her mind hum in tune with the music.

People started to get up to dance, and she laughed when Geyia dragged Loche with her, making him perform some sort of intricate step. His usually hard face was free of lines as he concentrated on following Geyia’s fast movements, and his eyes twinkled when they met hers over the crowd forming before the table.

When he kept her gaze over the crowd, the warmth inside her seeped into every muscle and limb, and she couldn’t tear her eyes away when his gray ones flared, an ache starting deepinside her.

One of the younger men bowed before her, asking her to dance, and she smiled at him as she took the hand he offered.

Thankfully, he didn’t make her try to follow Geyia. Instead, he spun her around in a clumsy version of a waltz, dipping and lifting her until her stomach hurt from laughter.

When the music slowed, a strong arm wrapped around her waist, and the man before her grinned and backed away.

As she whirled around, her breath caught in her throat at the look in Loche’s eyes.

Pure adoration shone there, the heat in them making the flames within her burn hotter.

He pulled her flush against him, his fingers whispering over her back, teasing, grazing her neck as he swept her hair over one shoulder. As he bent down, Loche’s lips softly trailed across her sensitive skin, up to her ear, and he whispered, “I want to show you something.”

Unable to form words, she nodded, and he led her away from the crowd to a narrow passage beneath the staircase. Lessia told herself to breathe as the air charged, and she didn’t dare look up at Loche when his breathing became ragged.

They walked in silence for a few moments until a sharp turn finally led them into a dimly lit chamber.

“What is this place?” Lessia gasped as her eyes flew around the circular cave.

The chamber was filled with large formations of ice shaped like trees, a forest of sparkling sculptures, with black glittering flowers growing straight out of the ice around them.

Above them, an oval opening let the nearly full moon in. Thick dark clouds danced around the moon, but they didn’t cover it.

As if this place wouldn’t allow the darkness that would follow.

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