Page 205 of A Dance of Water

"All of it," she replied. "The storms… the feeling inside me. Will it grow in intensity? Will it ever cease?"

Bastian hummed. "That depends on you, pet." Just the sound of his voice made her blood roar like an inferno, and she squeezed her thighs together.

How could she make that pulsing feeling cease? It tormented her.

The vampire’s voice was filled with knowing as he said, "How would you like another gift?"

Guarded, she answered, "That depends on what it is, Bastian. Your idea of gifts to earn my forgiveness always seems to come with strings attached, and truthfully, I don’t much enjoy the idea of being tied to you."

He let out a shocked laugh that skittered over her skin. "You say that now. But when you let yourself feel how wonderful it is to give up control, you will change your mind. I know of your thoughts. I know that there was something… freeing you found in being blindfolded. Tell me I’m right. Or lie and say that I am wrong."

Luella gritted her teeth, feeling the truth crawl up her throat. "You’re right." She had enjoyed being in the dark, something about it had made her head feel fuzzy, especially in those quiet moments in Az’s arms; or when she let herself exist and allow someone else to take control.

"You wear this so sweetly, pet… but I’d rather the lace and silk wrapped around you came from me."

The idea shouldn’t make her feel so breathless but?—

"How can you tell what I’m wearing?" She wrapped an arm around her midsection, nervous. Even as a part of her reveled in the idea of his eyes on her.

"Your shadow… The shape of it, unhindered by fabric. It’s sinful," Bastian quickly replied. "And I do have an imagination." Something deeper was laced between his words, but her skin was too sensitive—she felt too empty—to uncover the hidden meaning.

She released a shaky breath, shoulders curving inward. Theaction made her press back further into Tharen, and he shifted, the stool groaning under him.

As if her touch had ignited a spark of rebellion against Bastian’s command of silence, the mage taunted low:

"And you’re guilty,"

"Guilty?" Luella asked. "What have you done?"

"Hm, just a little imagining," Bastian said. "Nothing terrible. He’s a tease. Ignore him." Behind the sheet, Bastian’s head tilted, revealing his profile. He was looking somewhere to the side, but she was afraid to turn her head and lock eyes with Tharen.

"Is your imagination what comforts you on lonely nights? Because I cannot imagine anyone ever finding comfort in your—" Her words stalled, held back by an invisible force.

A lie.

"Finding comfortwhere, pet?" Mirth clouded Bastian’s tone. "In my bed? Because I can assure you, many have. But not whom I desire."

"Is that what you tell yourself while trying so desperately to earn my forgiveness?"

"No." His shadow grew larger. "That’s what I tell myself whenever I think of you. Only you."

She huffed. "What’s so great about me?" Now that she had started, she couldn’t seem to stop. Her thoughts were unfiltered water, streaming from her brain to her mouth.

"You truly want to start this again?" A pause. "Do you remember yesterday’s lesson—when I let you feel what I felt, see what I saw?"

"Make-believe is a powerful thing. I should know. I’ve spent my life wishing I could be someone—somewhere—different, wishing I could fall into the pages of books that I love and wear the mask of someone else. If only for a little while." She pinched her thighs, trying to wake herself up from the dreamy, lustful haze that had ensnared her. "For me, seeing isn’t believing. It will take much more than that if you want me to forgive you."

"You’re the only one I desire, Luella." The sound of her name on the vampire’s lips allowed her to understand how serious he was.

She bit her tongue.

"We have time for me to prove myself to you, but for tonight, themoon falls, and with it, our time together," Bastian murmured. "Watch, and do as I do. Touch yourself."

Through the white of the sheet between them, Luella watched as Bastian’s shadowed hand reached down between the strong line of his thighs. The flickering candlelight behind him left the act in mere shadows. The impression of his body burned behind the sheet, and knowing that neither he nor Tharen could see her, she still found herself watching with interest, cheeks hot from shame.

"You should touch like this," he said, his hand disappearing into the shadows. The point of his elbow stuck out from his form, and she easily made out the movement of it.

She swallowed. That thing, that feeling… It was growing again.

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