Page 145 of Crown of Briars
She was loyal to me. To my people.
Except…
“What of your human lover?” I spat the words before I could stop myself.
Her eyes shuttered, and she drew back a step. Her nostrils flared. “This again? I’m tired of this, Varius. Just tell me you want me all to yourself and let’s be done with it.”
I bared my teeth at her. “That isnot?—”
“How dare you? First, you ignore me as if our kiss never happened. Then, you command me to wear a dress of your choosing as if I’m your pet. And now, you’re accusing me of harboring secret lovers.” She laughed without humor as she returned her dagger to the sheath at her thigh. “Make up your damn mind. Will you claim me as your wife in earnest? Or will you continue to hide from this like a coward, only to be brought out by your petty jealousy at the thought of me seeking affection elsewhere?”
I growled, the sound low and feral, as I strode toward her until I was towering over her slight form. Despite our heightdifference, she still stared up at me with anger and determination, unfazed by my intimidating stature.
“I am the King of Shadows,” I said. “And I claim what’s mine.”
“Prove it,” she said. “Make me yours, Varius.”
I stared down at her, conflict roiling within me. I couldn’t see clearly; the rage and lust and heat churning in my body were too intense to sift through. All I knew was the pounding need that flooded my body, the desire quaking in my bones.
I bent over her, framing her face in my hands and drawing her closer. “You are mine, Sybelle.”
My shadows danced around us as I brought her mouth to mine.
My bloodstill simmered with a mixture of anger and fear, and when Varius loomed over me, his eyes dark and his fangs bared, I felt an unexpected bolt of desire.
His mouth was on mine, and I gripped the fabric of his tunic to pull him closer. His mouth captured mine with hungry fervor, a groan building in his throat and vibrating through his chest. Stones, it was the most delicious sound.
I waited for him to pull away, to withdraw from me like he had after our last kiss. Instead, his hands found my waist, and he spun us both around until my back was against the closed door, his chest caging me in.
“Do you really want this?” he murmured against my lips. “Every monstrous side of me?”
I stood on my toes to wrap my arms around his neck, my fingers tangling in his curls. “I want all of you, Varius. No part of you will frighten me.”
His lips quirked upward. “Are you sure about that?”
I gasped as a cool mist wrapped around my fingers. I lowered my arms and found tendrils of his shadows snaking along my hands, caressing my skin like a whispering wind. The soft contact made me shiver.
I recalled how he had used his shadows to restrain Warwickin the Noxen Forest.You didn’t know I could do that, did you?he’d asked. I wondered if this was a special ability he didn’t often use—corporeal shadows that could touch and pull as if they were as solid as his own hands.
I knew from experience just how solid those shadows could feel as they moved inside me.
Varius seemed amused by my reaction. His shadows wound tighter, pulling against my wrists and jerking them upward until my arms were pinned above my head. I uttered a noise of surprise, but he silenced me with another kiss, this one forceful and bruising. His hard mouth pressed against mine, his rough tongue scraping along my lips.
I moaned into his mouth, meeting his tongue with mine. I tried to move my hands so I could touch him, but his restraints would not budge.
“This is who I am,” he growled. “I am a monster, Sybelle. I will not be gentle with you.”
I leaned up and bit down on his lower lip. A rumbling sound resonated in his throat. “I know,” I whispered. “I don’t want you to be.”
He exhaled shakily, dragging his sharp incisors along my lip and chin, then lowering to my throat. “You are part human.” His breath tickled the skin of my neck. “I might break you.”
I found it hard to breathe as he pressed that long tongue against my throat, gliding up and down in torturously slow movements.
“I—I can handle it,” I gasped, my eyelids fluttering shut. “With my—my dagger.”
Varius froze, then withdrew to stare down at me. “Your dagger?”
I nodded, still dazed. “It’s a diamond-studded dagger. It gives me supernatural strength.”
